Tetsuya Naito is once again tied with Kazuchika Okada in singles competition. Naito got a slippery win over the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion on Saturday, advancing to the New Japan Cup Finals in the process. Writing another chapter in the longtime rivalry will put Naito in a position to open another book from his past, as he’ll face the man that injured him in 2021 and took him out of the G1 Climax: Zack Sabre Jr.
Sabre’s road to the finals has been very similar to Naito’s. Where Naito has exclusively ended every match with a rollup, Sabre has been slipping past some of the most dominant forces in NJPW and making them submit. To put it bluntly: Naito is grease and Sabre is glue.
READ MORE: New Japan Cup First Round (Night 1) (Nights 2 & 3) (Nights 4 & 5) (Nights 6 & 7) (Nights 8-11) (QUARTERFINALS)
After defeating last year’s Cup winner Will Ospreay in the quarterfinals by ref stoppage, Sabre choked out former-IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi on Saturday in a thrilling bout. Takagi’s explosive power was neutralized in the wet cement that is Zack Sabre Jr.’s offense.
Elsewhere on the show, Tama Tonga and Hiroshi Tanahashi led a quintet of Main Unit soldiers to battle against Bullet Club in Saturday’s opening match. The noble band of warriors technically lost the match, when their manager Jado ran into the match to stop Gedo from using brass knuckles. The group tried to help Jado get revenge on his former-friend, but Bullet Club escaped the potential post-match beating. Jado still remains unsatisfied, looking to avenge the 33 years of friendship that Gedo discarded like an old handkerchief.
STRONGHEARTS are still running roughshod over NJPW, with T-Hawk helping the trio pick up a win over Goto, Tiger Mask & Honma. The six-man tag victory puts CIMA at 2-0 against Hirooki Goto, one-half of the IWGP Tag Team Champions, but others have eyes on the prize.
Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan got a big win over tag champ YOSHI-HASHI and his CHAOS compatriot YOH. Cobb made it clear that between his win over YOSHI-HASHI in the cup, and now this win, he and O-Khan are coming for the belts, STRONGHEARTS be damned.
Cobb and O-Khan weren’t the only ones bringing glory to the United Empire. Will Ospreay and Aaron Henare got a consolation victory over Hiromu Takahashi and BUSHI, with Ospreay bemoaning the officiating of his loss to Sabre in the quarterfinals of the cup. After the match, Hiromu was assaulted by EVIL, an act of revenge for Hiromu beating EVIL in the cup. Hiromu was choked out by Dick Togo and his dastardly piano wire garrote.
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?NEW JAPAN CUP 2022?大阪大会‼️
＼試合終了後、退場途中の高橋ヒロムをEVILが襲撃?
? #njpwworld で配信中?
?視聴&登録⏩https://t.co/Tj7UBINMhP#njpw #njcup pic.twitter.com/WtxH6N1D2M
— njpwworld (@njpwworld) March 26, 2022
Here are the full results:
3/26
NJPW New Japan Cup Semi-Finals
Available on NJPWWorld.com
- Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Taiji Ishimori, El Phantasmo & Gedo) def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Master Wato & Ryusuke Taguchi by disqualification. (9:08)
Jado interfered to cause the DQ. - Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii & Togi Makabe def. Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki) by pinfall. (9:13)
Toru Yano pinned Yoshinobu Kanemaru via Rollup. - House of Torture (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO) def. Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI) by pinfall. (9:45)
EVIL pinned TAKA Michinoku via EVIL. - STRONGHEARTS (CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman) def. Hirooki Goto, Tomoaki Honma & Tiger Mask by pinfall. (9:26)
T-Hawk pinned Tiger Mask via Night Ride. - United Empire (Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan) def. CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI & YOH) by pinfall. (13:23)
Great-O-Khan pinned YOH via Eliminator. - United Empire (Will Ospreay & Aaron Henare) def. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) by pinfall. (7:10)
Aaron Henare pinned BUSHI via Streets of Rage. - New Japan Cup Semi-Final: Zack Sabre Jr. def. Shingo Takagi by ref stoppage via Rear Naked Choke. (19:24)
- New Japan Cup Semi-Final: Tetsuya Naito def. Kazuchika Okada by pinfall via Rollup. (27:42)
The New Japan Cup Finals will take place on March 27th at 1am ET
