New Japan Cup 2021, Night 3 and 4 Tournament Matches Predictions

 

So it's time discuss Night 3 and 4 of the New Japan Cup.  Night 1 and 2 have come and gone and the action continues with five matches this time in the next two nights.  There's some really good ones coming up here, so let's get right into the matches.  Also I'm putting the matches in the order they occur on the card not the order they appear on the bracket.

Night 3, Round 1

Tomoaki Honma vs. Minoru Suzuki

I still have concern every single time Honma enters a ring.  I don't think that's wrong of me to think that at all.  Honma is making his ninth New Japan Cup appearance, and his third in a row.  Minoru Suzuki his seventh New Japan Cup appearance and third in a row as well.  Now to the biggest stat of all, Honma hasn't won a singles match since 2016.  That is very telling, and it doesn't really give me hope to see Honma move on to round two.  Minoru Suzuki hasn't really seen a lot of singles success lately either. Suzuki also hasn't had a singles match in New Japan since November since he lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Shingo Takagi.  I don't think there's any chance of Honma winning this match at all.

Winner: Minoru Suzuki

Juice Robinson vs. KENTA

Juice Robinson will be entering his fourth New Japan Cup, and KENTA will be entering his first as he missed it last year and competed in the USA version which won him the IWGP United States Championship match that he just had and lost to Jon Moxley.  For a long time  KENTA was building momentum to that match and now that it has passed and he lost I don't see this as a bounce back win.  Juice on the other hand has been in the tag team divsion, and has been focusing on that for a while, and now working in IMPACT as well and has built momentum to that match with some wins, him losing here would hurt that build.  Now I get it his momentum in IMPACT doesn't have to affect anything in New Japan but it should.  These two were actually supposed to face at Wrestle Kingdom for the briefcase to face Jon Moxley and that match didn't happen because of Juice getting injured.  I think this will be a good one and I look forward to it, and I think Juice is going to win, especially since I think the winner will be facing my earlier pick Minoru Suzuki, there's a better story to tell with Juice in that match and not KENTA.

Winner: Juice Robinson

Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi

The is hands down the most anticipated match of the first round, Okada is entering his fifth New Japan Cup, and his third in a row, he won this tournament in 2013 and 2019, so he's looking to tie Goto with a third victory at the end of this one.  Shingo is his second ever New Japan Cup and his second in a row.  These two have only faced one time ever and it was a hell of a match in last years G1 Climax in an Block A match where Shingo would pass out to the money clip after almost twenty-eight minutes.  I fully expect another match exactly like this and I cannot wait to watch it.  Now on to the inevitability of the situation, Okada isn't losing here.  The fact that we lost Naito of all people in round one is very telling to me, but also its Okada, he doesn't lose in the first round, and that's kind of why I hate that this is a first round match, because it should be a semi finals match or even a finals match.  So Okada is winning I don't think there's any question of that at all, and if he doesn't just like Naito losing to O-Khan which is the shock of the tournament to me, I'll be very surprised even though Shingo is a 100x better then O-Khan.  My theory of Shingo not being a home grown talent and getting less for it continues.

Winner: Kazuchika Okada

Night 4, Round 1

Gabriel Kidd vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

I mentioned earlier I don't understand why their isn't a single junior heavyweight in this tournament which is ridiculous to me, because there's no reason for these throw away matches with young lions in them.  That's exactly what this is.  Gabriel Kidd is in his second ever and second straight New Japan Cup, last year he was a replacement because of the restrictions of travel this year he's in it again and that's fine but we know he isn't winning.  Sabre Jr. is in his fourth ever and fourth consecutive New Japan Cup, having won the whole thing in 2018.  I don't think there's any chance of Kidd winning this, which is very easy to assume when you have the best technical wrestler in the world in Sabre Jr. taking on a young lion whose offense is restricted because he's a young lion and they commonly don't win unless it's against other young lions, so with that said Sabre Jr. wins not even a thought process behind this one.  

Winner: Zack Sabre Jr.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Will Ospreay

This is another instance just like his long time partner Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan is in this tournament to lose early, because it's very clear Tenzan's career is winding down, I don't see any reason for him to win here.  Tenzan is entering his eleventh ever, and third consecutive New Japan Cup, and Ospreay is only entering his second ever having missed it the last two years.  Ospreay will be winning here I don't think there's any doubt of that, again going back to the Naito/O-Khan match a surprise can happen but I don't think it will.  There's no reason why Ospreay should lose here and he needs the win a whole lot more because as mentioned earlier the Empire needs wins.  With a win here all three member of The Empire would move on here and that's the right thing to do here.

Winner: Will Ospreay 

So that's gonna do it for me, hope everyone is enjoying these as I'm enjoying writing them a lot.  This tournament has already presented some surprises and I'm sure that will continue as the first round continues in the coming days.  I'll be back in a couple days discussing night 5 and 6.  Thanks for reading.