We’ve reached the home stretch in the New Japan Cup tournament. Will we get the Umino/Uemura final that everyone thought we would from the moment the brackets were unveiled, or will Callum Newman and/or Boltin Oleg throw a spanner in those works on this show in Nagaoka? Let’s find out.

New Japan Cup: Yuya Uemura vs. Boltin Oleg

Uemura’s pose seems to cause him such pain. They start off with grappling, where Boltin obviously has the advantage, but Uemura manages to hold his own. Uemura works on the left arm and attempts to keep Boltin grounded, but Boltin creates some space with a one-arm slam. Boltin hits the Boltin Shake and dominates with his power wrestling, but Uemura responds with a dropkick and a side suplex for two. Uemura goes for a double wristlock, but Boltin makes it to the ropes. Uemura tries for a charge to the corner, but Boltin catches it and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. Boltin hits a corner charge of his own and the Boltin Bomb for two, but Uemura grabs the double wristlock from underneath. Boltin stands to escape, but Uemura takes him down with a head-scissors. Uemura gives up the hold to try for the Deadbolt, but Boltin hits a short Kamikaze for two. The two engage in a really heated striking battle, followed by a series of suplexes that leads to a double-down. Boltin goes for Kamikaze, but Uemura reverses into a sunset flip for two, which he follows with a small package for another two. Uemura hits a German suplex, followed by a dragon suplex that gets a near-fall. They struggle over the Deadbolt; Boltin gets the advantage with his wrestling acumen and hits the suplex, followed by a power bomb for a near-fall. Boltin hits the Verdict for another near-fall, then goes for the Kamikaze, but Uemura escapes to the top rope. Boltin tries to set up a Kamikaze from the second rope, but Uemura fights out and hits a (slightly botched) hurricanrana from the top. They fight over the Deadbolt again and Uemura finally gets him over – their timing was a bit off on this and it looked ugly, but it strangely also made it feel a little more authentic. Uemura then hit two High Fly Flow cross-bodies for the win. This was terrific – both guys were out of gas by the end, but that worked in the match’s favor. Uemura is really, really good at appearing as though he’s trying to win, which is a bit of a lost art in wrestling that tends to help him connect with the crowd. Boltin continues to impress, though he’s pretty banged up and could use some time off in the near future before they start him on the path to the main event. Both guys have “it,” and it’s going to be fun to watch them both going forward.

New Japan Cup: Callum Newman [United Empire] vs. Shota Umino

I like Newman’s new music a little less each time I hear it. Marty Asami is once again the main event ref, for obvious reasons. Newman stalls to start, subverting his former nickname, but the pace picks up pretty quickly with Umino targeting Newman’s shoulder. However, Newman hits a knee to the midsection to take the advantage. Newman continues striking at Umino deliberately, and Umino’s nose is once again bleeding less than 10 minutes into the match. Newman kicks Umino’s right arm, which was Zack Sabre Jr.’s target in Tuesday’s match, and begins working it over. After a few minutes of this, Umino hits a dropkick to take over. Newman spits in Umino’s face, so Umino beats him down in the corner. Umino hits a fisherman’s suplex for two, but Newman avoids Umino’s slingshot DDT to the apron and kicks the arm to regain control. Newman sets up two tables at ringside and tries to suplex Umino through them, but Umino counters with a suplex of his own. Back in the ring, Umino attempts a lariat but Newman counters with a deep armbar; Umino makes it to the ropes to force the break, however. Umino reverses an Irish whip into a tornado DDT, followed by the slingshot apron DDT, after which he screams into the camera in a cathartic moment that feels like it could be in highlight reels for years to come. Umino dropkicks Newman over the guard rail, which looked really painful. Umino then drags Newman over the guard rail and hits the Strike Knee, followed by a hanging DDT. Back in the ring, Umino hits a power bomb for two, followed by a couple of knee strikes in the corner and a Strike Knee for a near-fall. Newman counters a lariat attempt with a German suplex, then power bombs Umino over the top rope through the tables at ringside in an absolutely crazy spot. Umino, whose back is cut up from the tables, gets into the ring at 19 and gets a kick to the head as his reward. Newman hits a PK and a Firebolt for a near-fall, then applies a double wristlock for the submission attempt; after a long battle, Umino gets to the ropes. Umino dodges an arrogant strike, hits a couple of his own, and hits a lariat for two. Umino gets a half-and-half suplex for two, but then eats a lariat and Excalibur for near-falls. Umino counters the Prince’s Curse into a DDT, then hits a poison rana and a lariat for two. Umino goes for the Second Chapter, but Newman slips out the back, shoves Umino into Asami, fouls Umino and hits a lariat for a near-fall. Umino counters Prince’s Curse into a small package for two, but then Newman tries it again and hits it for the pinfall. This was excellent, and yet another piece in the growing body of evidence that Umino finally gets it. In his post-match promo, Newman tells Umino that he always fails, and then semi-seriously invites him to join United Empire before kicking him to the floor. Uemura comes to the ring, and he and Newman cut promos as a preview for the final.

That match will be tomorrow night at this same venue in Nagaoka. The rest of the card is mostly preview tags; however, the new NJPW World TV Champion, Konosuke Takeshita, will also make his return to Japan for an open challenge title match. See you then!