New Japan Cup night 12 results: Will Ospreay vs. SANADA

The final two New Japan Cup quarterfinal matches took place during today’s show from Shizuoka. Here are the results of the preliminary matches and a full report of the Cup matches.

Yuya Uemura defeated Gabriel Kidd (7:22)

Uemura pinned Kidd with his overhead suplex.

Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan defeated Yuji Nagata & Yota Tsuji (11:58)

O-Khan pinned Tsuji with the Eliminator.

KENTA & Bad Luck Fale defeated Juice Robinson & Toa Henare (8:37)

Fale pinned Henare with the Grenade.

Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI defeated EVIL, Chase Owens, & Taiji Ishimori (10:12)

Naito pinned Owens with the Destino. Shingo and EVIL will face off in the semifinals of the New Japan Cup in two days.

New Japan Cup semifinal: David Finlay defeated Jay White (19:26)

This was filled with NJPW tropes and annoyances at the start, but the finish was fantastic.

Juice Robinson joined Finlay out there as a second to counter Jay White and Gedo. Finlay was introduced as an Impact tag team champion.

White stalled at the start, attempting to play mind games. A brief distraction from Gedo allowed White to attack, but Finlay came back with a dropkick as the two went to the floor. Another distraction from Gedo allowed White to take advantage by driving Finlay into the ring and the barricades.

Back in the ring, White targeted Finlay’s midsection repeatedly. Finlay fought back with an uppercut, but yet another Gedo distraction allowed White to regain control. Finlay escaped a suplex attempt and hit a neckbreaker. He followed it up with a running uppercut and a plancha before landing a diving elbow smash for two.

White laid in a hard chop but Finlay fired up and clotheslined them both out of the ring. Yet another Gedo distraction gave White the chance to drive Finlay into the barricade again. Finlay fought off the attack, but upon re-entry, Gedo grabbed Finlay’s leg and White strung him against the ropes. That made five successful distraction attempts from Gedo, so Juice simply picked him up and carried him away from ringside.

With Gedo out of the picture, White hit the Blade Buster for two. They traded running strikes until Finlay hit a Blue Thunder bomb. White surprised Finlay with a flatliner and a German suplex. He went for the Blade Runner, but Finlay fought and fought until he was dumped out of the ring. White hurried to bring Finlay back in and nail a uranage for two. 

Gedo wasn’t out there, so White had to call for the Kiwi Crusher himself. He was able to hit it before just tossing Finlay into the corner. They both went for big moves before Finlay hit another Blue Thunder bomb. He tried to follow it up with the Acid Drop, but White escaped and tossed him back into the corner.

They traded forearms in the center of the ring, a battle which Finlay won before hitting a backbreaker for two. Finlay downed White with a lariat and a ushigoroshi for two. He went for the stunner, but White countered it into a sick sleeper suplex. Finlay countered the Blade Runner into the stunner and then hit the Acid Drop for the upset victory.

New Japan Cup semifinal: Will Ospreay defeated SANADA (18:55)

This was an awesome main event with tons of innovative, athletic sequences and spots.

SANADA immediately avoided a dropkick and hit one of his own. He feinted on a dive as Ospreay rolled to the floor, where the Brit took control by sending SANADA into the barricade, including a specific attack on SANADA’s left arm. Ospreay continued his beatdown in the ring, wrenching on SANADA’s arms until the latter reached the ropes.

After another beatdown on the floor, Ospreay hit Pip Pip Cheerio for two. SANADA came back by attacking Ospreay’s nose before dropkicking his legs out from under him. SANADA hit a dropkick after his signature high leapfrogs and caught Ospreay with a hurricanrana. Ospreay turned it around with a handspring kick. 

Ospreay laid in chops and forearms before being caught with another nose attack. SANADA tied Ospreay up in the Paradise Lock, setting him up so his face was propped up against the corner pad. He broke up the hold with a dropkick and followed it up with a plancha. Ospreay starched SANADA with a forearm and went for the Liger bomb, but SANADA turned it into Skull End before flipping over into a Magic Killer in a nice spot.

SANADA went for the moonsault, but Ospreay rolled out of the way and hit a standing Spanish Fly. He followed it up with a diving forearm to the back of SANADA’s head and a hard powerbomb for two. Ospreay laid in Kawada kicks, but SANADA turned the Stormbreaker into a tiger suplex bridge for two. He went for the moonsault again, but Ospreay stopped him and pulled him through for the Cheeky Nando’s kick and a facebuster for two.

They had a long counter sequence where Ospreay had to step up out of the Skull End but was met with a heel kick and a backflip into the Skull End. SANADA swung Ospreay around in the hold before locking it on in the center of the ring. Ospreay faded until SANADA released it and went for the moonsault, but Ospreay got the knees up. SANADA escaped Stormbreaker, fell victim to a hook kick, and locked on the Japanese Clutch for two.

Ospreay popped up and hit a great reverse hurricanrana and the Oscutter for a near fall. A forearm to the back of the head and the Stormbreaker followed to give Ospreay the win.

The two New Japan Cup semifinal matches are EVIL vs. Shingo Takagi and Will Ospreay vs. David Finlay.

After the match, Ospreay cut an unhinged promo complaining about the fans. He started to talk about how he was going to beat Jay White in the next round, but then was all happy when he remembered that Finlay is his opponent. He acted as if Finlay wasn’t a threat to end his promo and the show.