Hiromu vs Okada, EVIL vs SANADA highlight landmark broadcast event
Watch the New Japan Cup semifinals FREE on NJPW World!
July 3 2020 will become a significant date in NJPW history, as for the very first time since 1986, live Friday night prime-time action comes to Japanese television since 1986. To further bring down the barrier to entry and have the whole world share in this event, we will be bringing it to you completely FREE on NJPW World to boot!
With two special matches to be added to the event when we go live, here are the semi-final matchups set for Friday:
Hiromu Takahashi vs Kazuchika Okada
First singles meeting
A dream match sees Hiromu Takahashi live his dream on Friday night; ever since he was a teen, the prospect of being IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and wrestling a headline match on prime time television has captivated Hiromu Takahashi. Tonight he does it, and against arguably the best heavyweight competitor of the last decade.
Kazuchika Okada is absolutely used to this kind of big match scenario, and is well used to being a heavyweight wrestling juniors in his time as IWGP Heavyweight Champion at Anniversary events. This year, Hiromu vs Tetsuya Naito was set to be that junior vs heavyweight champion Anniversary main event, but the match was denied us when the Coronavirus pandemic struck.
Takahashi can move one step closer to finally making that match a reality Friday night, but beating Okada is an incredibly tough prospect at the very best of times. This is not the best of times for Hiromu, 24 hours removed from the war Takahashi had against Tomohiro Ishii, where the Junior Heavyweight Champion had to pull out every stop available, with a brand new move, and only the second appearance of Time Bomb II.
Okada didn’t emerge from the quarterfinals unscathed himself however, as an already challenging bout against Taiji Ishimori was made harder with the presence of Gedo in his corner. In the end, an emphatic corkscrew Tombstone and effective use of his Cobra Clutch submission saw Okada through, but there is no doubt the speed of Ishimori had him worried on more than one occasion. Can Hiromu push Okada to breaking point?
EVIL vs SANADA
Singles record: 1-1
Three out of four of our semifinalists are Los Ingobernables De Japon representatives, putting the group in a strong position to main event both nights of Osaka Jo Hall on July 11 & 12. For now though, an inter-LIJ match is the second of our semifinals.
With two prior G1 meetings seeing a 1-1 record between the two former Tag Team Champions, there s much to prove in this contest, and more to fight for than even a place in the New Japan Cup final. Even Tetsuya Naito has commented that although SANADA is the only member of the group not to currently hold a title, his position in LIJ still seems to be above that of EVIL’s.
That remark came before a new attitude in the King of Darkness during this New Japan Cup. Always with a mean streak and a flair for rule bending with the aid of a steel chair, EVIL has gained a newfound aggression this tournament. As he’s continued to insist that victory will come ‘by any means necessary’, he moved past Hirooki Goto with a low blow en route to EVIL, and dispatched of YOSHI-HASHI in the quarter finals after assaulting the Headhunter on his entrance and torturing him with a Scorpion Deathlock.
EVIL then, is perhaps a different man than the one we knew before NJPW took time away back in February, and that might result in danger for SANADA. When they met in the G1 Climax last year, EVIL won out with an emphatic mid ring assault, but SANADA might need to look for more underhanded tactics here. In that instance, the hard hitting yet undeniably dirty fight that Taichi brought last night will be excellent reference for Cold Skull; can he convert this chance to make his second NJC final in two years?
