Results:
- New Japan Cup – Second Round: Yuya Uemura over Drilla Moloney in 22:28
- New Japan Cup – Second Round: Shingo Takagi over Don Fale in 9:30
- Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa over Yota Tsuji & Daiki Nagai in 12:09
- Ren Narita, Yujiro & Chase Owens over Shota Umino, Satoshi Kojima & Tomoaki Honma in 10:23
- Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita over Callum Newman & Zane Jay in 8:05
- Jake Lee, HENARE, Great O-Khan, Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young over Hirooki Goto, Oleg Boltin, YOSHI-HASHI, Toru Yano & Tatsuya Matsumoto in 9:30
- Knockout Brothers over Aaron Wolf & Masatora Yasuda in 8:40
Don Fale’s road to the New Japan Cup came to a halt on Tuesday’s show as Shingo Takagi eliminated the House of Torture member.
Okayama was the site of Tuesday’s second round matches in front of 1,233, where Shingo Takagi and Yuya Uemura advanced to the quarterfinals.
Takagi put on a one-man Tour de Force to pull out a relatively good nine-minute match from Fale. Takagi built to a vertical suplex, which he had teased in the lead-up. The House of Torture got involved several times, including Dick Togo throwing powder into Takagi’s eyes.
Kanemaru attempted to spit whiskey into Takagi’s eyes, but missed, and Takagi used the whiskey on Fale. This led to the Pumping Bomber and the win.
Fale had advanced in the first round, defeating former NEVER Openweight Champion, Aaron Wolf.
In the main event, Yuya Uemura got past Drilla Moloney in a very technical affair, focusing on various body parts.
Uemura’s ribs were weakened after missing an Aces High and taking multiple Gores. Conversely, Uemura went after the previously injured biceps of Moloney.
Another Aces High was met with a mid-air dropkick to the injured area. Moloney followed with a Gore and hit the Drilla Killa, but Uemura instantly countered to a roll-up and caught Moloney for the three-count.
Overall, it was the best you’re going to get out of a Fale singles match as Takagi deserved an award, and the main event delivered with two of New Japan’s rising talents.
Takagi and Uemura will square off in the quarterfinals this Sunday.
The remaining second-round matches continue this week:
Thursday:
- Ren Narita vs. Satoshi Kojima
- Oleg Boltin vs. HENARE
Friday:
- Jake Lee vs. Hirooki Goto
- Callum Newman vs. Hartley Jackson
Saturday:
- Shota Umino vs. Yujiro
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Ryohei Oiwa
