Written by Brandon Hoffman
The 2026 New Japan Cup steamrolls on, and the fast track to the quarter-finals leaves not much time to break down the second round. Since Round Two just ended, let’s talk about how NJPW fixed some mistakes of the First Round. My review of the first round of this tournament can be found on ThePopBreak if you would like to catch up on how all these upcoming matchups came to be.Â
March 10, 2026, Night Five
Don Fale v. Shingo Takagi, Round Two
The unfortunate privilege of watching two Don Fale matches in one week slightly broke my brain. This one specifically against Shingo just felt like it was in super slow motion. Someone clicked the x0.25 button on the YouTube video and Shingo tried his best to speed it up, but alas. At least Shingo suplexing Fale got a pop; it’s always impressive to see Fale get lifted like that.
The only other positive that came out of this one was Fale being eliminated with Shingo’s Pumping Bomber. Two times in a row Fale took the most skippable match award per round. It may be time to hang up your massive boots, Mr. Bad Luck. Either that or head to WWE, you’re the perfect age for them to push you!
Drilla Moloney v. Yuya Uemura, Round Two
Such unique offense in this one, including a modified Tequila Sunrise from Drilla. The drama in this one kept escalating in such a great way, and Drilla’s arm getting punished told a great story of struggle. There were a bit more repeated moves than normal, evident by how many times Uemura locked in an armbar. Still, Drilla looked like a proper badass against that babyface fire and the finish came outta nowhere while protecting Drilla a ton.Â
Uemura practically no-sold a Drilla Killa and then rolled up Drill Moloney to win and advance into the Quarter Finals. Both men gave each other a lot and Drilla looked strong in defeat. No complaints here, especially when this featured zero slow moving House of Torture members.
March 12, 2026, Night Six
Satoshi Kojima v. Ren Narita, Round Two
If you’ve seen one House of Torture match, you’ve seen every single one of them. Lots of individual spots looked interesting such as the Fale crash through the table and the fakeout with the pushup bar. Kojima and his machine gun chops always get a reaction from the crowd, so there’s something. Kojima also hit his Lariatooo … on Narita’s pushup bar.
The end of this match saw Narita’s Double Cross strike Kojima for yet another House of Torture win. No doubt about the NEVER Openweight Champion Narita winning led to just another boring match. Boo.
HENARE v. Boltin Oleg, Round Two
It’s always fun to watch HENARE scare children in the front row and scar them for life. The more this physical match raged on, the more apparent these two’s limits became. Oleg and HENARE both got gassed late in the match and they had some problems lifting each other up because of that. Still, they recovered from their shortcomings with endless impacts, and it was as hard-hitting as you could possibly get. Oleg’s chops and HENARE’s punches sounded like wood cracking, seriously.Â
In the end, a duo of Kamikazes put away HENARE for the Oleg victory. There was little storyline to this individual match other than it’s the New Japan Cup, unlike the previous Uemura v. Drilla one, which focused on limb work. Between this and their singular G1 Climax meeting in 2024, you’ll find lots of big meaty men slappin’ around their meat. If that’s your jam, here’s your pinnacle.
March 13, 2026, Night Seven
Callum Newman v. Hartley Jackson, Round Two
This one followed the same formula as Newman’s first round match against OSKAR. Tons of bumping and selling from The Prince made Hartley look very powerful and Newman less so. Callum Newman really understands the kind of heel he is at this point. The cocky turning into regret and evolving into overwhelming moves executing one after another is a perfect match style for Newman. Although there were some scary landings on some falls, like Newman landing ass-first on a guardrail on a dive.
The Prince cheated his way to win with a low blow and Excalibur to put away Hartley. Newman’s egoism leading to his demise on several occasions while selling his ass off for Hartley made this match so engaging to watch. He’s only my age and he’s adapting so well. The Big Jag looked great too, so much so that he’s already campaigning to be in this year’s G1 Climax.
Quick side note, Walker Stewart’s commentary literally echoed throughout the entire arena on this night. The acoustics must not have done him any favors in the building, it was just really noticeable for Newman v. Hartley and Lee v. Goto specifically. Speaking of…
Jake Lee v. Hirooki Goto, Round Two
Jake Lee can do a few moves consistently well, mainly that Giant Killing knee. Otherwise, he is just not as good as people gas him up to be. I’m sorry to talk bad about the undeniably handsome Hirooki Goto, but this wasn’t his finest work either. The key to try and make Jake Lee look devastating in his bizarre offensive style didn’t unlock to convince for a main event with this much stake. This just had the energy of an opening G1 Climax match that should’ve gotten less than 10 minutes, but it somehow just kept going.
The in-ring quality did perk up for the last few minutes in this match, with Goto winning via his GoTo Revolution. Quite the long wait for a good sequence towards the end of this match, and this one could’ve been a lot better. I promise it’s not a total hatred of Jake Lee as a character, because we all want to see him succeed, surely. It’s just that I still have yet to see a REALLY GOOD Jake Lee match in New Japan. Sad.
March 14, 2026, Night Eight
Yujiro Takahashi v. Shota Umino, Round Two
Stop the press, Yujiro Takahashi wrestled with his shirt off! The story in this match continued from a previous tag match where HoT-lifer Yujiro Takahashi showed dissension amongst the faction’s ranks. Therefore, Big Yuj wanted to do this on his own. The compelling part came in with Yujiro still not completely keeping up with the youthful generation. Umino exchanged lariats and forearms to challenge Yujiro’s heart, but then evil struck. The last few minutes of this one became just another HoT match.
Ultimately, Umino fought off the torture and hit Yujiro with the Second Chapter for the Round Two win. I’ll give Huge Yuj props when it’s due, his wrestling improved a match for the first time in forever. Unfortunately he is the SLLOOWWWest person on the roster. Yes, even slower than Don Fale, you heard me.
Ryohei Oiwa v. Zack Sabre Jr., Round Two
This was easily the best match of the tournament so far. Unlike what Walker kept saying, I don’t think Oiwa is a carbon copy of Zack, but the teacher v. student story this match gained made everything feel real. It’s also important to note the brilliance of Zack Sabre Jr.’s selling. Both in this match and in general, he didn’t react too wildly by flopping around like a fish; he just crumbled to the mat with a “dammit” expression on his face. It’s all about the little things with him and Oiwa here.Â
The submissions in this match felt nasty with each wrench of the limb ramping up the adrenaline. The crowd screamed for Oiwa to escape ZSJ’s arm punting, since this show took place in Oiwa’s home prefecture of Aichi. Because of this also, Zack played up his heelish nature by egging on Oiwa. The professor tried to uplift the student by yanking at his limbs and screaming at him to tap out, that’s professional wrestling for you.
This amazing match got a lot of time to pack in some great sequences, and the finish of this one came out of nowhere. Oiwa’s Grip got caught into the Zack Driver for the red hot win for ZSJ. I would just love it if these two wrestled each other every show for the rest of the year please. Let’s just replace every House of Torture match with Zack v. Oiwa rematches, doesn’t that sound awesome?
Upcoming:
March 15 Quarter-Finals: Yuya Uemura v. Shingo Takagi, Ren Narita v. Boltin Oleg
March 17 Quarter-Finals: Callum Newman v. Hirooki Goto, Shota Umino v. Zack Sabre Jr.
Only one House of Torture member, some really cool rematches from back when names like Zack and Goto were World Champions, and a partridge in a pear tree. We’ve cut out the filler at this point, so let’s enjoy this solid stretch of NJPW tournament greatness from this point forward up to the finals.
