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NJPW NEW JAPAN CUP 2025 NIGHT 7
MARCH 16, 2025
TWIN MESSE SHIZUOKA
SHIZUOKA, JAPAN
AIRED LIVE ON NJPW WORLD
There was just one tournament match tonight after all four quarterfinals happened back-to-back last night in the show headlined by Hirooki Goto defending the Heavyweight Championship against Yuji Nagata. I watched the show earlier today and didn’t know at the time I’d be posting results, but I’ve added some quick thoughts after each match.
(1) TMDK (Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson) def. TOMOHIRO ISHII & KATSUYA MURASHIMA at 6:59.
Jackson pinned Young Lion Murashima in a match suggesting more between Ishii and Oiwa.
(2) YUJI NAGATA & SATOSHI KOJIMA def. HIROSHI TANAHASHI & DAIKI NAGAI at 9:21.
Nagai did the honors after a Kojima lariat in a match where Nagai was in there with three former IWGP Heavyweight Champions, all of them over twice his age.
(3) TORU YANO & YOSHI-HASHI def. JUST 4 GUYS (Yuya Uemura & TAKA Michinoku) at 7:52.
Yoshi-Hashi tapped out Taka in a match where both the action and the commentary centered on Uemura’s rise up the card.
(4) EL PHANTASMO & BOLTIN OLEG & JADO def. UNITED EMPIRE (The Great-O-Khan & TJP & Jakob Austin Young) at 8:13.
Oleg pinned young after his finisher. They’re still working toward Oleg being a more major player, and although the ringwork is getting there, he’s still a pretty blank canvas from a character standpoint.
(5) UNITED EMPIRE (Jeff Cobb & Callum Newman) def. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI) at 7:40.
If Cobb is really leaving, someone should let him know. His team won when Newman finished Bushi, and Naito and Cobb still seemingly have a lingering issue from Cobb knocking Naito out of the tournament.
(6) The House of Torture (EVIL & Ren Narita & Yujira Takahashi & SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) def. BULLET CLUB WAR DOGS (Gabe Kidd & Drilla Moloney & SANADA & Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens) at 8:27.
The usual pre-match brawl went for a few minutes before they got in the ring and had the usual messy HoT match. Owens got a long…showcase, I guess?…before falling to Everything is Evil. I know they want to generate heat by having HoT win these matches until they don’t, but the War Dogs are pretty hot right now and I don’t think they should wait too long to strike.
(7) LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji) def. SHOTA UMINO & TOMOAKI HONMA at 12:31.
Takagi & Umino had a showcase before tomorrow’s second semifinal. Honma, who certainly doesn’t see a lot of semi-main event action these days, did the job after a Tsuji Gene Blaster.
(8) New Japan Cup Semifinal: DAVID FINLAY def. ZACK SABRE JR. at 20:13.
The match had an extremely slow pace until late, and even then didn’t ever kick into a very high gear. Sabre busted out a lot of great reversals late, but Finlay beat him at his own game with a suplex escape into Overkill for the victory. This is Finlay’s second run to the finals in the New Japan Cup, as he previously lost to Sanada when they tried to make clean-cut faction leader Sanada happen. It’ll be very interesting to hear the crowd reaction if Shota Umino advances in the other final, as both Finlay and especially Umino have been rejected by many in their roles.
FINAL THOUGHTS: It was a pretty drab night overall, with just one slow-paced tournament match and a series of forgettable tag matches in front of a small crowd in a tiny venue (the smallest of the tour, I think). There’s nothing particularly bad to say about the main event, but if you want to enjoy some ZSJ, it would take me a long time to recommend this one. Tomorrow, Shota Umino and Shingo Takagi go in the other semifinal. Umino seems destined to be pushed hard despite fan backlash, with New Japan pinning their hopes on the idea that fans will respond to a new look and attitude, though I can’t say it feels like it’s time to do so yet unless Umino’s change is going to be even more drastic in a heel direction. Nobody is likely to get cheered against champion Hirooki Goto, of course.
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