Second round continue in Uwajima
The second round of the New Japan Cup continues on March 12 as the tournament heads to Uwajima in Ehime. The second of our four quarterfinals will be determined tonight with tournament action in the semi and main events.
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Main event: New Japan Cup 2nd Round- Chase Owens vs Hirooki Goto
Singles record: 1-0 Goto
Winner faces Tanga Loa or David Finlay March 16 in Aichi
Tuesday’s main event pits Chase Owens against Hirooki Goto. While the competitive spirit within Goto might have liked to face CHAOS stablemate Tomohiro Ishii in the second round, the chance for him to join YOSHI-HASHI in knocking an IWGP Tag Team Champion out of the tournament makes this quite an attractive prospect for Bishamon as a team, and if Goto thinks he won’t get hard hitting competition out of Owens, he may be sorely mistaken.
While Owens took shortcuts on the way into his first round match with Ishii, dropping the Stone Pitbull with a package piledriver the night before, there was no doubt he took a long and hard fought road to success in the match itself. Owens more than acquitted himself in-ring with Ishii and on his own merits earned his way into this, his first singles main event since May of 2015, when he was still a junior heavyweight. With motivation at an all time high, could he pull off the unexpected to make the Elite Eight?
7th Match: New Japan Cup 2nd Round- Tanga Loa vs David Finlay
Singles record: 1-0 Finlay
Winner faces Hirooki Goto or Chase Owens March 13 in Aichi
Our other tournament match tonight sees Tanga Loa and David Finlay squaring off. In 2023, Tama Tonga became the target for Finlay’s mission statement as the new leader of BULLET CLUB, with memorable scenes in Fukuoka seeing Tama stretchered out as Finlay claimed the NEVER Openweight Championship. After an upset win over Great-O-Khan in round one, Tanga Loa has joined big little brother Hikuleo and El Phantasmo to put three GoD members in the last 16. Could he be the first to go through to the final eight?
6th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi) vs BULLET CLUB (KENTA, Gabe Kidd & Taiji Ishimori)
Wednesday sees perhaps the most anticipated of the second round matchups as Gabe Kidd takes on Shingo Takagi one on one. Before that worthy main event takes to the ring in Okayama, a six man preview sees Gabe teamed with familiar foes to Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito in Taiji Ishimori and KENTA respectively. Are his choice of partners indicative of mental chess being played by the usually impetuous Kidd?
5th Match: Hikuleo, El Phantasmo, Shota Umino, Togi Makabe & YOH vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, Ren Narita, Jack Perry, Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
A preview of Wednesday’s second round match between EVIL and Hikuleo sees issues continue to flare between Hontai and HOUSE OF TORTURE. Still conspicuous by his absence will be the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion (despite what YOH’s possession of the belt would have one believe), although his position as the ‘shame of Uwajhima’ may make the locals rejoice in his non appearance. Still as ever the Hontai side will need eyes in the backs of their heads tonight.
4th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (BUSHI & Yota Tsuji) vs TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr.)
Strong potential exists for an incredible quarterfinal matchup Sunday in Shizuoka should Zack Sabre Jr. and Yota Tsuji advance past Ren Narita and El Phantasmo respectively. Though they have their work cut out of them Friday in Osaka before that, they will nonetheless pull out all the stops in what should be an exciting potential preview tonight.
3rd Match: Just Five Guys (Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA) vs United Empire (Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb)
Whether or not faction members remain in the New Japan Cup running, the battle for factional dominance in NJPW is never ending. Six man action will see Just Five Guys and United Empire jockeying for position as we head toward Sakura Genesis, which is a landmark event in both factions’ histories.
2nd Match: Ryusuke Taguchi & El Desperado vs Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira & TJP)
TJP is out of the running in his debut New Japan Cup, but that doesn’t preclude him from teaming with Francesco Akira. Adopting an ‘openweight’ stance, the Public Enemy has pledged to wrestle both heavyweights and junior heavyweights, and still within the 100 kg weight limit means that he and Francesco Akira can get in the hunt for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships once more. It’s doubtful that Drilla Moloney and Clark Connors want anymore of Catch 2/2, but strong performances from the United Empire side, including tonight over the unlikely tandem of Ryusuke Taguchi and El Desperado, may leave the champs with little choice.
1st Match: Katsuya Murashima, Boltin Oleg & Tomoaki Honma vs CHAOS (Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii)
In the wake of Kazuchika Okada’s NJPW exit, questions have been raised as to the future status of CHAOS, Tomohiro Ishii suggesting a closer connection for the group to Hontai moving forward. With a core of CHAOS heavyweights starting the night in Uwajima, perhaps a hint as to the groups future designs.
