We may be about to wake up from our long international nightmare of having Yujiro Takahashi alive in the New Japan Cup tournament. Welcome to New Japan Cup, Night 8, on demand from Nagoya.

New Japan Cup: Yujiro Takahashi [House of Torture] vs. Shota Umino

So, the story here is that Umino thinks he can turn Takahashi babyface again, as if he hasn’t been a heel for the entire duration of Umino’s career and then some (with the exception of a six-month period in 2018 when he was aligned with the Golden Elite). Of course, this makes Umino look like an idiot, which is maybe not a great look for a guy who they’re probably still banking on being a top babyface in the company. Takahashi comes out with a baseball mitt because Umino said he wants to have a catch with him, like they apparently did when Red Shoes would bring Umino to work when he was a kid. The match starts with some very basic back and forth stuff, after which Yujiro takes off his shirt – a symbolic rejection of House of Torture, since they make it a point to almost always wrestle wearing t-shirts or gear that covers their upper bodies – and takes control with a body slam. Takahashi gets a single-leg crab, but Umino makes the ropes. Takahashi hits a neckbreaker for two, and then a backdrop for two. All this is occurring at a glacial pace, by NJPW standards. Umino turns the tables with a basement dropkick, then gets two with a fisherman’s suplex. Umino hits a dragon-screw leg whip and locks in an STF, but Takahashi gets to the ropes and actually gets cheers for it. Dick Togo and Yoshinobu Kanemaru come to the ring, but Takahashi tells them to get lost (wink wink). Umino and Takahashi engage in a fighting spirit striking battle, after which Umino gets two with a clothesline. However, Takahashi counters a lariat attempt with one of his own, an Angle slam and a Miami Shine for two. Takahashi goes for Pimp Juice, but Umino counters with a lariat for the near-fall. Umino hits a couple of knee strikes to Takahashi in the corner, then the Strike Knee for two. Umino goes for the lariat, but Takahashi dodges it, shoves Umino into the ref and then hits Umino in the nuts, in a twist that nobody could have seen coming. Togo, Kanemaru and Chase Owens hit the ring, with Owens making sure to give Takahashi his shirt back. Togo hits the chop to the groin and Takahashi gets two. Takahashi hits Pimp Juice, but Umino kicks out at two. Owens takes the ref and Togo and Kanemaru attack Umino, but Umino cancels them out and takes out Owens with a tornado DDT. Umino dodges a cane shot from Takahashi, and then hits a lariat and the Second Chapter for the pin. All this made Umino look like a fool, and the crowd clearly didn’t buy any of it for a second: There were moments prior to the “turn” where the crowd was so quiet that you could hear the fans – blowy fans, not cheery fans – in the arena. The match was okay – Takahashi is still broken down and lazy, but Umino tried hard enough that it was acceptable professional wrestling, for the most part.

New Japan Cup: Ryohei Oiwa [TMDK] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [TMDK]

Now we’re talking. Kosei Fujita is in Sabre’s corner, and Hartley Jackson is in Oiwa’s. This is the third time these two have met in the New Japan Cup (the others being in 2022, when Oiwa was still a Young Lion, and 2025), and Sabre has won both previous meetings. The match begins with almost five minutes of technical wrestling, and Oiwa holds his own with Sabre. Oiwa grabs an advantage with a headlock takeover and uses his power to maintain the headlock. Sabre escapes and, after a couple of reversals back and forth, takes control and goes to work on Oiwa’s arm. He works on it for a few minutes until Oiwa ties his leg in the ropes and hits a clothesline. Oiwa goes to work on Sabre’s knee, including a kneebreaker and a couple of nasty-looking dragon screws. Oiwa locks in a kind of standing figure-four, which Sabre tries to escape with a series of armlocks in a fun sequence. Oiwa tries another kneebreaker, but Sabre counters into a DDT. They have a striking battle that involves each guy hitting the other’s injured limb, then Sabre hits a PK and Oiwa hits a Tenzan suplex for a double-down. Oiwa goes back to work on the knee and tries another dragon screw, but Sabre counters into a cross armbreaker; Oiwa makes the ropes quickly, though. Oiwa hits a dropkick and a senton for a near-fall, then hits a splash from the top for a near-fall. Oiwa goes for something off the ropes, but Sabre counters into one of his insane submissions. Oiwa somehow gets to the ropes and then counters a Zack driver attempt with a lariat, followed by a Doctor bomb. Oiwa then locks in his inverted single-leg crab for a near-submission, but Sabre gets to the ropes. Oiwa hits the Chaos Theory for two, but Sabre grabs the arm and applies a double wristlock in an awesome sequence. Oiwa German suplexes his way out of it and goes for a lariat, but Sabre counters with the Zack driver for a near-fall. Sabre tries a PK; Oiwa catches it, but then takes a heavy slap that knocks him down. After a counter sequence, Oiwa hits a lariat for two. Both guys get near-falls with pinning combinations, then Oiwa hits another lariat and goes for The Grip, but Sabre counters it into a Zack driver for the pin. This was awesome – the best match of the tournament thus far. I think a lot of people expected Oiwa to win, since there are so many other younger guys in the quarterfinals, but he looked really, really good here, and his time is clearly coming soon.

Next up for Sabre is a rematch of the worst Wrestle Kingdom main event in recent memory against Umino in Koriyama on Tuesday. Next up for the tour is the first half of the quarterfinals tomorrow in Kofu, with Shingo Takagi vs. Yuya Uemura and Ren Narita vs. Boltin Oleg.