New Japan Cup latest: second round gets underway

March 11, 2023 Neal Flanagan NEWS
Photo Courtesy: NJPW

Two competitors advanced to the quarterfinals of the New Japan Cup on Saturday as the second-round matches began.

SANADA and Tetsuya Naito were victorious and will go on to face each other for a spot in the semifinals on March 17th at Korakuen Hall, Tokyo.

In the main event, SANADA overcame a series of heel tactics from KENTA, including chair shots and a low blow, to get the win with his unnamed modified DDT finisher in just under 30 minutes.

Naito defeated Chase Owens to book his place in the quarterfinals with a quick roll-up pin in the midst of a series of knee strikes from Owens.

Saturday’s event took place in front of 2,190 fans at Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium (Dolphins Arena) in Nagoya.

The card also featured the “Dream Team” of Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi, who defeated Shota Umino and Ren Narita.

David Finlay’s push continued, scoring the pin in a tag match as he teamed with El Phantasmo against Zack Sabre Jr and Kosei Fujita.

Full results

  • New Japan Cup 2nd Round: SANADA def. KENTA
  • New Japan Cup 2nd Round: Tetsuya Naito def. Chase Owens
  • Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Shota Umino & Ren Narita
  • Will Ospreay, Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher def. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomoaki Honma
  • Tomohiro Ishii, YOH & Lio Rush def. Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI
  • EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo def. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, TAKA Michinoku & DOUKI
  • David Finlay & El Phantasmo def. Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita
  • Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb & Aaron Henare def. Tama Tonga, Toru Yano & Oskar Leube
About Neal Flanagan 775 Articles
Based in Northern Ireland, Neal Flanagan is a former newspaper journalist and copy editor. In addition to reporting for POST Wrestling, he co-hosts The Wellness Policy podcast with Wai Ting and Jordan Goodman.
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