Three more join sweet 16
The New Japan Cup continued in Yamanashi on March 8, as three more tournament matches saw the second round bracket continue to fill up.
The main event of the evening would see Shingo Takagi take on Yuya Uemura. With no time limit at play, Uemura wanted to build a classical game from the bell, and he out wrestled Takagi to the mat, coming up with the left arm. Frustrated, Takagi looked to increase the pace, but was brought again to the mat by Uemura, who stayed a step or five ahead all the way through the first five minutes. Brute force had to be the answer for Shingo, and it was with a hard Ryukon lariat, and Uemura spilled to the floor with the conversation dramatically shifted.
On the outside of the ring, Takagi rang Uemura off the apron and the guardrails, and with his opponent winded, brought an explosive tackle and suplex. Wanting to take Uemura to school after early embarrassments, Takagi went from an STF to a hard armbar, but by going to an offensive place Uemura was comfortable with, Shingo was forced to pay with an arm drag and triangle. A DDT from Takagi and the crowd came behind the home town hero who brought Yuya to the top rope at the 15 minute mark; Uemura tried to escape a difficult predicament, but the only way out was down with a superplex.
Uemura knew danger was coming when Shingo looked for Made in Japan, and maintained his base before throwing in a hard chop. Drawing Takagi into throwing bombs, Uemura ducked under with a German and then a Dragon suplex for two before another nearfall came from a high and tight uranage. The Deadbolt suplex was denied Uemura though and the Pumping Bomber scoerd before Made In Japan only for two.
Feeling victory in his grasp, Takagi clinched Uemura for Last of the Dragon, but the Heat Storm evaded, and a Frankensteiner into a straight armbar had Takagi screaming and scrambling in pain. Shingo just barely made the bottom strand. With Uemura wanting to go home, Takagi escaped the Deadbolt suplex, burying an elbow to the back of the head in response to an Uemura overhead kick, stuffing Uemura with a powerbomb and landing a Pumping Bomber but the match was still not over. Instead, it would be Last of the Dragon that ended a grueling war in 23:22.
A battle of two premier young British talents saw Callum Newman take on Gabe Kidd. A fast start saw strikes exchanged before a big bootfrom Newman sent Kidd to the floor. The Prince of Pace kept up the pressure with a dropkick on the floor, but a quebrada saw Kidd bury a fist in the jaw of Callum in midair. Now in his wheelhouse, Kidd sent Newman careening into the crowd and then the ringpost; Newman would fire up against the War Ready Kidd but would soon be dumped back to the floor.
Kidd had full control of the younger Newman who summoned up a brainbuster and a pair of topes suicida in response. A flying elbow off the top struck Kidd in the back of the head, and penalty kicks scored in rapid succession as Callum started to put together sustained offence at last. A perfectly timed basement dropkick later though, gave Gabe pause to think of the leg trap piledriver, but a Spanish Fly stunned the War Dog, and an audible after a denied OsCutter instead led to a stunning springboard overhead kick for two. A massive Shooting Star Press from Newman would have sealed the deal, but Kidd avoided the contact; Newman kicked out of a harsh brainbuster, but not the classic piledriver that put the young man away and put Kidd into the second round.
The first of the night’s tournament matches was a superheavyweight clash for Boltin Oleg and Hikuleo. Hard collisions early saw Boltin surprised at the size and scale of Hikuleo; the smaller man in the ring for the first time in his career, he found himself dropped hard center ring by the Guerrilla of Destiny and worked over by Hikuleo. Boltin’s amateur instincts saw him score a big belly to belly suplex though, and a Boston Crab saw Hikuleo pained as he struggled to the ropes. A vertical suplex surprised both Hikuleo and the fans in Yamanaashi, and a German suplex got a near two, but Kamikaze was denied, and after a scoop powerslam, the Godsend led to three.
Second round matches March 13 in Okayama will now see EVIL face Hikuleo and Gabe Kidd take on . First round action concludes Sunday in Hyogo, where Mikey Nicholls will face El Phantasmo, Taichi takes on Ren Narita and Jeff Cobb meets Yota Tsuji in the main event.
