12 of 16 set for round three after thrilling Aichi evening

Round two of the new Japan Cup continued in the Dolphins Arena in Aichi on March 12, as the north east bracket of the tournament saw four more names added to the bracket. 

The main event would see IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion SANADA take on Aaron Henare in a rematch from last spring that Henare had been anxiously anticipating. Henare, with relatively little main event experience would keep control of the champion on the mat, and started to open up into strikes; though he was met by a dropkick from SANADA, Henare saw a follow-up plancha coming and hoisted SANADA back first into the ring post. Keeping his foe on the floor, Henare unleashed some heavy shots, before dropping Cold Skull with a Superman Elbow. 

Back inside, Henare kept the upper hand before a basement dropkick swung the pendulum back SANADA’s way. On a second attempt, the Paradise Lock would trap Henare, and the champion’s second try at a plancha would similarly find its mark. Henare would escape a TKO though, and a Berserker Bomb would be followed with a stiff knee and rugby kicks to the hurt back of SANADA. Further damage was done with a Maori Drop out of SANADA’s attempt at a Frankensteiner counter, and it felt as if the match was the Ultimate Weapon’s for the taking. 

SANADA was finally able to use Henare’s momentum against him when he was run into the corner, propelling himself over the ropes and into a springboard dropkick, before a TKO earned two. A Skull End attempt would be countered by one of Henare’s own, and the Ultimate Weapon followed with a ground Cobra that had SANADA screaming in pain. The LIJ member nearly tapped as his neck was cranked to an oblique angle; even as SANADA made the ropes, it seemed as if the damage head been done.

SANADA was not moving after the rope break, and had very little on his strikes as Henare hoisted him to his feet. The United Weapon member had everything behind his own strikes though, an elbow and hook kick scoring huge before Henare went for Streets of Rage. As the match passed twenty minutes, SANADA escaped to the corner, and backflipped out into Skull End, but a follow-up moonsault only got the knees of Henare. 

The two men reset, and Henare was still more powerful in the standup with heavy body shots, but SANADA was able to find a rolling elbow and a second before crashing into the skull of the Kiwi. Rampage Tackle followed for two, but SANADA landed on his feet out of a Streets of Rage attempt, connecting with a pop up TKO and landing the moonsault for a very hard fought victory.  

Expectations were for a high speed spectacle between Will Ospreay and El Phantasmo, something the two provided in the early going, but it was ELP surprising the former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion by seizing the early advantage in each exchange. A helicopter backbreaker though, and Ospreay took control, compounding the damage with a back suplex over the ringside guardrail. Phantasmo would mount offense in return, but his back would seize in landing a forearm drop, and when the Canadian hesistated in tuning up the Sudden Death band, Ospreay made him play with a boot and a high impact plancha.

The back still bothering him, Phantasmo nonetheless was able to land a top rope swanton and flow into a quebrada, before again looking for Sudden Death. As Ospreay found his feet, the Headbanga hesitated and paid with a Street Cutter, but blocked an OsCutter attempt, and countered a handspring into the UFO. The damage done to the back was too much to land a superplex, and Ospreay remained a step ahead as ELP tried a Poison Rana, landing on his feet and connecting with a sitout powerbomb for two. 

Phantasmo escaped Hidden Blade with a hurricanrana for two, and buried his knees into Ospreay’s chest on a Shooting Star, before counting OsCutter again with a cutter of his own. ELP got two from a wrist clutch Burning Hammer, and scored Thunder Kiss ’86 for another nearfall, but just as he looked to finally hit Sudden Death, he was caught mid motion with a Hidden Blade, and a second to the face as Ospreay moved on.  

Taiji Ishimori had to deal with a size mismatch against Great-O-Khan, and did so by drawing the Dominator to the floor before shoving him into the ringpost. Maintaining an attack on the shoulder, Ishimori sent a chair crashing into O-Khan, before removing the turnbuckle pad and using the steel as painful leverage on the injured body part. Despite O-Khan’s efforts to use his power, he would be frustrated by Ishimori and the damage done to his shoulder, before finally catching his junior heavyweight opposition in a painful cross armbreaker. 

Now with roles reversed, O-Khan unleashed his own assault on the left arm of the Bone Soldier. Using his Mongolian Chop with one hand, O-Khan applied more pain to Ishimori, but Ishimori was able to go back to his agility, escaping contact in the corner and landing a pair of double knees before going into Yes Lock. Moments later, the Dominator would find his own version of Gene LeBell’s hold, sending Ishimori into the exposed buckle, but the BULLET CLUB member was able to avoid the Eliminator, and connected with a handspring overhead kick.

Taking advantage, Ishimori shoved O-Khan shoulder first into the ring post and landed a Codebreaker flush to the injured body part. Landing La Mistic, Ishimori went back to the Yes Lock and then Bone Lock. Though O-Khan would resist submission, he would almost be knocked out with a knee to the point of the chin; this only seemed to awaken the Dominator. Still Ishimori would avoid O-Khan’s finishing hold, nearly cradling the United Empire member, before a kick out led to a super powered Eliminator for the win. 

Zack Sabre Jr. was first to book his place in round three on the night, putting away Suzuki-Gun stablemate DOUKI. The masked rudo was quick to fly to ZSJ with a tope suicida and dropkick before keeping up a frenetic flurry of offense, before Sabre finally found a grip on his opposition. Still, ZSJ had a hard time dealing with DOUKI’s lucha stylings, as Japones Del Mal went from strikes to llave submissions.

Sabre’s frustration mounted before he was able to stamp the arm of DOUKI, before mercilessly punishing his foe, punishing a brief comeback with a brutal Boston Crab. DOUKI resisted the pain though, before finding Doton no Justsu for two, but the Italisn Stretch would be countered into a modified Figure Four. As the junior heavyweight made the ropes and both reset, DOUKI landed a lariat to fell Sabre, before looking for and getting Daybreak, but he couldn’t find Suplex De La Luna. DOUKI had a counter for the counter when he held Zack in the Italian Stretch #32, but the Briton caught DOUKI in a series of pins with Cremation Lily for the submission win.