NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING

NEWS

MAR.4.2021

#INFO

New Japan CUPdate 2021: March 4

Cobb, O-Khan  advance to second round

March 4’s 49th Anniversary Event saw the first two men qualify for the scond round of the New Japan Cup, joining EVIL and Hiroshi Tanahashi, who each have byes to the round of 16. 

The first match of the tournament saw Jeff Cobb take on Satoshi Kojima. 

In a match between two powerhouses, Cobb had the clear strength advantage as he muscled Kojima into the ropes initially, and had the advantage with more powerful shoulder tackles to bowl over his opponent. Kojima had to throw as hard as he could on the back foot and did so with machine gun chops, but the top rope elbow was cut off with a shoulder barrage and lariat.

Cobb showed his athletic edge too with a beautiful dropkick and standing moonsault for two. Yet the ‘imperial unit’, confident though he was, paid for his pride with a superplex from Kojima. A Shining Wizard would follow, and Kojima went for a plancha but was caught and dumped by Cobb.

Kojima was able to battle back, clipping the knee of Cobb on the apron and following with a DDT. Back inside, a top rope elbow scored, as did a KojiCutter, and a brainbuster. Yet as Kojima tried to capitalize on his momentum, and put Cobb away, a Spin Cycle would get two for Cobb, and the lariat would be countered with Tour of the Islands for three.

The night’s second Cup match saw Great-O-Khan tackle Tetsuya Naito, as both attempted to rally from bruising Osaka losses. For each man, the match appeared to be as much about breaking the other’s spirit as it was about breaking bodies. While O-Khan was resistant to mind games from Naito as he was slow to undress for the match, Naito did seem to get in the Dominator’s head by pulling at his braided hair, quickly drawing O-Khan’s ire.

O-Khan would take over on the floor, and exuded confidence as he picked at Naito. El Ingobernable would fire off a single legged dropkick, and mounted offence centered on the neck, possibly with Destino in mind. It would be the long legs that cut Naito off however, and O-Khan followed with Mongolian Chops; when Naito went to fire back with a swinging DDT, he found himself with a bad right knee spiked into the mat.

With a target now firmly in mind, O-Khan was unrelenting, sending his man to the outside and using a knee breaker across a steel chair. The gutsy Naito refused to be counted out, and spiked O-Khan with a DDT to escape a claw on the knee, before repeated elbows and an Esperanza scored out of the corner.

Yet Naito couldn’t finish O-Khan. Dropped hard with a front slam and a reverse powerslam across his knee, Naito couldn’t capitalize even when resisting the Eliminator to land a running Destino. O-Khan ducked an enzuigiri from Naito that smashed his knee into the canvas. The United Empire member quickly negotiated a knee bar that had Naito stranded Center ring and screaming in pain, forcing the referee to call for the bell.

Jeff Cobb will now face EVIL in Ehime on March 11, while Great-O-Khan awaits the winner of Bad Luck Fale and Toru Yano on March 5.

 

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