Shota Umino and Ryohei Oiwa Reach Next Round of NJPW New Japan Cup

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW carried on their opening round of the New Japan Cup in Amagasaki, with some renewed rivalries taking place. Shota Umino scored a win over Chase Owens, while Ryohei Oiwa got a pin on a man he knows well from tag team battles, Yuto-Ice.

Shota Umino managed to avoid falling to House of Torture antics in his match with Chase Owens. Both Yujiro Takahashi and Dick Togo attempted to help Owens steal the win. However, Umino withstood their attacks and powered through, taking the win and reaching the second round. Speaking in the post-match comments, Umino shared how important performances in the ring like this are:

No matter what I say now, no matter what I try to convey, there are times when the meaning and intent get completely twisted and misinterpreted. That is undoubtedly my own fault for being inadequate. That’s precisely why I must keep striving for victories like today’s, days like today’s – turning even defeats into growth, into something that sparks change within myself.

Umino will have to keep battling the House of Torture for the foreseeable future. He is set to face Yujiro Takahashi in the second round of the cup.

The main event saw Ryohei Oiwa take on Yuto-Ice, just a couple months after their heated clash over the IWGP Tag Team Championships at New Year Dash. Both men carried over that intensity into the New Japan Cup.

Oiwa showed shades of his partner Zack Sabre Jr., employing a clutch pin to claim a victory over Yuto-Ice. The flames of this rivalry were only fanned by this match, with both men declaring their continued hatred in their post-match comments:

Yuto-Ice:

This loss won’t change a thing for me. I’ll keep punching and kicking. That’s my wrestling. Wrestlers are the strongest fighters. We’re professional brawlers. […] Honestly, I can’t stand rich kids like you, greenhouse-grown brats from good families. I absolutely hate them.

Oiwa:

So this is what they call a wrestling high. It was fun, but I still absolutely hate Yuto-Ice. Let’s keep going at each other from now on.

Oiwa is now set to take on his tag partner and mentor Zack Sabre Jr. in the next round. Oiwa sees it as a chance to prove himself, saying:

I truly believe this is the year I surpass Zack. I won’t be caught off guard again. I’m going in to crush him for real.

(Quotes translated via DeepL)

Here are the full results for NJPW New Japan Cup Day 4, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Yuya Uemura & Masatora Yasuda def. Drilla Moloney & Daiki Nagai (6:53)
• Great-O-Khan & HENARE def. Oleg Boltin & Tomoaki Honma (9:22)
• Jake Lee, Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young def. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tatsuya Matsumoto (9:20)
• Kosei Fujita & Hartley Jackson def. Callum Newman & Zane Jay (9:04)
• Satoshi Kojima, Aaron Wolf & Toru Yano def. Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo (9:42)
• Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi def. Don Fale & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (8:30)
• New Japan Cup – Round 1: Shota Umino def. Chase Owens (19:40)
• New Japan Cup – Round 1: Ryohei Oiwa def. Yuto-Ice (16:04)