{"id":213007,"date":"2026-03-05T21:43:57","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T03:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=213007"},"modified":"2026-03-05T21:43:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T03:43:57","slug":"radicans-take-njpw-cup-2026-diary-3-5-young-lions-match-njpw-cup-2026-first-round-matches-including-oleg-vs-elp-narita-vs-taichi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/03\/05\/radicans-take-njpw-cup-2026-diary-3-5-young-lions-match-njpw-cup-2026-first-round-matches-including-oleg-vs-elp-narita-vs-taichi\/","title":{"rendered":"RADICAN&#8217;S TAKE: NJPW Cup 2026 diary (3\/5) &#8211; Young Lions match, NJPW Cup 2026 first round matches including Oleg vs. ELP, Narita vs. Taichi"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3577677258\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p><strong>-MASATORA YASUDA vs. TAISEI NAKAHARA\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Nakahara\u2019s second match ever in his career. Yasuda went after Nakahara\u2019s leg during the early going.Charlton said most of the other Young Lions had affiliations with other wrestlers, but Yasuda was on his own. Yasuda worked a half crab, but Nakahara managed to get to the ropes to break the hold and the fans fired up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nakahara got a Boston crab on Yasuda, but he quickly powered out of it using his size advantage to his own benefit. Yasuda fired back and got the Boston crab for the win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WINNER: Masatora Yasuda at 6:51.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>-BOLTIN OLEG vs. EL PHANTASMO (w\/Jado) &#8211; NJPW Cup 2026 First Round match<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ELP sent Oleg over the guardrail and set up for a dive, but Oleg moved. ELP went back to the floor and Oleg surprised him with a shoulder tackle. He slammed ELP on the apron a short time later. He then went up to the apron and he military pressed ELP back into the ring for a two count. ELP fired back and went after Oleg\u2019s legs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They traded blows on the floor, but ELP managed to land a running kick to Oleg\u2019s leg as it was draped over the guardrail. ELP got a half crab. Oleg tried to free himself and eventually managed to get to the ropes. ELP went for a rana after walking the ropes, but Oleg blocked it and turned it into a F5 and both men were down. Oleg got ELP on his shoulders, but he escaped and locked in a half crab variation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oleg was down on the outside and ELP went up and hit Ibushi\u2019s moonsault to the floor off the turnbuckles. He got Oleg back inside the ring and played some air guitar. ELP got a half crab, but Boltin struggled and eventually got the ropes. Oleg went to the floor and this time ELP hit the moonsault off the turnbuckles to the floor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-2234661359\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He tossed Oleg back into the ring and dropped an elbow off the second turnbuckle. He played some guitar and set up for Sudden Death twice to the head and once to the mid section. Oleg suddenly fired up and hit a short Kamikaze for a near fall. WOW! They traded blows in the middle of the ring. Oleg sent ELP to the mat with a big forearm. ELP tried several times to take Oleg down with a clothesline. He finally bounced off the ropes and downed Oleg with a clothesline. He then hit CR2, but Oleg kicked out!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ELP went up top and Oleg cut him off. They battled up top. ELP slipped under Boltin and hit a kick to Oleg\u2019s head. Oleg suddenly got ELP onto his shoulders on the second rope. ELP tried to fight out of Oleg\u2019s clasp with several elbows, but he held on and hit Kamikaze for the win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WINNER: Boltin Oleg at 18:08 to advance to the second round of the NJPW Cup 2026. (***3\/4)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Radican\u2019s Analysis: Great action here. ELP just could not put Oleg away and this is his second big loss in the last week. ELP said after he lost at New Beginning USA that he wanted better results going forward, so it will be interesting to see how he responds to his first round exit in the NJPW Cup.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oleg on the other hand looked great here coming off his win over Ishii at New Beginning USA. He showcased his power and fighting spirit and ELP did a good job of making him look good.)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>-TAICHI vs. REN NARITA &#8211; NJPW Cup 2026 First Round match.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">House of Tortured jumped Taichi as he was making his entrance in the ring. HOT left the ring and the ref called for the bell. They went to the floor and Narita attacked Taichi with a chair. They ended up back in the ring and Taichi showed some signs of life after shaking off some kicks from Narita. He finally caught Narita with a jumping kick to the head and the fans fired up. They went back to the floor and Red Shoes tried to stop Taichi from using a chair, but he shoved him aside and plastered Narita with a chairshot to the bat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ref got bumped and HOT came down to ringside to turn the tide in Narita\u2019s favor. Narita wrapped Taichi\u2019s leg around the guardrail and nailed it with a chairshot. Order was restored and Narita worked over Taichi\u2019s leg. Taichi finally ducked a charge in the corner and nailed Narita with a kick to the head. The fans fired up with both men down on the mat. Taichi hit a spinning backfist in the corner and Narita went straight down to the mat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1279310341\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The fans fired up as Taichi tore off his pants. House of Torture ran down again and distracted Taichi. Narita took him to the mat and locked in a leg submission, but Taichi got the ropes. Taguchi got on the ropes and protested, so Narita booted him off the apron to the floor. They battled up top and Taichi hit a superplex and sold his knee after landing. Taichi hit a Vertical Drop Brainbuster, but Togo dragged the ref to the floor.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The rest of Hontai finally came down, but were overcome by the numbers game. HOT worked over Taichi inside the ring. They ran the train on him in the corner and Togo went for D2D contact, but Taguchi broke it up. Master Wato ran down and took care of Douki. The fans fired up and when the smoke cleared Tacihi was alone in the ring Narita. Taichi ducked a shot with the push up bar from Narita and hit the Dangerous Backdrop for a good near fall.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Taichi fired back and hit a X-factor. He then grabbed a leg submission. Taichi tried to get to the ropes. Narita held on and continued to crank on Taichi\u2019s leg. Taichi struggled and finally got to the bottom rope to break up the hold. Narita went up top for Hell\u2019s Guillotine, but Taichi nailed him with a kick. Taichi sold his leg on the mat and the fans fired up. He measured Narita and hit a burning lariat. He then hit another Dangerous Backdrop, but Sho rang the bell at the count of two and he let go of the bridge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kanemaru acted like he was going to help Taichi. He set up Narita, but it was all a ruse so he could shove him out of the way of Taichi\u2019s kick. Kanemaru hit Taichi with the whiskey bottle. Narita crawled up top. Taichi slowly began trying to get to his feet. Taichi fought his way to his feet only to take Hell\u2019s Guiliotinne from Narita and it was good for the win.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">WINNER: Ren Narita at 22:40 to advance to the second round of the NJPW Cup. (***)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Radican\u2019s Analysis: This was a mixed bag. It\u2019s good to see wrestlers coming down to neutralize House of Torture during matches, but their blatant interference and referee abuse that continues to go unpunished is ridiculous. I had a hard time believing that Taichi would trust Kanemaru to help him, but for some reason he did and it cost him the match in the end.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NJPW needs to tighten up their rules. The crowd was into Taichi big time here and his comebacks, but the amount of cheating HOT gets away with is ridiculous and their presence up and down these cards so far is really annoying and unpleasant.)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Sean at pwtorchsean@gmail.com. Follow him on Bluesky @SeanRadican and on X: @SR_Torch<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-3785984338\"><div id=\"pwtor-3695682352\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>-MASATORA YASUDA vs. TAISEI NAKAHARA\u00a0 This is Nakahara\u2019s second match ever in his career. Yasuda went after Nakahara\u2019s leg during the early going.Charlton said most of the other Young Lions had affiliations with other wrestlers, <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2026\/03\/05\/radicans-take-njpw-cup-2026-diary-3-5-young-lions-match-njpw-cup-2026-first-round-matches-including-oleg-vs-elp-narita-vs-taichi\/\" title=\"RADICAN&#8217;S TAKE: NJPW Cup 2026 diary (3\/5) &#8211; Young Lions match, NJPW Cup 2026 first round matches including Oleg vs. ELP, Narita vs. Taichi\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":211985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,59,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-take_radican","category-opinion_stafftakes"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/post\/2026\/02\/IMG_4650.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213007"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213017,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213007\/revisions\/213017"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}