Final four set for Osaka 

It was a battle of Britain in the main event on March 21 in the New Japan Cup, as career rivals Zack Sabre Jr and Will Ospreay battled for a spot in the semifinals. A top speed start saw Ospreay try to get the better of Sabre early, but ZSJ stood his ground. Ospreay had to ask his corner for advice as ZSJ stayed on the Kingpin’s arm and wrist, and whether it was the United Empire’s or his own invention, got his break with a hotshot and a boot that took Zack to the floor. 

Now able to exploit his power, Ospreay kept wrist control and pulled his opponent in for forearms before a hard shot into the corner. In the face of punishment, Sabre would keep his cool long enough to find a pair of neck cranks, wrestling smarter as Ospreay wrestled stronger, but when the 2021 winner saw an opening he took all of it, blasting ZSJ in the face with a mid kick as he went for a tornado DDT. 

Yet Ospreay’s follow up plancha and high impact strikes saw a loss in balance, and a tweaked leg that brought him to size. As both men were rattled, a hard hitting strike exchange would see Ospreay on top. Despite his left leg still causing him agony, Ospreay connected with a helicopter backbreaker, and growing in confidence with each hard chop that sent Sabre to the floor. 

There an OsCutter connected off the guardrail, paying high reward for high risk to Ospreay, but the Kingpin would get too greedy as ZSJ re-entered the ring. Missing a coast to coast dropkick, Ospreay was caught in an agonizing Achilles hold over the apron, and Sabre set to work. Ospreay would catch a brief break with sheer willpower and a German suplex, and the Chelsea Grin led to a Strombreaker attempt, but he was easily countered into a flying Cobra. Still Ospreay resisted, and perhaps with a message to his would be cup opponent Kota Ibushi, landed a Hitodenashi Driver for two. 

Ospreay wanted a 12-6 elbow to the back of Sabre’s head, but the submission master would escape, a series of near rollups ended with a hard forearm shiver by Ospreay. As the Kingpin went for the killing blow though, he was rolled into a painful kneebar and choke combination. What followed was controversial, at least in the eyes of Ospreay; Ospreay claimed he was repositioning, but visibly seemed to tap out. After waiting to stop Ospreay’s round three match with SANADA, Red Shoes Unno promptly called for the bell on this day, as Zack Sabre Jr. advanced to the semifinals.

That semi final will see ZSJ face Shingo Takagi, who emerged from a war with his LIJ partner Hiromu Takahashi. Hiromu charged in on his teammate at the bell, but had to use a wrist clutch Dragon Screw to cut the heavyweight down to the mat. Immediately the Time Bomb would execute a clear gameplan around Shingo’s base, but the ambitious Hiromu would go up for a hurricanrana and paid dearly as he was dropped face first from an electric chair by Takagi. 

Showing no mercy, Shingo tore into his friend outside the ring and in, effortlessly showing his power in the first five minutes as the Time Bomb was barely more than a passenger. Backdropping himself out of a powerbomb predicament, Takahashi was finally able to hit a tijeras, and pushed the pace against his heavyweight opposition, a shotgun dropkick along the apron line creating valuable time and space. Power offense followed through despite the difference in weight class, as it was Takahashi who landed a powerbomb off the apron, and as strategy gave way to brute force for Hiromu, he gained an unlikely advantage. 

 Hiromu would get on his horse for a Hiromu Bomber lariat, but while he couldn’t knock Shingo down, the Dragon was able to one shot his opponent with a Ryukon. Repeated knockdowns, a Ryukon elbow and a powerbomb followed, transitioning into the Shingo Takagi Facelock as the former World Heavyweight Champion closed in on victory at the 15 minute mark. 

Shingo would go for a pin rather than a submission, Hiromu kicking out and finding his feet to throw what he had at the Dragon. What he had was not enough, as Shingo wouldn’t budge in the face of the junior heavyweight, and even as Hiromu used Shingo’s Pumping Bomber momentum to land a German suplex, Takagi soon popped up to level is foe with a wild right. Yet the Time Bomb showed no sign of quitting, and kicked out of Made In Japan, and countered Last of the Dragon into a pair of near flash pins. 

A Destroyer followed for Hiromu for two, and Shingo’s neck, weakened by Chase Owens just 72 hours before, seemed to give way. Time Bomb followed for two, and Hiromu wanted Victory Royal, responding to Shingo’s resistance with a headbutt to the chest. Yet neither Time Bomb II nor Victory Royal was forthcoming, and the Great Takagi Revolution was followed with Pumping Bomber for a very near two. Takahashi roared in defiance at Shingo, but a series of blows was followed by Last of the Dragon for the three count.