SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NJPW NEW JAPAN CUP NIGHT 9 REPORT
MARCH 15, 2026
AIMESSE YAMANASHI
YAMANASHI, JAPAN
AIRED LIVE ON NJPW WORLD
Walker Stewart was flying solo on English commentary for the first night of quarter-final action in the New Japan Cup.
(1) YOSHI-HASHI & TAISEI NAKAHARA vs. HARTLEY JACKSON & KOSEI FUJITA
Nakahara is a brand new Young Lion, still sporting the crew cut and wrestling his first match against senior roster members. He wasted no time in showing some spunk, getting all up in Fujita’s personal space before the bell and trying to stare him down. Fujita basically ignored him, until Nakahara teed off with a slap to the chest. Once the match started, Fujita wasted no time punishing Nakahara’s hubris.
The kid got a little offence in, and Yoshi-Hashi got some licks in on Jackson, but ultimately this was Nakahara’s initiation. He will still be feeling it next week, I reckon. A half-crab from Fujita earned the tapout win.
WINNERS: Jackson & Fujita via submission at 5:18 (*1/2).
(Lansdell’s Analysis: Welcome to the big time, kid. Jackson and Fujita showed a bit of edge here, with Jackson dropping a running senton on Nakahara after the match. I wouldn’t read too much into it, especially as it was Nakahara’s first match with non-Lions and he was pretty impetuous, but it’s worth remembering.)
(2) AARON WOLF & TORU YANO & SATOSHI KOJIMA & MASATORA YASUDA vs. HOUSE OF TORTURE (Don Fale & Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
Aaron Wolf’s t-shirt says “Wolf Time” on the back. In gold letters. That is not going to take off, but it should be taken off.
An interesting commentary note: Stewart made mention of Wolf having spent less time in the dojo than Yasuda, but Wolf was already a former Never Openweight champion. The English commentators don’t often get story hints to drop, but I flagged this one as possibly relevant.
For a House of Torture match there was a refreshing lack of shenanigans. Kanemaru got the tapout over Yasuda with a figure four, and nothing else of note happened.
WINNERS: House of Torture via submission at 7:56. (*1/2)
(Lansdell’s Analysis: The hiding of Wolf continues, as he barely broke a sweat in this match. I hope they keep him off the Best of the Super Juniors tour so he can get some dojo time. The match was only noteworthy because there was a lack of nonsense, otherwise entirely predictable.)
(3) YOTA TSUJI & OSKAR & YUTO-ICE & GEDO & DIRILLA MOLONEY vs. UNITED EMPIRE (Jake Lee & Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young & Henare & Great-O-Khan)
After seven minutes of entrances, we were treated to several one-on-one segments of the match that raised my eyebrows. Akira was able to hold his own against Oskar, Henare and Ice beat the living daylights out of each other (continuing to brawl after the bell), and Lee and Tsuji briefly renewed hostilities. Young got the pin on Gedo with a hammerlock DDT as seeds were planted for the future.
WINNERS: United Empire via pinfall at 11:08. (**1/4)
(Lansdell’s Analysis: Not a technical masterpiece, but plenty of tidbits to set up some interesting contests down the road and to keep the faction feud alive. Both factions continued to scrap after the bell, and the dislike is evident. Fitting a returning Ospreay into this picture will be interesting.)
(4) HIROOKI GOTO & TATSUYA MATSUMOTO vs. UNITED EMPIRE (Zane Jay & Callum Newman)
Jay continuing to get angry that he still has to enter to the Young Lion theme is one of the most entertaining little bits going on right now.Newman and Goto will face off in a quarter-final on March 17 as a rematch from Wrestling Dontaku 2025. That match was Newman’s breakout performance, coming on the heels of Jeff Cobb’s surprise defection to WWE.Walker Stewart framed that defection as Cobb “retiring from the sport”, by the way.
There was more interaction between Goto and Newman than one would typically expect in a preview tag, and I can’t say that it was particularly impressive. Jay and Matsumoto were much more entertaining to watch, and I thought Matsumoto shone against Newman before succumbing to the Firebolt.
WINNERS: United Empire via pinfall at 8:58. (*1/2)
(Lansdell’s Analysis: To be fair, there was not much work needed to build to their quarter-final as there is a built-in story. I fully expect a Newman win, but then again I did not expect Goto to get this far. There is a world in which Newman wins the Cup, beats Tsuji, and defends the title against Ospreay…but it is not a very likely world.)
(5) SHOTA UMINO & TOMOAKI HONMA vs. TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr & Ryohei Oiwa)
If the previous match was a preview to a match that didn’t need much of a preview, this one takes that concept to another level. Umino lost to ZSJ in the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom 19, and he has yet to recover his standing on the card.
Instead I will call it a reminder of how good these two are, and will be against each other. The cognitive dissonance that hit me when Honma tagged in against ZSJ was like walking out of a casino into a Las Vegas summer day. A slip by Honma led to a nasty landing and forced Oiwa to improvise a finish while ZSJ held Umino on the apron in varying submission pretzels. The Grip finished things with…The Grip. Ugh.
ZSJ attacked Umino after the bell, trapping his arm in a barricade and kicking it.
WINNERS: TMDK via pinfall in 9:40. (**)
(Lansdell’s Analysis: If you took Honma out of this match and replaced him with an inflatable doll it would have been better, Umino and ZSJ have such good chemistry, with ZSJ playing the stern and cruel dad who’s “just trying to push you to be the best you can be” while Umino tries to stand up for himself.)
(6) BOLTIN OLEG vs. REN NARITA – New Japan Cup Quarter-Final match
As expected, Narita and Yoshinobu Kanemaru ambushed Oleg during his entrance. Narita smashed Oleg in the knee with a chair, then rolled him into the ring. The referee called for the bell, and Narita naturally targeted the knee he had just demolished. Oleg rolled to the apron to try and recover, but Narita slammed him knee-first from the apron to the outside. He wrapped Oleg’s leg in the barricade and kicked at it, then got back in the ring. Oleg hopped back into the ring at the count of nine.
Narita immediately dragged him to a corner and wrapped Oleg’s leg around the post. Back in the middle of the ring he dropped an elbow to the knee and applied a leg lock. Oleg got to the ropes for a break. He landed a few elbows to stagger Narita, and countered a knee breaker with a judo throw. Narita kicked out his knee and clamped on a guillotine. Oleg powered to his feet and tossed Narita overhead to break the hold at the five-minute mark. He followed up with a massive shoulder tackle and a half-speed corner splash. He hit a Boltin Shake, kipped up, regretted it immediately, then hit a Vader Bomb for a two count.Narita blocked a couple of suplexes and tried one of his own. Oleg blocked and went for the Kamikaze instead. Narita countered into a triangle choke. Oleg hit a powerbomb, but Narita kept the hold applied! Oleg powered him up again and hit Kamikaze, which was successful in breaking the hold.
Oleg was first to his feet. He tried a second Kamikaze, but Narita raked his eyes, then shoved Oleg into the referee. Of course this led to HoT Shenanigans (TM). Fale and Kanemaru attacked Oleg. They set up a table in the ring and Fale went to the middle rope. Oleg fought off Narita and Kanemaru, lifting them both and hitting a Samoan drop. Fale slowly clambered off the middle rope and choked Oleg, but Toru Yano and Aaron Wolf came to his rescue. Yano shoved Fale into a table that Wolf was holding. They took the interlopers to the back while OIeg grabbed Narita in the ring. Narita shoved the ref and tried a low blow, but Oleg caught it and lifted him for the Verdict. Narita countered beautifully into a rollup for a near fall, then transitioned into a knee bar. As he tried to transition to another hold, Oleg rolled through and hit a German suplex.
Oleg hauled Narita up. Narita kicked Oleg in the knee and hit the Double Cross! 1…2…no! Narita went to the top rope, looking for Hell’s Guillotine. Oleg plucked him out of the air and hit the Verdict, then Kamikaze for the win.
WINNER: Boltin Oleg via pinfall at 12:23. (***)
(Lansdell’s Analysis: I normally do not go this high when there are shenanigans, but finally the counter-interference paid off. The rest of the match was actually quite good. Oleg is improving but he does still need some help, and Narita is a good one to provide it. I would be very surprised if Oleg wins the whole thing, but depending on the winner of the next match I could see him making the finals. He won’t beat Uemura, but it would not be crazy to have him beat Shingo.)
(7) YUYA UEMURA vs. SHINGO TAKAGI – New Japan Cup Quarter-Final match
Shingo was in his hometown for this match, but since this isn’t WWE we could not assume he was losing. Shingo went for a wild swing at Uemura’s head early on, but missed. He blocked a trademark Uemura arm drag, hit one of his own, then barged into Uemura with a tackle. Uemura avoided a charge and connected with his own arm drag, but missed a dropkick. Shingo dropped an elbow and a senton to take control. He clotheslined Uemura over the top and to the floor. On the outside, Shingo whipped Uemura hard into a barricade, then sent him across the ringside area to the opposite barricade.
They re-entered the ring at the five-minute mark. Shingo hit a suplex for a two-count, then tried a back suplex. Uemura fought it off and countered a lariat into an armbar DDT. He hit an armdrag and snapped Shingo’s arm backwards. Shingo rolled to the floor and taunted Uemura, who obliged and followed him to the outside. Uemura returned the earlier favour of whipping into a pair of barricades. Back inside, Uemura dropped a trio of elbows on Shingo’s arm, and applied an armlock. Shingo scrambled to the ropes. Uemura broke the hold but went right back to focusing on that arm before dropping Shingo with a back suplex. After a two-count, Uemura went for a kimmura but Shingo got his legs on the ropes.
At the ten minute mark, Shingo tried to clamp on a sleeper. Uemura escaped and locked in his own. Shingo countered with a strong back suplex that left both men down. He went for a suplex, Uemura fought it off so Shingo hit a twisting neckbreaker instead. Shingo peppered Uemura with strikes in the corner, finishing off with an uppercut. A big superplex jarred both men, but Shingo recovered first and hit a sliding lariat and a powerbomb for a two-count. It was then Shingo Time! He went for Made in Japan but Uemura countered with an armdrag and once again snapped back on Shingo’s arm. Uemura yanked the arm repeatedly and took Shingo down with a Fujiwara armbar at the 15-minute mark. Shingo got to the ropes, but the respite was short-lived as Uemura cut off a rally with a head kick.
The crowd chanted for Shingo as Uemura hit a German suplex. Shingo popped up and hit a back drop driver, Uemura returned the favour, Shingo hit a half-nelson suplex and then ran into an Uemura dropkick leaving both men (and one writer) down and gasping for breath. Uemura tried for a dragon suplex. Shingo fought it off, then nailed a back elbow. He hit a series of stinging jabs but missed a lariat. Uemura turned the miss into a dragon suplex for a near fall. He went to the top rope…and Shingo sidestepped the crossbody attempt! The Shingo chants amplified as he hammered Uemura with elbows and a northern lariat. Made in Japan…connected! 1…2…no! Shingo notably only used one arm to wrap up Uemura’s legs. Lovely bit of selling.
Shingo appealed to the crowd. He tattooed Uemura’s jaw with alternating left and right elbows. He hit a straight right hand and a headbutt, but Uemura caught the follow-up lariat and went for Deadbolt. Shingo fought it off and eventually countered with a belly-to-belly suplex at the 20-minute mark. Shingo nailed a massive lariat, then hit the Burning Dragon for a very near fall. Shingo went for Last of the Dragon, Uemura escaped and hit an overhead kick. Uemura took Shingo down with a headscissors and transitioned into a kimmura, then a triangle choke. Shingo got to his feet but Uemura launched him with a release Deadbolt. Both men slumped in opposite corners. Uemura recovered first and hit a running dropkick in the corner. He went up top but hesitated, allowing Shingo to stumble into the ropes and crotch Uemura. Shingo joined him on the top turnbuckle. Uemura immediately grabbed an armlock, flipped over into a sunset bomb, then went back up top for a High Fly Flow! 1…2…no!
As we went past 25 minutes, Uemura applied a kimmura in the middle of the ring. Shingo tried to fight free, Uemura went for Deadbolt, but Shingo blocked and hit a pair of clubbing lariats. Uemura held his grip and blocked the third lariat. They repeatedly headbutted each other in that position, but Uemura landed the telling blow. Deadbolt bridge! 1…2…3!
WINNER: Uemura via pinfall at 26:08. (***3/4)
(Lansdell’s Analysis: A solid match that lacked any really special moments to take it to the upper echelons. We now seem all but assured of a Uemura-Umino final, and from there I cannot call the winner. It’s about time the new generation got their moments, and they chose well with Shingo and ZSJ being the gatekeepers to the semis. I would have preferred those matches be the semifinals, but we take what we can get.)
Final thoughts: It was hardly a spectacular show, but it set the table nicely for what’s to come. The two Cup matches delivered in different ways, and the main event was a very enjoyable affair. I am not convinced by an Oleg-Uemura semifinal; it could easily be an ugly style clash. I will take that over another House of Torture clown show every day of the week, and twice on Sundays. Now we await the remaining quarter-finals with bated breath.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.