Following four days of action, there’s a brief pause in the New Japan Cup as NJPW prepares for the second round of the tournament, where IWGP Heavyweight Champion, “Switchblade” Jay White awaits the eventual winner in Madison Square Garden on WrestleMania weekend in early April.

As I expected in my initial tournament preview, certain matches in the first round really stood out in terms of in-ring quality. Yuji Nagata vs (my pick to win the tournament) Tomohiro Ishii – who will face Taichi in Round 2 – set the standard for the rest of the tournament on the opening night; Hirooki Goto vs SANADA both looked great in a very closely fought contest, and of course, Tetsuya Naito vs Kota Ibushi was a brilliantly brutal battle. However there were also some matches that surprised in regards to how good they were, with IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson vs Bullet Club’s Chase Owens being the sleeper match of the round that might just be Chase’s breakout match in the company. He’s set to face YOSHI-HASHI in Round 2. In addition to that, Satoshi Kojima vs Minoru Suzuki was vicious and Kojima looked as good as I can actually recall seeing him in my time watching New Japan Pro Wrestling. While Okada and Elgin’s match wasn’t as great as their previous encounters in recent years, it was still a solid match that is definitely worth checking out for a reminder of just how good Michael Elgin is let alone Okada, and Shota Umino really looked like a future star in his match with Hiroshi Tanahashi – I really liked Tana’s more submission based style in this one to compliment the Young Lion’s Boston Crab finisher.

Round 1 match recommendations:

Yuji Nagata vs Tomohiro Ishii (Night 1)

Juice Robinson vs Chase Owens (Night 1)

Kazuchika Okada vs Michael Elgin (Night 2)

Will Ospreay vs Bad Luck Fale (Night 2)

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shota Umino (Night 3)

EVIL vs Zack Sabre Jr. (Night 3)

Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito (Night 3)

Satoshi Kojima vs Minoru Suzuki (Night 4)

Hirooki Goto vs SANADA (Night 4)

While there’s some interesting matches in Round 2, what makes them most exciting is the possibilities coming out of them for the third round. The four matches that stand out most to me in that regard are the CHAOS head-to-head of faction leader, Kazuchika Okada, and the newest member, Mikey Nicholls. Nicholls had an alright showing against Hikuleo in Round 1, but this is his big test. I’m interested in seeing how these two mesh together and if they do, it has the potential to be the match of the round. The winner of this one – I expect it to be Okada, as is the safe option – will face either Will Ospreay or Lance Archer, so it’s very likely we’ll be seeing another all CHAOS match-up between the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the current NEVER Openweight Champion. It’s been made clear on commentary just how well Ospreay’s doing against all heavyweights and his win against Fale is something of an indication that New Japan are going the “giant killer” route with him, so a win against the intimidating Archer sounds right – and would there be a bigger giant killing in the tournament than against Okada in Round 3?

There’s also the matter of Hiroshi Tanahashi or Ryusuke Taguchi – in a match that has been built up quite seriously with Taguchi attacking Tana post-match on the final night of Round 1 – facing the winner of Kota Ibushi and Zack Sabre Jr. in a pulsating rematch from last year’s New Japan Cup where ZSJ tapped Ibushi out on the way to winning the entire thing. I’ve mentioned before in my NJPW blogs that Taguchi in a big match is completely different to the one you’ll see over the course of the rest of the year. There may be some comedic antics, but there’s a very good chance that he and Tanahashi will be putting on a match that’ll be talked about at the very end of the tournament. As far as Ibushi vs ZSJ goes, it’s quite simply going to be a great match if their meetings last year in both this tournament the G1 Climax are any idea. I wonder if there’ll be a callback to ZSJ’s pre-match comments last year about just moving if Ibushi goes for a moonsault because “he’s not an idiot”?

So, while the matches that will probably lead to Okada vs Ospreay and Tanahashi vs Ibushi in Round 3 are the big ones of Round 2, that’s not all New Japan have to offer in this round. After both managed to get past their first round opponents – Yano somehow managed it – it’ll be a comedy match of the ages when Colt Cabana faces Toru Yano. It was mentioned on commentary prior to Cabana’s match with Makabe that this won’t be the first time they’ve faced each other, but I don’t think that matters, especially for those who haven’t seen them one-on-one in the past. I honestly have no idea what to expect here in-ring, but I know for a fact I’m going to have to see it. In terms of result, I think Yano will find a way to win and go on to face SANADA in Round 3 as I expect him to also find a way to win against Minoru Suzuki. We’ve seen these two face each other recently during The New Beginning tour, and I enjoyed what we got, so I’m all for seeing it again, even more so on a stage where it isn’t a precursor to a tag team match.

Round 2 Matches To Check Out:

Kazuchika Okada vs Mikey Nicholls – (Prediction: Okada wins)

Will Ospreay vs Lance Archer – (Prediction: Ospreay books a match with Okada)

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Ryusuke Taguchi – (Prediction: Tana gets the win)

Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr. – (Prediction: Ibushi knocks last year’s winner out)

Colt Cabana vs Toru Yano – (Prediction: Yano defeats Cabana)

Minoru Suzuki vs SANADA – (Prediction: SANADA survives Suzuki)

The second round of the New Japan Cup starts March 13th, you can watch it all live on NJPW World.