Round of 16 gets underway

NIGHT SEVEN: March 11, Ehime

EVIL vs Jeff Cobb

Singles record: 1-0 Cobb

The first match in the round of 16 has Jeff Cobb facing EVIL. One match, a US encounter earlier in both men’s careers, connects the two with a victory for Cobb, but much has changed since. That bout saw a pre BULLET CLUB EVIL and a pre- United Empire Cobb, with both men gaining a much harder edge in their new factional homes. 

Cobb’s first round saw him overcome Satoshi Kojima with trademark power, and an incredibly effective finish. EVIL has become known for finishing a match in an instant, but as he struck with the hold as Kojima closed on victory in the Budokan, Cobb proved the Tour of the Island can come from any angle. Will he be able to strike with the hold to upset the New Japan Cup 2020 winner? Or will the King of Darkness make best use of his bye to reach the quarter finals? 

Great-O-Khan vs Toru Yano

Also in Ehime on March 11, Great-O-Khan will battle Toru Yano. After singles losses to Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi, O-Khan’s first round win over Tetsuya Naito, via referee stoppage no less, was a huge feather in the Dominator’s cap. 

Yet he hasn’t faced an opponent like Toru Yano one on one yet. Yano was able to use his environment to his advantage to sneak a countout win over Bad Luck Fale in Korakuen on March 5. Could Yano outsmart O-Khan Thursday? Or could he outwrestle him? Yano’s amateur achievements before joining the pro ranks rival O-Khan’s spectacular achievements, and this could turn into a surprise grappling contest. 

After being thought by many to be an underdog in the first round against Naito, O-Khan will likely be the favourite of many coming into the second. Yet famed bracket buster Toru Yano could easily find his way to the elite eight in a match you can’t afford to take your eyes off of. 

NIGHT EIGHT: March 13, Aichi

Hirooki Goto vs Shingo Takagi

Singles record: 2-1 Takagi

Hirooki Goto and Shingo Takagi meet for the fourth time one on one in the New Japan Cup, and the first time since Takagi won the NEVER Openweight Championship from the CHAOS member last February in Sapporo. Now Takagi seeks an even greater singles prize by winning the New Japan Cup and facing Kota Ibushi at Sakura Genesis, but the Dragon knows how tall of an order that is. 

Goto booked his place in the second round with a formidable performance against taichi, winning out with a GTR in a hard hitting boutt that was an easy highlight of the round of 32. Goto was fired up on the microphone and backstage afterward, but he was fired up to face and beat his CHAOS teammate Kazuchika Okada. 

While most had Okada circled on their schedules to overcome Takagi in Ota, the result was very different. Last of the Dragon after an intense war showed just how dangerous the single elimination New Japan Cup is to every entrant, as one of the cup’s top seeds was eliminated in the first round. If Takagi can beat the Rainmaker, it’s safe to say that Takagi can beat anyone in the bracket, but there are no safe bets in the New Japan Cup.

Minoru Suzuki vs KENTA

Minoru Suzuki and KENTA’s meeting in the second round of the cup will be only their second singles confrontation of their respective careers, and their first in NJPW. Indeed KENTA and Suzuki have only faced off one on one once, all the way back in 2005 for Pro-Wrestling NOAH. 

Past form will likely not inform this match then. Instead, this fresh singles bout is hard to predict; the only reliable prediction is that this meeting of two of the toughest to ever lace up a pair of boots will be an unmissable bout worthy of a main event in any venue in the world. KENTA booked his place in the second round with a Game Over submission on Juice Robinson after the BULLET CLUB member viciously attacked the injured orbital of Robinson. Moments earlier, Suzuki earned his place in the round of 16 in similarly sadistic form, a Gotch Style Piledriver onto Tomoaki Honma’s weaken neck ending his tournament hopes. Who makes the elite eight?

Night NINE: March 14, Hyogo

Zack Sabre Jr vs Will Ospreay 

Singles record: 8-5 Sabre

With fourteen matches between Zack Sabre Jr. and Will Ospreay over the years, match 14 hits Hyogo. 14 is a theme in fact; the match taking place on the Japanese romantic occasion of White Day March 14, 13 months after they met on Valentine’s Day 2020 for the British Heavyweight Championship in York Hall. Then it was Ospreay with the victory, and a post match declaration that he was transitioning to the heavyweight ranks. The victory, would lead, in a roundabout sense, to Ospreay forming the United Empire and garnering the hype he has around himself in this year’s cup. 

Can Sabre shut Ospreay down? He is certainly more than able to, and after beating another countryman in Gabriel Kidd in Yamanashi, will look to show that he is the top British wrestler in NJPW and by extension the world. Who will prove to be the best of British in Hyogo Sunday? 

Yuji Nagata vs SANADA

Singles record: 1-1

Career singles records tell an even tale for this second round collision between Yuji Nagata and SANADA, though the scoreline is a little deceptive. Yuji Nagata’s victory over (then Seiya) SANADA was in the 2011 AJPW Champion’s Carnival, a tournament that the future Cold Skull made the final of only four years into the business. SANADA’s come a long way since, as Nagata found out in singles action just a few weeks ago in Korakuen Hall. Yet SANADA can ill afford to get complacent and be overconfident of his place in the quarter finals. The stiff shots meted out by Blue Justice in his first round match with Yota Tsuji was proof enough of how badly Nagata wants another taste of main event level success. Does he want it more than SANADA?

 Night NINE: March 15, Korakuen

David Finlay vs YOSHI-HASHI

Singles record: 1-0 YOSHI-HASHI

David Finlay and YOSHI-HASHI’s second ever confrontation one on one will be the first in five years since the Headhunter took on the then Dojo newcomer in Finlay. ‘Big match Debbie’ has come a long way since, both as a tag wrestler with Juice Robinson, and indeed as a singles competitor, as he proved with a tremendous hard fought victory over Chase Owens in Kyoto this week. 

YOSHI-HASHI had his own win over BULLET CLUB opposition, proving unbreakable against Yujiro Takahashi in their meeting. Two tag team specialists who have indomitable heart in singles situations, this is an intriguing battle, and will be very hard for Korakuen Hall to call a favourite in, both in terms of odds and affections. 

Jay White vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

Singles record: 3-2 White

While Jay White was full of confidence heading into the his first round matchup with Toa Henare, the match itself was not quite plain sailing. Even White would have to admit that Henare gave more of a fight than he was expecting; in Hiroshi Tanahashi, White knows full well the level of fight to expect in round two. 

Not that the Switchblade has no reason to feel confident once again. 3-2 reads the scoreline between the two men, with White attaining the two most recent victories, one for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and one on a return from injury for the Ace that effectively put Tanahashi right back on the shelf. Two years on, and although Tanahashi has had a bye past the first round, the Ace seems to be finding a new level of stature and pride with each passing day as NEVER Openweight Champion. Though not as physically dominant as he once was, his championship victory over Shingo Takagi, and gutsy defence against great-O-Khan has shown you can never count out Tanahashi. Yet with his odds in the ‘New Jaypan Cup’ looking rock solid, Jay White is hard to bet against.