New Japan Pro Wrestling returns to the Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan tonight for the Super J-Cup Finals. After a month of the best heavyweights compete in a grueling G1 Climax tournament, this will be a night dedicated solely to the best juniors around the world.
It is also likely we will get an announcement, or several announcements, for the upcoming trio of NJPW Destruction shows in September. We’ll keep you updated on that.
Tonight’s show kicks off at 2:00AM EST (11PM PST) and will feature the quarter finals, semi finals, and the final round of the Super J-Cup tournament, featuring stars from multiple promotions across the world, including New Japan, All Japan, Noah, CMLL, Ring of Honor and more. Also in action, the Young Bucks will defend the IWGP Jr. Tag Team titles against old rivals, the reunited Motor City Machine Guns, a GHC Jr. Tag Team title defense, a special six-man tag match featuring the stars of CMLL, and more.
Coverage will be right here on this page, so feel free to to discuss the show early.
GURUKUN MASK, BUSHI & KAIJI TOMATO vs. DAVID FINLAY, EITA & YUMA AOYAGI
This was basically a spotlight for Bushi that turned into a pretty fun opening match. Bushi would tag himself in and out whenever he wanted to, even attacking his own partners, and won the match for his “team” with a second rope Codebreaker. Lots of high flying action including an everyone-to-the-floor spot with some impressive dives. Tomato tried to give Bushi a plush tomato after the match, but he spit the poison mist in his face and ripped off Gurukun’s mask. The ring crew immediately hit the ring and put a towel over his head. Winners: Bushi. Basically just Bushi. Or else.
QUARTER-FINAL TOURNAMENT MATCH
JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER vs. TAICHI
Taichi came out with this unbelievablt attractive woman and they did a ridiculously long J-Rock routine entrance. The girl mounted Liger in the corner and fellow Suzuki-gun wrestler Desperado came out of nowhere and attacked him. The referee had zero control of this from the start, with the three playing distraction and attacking Liger the entire time. Liger had a brief comeback taking them all out on the floor and hitting Desperado with a Liger Bomb, but they ended up pinning him down on the ramp and Taichi sprinted back to the ring with seconds left to win by count-out. The legend was not happy, and ranted at the referee after the match and chucked a chair at the heel faction as they were leaving. Winner: Taichi.
QUARTER-FINAL TOURNAMENT MATCH
KUSHIDA vs. KENOH
This was a really good back and forth match, reliant on so many stiff, hard-hitting kicks and both guys took a lot of damage trying to advance to the semi-finals. Slow-paced start with Kushida opting to control the match with mat wrestling, then broke into submissions targeting the arm. Kenoh broke up an armbar with a suplex and they traded some big kicks. Kushida had a beautiful roll-through in the armbreaker but couldn’t lock it in. Kenoh came back with a Dragon suplex and a penalty kick for a nearfall. After sustaining a ton of damage and looking for it several times, Kushida finally rolls into the cross armbreaker for the submission. This really speaks to the level of performer that Kushida is, as a guy who CAN do a ton of great high flying stuff, he opted to do very little here to separate his work from a very cruiserweight-heavy tournament. Winner: Kushida.
QUARTER-FINAL TOURNAMENT MATCH
RYUSUKE TAGUCHI vs. YOSHINOBU KANEMARU
They eventually worked their way into a decent match with a back and forth exchange at the end, Kanemaru kicking out of the sit-out facebuster and Taguchi kicking out of a jumping DDT from the second rope. Problem was you had to sit through several minutes of Taguchi doing his butt attacks and his terrible Nakamura gimmick, and several minutes of Kanemaru literally kicking his ass. Winner: Kanemaru.
QUARTER-FINAL TOURNAMENT MATCH
WILL OSPREAY vs. MATT SYDAL
This was excellent and you should go out of your way to see it. Too many insane moves and counters to accurately list them in a paragraph here. They started with some buttery smooth chain grappling; these guys made a basic wrist lock look like an actual art form. Ospreay sold his neck throughout the entire match, a little too well, which is concerning considering how messed up his neck already is. They went back and forth so many times, each guy having a counter for everything, with loads of stiff kicks in between big moves. Ospreay did most of his signature spots, including the Sasuke Special, the Cheeky Nandos Kick, and his insane jumping corkscrew roundhouse kick, just none of his usual finishers. Sydal put him away with the Shooting Star Press in a great match. Winner: Matt Sydal.
TITAN, MISTICO & VOLADOR JR. vs. GRAN GUERRERO, ULTIMO GUERRERO & EUFORIA
After five matches and all the early tournament matches down this seemed like the logical point to run intermission, especially after such a great singles match they all had to go out and follow. Everyone was exhausted and with all due respect to the CMLL guys, a six man tag seemed like a post-intermission curtain jerk for the semi-final matches. Instead, somehow they went out and tore the house down with a shockingly long, competitive match putting the lucha style on showcase. It took the crowd a while to realize this wasn’t just filler but eventually they got into it. All six guys put everything they had into this, with dozens and dozens of dives, top rope moves, counters, some grappling, some submissions, a little bit of comedy, half the guys unmasking; there was a little bit of everything here and while chaotic, it was possibly even more fun and ridiculous than the match it followed. Volador (the only unmasked guy on his team) did the moonsault side slam for the win on Euforia (the only masked guy on his team) to pick up the win. Seriously great match. Winners: Titan, Mistico & Volador Jr.
SEMI-FINALS TOURNAMENT MATCH
KUSHIDA vs. TAICHI
Taichi rushed the ramp during Kushida’s entrance and choked him with his microphone stand, giving him control of the first couple minutes of the match. The champ came back with his handspring dropkick but Taichi fled to the outside and hid behind his girl, while Desperado returned and attacked from behind. The ref went after Desperado but that just gave Taichi time to choke out Kushida with the timekeeper’s mallet. Kushida eventually threw Taichi into his stable mate on the floor and hit a tope onto both of them, then began to work over his arm. They went back and forth with kicks and Kushida trapped him in the armbar; he was tapping out but of course Desperado was distracting the referee. He went after Desperado and turned around into an unprotected chair shot to the head for two-and-a-half, then the Last Ride powerbomb for two-and-three-quarters. They traded shots and Kushida rolled him up with a small package to sneak a victory. Winner: Kushida.
Taichi and Desperado attacked the referee and Kushida after the match, throwing them from the ring. On his way out he attacked a timekeeper and several of the ringside crew just for good measure. Kushi will be back for the finals in the main event, but he left with help from the crew.
SEMI-FINALS TOURNAMENT MATCH
MATT SYDAL vs. YOSHINOBU KANEMARU
My internet cut out for the bulk of this match. What I came back to was Sydal hitting the top rope knee press, but Kanemaru scouting the Shooting Star Press. He tried for a super hurricanrana but Kanemaru held onto the ropes and caught him with a jumping DDT from the second rope. Massive lariat and a brainbuster puts away Sydal in what I imagine must have been a really good match, if the last few minutes were any indication. Winner: Kanemaru.
GHC Jr. TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
ACH & TAIJI ISHIMORI vs. ATSUSHI KOTOGE & DAISUKE HARADA (c)
Great, great match. Just non-stop action from beginning to end and something the Bucks, of all people, are going to have to work hard to top immediately after this. Big spot at the start of the match with ACH doing a tope suicida into both guys, and Ishimori doing a moonsault to the floor on both. They worked over Harada for several minutes in their corner and dropped him with an incredible double team move that was essentially a springboard cutter with a sit-out facebuster combo. ACH got caught with a belly-to-belly hard into the turnbuckle and the champs made a hot tag to change the pace. Superkicks flying on the outside and the Young Bucks aren’t even out here yet. Kotoge hit ACH with a beautiful dive through the ropes into a cutter. They traded flurries and ACH caught him with a dropkick and both teams made hot tags. Missile dropkick from Ishimori and a lariat into the corner, followed by a second rope Codebreaker (not nearly as good as Bushi’s) for two. Ishimori with a handspring flash kick and they both lit up Harada with running crossbodies into the corner. The champs caught Ishimori with a Argentine facebuster into a penalty kick for a nearfall, then a massive knee strike as ACH saves the match. The champs cleared the ring, hit several more combos on Ishimori and Harada put him away with a bridging German suplex. Winners and Still Champions: Kotoge & Harada.
Looks like we’re getting Kotoge & Harada against Gedo & Jado at some point. The champs threw down the challenge and the booking duo seems to have accepted. Most likely a NOAH exclusive angle.
IWGP Jr. TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
THE YOUNG BUCKS (c) vs. MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS
Shelley did an assisted tope suicide into both the Bucks to start the match, followed by the Bucks doing their signature assisted tope right back at them. There were a half dozen double team moves from both teams within the first few minutes of action, while the Bucks mock the female fans for chanting for Shelley. He kept trying to mount comebacks, even driving Matt into a turnbuckle with a Mic Check but they kept him isolated throughout the match. Eventually Shelley caught both with a DDT/Mic Check combo and made the hot tag to Sabin who cleaned house. Nick with a crazy combo where dropkicked Shelley off the apron, then backflipped through the ropes and moonsaulted onto him, then popped right back up for a springboard facebuster on Sabin. Bucks with a rush of combos but Shelley saves the match and everything breaks down even further. The Bucks do their top rope 450 splash with Sabin folded over the ropes. They go for More Bang For Your Buck but MCMG are finally on the same page and manage to separate them. Neckbreaker/diving crossbody combo for two. Another crazy combo with Sabin doing Sliced Bread into Shelley’s powerbomb, but the other Buck saved the match. There are so many huge moves I miss one every time I try to write one down. The Bucks are back and it’s a Superkick Party on both Guns. More Back For Your Buck connects, but Shelley saves the match at the last second. Shelley with his own Superkick Party on both Bucks, but he gets caught with a superkick and the Bucks hit the Indytaker on the floor! Sabin basically made Nick kick his brother in the face then clotheslined them both. Superkick to Sabin, Meltzer Driver connects, and this one is over. Winners and Still Champions: The Young Bucks.
The Young Bucks get on the mic and say in the two and a half years they’ve been in New Japan they’ve proven they are the best tag team in the world. They’ve won the junior tag titles so many times, but there’s one set of titles they’ve never won… They call out the Briscoes and say they want the heavyweight tag titles, any time, any place, it’s time to change the game.
SUPER J-CUP FINALS
KUSHIDA vs. YOSHINOBU KANEMARU
Taking lessons from the earlier matches tonight, Liger and Taguchi are out in the corner of Kushida against Kanemaru, who has Suzuki-gun’s Taichi and Desperado. This of course resulted in a brawl almost breaking out every time anyone went to the floor.
This was another very, very good match that had the misfortune of following a string of very, very good matches, that still managed to get the crowd behind them after nearly four hours of them being into great, exhausting matches. Kanemaru did a brutal spot early on like the Three Amigos, but instead of vertical suplexes he did hard DDT spikes. They went back and forth all match, pulling out all the big spots from their earlier matches and then some, selling the damage done as this is their third match of the night. They threw everything out there – Kushida even busted out the Phoenix Splash but Suzuki-gun pulled the referee from the ring to save the match. At this point all hell broke loose. Desperado dropped Kushida with White Noise as Taichi went after Liger, and Kanemaru hit his second rope DDT spot, but Kushida somehow kicked out. He followed up with a brainbuster into the ropes that bounced him off the apron on the way down. Kushida barely made it back in by the 20-count and was immediately caught, this time from a top rope DDT, and somehow managed to kick out, again. He took a series of big kicks, but fired off with a massive right hook and sold his hand like he shattered it with that punch. Kushida with a PK to the shoulder into a standing armbar, then knocks Taichi off the apron with a dropkick while holding on to the armbar. Taguchi comes back to take out Suzuki-gun and Kushida rolls into the cross armbreaker and picks up the submission. Winner: Kushida.
Alex Shelley comes out and puts the Super J-Cup jacket on his friend and awards him the trophy. The two have a well-deserved sit together and are talking about something until Kushida remembers he has to give the closing promo. He thanks the fans for coming, and every competitor from the tournament except the Suzuki-gun guys hit the ring and he takes time to shake hands and respect every single guy. Cool image with Kushida and Mistico there. They all pose for a group picture and everyone celebrates Kushida’s big win as the stream goes off the air.
