New Japan Cup finals live results: SANADA vs. David Finlay
SANADA will face David Finlay today in the finals of the 2023 New Japan Cup tournament.
In the build to the finals, SANADA broke off from the Los Ingobernables de Japon group and joined the Just Five Guys stable, while Finlay joined Bullet Club.
The New Japan Cup winner will face Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis on Saturday, April 8.
This is the first New Japan Cup finals appearance for Finlay, while SANADA was the runner-up in 2019.
In the semi-main event, Hiromu Takahashi is set to defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Lio Rush.
The full card:
- New Japan Cup finals: SANADA vs. David Finlay
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi defends against Lio Rush
- Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Jeff Cobb & Aussie Open
- Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi vs. Great-O-Khan & Aaron Henare
- El Desperado, Ren Narita, Ryusuke Taguchi & Toru Yano vs. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo
- Tama Tonga, Tomohiro Ishii & Tomoaki Honma vs. KENTA, Chase Owens & El Phantasmo
- Shota Umino & Ryohei Oiwa vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita
- Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuto Nakashima vs. Taichi & DOUKI
Our live coverage begins at 4 a.m. Eastern time.
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Just 5 Guys (DOUKI & Taichi) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yuto Nakashima
This was a fine little opener here to shine some light on Nakashima.
DOUKI and Taichi took an early lead over an overly-ambitious Nakashima. Once Nakashima tagged to Tanahashi, the crowd came unglued. After Tanahashi gained control, Nakashima begged for a tag. Once obliged, Taichi hit Nakashima with an axe bomber and a dangerous backdrop to win the match.
Ryohei Oiwa & Shota Umino defeated TMDK (Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr.)
The young lions opened the match with a bit of grappling. Despite Fujita’s accelerated learning as a part of TMDK, Oiwa took the lead and passed it off to Umino. After a tag to ZSJ, TMDK started to fight into the match.
After an ample selection of back-and-forths, Fujita tagged back in. He nearly caught Umino with a bridging pin, but Umino kicked out, hit Fujita with a death rider, and won the match.
After the match, Umino challenged ZSJ to a TV title match; ZSJ accepted.
BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens, El Phantasmo & KENTA) defeated Tama Tonga, Tomoaki Honma & Tomohiro Ishii
Ishii and Owens were a bit of a focal point throughout this match. I still don’t know why this is happening.
Bullet Club used heelish tactics early to take advantage. The match then played out fairly typically, filled with Bullet Club using their numbers to overwhelm their opponents before an eventual babyface rally. In the end, ELP won by hitting Honma with CR2.
House Of Torture (Dick Togo, EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi) defeated Strong Style (El Desperado & Ren Narita), Ryusuke Taguchi & Toru Yano
This was far from a good match, but the post-match visuals were powerful. If they were to set up something other than a HOT trios match, I would have loved this.
The match opened with HOT attacking their Strong Style opponents. After a mostly one-sided beatdown, Yujiro hit Taguchi with a wrench.
After the match concluded, HOT unmasked Desperado. The post-match beatdown continued with HOT cutting off Narita’s shirt and spraypainting “HOT” on his torso. This led into an even more brutal beatdown and another Desperado unmasking.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) defeated United Empire (Aaron Henare & Great-O-Khan)
This was a tag built entirely around some firey exchanges between Shingo and Henare. For most of the match, Naito failed to get his wheels turning, and O-Khan was just kind of there.
In the end, it was O-Khan and Naito left alone in the ring while Henare and Naito brawled outside of the ring. Naito caught O-Khan with a rollup to win the match.
Henare and Shingo had a staredown over the KOPW belt after the match, further setting up their upcoming bout.
United Empire (Jeff Cobb, Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) defeated CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI)
CHAOS gained the upper hand early, but UE fought back, using environmental offense to take control. After an extended period with UE in the lead, the match entered a stretch of turbulence, with neither team being clearly ahead.
Ultimately, Aussie Open weathered the storm and came out on top after hitting YH with Coriolis.
After the match, Aussie Open made their challenge for Bishamon’s title clear. Cobb also called out Kenny Omega, who he imitated at points in the match.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hiromu Takahashi (c) defeated Lio Rush
The match opened at a fast pace, with Lio taking the fight to the floor. Hiromu landed a powerbomb onto the apron and a slam into the barricade to take the early lead. Back in the ring, Hiromu maintained control for a while with a variety of wear-down moves.
To get himself back in the match, Lio hit an impressive flipping dive from the apron to the floor. Hiromu answered Lio with a powerbomb, but Lio held on, landing a poison rana and Rush Hour for a quick response.
Lio landed one splash, but Hiromu reversed the second and immediately followed with timebomb for a nearfall. Lio fought back with a Spanish fly and a DMV, both yielding nearfalls. Lio hit YOH’s direct drive and attempted another dive, but Hiromu rolled out of the way.
After surviving everything Lio could throw at him, Hiromu hit a lariat and timebomb 2 to win the match.
After the match, Zack Sabre Jr walked to the ring and announced the next challenger would be the newest member of TMDK, Robbie Eagles.
New Japan Cup 2023 Final Match: SANADA defeated David Finlay
This was a nothing match, but the crowd made it bearable.
This match opened with the loudest reaction from a New Japan crowd in years, in support of Niigata’s own, SANADA.
Finlay opened the match, taking the match to the floor and establishing control. As SANADA tried to fight back into the match, Finlay took the match back outside, slamming him into the barricade and apron. Back in the ring, Finlay clubbed SANADA with offense for quite some time. Most of the match spawned from this period of control.
Finlay began to look for the finish, but SANADA reversed the trash panda attempt into skull end. After escaping skull end, the pair traded shots at their finishers until SANDA landed a shining wizard and his new DDT to win the match.
After the match, SANADA challenged Okada to meet him in the ring. Okada toyed with SANADA, pointing out his previous failings ahead of their title bout. Before leaving, Okada stood tall, IWGP in hand.
After Okada left, SANADA cut the show-ending promo with a sea of lights in the crowd.