- OSKAR & Yuto-Ice def. Chase Owens & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (6:24)
- Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. def. Daiki Nagai & Drilla Moloney (7:04)
- Aaron Wolf, Shota Umino & Toru Yano def. Dick Togo, Don Fale & Yujiro Takahashi (6:29)
- Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita def. Callum Newman & Zane Jay (5:35)
- Francesco Akira, Jake Lee & Jakob Austin Young def. Hirooki Goto, Tatsuya Matsumoto & YOSHI-HASHI (9:11)
- Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji def. Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura (10:16)
- Ren Narita def. Satoshi Kojima (12:06) (New Japan Cup Second Round)
- Boltin Oleg def. HENARE (22:11) (New Japan Cup Second Round) (Recommended)
A second quarter-final matchup has been confirmed for this year’s New Japan Cup.
Boltin Oleg and Ren Narita both picked up wins at Thursday’s NJPW card inside the Takamatsu City Gymnasium, lining them up for a quarter-final showdown this Sunday.
Oleg’s win headlined the night, going a physical 22 minutes to take down HENARE. After a hard-hitting affair, it was a pair of Kamikaze Bombs from Oleg which allowed him to secure the pinfall victory.
With Oleg and HENARE’s styles being quite similar, both in their hard striking and power-lifting moveset, it was a strong showcase that saw the wrestlers mirror eachother at times. The win continues recent momentum for Oleg, who is two weeks removed from capturing the NJPW STRONG Openweight Championship off Tomohiro Ishii in the U.S.
Thursday’s main event result means Oleg will advance to his first-ever New Japan Cup quarter-final through three runs in the tournament.
The co-main event saw Narita unsurprisingly cheat his way to a win against Satoshi Kojima.
The match played out like many House of Torture bouts: Kojima got ahead, but his lead was stopped by a flurry of interference. A ref bump allowed what Walker Stewart called a “clown car” of ringside attendees to get involved, culminating with a middle-rope frogsplash through a table from the towering Don Fale.
The assistance from Narita’s teammates allowed him to win the match with a Double Cross in 12 minutes.
Kojima wasn’t originally planned to be in the tournament, but was subbed into the bracket after injury forced Tomohiro Ishii out. The veteran was making his first Cup appearance since 2022.
The New Japan Cup will continue tomorrow with a pair of bouts from Osaka. Hirooki Goto will try to take down New Japan Cup newcomer Jake Lee in second round action, and Hartley Jackson will face Callum Newman.
