#6 New Japan Cup Round One: Yuji Nagata vs. Tanga Roa
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What Tanga Roa lacks in in-ring ability, he more than makes up for it with his constant chatter inside the ring, and the Bullet Club member put in a decent performance here in what was his first singles match in New Japan.
Nagata entered the tournament as a late replacement for the injured Tomoaki Honma, and it was Blue Justice who advanced to the quarter-finals after hitting the Backdrop Driver.
#7 New Japan Cup Round One: Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga
Tonga smashed Yano’s DVD early, which upset the crowd somewhat.
This match was pretty much entirely Yano tricks. The Sublime Master Thief was seen running scared of the Bad Boy before eventually hitting Tonga with a low blow and a roll-up. Those hoping for a slight singles push for Tama Tonga continue to be disappointed.
#8 New Japan Cup Round One: Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale
This was exactly what you would expect Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale to be, a hoss battle in which two big dudes threw bombs at each other until one threw a bomb the other couldn’t recover from.
Elgin hit Fale with a couple of impressive suplexes but it was Fale who prevailed, picking up Bullet Club’s first win of the tournament after hitting #BigMike with the Grenade.
#9 New Japan Cup Round One: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL
The match of the night by some margin, Hiroshi Tanahashi and EVIL went at it in a high-energy main event that could well have been a G1 Climax sprint, such was the big match atmosphere here.
EVIL got the upper hand early and was able to hit Tanahashi with his chair on chair spot, but it was Tana who used the chair in the middle of the match followed by a Slingblade and a great High Fly Flow miss.
It was EVIL who pulled out the surprise win in the end, with referee Red Shoes taking one bump too many allowing the King of Darkness to blind Tanahashi with the green mist before hitting EVIL for the win.
All in all, this was another fine New Japan show with only the main event qualifying as anything approaching a must-see match.
EVIL vs. Yuji Nagata and Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale are now official for the quarter-finals, and the first round continues tomorrow with the much-anticipated Katsuyori Shibata vs. Minoru Suzuki and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega matches, along with YOSHI-HASHI vs. Sanada and Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi.
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