Here are the results from Day 5 of NJPW’s New Japan Cup tournament. The event took place at Baycom Gymnasium in Amagasaku, Hyogo, Japan, and featured three first-round matches for the yearly tournament.
Bullet Club (Chase Owens, KENTA & Taiji Ishimori) vs Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomoaki Honma
- KENTA pinned Honma with his feet on the ropes to win.
A classic trios encounter kicked off day 4 of the New Japan Cup. The babyfaces started out strong, but BC soon took charge. They focused their attacks on Honma, which eventually gave them the win.
The match also teased the Goto vs Owens match that is set to take place in the New Japan Cup in the coming week.
Just 5 Guys (DOUKI, SANADA & Yuya Uemura) vs CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) & Ryusuke Taguchi
- SANADA pinned Taguchi
This match saw all six men use their unique skills to craft an interesting story. Yano and Taguchi traditionally practiced their style of tomfoolery, before the other wrestlers tagged in and brought the match back to reality.
After a back-and-forth encounter, former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA pinned Taguchi to win the match, in preparation for his cup match the following night.
Guerrillas Of Destiny (Hikuleo, Jado & Tanga Loa) vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd & Gedo)
- Loa pinned Gedo after a knee strike
In a fairly uninspired bout, the GoD picked up a win over the BC War Dogs at the New Japan Cup Day 4.
Loa fought off all three of the War Dogs’ members to win the match, although Hikuleo also impressed.
El Desperado, Oleg Boltin, Shota Umino & YOH vs House Of Torture (EVIL, Jack Perry, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi)
- Umino forces Takahashi to tap out to the cross face.
Once again, Perry replaced SHO in the match that began with the obligatory HoT brawl. Boltin quickly got his side back on track, impressing so far on the tour.
Umino picked up the win for his side, locking in a crossface on Takahashi. He forced the wrestler to tap out, adding another win to his record on the tour.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs United Empire (Callum Newman, Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan & TJP)
- Tagaki pins Newman with a Made in Japan.
With a big brawl kicking off this bout, Shingo picked up the win for his side in this 10-man tag match.
He dropped Callum Newman with a Made in Japan to pick up the win. Newman impressed in this match, and could be due a push in the future as Will Ospreay‘s replacement.
New Japan Cup First-Round Match: El Phantasmo vs Mikey Nicholls
- ELP pins Nicholls with a roll-up
This match built from the bottom and told a good story between the two talents.
Nicholls has impressed on the tour so far and added another great performance in this match. He failed to win, but impressed enough to encourage a push from Gedo in the future.
The bout ended with a back-and-forth pin sequence, which ended in ELP pinning his opponent for the victory.
New Japan Cup First-Round Match: Ren Narita vs Taichi
- Narita pinned Taichi after hitting the Double Cross
This match was not fun. It would make Solo Sikoa think that the interference had gone too far.
The House of Torture and Just 5 Guys factions ran in and ruined the entire bout. It wasn’t much better before that, mind you. Narita cheated from the get-go, eliminating any possibility of any enjoyment coming from the bout.
Narita won in the end, but it was the viewers who really lost out by witnessing this mess. He moved on to the next round of the New Japan Cup.
New Japan Cup First-Round Match: Yota Tsuji defeated Jeff Cobb
- Tsuji pinned Cobb after a Gene Blaster.
This match was clearly the best match of the night. Tsuji has quickly become one of the top workers in NJPW, and has a big future.
It was a back-and-forth encounter. Cobb dominated large periods, although his opponent managed to get on top multiple times with his impressive move set.
The bout could have ended in any of its many false finishes. It took a top-rope curb stomp and Gene Blaster to finally put Cobb away, giving Tsuji the victory.
