The New Japan Cup tournament began life in 2005, provided a more expediated experience than the G1 Climax, as a single-elimination affair that was all contained to the month of April. This, along with the decision to bar the IWGP Heavyweight Champion from competing, allowed for a more real sense of a "Cinderella story", as all it would take to earn a title shot was a few wins at the right time, rather than needing to keep consistency required to win a G1 block. In 2012, the final four came down to Hiroshi Tanahashi, looking for redemption after his loss to Kazuchika Okada two months prior, the stalwart Togi Makabe, the surging Hirooki Goto, who had won the Cup twice already, in 2009 and 2010, and the wildcard Karl Anderson, who had shockingly eliminated Shinsuke Nakamura in the quarter-finals, earning the biggest win of his career. It was clear that New Japan were beginning to invest in the "Machine Gun", as with Giant Bernard leaving for a return to the WWE under the unfortunate "Lord Tensai" character, Anderson could get a sizeable singles push. Japanese crowds are typically adverse to major upsets, as the booking throughout most promotions in the country's history has tended to be extremely predictable, building up reliable heroes that always won the big fight. But New Japan had thrown their audience a curveball with Okada's title win, and following it up with Anderson becoming the second gaijin (the first being Bernard himself) to lift the Cup now seemed feasible.
- Day 5 (April 8th) of the 2012 New Japan Cup comes to you from the famed Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, one of the most frequently used host venues in puroresu, in addition to hosting plenty of boxing and mixed martial arts cards.
- Our opening contest is the second match on the card, as Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, Yoshihiro Takayama, Taichi, and Taka Michinoku) take on Yuji Nagata, Wataru Inoue, Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, and Tama Tonga, who is essentially the only new element to this repeat from The New Beginning, replacing Kushida. Having this not be contested under elimination rules meant it was much quicker at only 12 minutes. Archer works the back half of the match mostly by himself, and he remains an entertaining monster presence, letting the faces get over by taking him down, before bulldozing his way through Tama. Tama puts up the best fight he can, hitting Archer with a Tornado DDT and countering a Chokeslam into a Frankensteiner, but with Suzuki causing havoc on the outside, Tama falls to the Dark Days (swinging reverse DDT).
- The two New Japan Cup semi-finals matches go back-to-back, as we start with the more intriguing of the pair, as Karl Anderson and Hiroshi Tanahashi square off. Anderson's push is definitely off to a strong start, as there's already a contingent of the crowd that are chanting his name, and that's in a match with Tanahashi, by far the most beloved performer in the company. I think Anderson's strengths are similar to that of Diamond Dallas Page, two guys that weren't exceptionally flashy in the ring, but had solid fundamentals and a knack for spot timing, generating the biggest reaction possible by delivering the right move at the right time, and escalating the stakes when necessary. Though Tanahashi and Anderson get off to a somewhat slow start, the crowd are quickly brought to the edge of their seats by Anderson's running sit-out powerbomb. Both men spend just the right amount of time building tension for a top rope spot, each exchanging forearms, before Anderson gives the audience the crazy spot they were looking for, delivering an avalanche swing-out Gun Stun. Neither that, nor a crisp diving neckbreaker can do it, as Tanahashi is a little too tough and a little too smart for Anderson to put away. Tanahashi counters multiple attempts at the Gun Stun, and after a sequence where both men scramble on the mat after a Tanahashi Sling Blade, the former champion scores a three count with a backslide. Anderson's push is by no means over, as the booking was obviously meant to showcase how close he was by the end, keeping him strong in defeat.
- The second semi-finals match is considerably worse than the first, as Hirooki Goto and Togi Makabe don't quite jell in their clash. I think a big part of the issue with this match is how slow Makabe works, as Goto is considerably more intimidating when he has a quicker worker to batter around. As such, this is a bit of a slog that does get intriguing towards the finish, as both men start knocking lumps out of each other. I loved the sequence where both men lariated each other, over and over again, and Makabe's Spider German suplex will always be a fun spot. Goto, like Tanahashi, wins in clever fashion, tying up Makabe's legs and getting a leverage pin to advance to another New Japan Cup final.
- Poor Kazuchika Okada has fallen from the high of dethroning Hiroshi Tanahashi in Osaka and beating Tetsuya Naito in a Match of the Year candidate at the 40th Anniversary Show to facing Captain New Japan in a non-title match on this show. This feels like a filler match straight out of WWE, with the comedic superhero character providing a stronger challenge than expected for the arrogant world champion, but in a promotion as serious and reality-oriented as New Japan, this feels unbelievably out of place. Cap gets in a few moves; after spending a couple minutes get whooped, he takes flight with a shoulder tackle and tosses Okada with an overhead suplex, and late in the match, he counters the Rainmaker and delivers a Uranage, providing the most doubt he possibly could over the outcome. But this was always going one way, as Okada stings Cap with a big boot, and finishes his business with the Rainmaker. Okada looked miserable to even be in this match, which I hope was only kayfabe, although I couldn't blame him for being upset, you'd have to assume that once you become the effing IWGP Champion, you could avoid being booked in comedy matches, but apparently not.
- Before the main event, we get an eight man tag, as La Sombra, MVP, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Tetsuya Naito team up to face three members of Chaos (Shinsuke Nakamura, Yoshi-Hashi, and Yujiro Takahashi) and Masato Tanaka. The crowd has a lot of fun with the interactions between Taguchi and Nakamura early in the match, as each man shows off some hip swivels and posing, and Taguchi makes it weird by miming some sort of arousal while chopping Nakamura. From there, the match is mostly focused on a heel beatdown of Taguchi, and the faces make their comeback in the final few minutes. MVP's hot tag was entertaining, as was the sequence between Nakamura and La Sombra, as the luchadore's insane athleticism meshed perfectly with Nakamura deadly striking. I'd love to see an actual singles match between the two, which apparently did happen in 2013, so I'd look forward to watching that. La Sombra shows off his gorgeous moonsault in the final fracas, taking out the three heels on the outside, allowing Naito to finish Yoshi-Hashi off with the Stardust Press.
- Main event time, as Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hirooki Goto compete for the New Japan Cup, with the winner challenging Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestling Dontaku next month. As usual for him, Tanahashi focuses on a lot of limb work, taking out Goto's leg with multiple Dragon Screws, but Goto has the "Ace" matched on this night, delivering multiple huge blows to Tanahashi's neck. Goto even seemingly has the former champion beat in the opening ten minutes after shocking the crowd with an avalanche neckbreaker, before Tanahashi settles in by attacking the leg. Goto fires back with power, taking Tanahashi to the floor with a lariat, and turning the final stages of the match into an enthralling battle of strikes after dodging a High Fly Flow. Both men refuse to take a step back and fire back and forth, and big offensive moves start flowing. Goto hits his stride, delivering multiple lariats, and kicking out of a bridging Dragon suplex. This is his moment to once again lift this trophy, and he stays in complete control, battering Tanahashi with a headbutt, and slamming Tanahashi on his face with the Ura Shouten (a spinning inverted backbreaker, which Goto did unfortunately botch the first time he attempted it). The Shouten Kai gives Goto his third New Japan Cup triumph, and a confrontation with Okada after the bell sets the stage for their upcoming title match, where Goto will look to finally become IWGP Champion. This was an electric match once they really got into it, and while Goto winning the Cup does make his Intercontinental title look a little worthless, as he's now competing for a much bigger prize, it is the right time to give him a win like this, as he picked up a lot of momentum with that win over Masato Tanaka last month.
6/10
Both of Tanahashi's matches were excellent in their own way, but the show on the whole was lackluster outside of that. Okada's match was a complete waste of his talent, and neither tag match did a whole lot for me, it was difficult to find highlights in each to spotlight.
I'm not completely certain if I want to continue covering New Japan shows, though if I do, it would be Wrestling Dontaku 2012, headlined by Okada versus Goto. I'm working on a surprise that might be more interesting, though I'll have to take the next couple days to find out if it's possible. See you soon.
- Henry
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