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From Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan:
1 - Taisei Nakahara vs. Masatora Yasuda
Yasuda gets the win with a Boston Crab.
2 - Shota Umino, Master Wato, Aaron Wolf and Toru Yano vs. Chase Owens, DOUKI, Yujiro Takahahi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Master Wato forces Kanemaru to tap out to Vendaval.
Master Wato has momentum going into his match tomorrow against DOUKI for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship.
3 - Shingo Takagi and Gedo vs. Don Fale and Dick Togo
Takagi forces Togo to submit to a double chicken wing.
4 - YOSHI-HASHI, HIrooki Goto and Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Jake Lee, HENARE and Jakob Austin Young
Young applies a variation of the Indian Death Lock on Matsumoto and gets the submission win.
5 - Drilla Moloney and OSKAR vs. Callum Newman and Zane Jay
Zane Jay has a new gimmick where New Japan plays the music for young lions and Jay gets angry and demands to stop the music because he thinks he is not a young lion anymore.
OSKAR traps Jay in a Nightmare Sleeper and hits a Chokebomb. OSKAR pins Jay.
OSKAR got a pop from the Korakuen Hall crowd.
6 - Yuto-Ice, Taiji Ishimori, Robbie X, Yota Tsuji and Daiki Nagai vs. Ryohei Oiwa, Hartley Jackson, Robbie Eagles, Kosei Fujita and Zack Sabre Jr.
ZSJ made Nagai tap out to various leg, ankle and neck submissions.
The Knockout Brothers continue to get pops from the crowd, even in separate matches. They are homegrown talents who Japanese fans are getting behind.
NEW JAPAN CUP 2026 Matches (Round 1):
7 - Boltin Oleg vs. El Phantasmo
Oleg has his right shoulder heavily taped up.
ELP hits a lariat and a CR2. Oleg kicks out. Oleg hits a Kamikaze off the ropes. Oleg pins ELP.
Boltin Oleg advances to the next Round to face HENARE.
8 - Taichi vs. Ren Narita
All of House of Torture gets involved. Hontai comes to help even the odds. Narita hits the Double Cross. Taichi kicks out. Narita applies the Knee Bar. Rope break. Taichi hits a Dangerous Backdrop. But the bell rings. SHO had rung the bell. Kanemaru pretends to help Taichi but he hits Taichi in the face with the whiskey bottle. Narita hits Taichi with the push-up bar. Narita hits Hells Guillotine.
Narita pins Taichi.
Ren Narita advances to face Satoshi Kojima (replacement for the injured Tomohiro Ishii).
No closing promo by House of Torture.
Despite the usual House of Torture nonsense, it was important for Ren Narita to get the win. If New Japan wants Narita to be the leader, he needs to be as dastardly as EVIL was, for the entire group to remain strong heels. However, Narita needed to cut a promo after the match to establish himself as the leader and state their goals of winning the IWGP World Championship. That was a missed opportunity.
Tomorrow will be New Japan's Anniversary Event with the Jr. Heavyweight Titles in the featured main events.
Thank you for reading.
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