New Japan Pro Wrestling 3/15/2022 - New Japan Cup Day 9

New Japan Pro Wrestling 3/15/2022 - New Japan Cup Day 9

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Shingo Takagi) vs. House Of Torture (Dick Togo, EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi)

HoT attacks the faces to start and the fight goes outside. Sanad ties up Sho and Togo and dropkicks both out of it. Evil chokes Bushi with a shirt then eye rakes Hiromu and throws him into the exposed buckle. Togo fist drops Bushi for 2. Bushi ddt's Yujiro and both tag out.

Hiromu hits a nice spinning headscissors on Evil then shotgun dropkicks Sho into Evil. Evil gets dropkicked in the leg by Hiromu then shingo is thrown into the exposed buckle. Evil suplexes Shingo for 2 and Togo chokes Shingo with something. Shingo samoan drops Togo then Bushi topes Sho. Hiromu superkicks Togo and Shingo lariats him for the win.

This was a total waste of time with everyone rushing to get anything in before the 8 minutes they had were up.

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada & YOH) vs. Suzuki-gun (DOUKI, Minoru Suzuki & Taichi)

Taichi and Okada battle for a hip throw early and Taichi wins. Okada then slingshot sentons him and the faces triple club Taichi's back. Sho and Douki get in and Sho trips him into a baseball slide. Taichi then chokes Yoh.

Yoh hits a bunch of forearms on Suzuki but gets nowhere, then Suzuki drops him with one. Douki rakes Yoh's eyes then gets caught with a dropkick. Suzuki gets in and Yoh enzugiri's him before tagging Goto in. Goto then hits a running spin kick on Suzuki for 2. Goto and Suzuki trade bad forearms and Goto takes running moves in the corner from the heels. Taichi and Suzuki hold up Goto then Douki top rope double stomps him.

Douki runs into an Okada flapjack then Suzuki headbutts Okada only to get a Yoh dropkick. Yoh then plancha's Suzuki and Taichi. Goto hits a death valleydriver + elbow drop combo for the win on Douki.

This was just a quick one at under 10 minutes and there wasn't much to it. It wasn't bad though, just quick and kind of time filler.

New Japan Cup 3rd Round - YOSHI-HASHI vs Jeff Cobb

Yoshi tries to shoulder him but gets nowhere. He challenges Cobb to take his shot and Cobb bounces him with a shoulder. They go outside and Jeff goes into the rails and post. Yoshi then running shotgun dropkicks him into the rails. Jeff gets in and Yoshi gets on the apron then is running shoulder tackled off. Jeff stands on him outside.

Jeff puts some knees in his back then picks him up for a suplex and throws him. Yoshi dropkicks him in the knee then dragon screws him. Yoshi then ties Jeff's leg up in the ropes and dropkicks it. Yoshi comes off the top with a blockbuster for 2. Yoshi pulls the rope down for Jeff to go over. He plancha's him but is caught and rammed into the post at 10 minutes.

Jeff does a nice suplex then standing moonsaults him for 2. Yoshi hits a canadian destroyer out of nowhere and of course it is only worth a 2. Yoshi then kneebars him out of the kickout. Jeff then deadlift powerbombs him and they trade forearms. Yoshi hits a super light dragon suplex then is lariated over. Jeff knocks him silly with a forearm then gives him a tour of the islands for 2.

Yoshi hits a lariat and jumps on him for a leg trip into a kneebar at 15 minutes. Yoshi then puts him in a figure four variation but Jeff hits the ropes. Yoshi superkicks him then hits a lariat for 2. Yoshi hits a fisherman's suplex for 2. Jeff comes back with a pop-up into a stomach headbutt then gives him a tour of the islands for the win.

I didn't get Yoshi going even with Jeff here. I didn't like the canadian destroyer kickout either. It just wasn't a super smart match and didn't make a ton of sense.

New Japan Cup 3rd Round - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tetsuya Naito

They do very little early and Tana doesn't let go on a handshake. Tana headlocks him then 2nd rope twisting crossbodies him. He then does Naito's pose at 5 minutes. Naito then hiptosses and dropkicks him then does his pose. Tana then gets thrown in the rails and stomped on in the ring. Naito does his combination de cabron. Naito really starts firing on him and stands on his head. Tana then comes back with a flying forearm.

Tana dragon screws him then hits his flipping senton off the 2nd rope for 2 at 10 minutes. Naito goes for an enzugiri but Tana dragon screws him to stop it. Naito rolls out then Tana crossbodies him off the top. They are out there for a whole minute but the ref only hits 19 before they come in.

Tana hits a straightjacket german for 2 then sling blades him for 2. Tana goes up top and Naito throws the ref into the ropes to crotch him at 15 minutes. Even though this was totally illegal, the ref didn't DQ him. Naito then hits a top rope hurricanrana. Naito koppo kicks Tana then diamond dusts him. He then german's him but Tana powers up and Naito flying forearms him. Naito goes for destino but takes a couple of twists and shouts instead. Tana hits a slingblade when they get up then high fly flows him as he is standing. Tana then misses a high fly flow and Naito rolls him up for the cheap win.

The finish was lame and Naito should have been DQ'd for throwing the ref into the ropes. I also would have liked to have seen this gone longer or see them do more as it really only felt like we saw half the match here. It was good but nowhere near where it could have been.