New Japan Pro Wrestling 3/21/2022 - New Japan Cup Day 13

New Japan Pro Wrestling 3/21/2022 - New Japan Cup Day 13

I will just do the top 3 matches here. There's a bunch of pointless tags.

Kazuchika Okada and YOH vs Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI

Okada and Naito start out with some fast paced action. Naito armdrags him, then gets headscissored and they stare down. Yoh and Bushi then go at it and Bushi dropkicks him and Naito puts Yoh in a head and arm submission, but Yoh rope breaks.

Bushi neckbreakers Yoh and Yoh comes back with a falcon arrow. Okada and Naito get in and Okada flapjacks him. Naito hits an enzugiri then flying forearms him. Naito tornado ddt's him. Bushi gets in and missile dropkicks Okada from the top then takes his over the knee neckbreaker. Yoh hits a flying forearm on Bushi then single underhook suplexes him. Bushi then ddt's him and codebreakers him.

Everyone gets in and Yoh takes a sunset flip into a baseball slide. Bushi hits a codebreaker but Yoh sets up a pin and wins it out of nowhere.

This was nothing special. It was only 10 minutes and everyone was rushed and it was a waste of time.

New Japan Cup 2022 Quarter Final Match - Hiromu Takahashi vs Shingo Takagi

Hiromu rushes and flurries him to start, then dropkicks him in the knee and dragon screws him. Hiromu then dropkicks him in the knee again and puts his legs in a hold. Hiromu tries for a headscissors but gets caught, put on Shingo's shoulders then dropped down body first.

They go outside and Shingo throws him into the rails then drops him on the apron and ddt's him on the floor. Shingo running shoulders him then suplexes him for 2. Hiromu fights off with chops then gets double chopped. Hiromu then hits a flying hurricanrana. He pulls him outside then runs the apron and dropkicks him into the rails.

Hiromu basement dropkicks Shingo on the inside then falcon arrows him for 2. They fight on the apron and Hiromu tries for a sunset bomb off the apron but gets blocked. He is able to pull him off though and powerbombs him on the floor.  Back in and Hiromu death valley drivers Shingo into the buckles. Hiromu hits some lariats but Shingo doesn't go down, then Shingo knocks him down with a lariat.

Shingo dragon screws him then hits some short arm lariats, a slam and a top rope back elbow. Shingo then powerbombs him for 2. Shingo then STF's him and rolls on his back to make it worse. They trade forearms and Shingo forearm combos him. Hiromu hits some slaps then rebound german suplexes him. Hiromu then takes a big lariat and a last falconry. Hiromu gets a roll-up and a superkick then is popped-up and utrns it into a canadian destroyer. Hiromu hits a lariat then a time bomb for 2.

Hiromu hits some superkicks then Shingo sits him on the 2nd rope and lariats him on his knee. Shingo hits a big lariat and gets a 2 count. Shingo then hits another last falconry and wins it.

I liked this at the start and liked it less as it went on. They just did too much and kicked out of too much. The general idea of Hiromu trying to get the upset was decent but the match was just too long for the moves and style they were doing. 

New Japan Cup 2022 Quarter Final Match - Zack Sabre Jr. vs Will Osperay

They start off fast. Zack goes for some submissions but Will quickly gets out. ZSJ tries to kick him off of his toehold, but he hangs on then Zack does a quick roll into an armbar. ZSJ gets dropped throat first on the ropes then nailed hard with a facekick that sends him out. Os hits him with forearms and sends him into the buckles hard. Will bullies him around with forearms and Zack hits some hard euro's back.

Will tries a handspring enzugiri on the ropes but ZSJ catches his foot and does a nasty neck twist on him with his feet. WSJ goes up the buckles but gets enzugiri'd. Will then plancha's him on the outside. Will tries to springboard but holds his leg and drops down then barely hits a forearm.

ZSJ PK's him and they both kick each other as they are down on the mat. They then slap each other and ZSJ kicks him in the arm then takes a spinning backbreaker. Will hits some chops then ZSJ runs into a big one then takes more chops. ZSJ gets chopped out of the ring. He then gets thrown at the ropes from outside and chopped. will then jumps off the rail and os cutter's him.

ZSJ barely makes it in and Will misses a top rope legdrop as he enters. ZSJ then hanging leg locks him over the bottom rope. ZSJ leglocks him again then Will deadlift germans him. ZSJ octopus stretches him then gets a samurai driver for 2. They counter each others pin attempts and there's a close 2 on Will.

Will hits him hard with a lariat then ligerbombs him for 2. ZSJ gets on his back with a sleeper then is thrown off and leglocks him. Will rolls back to try and do something then ZSJ puts the sleeper on as well and wins via tap out.

This was a really good one. Maybe one of my favorite of the year so far. These two just worked different with each other. They did a bunch of counters, were stiff, fast and aggressive and they had a real clinic going here at times. This was really well done wrestling and was just something totally different than you normally see. Very good match.