Yuya Uemura and Callum Newman Reach Finals of NJPW New Japan Cup

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW were in Nagaoka for the semi-finals of the New Japan Cup. Yuya Uemura managed to overcome the might of Boltin Oleg, while Callum Newman denied an all RoughStorm cup final by defeating Shota Umino.

Uemura had a tall task heading up against Oleg, the reigning NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion. Uemura managed to stand up to his bigger opponent’s onslaught, stringing together offence to take him down.

Uemura finished Oleg off with the Lion’s Shine, securing himself a spot in the tournament’s grand final. Speaking in his post-match comments, Uemura ‘s determination to win the whole tournament shone through:

Oleg… I believe we clashed our respective Strong Styles head-on today in this New Japan Cup semi-final… Just one more step to the final… Tomorrow, no matter what! I have to win! I’ll win this tournament and ignite a frenzy across Japan and the whole world.

(Quote translated via DeepL)

The main event of the evening saw Uemura’s tag partner Shota Umino face off against Callum Newman of the United Empire. This ended up far from a pure wrestling match, with a good chunk of time spent fighting outside the ring, including Newman setting up a pair of tables that he used to great effect.

The war waged on for a half hour. Finally, after the two men withstood each other’s best shots, it was the Prince’s Curse from Newman that brought about the end. Newman heads into the finals of the New Japan Cup, with some harsh words for Umino as he took the microphone:

What did I tell you, huh? What did I tell you? You always fail. No matter what you do, wherever, whenever, you fail. At this point in time, the gaijin wrestlers, I’m the peak and you ain’t ever climbing past me, bitch. But if you ever want a fourth, fifth, sixth chapter, and you like the colour green, you’ve got my number. Now, fuck off.

Speaking in his post-match comments, Newman was completely dismissive of his upcoming opponent in the finals.

One more. That’s all it is. One more victory. One more person to kiss the crown. I’ve gone through the best of the best in this fucking tournament, and tomorrow I’m taking it home to the Empire. Then I’m gonna see Tsuji at Ryogoku. Y’know what? I’m just gonna do the exact same bullshit I did with Shota. Yuya, I’m already looking past you. I’m the top gaijin in this company now. You ain’t stopping me. No-one’s stopping me. This is my cup. It’s my year. It’s my fucking company. Try and stop me. Make way. Kiss the fucking crown.

Yuya Uemura and Callum Newman face off in the NJPW New Japan Cup final on March 21st.

Here are the results for NJPW New Japan Cup Day 11, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens def. Ryusuke Taguchi & Taisei Nakahara (7:20)
• Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tatsuya Matsumoto def. Taichi, Satoshi Kojima & Masatora Yasuda (10:26)
• YOH, El Desperado & Master Wato def. DOUKI, SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (8:35)
• Jake Lee, HENARE, Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young def. Shingo Takagi, Drilla Moloney, Taiji Ishimori & Daiki Nagai (9:25)
• Ren Narita, Don Fale & Dick Togo def. Aaron Wolf, Toru Yano & Tomoaki Honma (8:34)
• Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa, Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita def. Yota Tsuji, Yuto-Ice, OSKAR & Gedo (12:24)
• New Japan Cup – Semi Final: Yuya Uemura def. Oleg Boltin (19:27)
• New Japan Cup – Semi Final: Callum Newman def. Shota Umino (30:03)