The second night of the New Japan Cup tournament ran from Korakuen Hall on Friday with two additional opening round matches that saw Hirooki Goto and Toru Yano advance.
In the first tournament match, Toru Yano defeated Bad Luck Fale by count-out. Fale jumped the KOPW holder prior to the bell attempting a school-boy roll-up unsuccessfully. They fought on the floor before returning to the ring where Fale overpowered Yano with a series of slams. Back to the floor, Fale taped Yano’s by the wrist with the athletic tape around the ring post. Fale attempted one more attack, missing his target and running into the post. A subsequent low blow and Fale was out on the floor with Yano shifting his weight onto the apron to win by count-out.
The match was nothing special other than your usual Yano fare that lives and dies on your appreciation for the creativity involved.
Yano will face The Great O-Khan on Thursday, March 11th in the second round.
The main event was a strong affair between Goto and Taichi as they topped twenty-two minutes and had a perfectly suitable main event.
After being attacked and beaten during the beginning stretch, Goto battled back and led to a battle of lariats ending with the two crumbling to their knees.
Goto used the Shouten Kai, both fired up and a series of counters culminated with Taichi landing a head kick and Gedo Clutch for a near-fall. Taichi grabbed the throat, was stopped, and hit with the GTW for a huge near-fall and Goto followed with the match-ending GTR to win.
The 41-year old Goto displayed great fire and battling back from underneath showcasing the attributes everyone assigns when he showcases his strongest outings.
The result sets up a big match for Goto in the second round on March 13 facing either Kazuchika Okada or Shingo Takagi.
Okada and Takagi is the biggest match of the first round and takes place Saturday along with Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomoaki Honma, and Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gabriel Kidd.
Here are the results from Friday’s card at Korakuen Hall:
*Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr. & DOUKI over Tomoaki Honma, Gabriel Kidd & Yuya Uemura in 10:46
*EVIL, Yujiro, Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori over Hiroshi Tanahashi, YOSHI-HASHI, David Finlay & Tiger Mask in 11:40
*Will Ospreay, The Great O-Khan & Jeff Cobb over Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Master Wato in 9:14
*New Japan Cup Opening Round: Toru Yano over Bad Luck Fale by count-out in 5:50
*New Japan Cup Opening Round: Hirooki Goto over Taichi in 22:43
