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OSPREAY VS. EVIL AND MORE: 3/21 NEW JAPAN CUP FINALS REPORT

3/21/21 Results from New Japan Cup 2021 from Sendai, Japan

 A Kingpin ascends with a dark turn.

YOH, member of CHAOS and Roppongi 3K, came to the ring to open the night.    He has been out injured for months.   He announced he will be ready to wrestle again.  He will wrestle at Sakura Genesis and he and SHO will challenge the Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

Yuya Uemura, Gabriel Kidd and Yota Tsuji vs.  DOUKI, Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi.  The young lions attack at the bell, surprising Suzuki-Gun.   They regretted that choice as the match spilled to the floor and DOUKI beat them with his pipe, ZSJ punished them with submissions and Taichi tried to strangle them.     Taichi pins Tsuji with Dangerous Suplex (Saito Suplex).  ZSJ continued to punish the young lions after the match.

Jeff Cobb and Great O-Khan vs. Satoshi Kojima and Tomoaki Honma.  Cobb pins Honma with a Tour of the Islands. 

KENTA, Yujiro Takahashi and EVIL, with Dick Togo vs. Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI and SHO.  Takahashi pins YOSHI-HASHI with Pimp Juice.     Bullet Club could now challenge for the NEVER Openweight 6-man Tag Championships.   Bullet Club continued to beat down CHAOS members after the match.   KENTA stole the Bo staff of YOSHI-HASHI on his way back to the locker room.

BUSHI, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito vs. Toa Henare, Juice Robinson and David Finlay.  Naito immediately goes after Finlay’s ankle which he injured against Will Ospreay last night.     SANADA pins Henare with a bridging roll up.  Henare was upset after the match.  Juice and Finlay headed back to the locker room.  Henare threw a tantrum a bit as the young lions tried to guide him back to the locker room.

Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi vs. Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale and Jay White, with Gedo.  Kevin Kelly states that Jay White has proclaimed his intention to take the NEVER Openweight Championship from Hiroshi Tanahashi.  Ibushi pins Owens after a Kamagoye.     Okada left the ring quickly to return to the locker.   White and Tanahashi have words over the NEVER Openweight Title.  Kota Ibushi did not return to the locker, but joined the Japanese Announce Team for the New Japan Cup Final.

New Japan Cup 2021 Finals Match:  Will Ospreay, with Bea Priestley vs. Shingo Takagi

Cobb and O-Khan sat at ringside in street clothes.

Takagi had his back taped up.   Ospreay has his shoulder taped.   

They both started flying around like Jr. Heavyweights.    Takagi dropped  Ospreay nose first on the top turnbuckle.   Takagi also attacked Ospreay’s shoulder over the guardrails.    Ospreay hits a stunner and a high kick.   Ospreay attacks the taped back, throwing Takagi into the guardrails.   Ospreay hit a back suplex on Takagi on the guardrail.  Brutal!    Ospreay continued to attack the lower back.  Takagi fights back with a Death Valley Driver.   Pace picks up.  Takagi hits Noshigami.  Two count.   Too much to recap here.   

Ospreay hits a top rope Spanish Fly.   Two count.   Takagi hits punches and lariat.    Takagi hits a fury of elbows.   Ospreay spins out of a Pumping Bomber and hits an Oscutter.    Two count.  Wow!    Ospreay hits another Oscutter off the ring apron to the floor.   Damn!  Ospreay sets up a table and places Takagi on it.   Ospreay hits a 450 splash off the top rope sending Takagi through the table!    20 count begins.    Takagi beats the count at 19.     Ospreay with a dropkick and shooting star press.   Two count.    Ospreay calls for the Hidden Blade.   Takagi slumps to the mat.   Ospreay goes for Storm Breaker but Takagi is dead weight.  Ospreay kicks him which wakes Takagi up.    Takagi hits more elbows.   He hits Made in Japan dropping Ospreay on his head.  Two count.   Takagi hits a Poisonrana.   Two count.   Spanish Fly by Ospreay.   Two count.   Ospreay hits the Hidden Blade.   Storm Breaker follows.   Ospreay pins Takagi.

Will Ospreay wins the New Japan Cup 2021 and will face Kota Ibushi at Sakura Genesis.

Awesome match!   Wow!  After months of disappointing losses for the United Empire, Will Ospreay finally gets a signature win.   

Go to New Japan World and check out this match!!

The United Empire join Ospreay in the ring.   

Ospreay says with a torn rotator cuff and a broken nose, he has won the New Japan Cup.   He said the United Empire would be dominant but there is one more thing to do.   He calls out Kota Ibushi, who comes to the ring.   

Ospreay said he does not care about title history or lineage.   He wants to be number one.   He said Ibushi is number one.   He will do anything to be number one.    He will do anything to anyone.   He turned and hit Bea Priestley with an Oscutter.    You could have heard a pin drop.  Everyone was silent.   Ibushi made a motion to check on Priestley but Cobb and O-Khan stepped in his way.   The young lions pulled Priestley from the ring.   The United Empire left the ring.

Ospreay enter the interview area.   Ospreay says he loves the idea of being the best wrestler in the world.   If he can do what he did to someone he loves, what will he do to Ibushi, who is not a “God”.   The United Empire toast the Commonwealth Kingpin.  He said “let’s enjoy the single life and let’s go to the bar”.

I did not like the attack on Bea Priestley.  I understand why they did it.  There are so few female performers in New Japan, that it did come off as a shock.    I think people will remember what happened after the match, rather than the match itself, which is sad for Ospreay and Takagi.  They could have done something else to get heat.

Last year, EVIL won the New Japan Cup then won the Double Championship from Tetsuya Naito, which was surprising at the time.

Will Ospreay is in place to do the same in 2021. This is the position where I thought the United Empire should have been after Wrestle Kingdom back in January.

Thanks for reading.

 

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