New Japan Cup night five results: SANADA vs. Tomohiro Ishii

By Ethan Renner
Published: 9 Mar 2021, 05:17

The New Japan Cup tournament continued today at ZIP Arena in Okayama.

Here are the results and a report on the Cup matches.

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Recommended matches —

New Japan Cup first round match: SANADA vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Report —

EVIL, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi (w/Dick Togo) defeated YOSHI-HASHI, Toru Yano & Yuya Uemura (8:58)

EVIL got the submission win over Uemura with a scorpion deathlock.

YOSHI-HASHI faces Yujiro in a first round tournament match on tomorrow’s show.

EVIL faces Jeff Cobb in round two on Thursday, March 11.

Yano faces Great-O-Khan, also on Thursday.

Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay & Jeff Cobb defeated Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma & Gabriel Kidd (8:36)

Cobb pinned Kidd after hitting a Tour of the Islands.

Ospreay faces Zack Sabre Jr. in the New Japan Cup on Sunday, March 14.

O-Khan vs. Yano and Cobb vs. EVIL are set for Thursday.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, David Finlay & Jeff Cobb defeated Jay White, KENTA, Chase Owens & Gedo (11:34)

Henare pinned Gedo with a modified death valley bomb.

Henare and White face off in a tournament match tomorrow. Tanahashi will face the winner on Monday, March 15.

Finlay faces Owens in a Cup match tomorrow.

KENTA faces Minoru Suzuki in a second round match on Saturday, March 13.

Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto & SHO defeated Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI (13:31)

Goto pinned BUSHI after a GTR.

Goto and Shingo will face off in a second round match on Saturday.

New Japan Cup first round match: Yuji Nagata defeated Yota Tsuji (13:42)

This was not Nagata’s best night, but Tsuji was very good here. Nagata was huffing and puffing his way through.

They opened with some chain wrestling. Tsuji scored a knockdown off a tackle and began to try some strikes. He was initially successful, but Nagata caught his left arm and began to work on it.

Nagata fired off some strikes, then went back to working the left arm with a fujiwara armbar. Nagata hit some big kicks. Tsuji fired up and demanded more kicks. Nagata hit the ropes to deliver a big boot, but Tsuji cut him off with a dropkick into a double down.

Tsuji hit a slam, a senton and a splash for a near fall. Nagata fired back with kicks and a butterfly suplex for a near fall. Tsuji got two quick near falls off cradles. Nagata used a crossface. Tsuji bit Nagata’s hand to break the hold.

They traded pinning combinations. Tsuji used two more cradles, then hit a spear to complete a trio of near falls. Tsuji got a Boston crab applied at the 10 minute call. Nagata forced a rope break, then hit a kitchen sink.

They exchanged strikes. Nagata hit an exploder and a running knee lift in the corner. Tsuji trapped Nagata in another cradle for a two count.

Nagata hit a wheel kick, then a backdrop suplex into a bridge for the pin.

Nagata advances to the second round and faces the winner of the main event on Sunday.

New Japan Cup first round match: SANADA defeated Tomohiro Ishii (25:18)

This was very good. Ishii is always going to deliver in a main event and this was no exception.

They began with some mat work. They moved on to striking and Ishii got the best of the first battle. SANADA rolled outside to gain some distance, but Ishii went out after him and threw him back in.

Ishii backed SANADA into the corner and scored with more strikes. SANADA charged out of the corner with a basement dropkick to the left knee. He followed with a leapfrog dropkick and a plancha. SANADA did some crowd work, then used a paradise lock. After some more crowd work, he broke the hold with a dropkick.

Ishii hit a series of forearm and chop combinations in the corner. Ishii shoved referee Red Shoes down as he tried to force Ishii out of the corner. They traded strikes in the center of the ring. SANADA got a knockdown off an uppercut forearm.

SANADA then trapped Ishii in the corner. Red Shoes tried to force a break, but this time SANADA threw him aside. They traded backdrop suplexes. Ishii hit a German. SANADA hit a shotgun dropkick. Ishii hit a German into the buckle, then used a delayed superplex for two.

A crazy sequence saw SANADA hit a dropkick after Ishii hit a reverse buckle bomb. SANADA used a dragon sleeper to set up a TKO attempt. Ishii blocked. Ishii blocked a rolling elbow with a forearm shot.

Ishii hit a powerbomb with a stack cover for a two count. He hit two lariats and used another stack for a near fall. Ishii went for a brainbuster. SANADA blocked. SANADA landed on his feet out of a suplex attempt and hit a TKO into a double down.

SANADA hit a springboard dropkick. Ishii no-sold, but SANADA followed with an immediate forearm shot. SANADA used Skull End with a body scissors. After nearly a minute in the hold, Ishii forced a rope break.

SANADA hit a magic screw for a near fall. Ishii missed an enzuigiri. Ishii avoided an O’Connor roll. SANADA hit a moonsault. He went for a second moonsault, but Ishii rolled out of the way.

SANADA used another moonsault to set up Skull End. Ishii slid out. SANADA avoided a sliding lariat. Ishii hit an enzuigiri. Ishii hit a sliding lariat for a near fall. SANADA avoided two brainbuster attempts and used an O’Connor roll for a great near fall.

They traded strikes. SANADA hit a hurricanrana and a pop-up TKO, then used another moonsault for the pin.

SANADA advances to round two and will face Nagata on Sunday.