The first semi-final match-up of the New Japan Cup is set after Tuesday’s show at Korakuen Hall in front of 648 fans.
In their respective matches, EVIL and Shingo Takagi advanced and will have their first singles meeting this Saturday to determine who goes to the final.
The first quarter-final match on the show featured EVIL and Toru Yano with a wacky “lights out” finish that was grounded with an explanation.
Yano was avoiding EVIL and dealing with the numbers disadvantage with Dick Togo at ringside. At one point, Yano drove EVIL into Togo on the apron followed by a belly-to-belly to EVIL.
On the floor, Togo disappeared, and Yano got the wire to choke EVIL and threw him underneath the ring. As Yano awaited the count-out, the lights went out, when they came back on, EVIL was in the ring and hit Everything is Evil to win after 7 minutes and 54 seconds.
Togo emerged from the back to explain why the lights went out. It was a very non-New Japan style of finish but was different and that’s the point of all of Yano’s matches, so you can either take it or leave it. No one will argue that these Yano matches have been the strength of the tournament.
The main event saw another outstanding performance from Takagi as he defeated KENTA in a match that had an excellent ending sequence.
Takagi constantly fought Game Over but saw KENTA with an added aggression and more physical style brought out by Takagi. It culminated with a flurry of strikes from KENTA including a pair of spinning chops and Busaiku knee that Takagi kicked out of.
Takagi caught KENTA with a pop-up Death Valley Driver, Pumping Bomber, and match-ending Last of the Dragon at 23 minutes and 47 seconds.
After the match, EVIL confronted Takagi and Togo attacked Takagi from behind. The two stomped Takagi before exiting.
The match to watch is the main event as Takagi had another great outing and is putting together a high-quality run of matches in the early months of 2021.
Here are the results from Tuesday’s show at Korakuen Hall:
*Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan over Gabriel Kidd, Yuya Uemura & Yota Tsuji in 10:08
*Jay White, Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens over Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Toa Henare in 10:46
*Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb over SANADA & BUSHI in 8:34
*New Japan Cup Quarter-Final: EVIL over Toru Yano in 7:54
*New Japan Cup Quarter-Final: Shingo Takagi over KENTA in 23:47
