Day six of the New Japan Cup saw four competitive second-round matches that brought back memories from the Yuji Nagata and Minoru Suzuki first-round classic on day two.
The first tournament match of the night saw Yoshi-Hashi take on Bushi with a trip to the quarter-finals on the line. Bushi continued the ongoing theme of the New Japan Cup that has seen junior heavyweights stand toe to toe with heavyweights, bringing his best effort since his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship challenge against Will Ospreay on November 3, 2019 at Power Struggle.
Yoshi-Hashi also showed that he is planning to make the most out of his 2020 New Japan Cup opportunity, and did not relent. In the end, Yoshi Hashi was able to capture victory in ten minutes and twenty-two seconds with a slick transition into his Karma technique. With the victory, Yoshi-Hashi is officially seeing the best singles run of his career as he looks to advance further in the New Japan Cup.
The second New Japan Cup match of the event had a similar feel as Sho brought a diverse offensive strategy into his match against Sanada, keeping the heavyweight on his back foot for a large portion of the match. Sho coming off his victory against NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi altered his strategy to match the more finesse orientated Sanada.
Sanada looking to succeed where his Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) unit mate failed relied on counter wrestling to disrupt bouts of offense from the lighter Sho. While 1/2 of the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Roppongi 3k (w/Yoh) executed his gameplan, he wasn’t ever able to put Sanada away.
Eventually, Sanada would submit with the Skull End at the fourteen minute and 43-second mark, continuing his streak of solid New Japan Cup performances.
The third match of the event saw CHAOS members and former regular tag team partners of Toru Yano/Tomohiro Ishii team with New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) Noge Dojo Young Lion, Yota Tsuji against the LIJ team of NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi, and IWGP Intercontinental and Heavyweight ‘Double Champion’ Tetsuya Naito.
Throughout the match, Tsuji was on the opposite end of an LIJ onslaught and never could get himself going. Hiromu and Ishii will meet in the 2nd round of the New Japan Cup and squared off several times during the match.
Hiromu would submit Tsuji at the thirteen-minute and four-second mark with a full crab.
