Shota Umino and Callum Newman Reach Semi-Finals of NJPW New Japan Cup

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW took the New Japan Cup to Koriyama to round off the quarter-finals. With two spots left in the semi-finals, United Empire’s Callum Newman secured the first, while Shota Umino took the final spot.

Newman came up against Hirooki Goto in his quarter-final tie. In an intense fight, Newman even dipped into David Finlay’s playbook to hit an Oblivion, but it would take more than that to put down Goto.

Eventually, Newman turned to the dark arts of pro wrestling. With the referee’s attention pulled away from the action, Newman connected with a low blow and then the Prince’s Curse, getting a pinfall and stamping his ticket to the semi-finals.

The main event saw Shota Umino facing off with Zack Sabre Jr. Umino is undefeated against ZSJ in tournament matches, having beaten the Brit in the 2023 New Japan Cup, as well as the 2024 and 2025 G1 Climax. Umino once again stood up to ZSJ’s technical onslaught, suffering for the chance to reach the next round.

The closing moments saw Umino power through the pain. Despite the targeted attack on his arm, Umino landed a big lariat that dazed ZSJ long enough to hit the Second Chapter and pick up the win.

In the post-match comments, Umino was fired up following the win:

Everyone has their own strengths, but my weapon is my refusal to ever give up. No matter what others say, I believe in myself and the environment I grew up in, and I’ll press on regardless. I’m going to go out and snatch back what I left behind last year—the winner’s trophy—and the title of New Japan Cup winner by sheer force.

(Quote translated via DeepL)

Newman and Umino will face each other in the semi-finals on March 20th. The other semi-final will see Boltin Oleg face Yuya Uemura. Then, the grand final will take place on March 21st.

Here are the full results for NJPW New Japan Cup Day 10:

• Chase Owens, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi def. Satoshi Kojima, Taichi & Masatora Yasuda (9:27)
• Dick Togo, Don Fale & Ren Narita def. Aaron Wolf, Tatsuya Matsumoto & Toru Yano (9:01)
• OSKAR & Yuto-Ice def. Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa (7:26)
• Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, HENARE, Jake Lee & Jakob Austin Young def. Drilla Moloney, Gedo, Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori & Yota Tsuji (11:35)
• Boltin Oleg & YOSHI-HASHI def. Tomoaki Honma & Yuya Uemura (9:40)
• New Japan Cup Quarter-Final: Callum Newman def. Hirooki Goto (12:43)
• New Japan Cup Quarter-Final: Shota Umino def. Zack Sabre Jr. (25:38)