It’s time for the second night of the New Japan Cup tournament. There’ll be some more House of Torture shenanigans for the fine people at Korakuen Hall in the main event. I’m sure they appreciate it.

New Japan Cup: El Phantasmo vs. Boltin Oleg

This Hontai battle surprisingly got off to a quick start, as Phantasmo tried to get the upper hand early, but that backfired when Boltin foiled the dive into the front row and hit ELP with a pounce instead. However, ELP later took control, working on Boltin’s leg and employing a fast-moving offensive strategy to try to keep him down. At one point, he even countered the Boltin shake with a headscissors. Boltin got in his shots, though, but ELP got him outside and hit a moonsault from the top where he appeared to smash Boltin in the face with knees, which looked both scary and way more impactful than moonsaults usually look. Both guys kicked out of each other’s finishers and they had a good fighting spirit sequence, but eventually Boltin countered an ELP attempt at a top rope move and hit a Kamikaze from the middle rope for the win. This was really good. All the offense was really crisp, and the crowd was very into both guys. It’s a shame one of them had to lose. The two hugged afterward, and now Boltin has HENARE on March 12 in Takamatsu; that should be a lot of fun.

New Japan Cup: Taichi vs. Ren Narita [House of Torture]

Taichi came out with Ryuske Taguchi, so he at least didn’t look like quite as big an idiot as Aaron Wolf did, but he still got jumped by Narita while he was doing his entrance, because some things are just inevitable. Taichi had his hot white gear, just in case you weren’t clear on who the babyface in this match was. Taichi had the upper hand for a while, even incorporating some of his own heel tactics, but eventually Yujiro Takahashi came out to interfere on Narita’s behalf (while Taguchi canceled out Dick Togo), and the tide turned in Narita’s favor. Narita worked on Taichi’s knee for a while, but Taichi eventually hit some hard strikes to take control. Taichi used a couple of Ishii’s moves for near-falls, but then Togo pulled Red Shoes to the floor, and DOUKI and Chase Owens came out and started beating up Taichi. Masatora Yasuda jumped in, and that went about as well as you’d expect, and then Shota Umino and Master Wato ran in to try to even the odds. Eventually, Taguchi, Yasuda, Umino and Wato cleared the ring and Taichi got a near-fall with the backdrop driver, but SHO rang the bell early and he and Yoshinobu Kanemaru hit the ring. Kanemaru pretended to turn on the House, but then hit Taichi with the bottle, setting up Hell’s Guillotine from Narita for the win. This was completely ridiculous, though it’s exactly the sort of thing that would have blown the roof off of Korakuen if Taichi had won after all. Sadly, they can’t have Narita losing in the first round so soon after elevating him, so he had to win here. Narita’s next tournament match will be on March 12 in Takamatsu against Satoshi Kojima (subbing for Ishii, who hurt his neck in the U.S. last week). Obviously, expect more of the same.

Tomorrow night is the Anniversary show at the Ota City Gymnasium. The full card has yet to be announced, but the refreshingly House-free Cup matches are YOSHI-HASHI vs. Jake Lee and Callum Newman vs. OSKAR. Additionally, Ichiban Sweet Boys are defending the junior tag title against Taiji Ishimori and Robbie X, and DOUKI is defending the junior title against Wato. Part of me wonders if they’re saving the “beating the House in the main event” pop for this show, but for Wato? Maybe not. NJPW has also announced that Tatsumi Fujinami, who wrestled in the very first match on the very first NJPW show 54 years ago, will be tagging with his son, LEONA; their opponents have not been announced.