New Japan Pro Wrestling 3/16/2025 New Japan Cup 2025 Day 7

New Japan Pro Wrestling 3/16/2025 New Japan Cup 2025 Day 7

Katsuya Murashima & Tomohiro Ishii vs. TMDK (Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa)

Oiwa and KM lock up. KM hits forearms. Oiwa side headlocks him. Oiwa shoulders him over. KM misses a dropkick and is put in a crab.

Oiwa and Ishii trade shots and Oiwa armdrags him. Oiwa shoulders him over. KM shoulders Oiwa over. Oiwa slams KM. Hart slams KM. Oiwa falling splashes KM. KM hits a dropkick.

Ishii gets in and sends Oiwa into Hart. Ishii shoulders him over. Oiwa then forearms Ishii over. Ishii no sells Oiwa's forearms and hits his own. Oiwa suplexes him. Ishii no sells it. Ishii suplexes him.

Oiwa hits a dropkick and is german suplexed. KM and Hart get in. KM hits forearms. Hart misses a corner splash. KM dropkicks him twice. KM goes for the slam but Hart falls down on him. Hart sentons KM.

Ishii sends Hart into Oiwa then KM rolls up Hart for 2. KM flying forearms Hart. KM hits a big powerslam on Hart for 2. KM takes a lariat from Hart for 2. Hart death valley drivers KM and wins.

Thoughts: It was a decent opener with the four working well together and keeping things moving. I liked KM's powerslam on Hart.

Ishii and Oiwa fight more after the bell. 

Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata vs. Daiki Nagai & Hiroshi Tanahashi

Tana and Koji go at it. Koji side headlocks him then Tana headlock takeovers him. Tana then headscissors him. Tana side headlocks Koji and shoulders him over. Tana hits Koji in the gut then Koji shoulders him over.

Nagai and Yuji go at it. Yuji guillotines him twice. Nagai slams him and hits forearms. Yuji corner facekicks Nagai then kicks him in the back. Nagai hits forearms on Yuji and Yuji forearms and slaps him back.

Yuji snapmares him and kicks him in the back. Koji slams Nagai then stomps him. Koji neckbreakers Nagai. They trade forearms. Yuji boots him around. Nagai shoulders him over.

Tana gets in and flying forearms Yuji. Tana slams Yuji then 2nd rope swantons him for 2. Yuji exploders him. Koji hits machine gun chops on Tana in the corner then 2nd rope elbow drops him for 2.

Tana hits a dragon screw. Nagai gets in and hits forearms on Koji. Nagai slams him then hits a dropkick for 2. Nagai crabs Koji and Koji gets him off of him. Nagai slaps Koji then is lariated. Koji then wins.

Thoughts: It was fine. Nagai got feisty with the vets before going down and Tana didn't get to do too much but the basics. It wasn't anyone's best work though.

Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Just 4 Guys (TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura)

Yoshi and Yuya lock up. Yuya side headlocks him then Yoshi reverses it. Yuya trips him and side headlocks him. Yoshi chops him and side headlock takeovers him, Yuya does it to him then he does it to him again.

Yano pulls the turnbuckle pad off. Taka eye pokes him. Taka goes into the exposed buckle twice. Yano hiptosses him. Yoshi hits elbows to the neck. Yoshi chops him.

Taka is laid on the top rope and is basement dropkicked by Yoshi. Yoshi chops Taka then Taka pump kicks him. Yuya hits chops on Yoshi. Yuya armdrags and chops Yoshi.

Yuya backdrops Yoshi for 2. Yoshi elbows Yuya in the back of the neck. They trade chops. Yuya hits a dropkick. Taka running knees Yoshi. Taka puts him in just facelock. Yuya corner splashes Yoshi. Yoshi headhunters Taka then headhunters him. Yoshi double underhooks Taka and submits him.

Thoughts: The match was fine and moved along well but the ending was stupid. That move was too weak for Taka to tap out to. 

El Phantasmo, Jado & Oleg Boltin vs. United Empire (Great-O-Khan, Jakob Austin Young & TJP)

Khan and Oleg mat wrestle. Khan legsweeps him then Oleg shoulders him over. Khan takes kicks then Oleg slams Khan. Jado is foot choked in the corner then Khan hits mongolian chops. Khan sits on Jado's neck in the corner.

Jake and TJP get offense in on Jado. TJP does facewash kicks on Jado. TJP hits forearms on Jado. Jado shoulders him over. ELP gets in and top rope double axe handles TJP. ELP hits punches on TJP then dropkicks him. Jake is lifted and headscissors TJP out. ELP then plancha's TJP outside.

ELP 2nd rope corkscrew crossbodies TJP. They each hit kicks and TJP does a final cut variation on him. Jake and Oleg trade. Oleg blocks his flying headscissors and goes for karelin's lift. Oleg takes a leg lariat from Jake. Oleg dropkicks Khan. Khan superkicks Jake.

Oleg finlay rolls Jake and wins.

Thoughts: It wasn't much of note here with Jado getting beaten up then Jake having his chance to be beaten up.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) vs. United Empire (Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb)

Cobb and Naito go at it and get off to a slow start. Cobb does Naito's pose. Cobb takes an atomic drop and then a baseball slide. Cobb blocks a sunset flip with a butt drop and CN throws Naito into the rails.
Cobb stomps on Bushi's back. CN stomps on Bushi. Cobb standing moonsaults Bushi.

Bushi comes off the buckles and is caught by Cobb. He then headscissors him. Naito and CN go at it. Naito dropkicks CN in the knee. Naito kneebreakers CN on his knee. Naito boots the knee and is knee'd in the head. CN hits a corner forearm.

Naito dropkicks him in the knee. Bushi ddt's CN for 2. Bushi topes Cobb outside and sends him over the rail. CN springboard euros Bushi for 2. CN flying knees Bushi and pins him.

Thoughts: It didn't get much time and was just filler. Naito worked CN's knee some here. Bushi's tope on Cobb was nice.

BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd & SANADA) vs. House Of Torture (EVIL, Ren Narita, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi)

They brawled all over to start with the ref not really  caring. They used various weapons during the match and of course both sides cheated. We also got the usual ref bump. This was exactly what you would think it would be and I didn't think it was that interesting. Evil beat Chase here with everything is evil.

Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji)

Yota and Shota go at it. Yota works the arm then Shingo 2nd rope double axe handles Shota's arm. Shota and Shingo shoulder battle. Shingo misses a senton then Shota dropkicks him. Shingo takes a double shoulderblock then Honma misses a falling headbutt on him.

Shingo and Shota fight outside. Shingo wristlocks Shota, walks the apron and clubs his arm. Honma gets his legs split. Yota cravates Honma and chinlocks him. Shingo hits elbow drops on Honma. Shingo tries to suplex him but Honma botches it and gets his head spiked into the mat like a ddt.

Yota and Honma fight. Yota tries to suplex him but gets suplexed. Shota and Shingo go at it. Shingo is dropped throat first on the ropes and Shota shoulders Shingo over. Shota fisherman suplexes Shingo. Shingo corner lariats Shota then hits punches and chops. They trade forearms.

Shingo blocks a tornado ddt. Shingo then hits a normal ddt. Yota corner splashes Shota then Shota neckbreakers him. Honkma gets in. Yota pulls his neck over the top rope. Honma back elbows him then misses a falling headbutt. Yota then misses a splash on him. Honma then finally hits the falling headbutt.

Honma takes a double backdrop for 2. Shota hits a nice tornado ddt on Shingo that is no sold. Shingo then lariats him. Honma lariats Yota then running shoulders him for 2. Honma comes off the buckles and is hit with a knee from Yota. Yota falcon arrows Honma for 2. Yota hits a bigspear on HOma and pins him.

Thoughts: It was a decent tag here. Shingo and Shota had good sections and Yota/Honma was entertaining as well. It's a shame it didn't go longer as what we got was good. Honma took a dangerous botched suplex on his head.

New Japan Cup 2025 Semi Final Match - Zack Sabre Jr. vs. David Finlay

The lock up and go on the ropes. DF tells him not to push him. DF wristlocks him and Zack takes him down by the wrist. DF grabs a leg and Zack slips out. Zack hiptosses DF over the top. DG gets back in, is armdragged and he headscissors Zack. They then stand off.

They trade euros. DF hits a forearm flurry then hits a hard back elbow. Zack gets his knees up on DF's senton, goes for the armbar and DF ropebreaks. Zack yanks on DF's hand. DF uranage backbreakers him. Zack is thrown hard into the buckles multiple times and goes down.

Zack euros DF and takes a flying euro. DF corner ueors him then is suplexed into the buckles. Zack hits euros. Zack backslides him and twists his neck with his feet then dropkicks him in the head. DF backbreakers Zack. Zack tries to guillotine him outside but is rammed into the rails. DF misses a charge and goes into the rails then Zack dropkicks him into the rails. Zack then PK's him inside.

Zack octopuses him. Zack is dropped throat first on the ropes then powerbombed. Zack spinning michinoku drivers him. Zack kicks DF in the chest several times. DF hits a big powerbomb on Zack for 2. Zack hits kicks and DF spears him. They reverse each other and Zack goes for a bridge pin. DF running lariats him. DF hits a nasty oblivion for 2. Zack gets another 2 count on a bridge pin. Zack lariats DF. They reverse each other and DF hits overkill to win.

Thoughts: I was pleasantly surprised by this. It was not the normal DF match with him hitting a bunch of power moves he shouldn't be doing. They did a lot of reversals on each other and generally worked well together. Zack easily got the best out of DF of anyone I've seen so far and I thought this was good. Zack was just the IWGP champ but it seems like it's back to business with him as usual before he won the title as he's losing to people like Finlay now.

DF says you can't say Zack is better than him. He says he's winning the cup because hate always finds a way.

Overall thoughts: The main was good. The semi-main was decent but they didn't go for anything great. I liked 3 of the undercard matches as well. The heel vs heel 10 man tag was what you would expect and wasn't that interesting. I'd give it a 6 out of 10, mostly for the main and for the undercard being acceptable.