The finals of the New Japan Cup are set following Saturday’s show at Osaka-jo Hall.
Tetsuya Naito and Zack Sabre Jr. were victorious in their semi-final matches and sets up a rematch from last year’s G1 Climax where Naito suffered a knee injury that removed him from the tournament.
Naito’s story throughout the tournament has been his ability to win matches without using Destino, and continued that trend by pinning IWGP world heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada with the Polvo de Estrella after 27 minutes and 42 seconds in the main event of the card.
In the other semi-final match, Zack Sabre Jr. continued his streak of submission wins by using a rear-naked choke to put Shingo Takagi to sleep. Takagi attempted to break the hold by climbing and falling off the turnbuckle, however, ZSJ maintained the submission and Takagi went out at 19 minutes and 26 seconds. The match saw Takagi sell his neck from damage sustained earlier in the tournament including selling his arm from the nerve damage.
Naito won the New Japan Cup in 2016 while Zack Sabre Jr. won the tournament the following year, which included a submission win against Naito in the first round.
The finals of the New Japan Cup will stream late tonight at 1 a.m. ET on New Japan World with the full card below:
*New Japan Cup Finals: Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
*Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tiger Mask & Satoshi Kojima vs. Tatsumi Fujinami, CIMA, T-Hawk & El Lindaman
*Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. EVIL & Dick Togo
*Will Ospreay, Jeff Cobb, Great O-Khan & Aaron Henare vs. Hirooki Goto, Togi Makabe, Tomoaki Honma & YOSHI-HASHI
*El Desperado & Taka Michinoku vs. SHO & Yujiro
*Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & YOH
*Guerrillas of Destiny, Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi & Jado vs. El Phantasmo, Taiji Ishimori, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Gedo
*BUSHI vs. Kosei Fujita
