New Japan Cup 2015 – Finals
Sunday March 15, 2015
Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall
Hiroshima, Japan

The New Japan Cup finals are here today, and we’ve got four dudes ready to risk it all to win the cup and challenge for the title of their choice at Invasion Attack. Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi, Hirooki Goto and Togi Makabe all vye for the big prize tonight, and the big question is if we’ll see any classic matches as we usually see on a New Japan show. I’ve already seen the results (I love to spoil myself because I’m like that) and it looks like it could be a hell of a main event. I’m excited, and I know you’re excited because this is up so late in the afternoon (I like to sleep really late, if you’re wondering why I can cover all of these shows in the middle of the night) so let’s skip pleasantries and get right into the action!

Editor’s Note: We’re also pleased to announce our three prize-winners in the New Japan Cup pick’em contest, you can find our winners and full standings at the bottom of the review.

Tiger Mask, Mascara Dorada and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jushin Liger, Jay White and Kushida: Dorada has a new look and outfit, complete with topless mask to let out that long, flowing hair. Hey, I noticed it confined in that mask a few times, so I guess it makes sense to just show it to the world finally. I was hoping for a more mullet-y look but I guess we can never really get what we want in life. Everyone did huge splashes on the outside, with Kushida finishing it off with a big tope suicida off the turnbuckle. It’s down to White and Dorada, so you know where this goes. Dorada hits a rope walk moonsault followed by a Michinoku driver for the win. Pretty fun opener. ***

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/577128356065460224

Jushin Liger grabbed a mic and exchanged words with Tiger Mask after the match, with them shaking hands. So it’ll be a nice, clean technical bout on 3/22!

Yuji Nagata and Sho Tanaka vs. Satoshi Kojima and Yohei Komatsu: As one would expect, Nagata and Kojima exchanged back and forth, as well as the Young Lions, both pairing off with each other. Interesting finish. Kojima and Nagata isolate themselves on the outside, allowing Komatsu to roll into the half crab, Tanaka eventually tapping out. It’s usually not the young lion getting the win here, so maybe it’s the start of something more for the two? Probably not, but I found it interesting regardless. The match was pretty good, but nothing noteworthy. **3/4

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/577130660181221376

(New Japan Cup Semi-Final) Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto: They started off strong by going to the outside, with Goto whipping Makabe into the barricade. He started working on his knee. Makabe comes back with some strong punches and lays him out with a lariat, then another one in the corner. Goto punches him back into the tree of woe position, gets behind him and hits a draping neckbreaker for a nearfall. Makabe tries for a comeback, but Goto gets the leg and wraps it around him, transitioning into a pin and getting the win. This was good, but certainly not even close to the same level as their previous matches, though that’s to be expected as both Makabe and another guy will have to wrestle twice tonight. **3/4

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/577139145673465856

(New Japan Cup Semi-Final) Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito: Golden Stardust explodes! And it’s almost virtually guaranteed to be a better match than the last time a Golden Stardust fought. A lot of this match was Ibushi getting worked on repeatedly. Naito did his comeback, a huge german suplex, everything. Naito missed a dragon suplex when Ibushi opted to land on his feet (!) and start a comeback of his own. Naito, however, comes back with a huge reverse rana off the top rope, Ibushi spiking his head in the process. Holy cow. Natio spikes him again with a hurricanrana but only gets a nearfall. Ibushi catches him in a wheelbarrow position and drops him RIGHT ON THE BACK OF HIS NECK. GEEZ, do these guys want to end up like Yoshitatsu or Bushi? Ibushi finally gets the win with a press powerbomb. A great match with some downright crazy spots. ****

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/577145497510633472

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/577146846725935104

Katsuyori Shibata and Tomoaki Honma vs. Cody Hall and Tama Tonga: Honma wanted to start the match, but Shibata would have none of it and threw him to the outside. Shibata tags in Honma and he ends up getting worked on by Tonga until he catches him with a deadlift suplex. Tonga comes back and tags in Hall who hits his awesome discus lariat. Hall is green, obviously, but has showed tons of potential since starting out on the road this month. Shibata holds up Hall for a lariat but Honma instead hits Shibata by accidently, allowing the heels to come back. They eventually come back and do it again, this time Honma hitting a torpedo kokeshi. Shibata wipes out Hall with the penalty kick and Honma follows with a kokeshi from the top rope for the win. This was actually a really good match with great heat since, well, it’s Honmamania here! ***1/2

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/577153916414107648

Honma and Shibata have a staredown after the match. It seems pretty likely they’re building to something between these two.

Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and Captain New Japan: One of the first parts of this match were Hiroshi Tanahashi and Sakuraba chain wrestling. Then Tanahashi tags in Captain New Japan, who wants him, and Sakuraba outclasses him. I said in the preview the other day that this would be a match that would be better than people thought. Was I on something that day? This actually looks really lame on paper. But in the end, I was right, so HA. They had a match people were into, at least. They got the heat on CNJ. Tanahashi comes in and chain wrestles Sakuraba again, then Yano comes in. Tanahashi tries the high fly flow but Yano gets the knees up and a quick two count. Yano messes with CNJ’s mask, taking him out, allowing Yano to get the win after a kick by Sakuraba and flash pin by Yano. Yup, these two are totally having a match at Invasion Attack. Deal with it. **3/4

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/577161932983164929

Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Chaos (Yoshi Hashi, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada): Hashi is worked on a bit, but Nakamura is tagged in and does his comeback on Anderson. Ishii and Gallows come in and the announcer goes MAD when Ishii hits a big suplex on him.  Okada is tagged in, and Fale follows, but Okada has him down until Yujiro grabs his knee, allowing the heels to come back and work on him. Everyone runs around for a second before it’s back to just Okada and Fale. Okada takes him out with a dropkick and does the pose, but when he tries for the rainmaker gets caught and hits the grenade for a nearfall. Bad Luck Fall time but the rest of Chaos come back and help Okada. Nakamura comes back with a boma ye, and that allows Okada to hit the rainmaker and pin Fale, setting up their Invasion Attack match most likely. A solid match. ***

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/577185176377245696

New Japan Cup Finals – Hirooki Goto vs. Kota Ibushi: Goto takes out Ibushi early with a lariat that sends Ibushi doing a 360 onto the apron. Ibushi comes back with a hurricanrana and his big moonsault off the turnbuckle to the floor. Ibushi hits a german, but Goto pops right back up only to be taken down with an enziguri. Ibushi tries for something off the top rope, but Goto keeps fighting him off, only for Ibushi to launch off with a huge hurricanrana off the top rope, sending Goto careening to the floor! He cuts him off and gets some near falls, but Ibushi responds with a lariat. After some more back and forth, Ibushi hits the press powerbomb that won him the semifinal but Goto kicks out. Ibushi responds with a phoenix splash, and that secures him the match and the New Japan Cup. I think the semifinal was better, but this turned out to be a pretty good match, just something missing that is usually here in big New Japan main events. ***1/2

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/577198864693866498

Ibushi is awarded the New Japan Cup (which is an incredible looking trophy I might add) as well as FIVE MILLION YEN. I guess he’s not going broke anytime soon. Shinpei Nogami comes to the ring and asks Ibushi which title he’s going for- the Intercontinental, NEVER, or Heavyweight titles? Ibushi mulls it over, but eventually decides that he wants AJ, which the crowd pops for. So it’s set that at Invasion Attack, it will be Kota Ibushi challenging AJ Styles for the IWGP Heavyweight championship. Sounds like a hell of a match!

Final Thoughts: A good, but not great show. The crowd was fine, the wrestling was fine, but only one match really stood out and that was the Ibushi/Naito semifinal. That was a hell of a bout with some sick spots. Everything else was solid to good, but just kind of there. A lot of interesting storyline development as well, with Yano getting another win over Tanahashi, Fale losing to Okada and Shibata/Honma starting up some tension between one another. For those who say that NJPW is getting stale, at the very least next month’s big card is hoping to change that perception.

New Japan Cup 2015 Pick’Em Final Results

Thanks to everyone who participated this year, be sure to support our sponsor IVPVideos.com! Congratulations to our three prize winners:

• 3rd: David Penton took home third place as a result of the tiebreaker and wins 4 free discs from IVP.
• 2nd: Jody Plante outsmarted all but one en route to second place and wins 6 free discs from IVP.
• 1st: Congratulations to our winner, the thumbster who nailed all the results from today’s show and will win himself 10 free discs at IVP.

Special thanks to Jason Felix (@Felix824) for inspiring us to run this contest and Josh Engleman (@JoshEngleman) for running most of the back-end operations of the process. Follow these good people and once again, thanks to all who participated!