New Japan Pro Wrestling 3/17/2022 - New Japan Cup 2022 Day 10

New Japan Pro Wrestling 3/17/2022 - New Japan Cup 2022 Day 10

I saw 4 of the 8 matches here. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomoaki Honma vs. United Empire (Aaron Henare & Jeff Cobb)

Tana hits some forearms on Henare and Henare powers up from it. Henare then flurried him with gut punches in the corner and Tana came back with a twisting crossbody from the 2nd buckle. Tana and Honma double shouldered then double elbowed Henare.

Cobb hit Honma from the apron then Henare ran him over and knocked Tana off the apron. Cobb got in and stood on Honma's back while doing Tana's air guitar pose. Tana got in and dragon screwed Cobb and Henare. Tana went for a splash in the corner but was caught, slammed and standing moonsaulted by Cobb for 2.

Tana got up and hit a slingblade on Cobb then they both tagged out. Honma shouldered over Henare then running bulldogged him but misses his falling headbutt. Honma hit a ddt/flatliner combo on his opponents then he and Tana did falling headbutts. Henare superplexed Honma for 2 and spinning superkicked Honma. He headbutted him in the chest then Honma took a tour of the islands for 2. Henare hit a stiff fisherman's buster and won it.

Nothing really wrong with this. It was about 10 minutes and was just basic stuff with the heels beating on the faces and the faces making a comeback before losing.

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

As usual, they wasted no time to get started here. Goto hit a spin kick in the corner on Suzuki then Douki took a double shoulder then Goto hiptossed Yoshi on him. Suzuki then triangled Goto in the ropes. Suzuki used the ring bell hammer on Goto on the outside then Taichi joined in with a stick.

Goto was footchoked in the corner by Douki while Suzuki grinded his elbow on his head. Suzuki heel hooked Goto then Okada tried to break it up but got heel hooked too. Suzuki running facekicked Goto in the corner but had his PK blocked. Goto came back with an F-U over his knee then both tagged out.

Okada flapjacked Douki then took Kawada kicks from Taichi. Taichi then hit a nice sidekick and knocked him down. Okada hit a facekick on Taichi and tagged out to Yoshi. Yoshi took corner moves from the heels then got held up in the air for a Douki top rope double stomp for 2. Douki hit a slingshot ddt on Yoshi for a close 2.

Everyone got something in thne Douki took a superkick into a double team sitout bomb from Goto and Yoshi for the Chaos win.

This was fine and your standard house show midcard match with the heels being heels and the faces being faces. Everyone got a little time in here and it was mostly just a way to get people on the card.

New Japan Cup 2022 Third Round Match - Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Great-O-Khan

They do a real fast counter and reversal sequence to start then they mat wrestle. Zack puts him in a leg lock and they roll outside with it still on. Khan ties Zack's leg up in the rails then kicks the rails. He then wrapped Zack's legs around the post and pulled. Khan then continued the attack inside the ring.

Khan went for a hiptoss but Zack held on and armdragged him then Zack ran up the buckles for tornado ddt. Khan starts hitting some slow mongolian chops then Zack came back with euro uppercuts. Khan ran into Zack and got caught with a crucifix into an armbar submission.

Khan put a claw on Zack's leg that he was working on and put him in a cobra twist variation. Khan then put him in a very interesting crossface. He went for a claw slam but Zack reversed it into a triangle. Khan tried to powerbomb him out of it but Zack held on and tapped him out.

This was an interesting clash of styles here and I liked it more than I expected. Khan surprisingly worked very submission oriented here and did a lot of different stuff than usual. I didn't like him giving up the clear submission near the end. Khan worked the leg early, forgot about it some in the middle then went back on the attack at the end.

New Japan Cup 2022 Third Round Match - SANADA vs. Will Ospreay

Will did a rope assisted flip out of a wristlock early. Will then got a crossarmbreaker on and forced a ropebreak. Sanada shoulderblocked Will then Will kipped up and they traded armdrags before a nice Sanada dropkick. Sanada jumped up in the air and got caught and dropped throat first on the top rope, then Will facekicked him out. Sanada was then thrown into the rails outside.

Will euro'd Sanada's arm then worked Sanada's arm back in the ring. WIll did a handspring and backflipped over Sanada but had his knee immediately dropkicked on the landing. Sanada then did a kip up and both tried to put each other in the paradise lock. Sanada eventually succeeded and dropkicked him out. Sanada missed a plancha on the outside and was backdropped onto the apron while Will stood on the floor. Sanada took a weird bump from it and looked hurt.

Will then did a springboard forearm for 2. Sanada was thrown into the corner and he flipped out to the apron then hit a springboard dropkick on Will, making him fall back hard. They traded forearms and spinning forearms, then nailed each other with a spinning forearm at the same time. Sanada then charged in and got spanish fly'd for 2.

Will went for the Os cutter but got blocked. He then tried a standing SSP but Sanada got his knees up. Sanada then put him in a laying dragon sleeper clutch. Sanada went for a top rope moonsault but Will got his knees up then running back elbow cut him for 2. Will hit a bunch of elbows on Sanada laying him out then hit a bunch of forearms to the back of his head for the ref stoppage.

I liked this one. The action was fast paced and the two meshed well together. They were stiff with each other and were aggressive towards each other. The match didn't really tell any story though and was mostly just a moves and action type of match.