New Japan Cup, Night 7, Quarter Final Matches

The quarter finals are here, the Elite Eight of the New Japan Cup, and to say I'm surprised by some of the participants is an understatement.  Then again, some of them (Okada) are not surprising at all.  So I'm gonna breakdown all of the quarter final match-ups, and give my thoughts and predictions on them. Also let's not forget three out of the four matches are first time meetings in one-on-one matches.  Here is an updated bracket to where we stand at the moment.  

Night 7 - Quarter Finals

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiromu Takahashi

This match, out of all the Quarter finals matches, is the toughest one for me to call.  This is one of those first time singles meetings I was talking about.  The reason I'm so up in the air because I can see it from both sides, to give an idea on my thoughts of the later matches.  I can see one side being Chaos versus Chaos, and the other being LIJ versus LIJ, but I can also see Okada being the lone survivor with every other participant being LIJ.  So that's why this is very hard to call.  Ishii absolutely deserves his shot to be a champion, nobody has been more of a proponent of that than me.  I've said this in the past, most people who are affiliated in a group that is lead by Okada, is hindered in their progression, and that's how I feel about Ishii.  Hiromu on the other hand is and has been one of the most charismatic people in all of New Japan, and he has one of the brightest futures in all of New Japan, but I don't know it's the time.  I could definitely see him winning here, and of course being halted by Okada.  Which is what I think will happen.  Hiromu wins here.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Taiji Ishimori

You wanna talk about the easiest road to the semi-finals, enter Okada.  Now I've said this in the past as well, Okada is great, I know that, we all know that.  It's also very obvious to everyone that he is the golden goose, and is protected more than anyone even when he's not the champion.  To say its ridiculous would be an understatement.  He faced, Gedo, Nagata and now he's facing Ishimori.   All three of these are people who have no business beating Okada.  Considering Taiji never really has one-on-one matches with heavyweights, it's clear that he's a fall guy here.  A great talent, a great Junior, but it definitely hasn't been made clear that they see anything passed that for Ishimori to this point so how can I even fathom the idea of him standing a chance against the golden goose.  We would all be shocked by Ishimori winning here I think but regardless Okada will win.

Taichi vs. Sanada

Taichi is the surprise of the tournament, he beat Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi, giving him a win over both tag champs, probably leading to him and a Suzuki-Gun member getting tag title shots probably at Dominion.  However, I think his roll is gonna come to end here.  Sanada has been the new project of LIJ, and he keeps getting better.  It's clear his future is bright, and it could be shinning brighter then ever by the end of this tournament.  I think this could go either way but, Sanada should definitely win here.  I'm surprised by the way they are using Taichi here but I guess it was to get him to a tag title match.  I don't think his ceiling is really that high though.  Taichi is the Baron Corbin of New Japan, hes all over the place and nobody wants that.  Sanada will win here.  Hopefully the match won't be too bad.

Yoshi-Hashi vs. EVIL

I said at the beginning of this I expect an LIJ one-on-one match in the semi-finals.  That would mean EVIL is winning here, and I think no matter what, Yoshi-Hashi wasn't going passed this round.  He kind of had an easy time getter here after beating Tenzan and Bushi respectively.  This is the first real challenge he's had and this is also the only match that isn't a rematch.  These are at an even 1-1 record in singles competition, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that Yoshi-Hashi could win.   I'm just not a fan of Yoshi-Hashi at all, they always try to depict him as someone who has to work from behind and that he hasn't reached his potential.  I would say he's already reached his ceiling.  That's unfortunately a truth I don't think fans of Chaos want to accept, but I'm just not impressed by Yoshi-Hashi at all.  EVIL should win here and set up a semi-final match with his LIJ teammate, Sanada.

That's gonna do it for me, this week has been very busy for me so I'm sorry this particular article took so long.  Enjoy this show and all the wrestling this week.  Thanks for supporting me if you do.