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Card set for March 14 in Shizuoka! Tanahashi, Fale, Juice, Elgin in New Japan Cup action! A parade of heavyweight champions in 6 man tag warfare!

MAR.14.2018

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Card set for March 14 in Shizuoka! Tanahashi, Fale, Juice, Elgin in New Japan Cup action! A parade of heavyweight champions in 6 man tag warfare!

With the first round of the New Japan Cup in the books, the cards for the two quarter final shows have been finalised, beginning in Shizuoka on the 14th.

Topping the show will be the first two quarter final Cup matches. Starting with the main event, we have Hiroshi Tanahashi taking on Bad Luck Fale. Both men are riding a wave of momentum; Tanahashi beat Taichi on March 10 to begin his ‘resurgence’ from knee injury. Meanwhile, Fale defeated Lance Archer in a battle of giants the same night in Aichi.

These two last met in the G1 Climax last year. In that match, too, Tanahashi was recovering from an injury, but managed to use his smarts to overcome Fale’s strength, and pick up a countout victory. Fale will definitely be looking for revenge, as well as to improve on his 2017 New Japan Cup run. Last year, Fale made the finals before falling to winner Katsuyori Shibata. Could the Underboss go all the way in 2018?

In the other quarter final match of the night, Juice Robinson faces Michael Elgin. On the opening night of the tournament in Korakuen, Michael Elgin certainly earned his Unbreakable nickname in an absolute war with Tomohiro Ishii. Yet there was no breaking Juice either, as he beat a motivated and tough Yujiro Takahashi to advance.

For Elgin, the cup is a chance to return to prominence and the main event title scene. For Juice, it’s a potentially huge step up in his career. Neither hungry, prideful competitor will be backing down in Shizuoka.

Underneath the tournament matches is a parade of champions. The winner of the New Japan Cup can choose to challenge the NEVER, Intercontinental or IWGP Heavyweight Champion at Sakura Genesis April 1st. Here, all three of those champions will be in action as NEVER champ Hirooki Goto partners with IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada and YOSHI-HASHI to face Intercontinental Champion Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka and Taichi of Suzuki Gun.

CHAOS will also be in action against Los Ingobernables De Japon. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano and Chuckie T will form the CHAOS side, taking on the LIJ trio of Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI and SANADA. These two factions have long been at odds, and on March 14, there’s added impetus for SANADA and Yano as they seek to assert dominance before facing each other in Cup action the next night.

You can catch all the action from the New Japan Cup live on the King of Sports streaming services: NJPW World! https://njpwworld.com/

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