Unbound Co. Win IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles at NJPW 54th Anniversary, Plus More New Japan Cup Action

By Noah Leatherland

NJPW celebrated their 54th Anniversary in the Ota City General Gymnasium, marking the occasion with matches in the New Japan Cup and title matches in the junior division. There was also a special appearance from Tatsumi Fujinami to celebrate the NJPW anniversary.

Fujinami teamed with Shota Umino, Aaron Wolf, Satoshi Kojima and his son LEONA to take on the House of Torture. The Dragon’s return to an NJPW ring ended on a sour note as the House of Torture picked up the win against the legend’s team. But, Fujinami still got a few licks in on his opponents.

In New Japan Cup action, Jake Lee is looking to earn another shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship by making his way to the end of the brackets. In the first round, he squared off against YOSHI-HASHI. Despite YOSHI-HASHI’s best efforts, he fell to Lee, with the referee stopping the match after Lee had locked YOSHI-HASHI into a choke.

Then, OSKAR looked to advance over Callum Newman. Newman tapped to OSKAR’s sleeper hold, but the incapacitated referee could not make the call. Zane Jay ran in and helped his United Empire leader, setting Newman up to win the bout.

Lee and Newman will compete in the second round on March 13th. They each face an opponent who received a first round bye. Lee will go up against Hirooki Goto, while Newman will face Hartley Jackson.

There were two junior title matches to celebrate the 54th Anniversary of NJPW. The Ichiban Sweet Boys put up their IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles against Unbound Co.’s Taiji Ishimori and Robbie X. It was a fast-paced affair, with the finish coming through Robbie X hitting the X Express on Fujita. Ishimori and Robbie X won the tag belts, only to be quickly blindsided by Francesco Akira and Jakob Austin Young immediately calling their shot as first challengers.

The main event saw DOUKI defend the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title against Master Wato. Once again, the House of Torture interfered to make sure that their faction held on to the belt. DOUKI retained the title thanks to their underhanded tactics. However, YOH made his presence felt after the match, looking to be DOUKI’s next challenger.

Here are the full results for NJPW 54th Anniversary, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Drilla Moloney & Daiki Nagai def. Yuya Uemura & Masatora Yasuda (5:55)
• Great-O-Khan, HENARE, Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young def. Hirooki Goto, Oleg Boltin, Toru Yano & Tatsuya Matsumoto (7:03)
• Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa def. Yuto-Ice & Gedo (4:41)
• Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi def. Don Fale & Yoshinobu Kanemaru (5:23)
• Ren Narita, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo def. Satoshi Kojima, Shota Umino, Aaron Wolf, Tatsumi Fujinami & LEONA (11:17)
• New Japan Cup – Round 1: Jake Lee def. YOSHI-HASHI (14:06)
• New Japan Cup – Round 1: Callum Newman def. OSKAR (11:15)
• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori def. Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita (c) (14:55)
• IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: DOUKI (c) def. Master Wato (19:35)