New Japan on AXS Report: New Japan Cup matches, Fale vs. Okada

We return to New Japan on AXS coverage tonight as we start off with opening matches from the New Japan Cup. These matches took place March 5, 2015 at Korakuen Hall.

First match up is Doc Gallows taking on Kota Ibushi in the first round of the New Japan cup. Ibushi looked really good here against Gallows. There’s an old saying that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and such as the case here as Ibushi is such a dynamic performer. Might be part of the reason why he’s out indefinitely with herniated discs, but that’s the cost of working this kind of style. He gets the surprise ring with a rana pin.

Tetsuya Natio and Karl Anderson are up next. Also a good match, and a lot of it aired here. I’ve said it before here, but man did Naito do a total 180 in character, as we’ll be seeing in future episodes. Anderson did a sick powerbomb off the top rope for a nearfall. After a flurry of offense, Naito lays out Anderson and pins him with the stardust press for the win. Very good match towards the end.

Naito says he doesn’t care who he faces next, bring it on. In an interesting line, he mentions that he knows some people find him annoying he wants to be the best and will let people know it.

Bad Luck Fale and Kazuchika Okada follows next. The story of this match mostly centers around Okada. Since losing at WrestleKingdom Okada’s been in a bit of a funk, and now has found a new rival in Fale who looks to keep him in that funk for a good while. At this stage of the game it’s obvious Fale needs to be carried to have a really good match, and no one can really have a bad match with Okada (unless you’re 65+) so this was a perfectly alright match. The visual of someone smaller than Okada giving Fale a reverse neckbreaker sure was something. Fale hit the grenade but Okada kicked out. Fale then went to the top rope and squished him with a frog splash but still kicked out. But Fale comes back with the Bad Luck Fall, and that’s where Okada loses.

Yano said his New Japan Cup match against Tanahashi was a while ago, but remembers he ran a marathon before, with him recalling it was though. He said he and Tanahashi were complete opposites. For example,  he never lies but Tanahashi does all the time. He’s dull and old fashioned while he’s off selling DVDs. Yano doesn’t really care about titles (then why is he competing in New Japan?) but Tanahashi might be the type who cares about a belt. In a way, he’s cursed due to that.

The match wasn’t much, and lasted under two minutes. In a surprise flash win, Yano pulled Tanahashi’s hair and cradled him. People thought the finish was funny. Hey,

Yano said it’s time for a new ace and Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new era, and New Japan Pro Wrestling would be reborn. Tanahashi wasn’t happy and said he’d have his revenge.

Back to the reflective interview. Yano said he’s always wanted to beat Tanahashi. He then plugged his album and his DVD and told everyone to buy a thousand each. If you buy a million of both, it’s only five million for everything!

Good show. The first two matches were pretty good, and the final was what it was.