New Japan Cup 2015

[Red_And_Yellow]

Obviously, a potential Okada/Tanahashi semifinal seems too good to be true, especially in a general throwaway tournament like the New Japan Cup.

There's a few guys who could really win this. I don't think they'd go with a Ibushi/Shibata final though, so I expect one of Okada or Tanahashi to be there. An Ibushi win over Tanahashi seems pretty plausible in the Quarters. We can do a prediction similar to last year. Here are the rules:

1. First Round correct predictions are worth 1 point.
2. Quarterfinal correct predictions are worth 2 points.
3. Semifinal correct predictions are worth 3 points.
4. Predicting the winner is worth 5 points.

The tiebreaker is predict how long the final will be down to the second. You can go over and still win by being the closest to the time. I would say we could send picks directly to me so no one can steal others picks but then there's a bit of a dubious feeling that I could cheat and just pick the formula that would see me win. So, we'll just post them here.

All picks must be submitted prior to the First Round beginning on March 5 at 7:00 PM Japanese time (or 5 AM Eastern Time on March 5). Failure to do so will result in immediate disqualification.

With that said, here are my picks:

First Round:

Hiroshi Tanahashi over Toru Yano
Kota Ibushi over Doc Gallows
Karl Anderson over Tetsuya Naito (All the sad feels)
Kazuchika Okada over Bad Luck Fale
Togi Makabe over Tomoaki Honma
Yujiro Takahashi over YOSHI-HASHI
Yuji Nagata over Hirooki Goto
Katsuyori Shibata over Satoshi Kojima

Quarterfinals:

Kota Ibushi over Hiroshi Tanahashi
Kazuchika Okada over Karl Anderson
Togi Makabe over Yujiro Takahashi
Katsuyori Shibata over Yuji Nagata

Semifinals:

Kazuchika Okada over Kota Ibushi
Katsuyori Shibata over Togi Makabe

Final:

Katsuyori Shibata over Kazuchika Okada

Time of Final: 24:13

[GooberBM]

I'm in for sure. Poor NEVER Title being a championship option for the NJC winner. Why on earth would you pick to fight Midget Sumo?

First Round:

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano
duh
Kota Ibushi vs. Doc Gallows
It's time for Kota Ibushi to make a splash...like a phoenix, on the heavyweight division
Karl Anderson vs. Tetsuya Naito
The battle of No Limit vs. Bad Intentions rages on, and I'm feeling me some Stardust
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale
Fale going over Okada in the main event really drives home Okada's wins at the New Beginning being a lie, compared to Fale torching him the day after Wrestle Kingdom
Togi Makabe vs. Tomoaki Honma
Nah, son
Yujiro Takahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI
Yujiro better be bringing his whore with him, dammit!
Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto
*Salute*
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima
Kojima just has Shibata's number in tournament settings and fuck it, I'm taking old man power!

Second Round

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
Ace of the Universe, yo
Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale
Yeah, I need this rematch from last year bad
Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi
I don't need this rematch, but I can't think of a better way to show Yujiro's growth than him getting this match and actually doing something with it this time
Yuji Nagta vs. Satoshi Kojima
*Salutes*

Semifinals

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito
Tanahashi ALWAYS gets tripped up by Naito in tournaments. No reason not to continue that trend
Yujiro Takahashi vs. Yuji Nagata
I sure do want to see if Nagata can actually kill Takahashi this time. Bust him up Blue Justice *Salutes*

Finals

Tetsuya Naito vs. Yuji Nagata in 19:24
I'm all-in on the Stardust Genius ending the stranglehold of TanKadaStyles on the IWGP Heavyweight Title. It's your time Stardust. Make it happen

[Red_And_Yellow]

I'd love me some Stardust triumph. However, I don't think New Japan is going to promote a show on March 15th for the New Japan Cup finals without Tanahashi or Okada in the semifinals. They need to drive home last minute ticket purchases, one of them has to be there I feel.

I thought things would line up nicely for Naito, granted, they could have him run through a murderer's row of sorts. Have him beat Tanahashi and Okada in the lead in for the New Japan Cup, that doesn't seem likely though. He's already had two cracks at AJ Styles, with them splitting. It gives them a great chance to sell the 3rd match, given how successful the first two were. I hope that this is the case.

But I think there's pretty much one guarantee in this tournament:

Hiroshi Tanahashi and/or Kazuchika Okada will be in the Semifinals to help promote tickets for March 15.

[Red_And_Yellow]

Holy shit, I think Voices of Wrestling may have ripped my predictions game, like almost identically. It could just be an odd coincidence, but it does seem a bit weird that we had the same exact rules and scoring system:

Post on Twitter advertising it for the first time 1 hour ago: https://twitter.com/voiceswrestling/sta ... 0329016320

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/njcup15/

Scoring

1 point for correct 1st Round selection
2 points for correct Quarterfinals selection
3 points for correct Semifinals selection
5 points for correct New Japan Cup 2015 champion

We have also added a tiebreaker (match time for the NJ Cup final) so please make sure to enter a time. If you do not enter a time, you will automatically lose the tiebreaker. No Price is Right rules, closest to the actual time wins.

[Greg_McNeish]

Yeah, so if I were making predictions, it would be the exact same thing as Goober, so... finals last one second longer (19:25).

[Little Jimmy]

If we're making predictions here I guess I'll go with Greg, and to a lesser extent Goob. Finals last 2 seconds less (19:23).

[Greg_McNeish]

A bold move.

[GooberBM]

You two are a bunch of assholes

[Little Jimmy]

We're more like a pair.

[Greg_McNeish]

Fuck it. I'll take a different road.

First Round:

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano
Obviously.
Kota Ibushi vs. Doc Gallows
The best path forward for the Golden Star is to win showcases, not to progress to more top-level opponents, until closer to the G1, when he'll definitely be making a big (Phoenix) splash. Gallows is a nice smokescreen, as everything he does is immediately forgotten.
Karl Anderson vs. Tetsuya Naito
Give me Stardust or give me death.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale
This one's automatic. Okada's year is going to be a big push-pull, and this is time for a big pull.
Togi Makabe vs. Tomoaki Honma
Naturally. Should be a cute bro-out after the match.
Yujiro Takahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI
Every NJC needs an underdog babyface chasing the impossible dream. YOSHI-HASHI is that guy, this year.
Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto
Yeah, I'm totally groovin' on Blue Justice *o7*
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima
No real point in having Koji doing stuff away from Tenzan, at the moment.

Second Round

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Doc Gallows
Fuckin' big gaijin, man.
Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale
These guys were outstanding a year ago, and I'm totally gigged for it, again. Give me Stardust or give me death.
Togi Makabe vs. YOSHI-HASHI
MIRACLE RUN~!~!
Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Shibata can continue floating, while Nagata shows he's still got the mojo. *o7*

Semifinals

Doc Gallows vs. Tetsuya Naito
NJC semi-finals are always kind of a joke. They're short matches, where the result is never really in doubt, and they always end with secondary finishers. That's not a time to do a marquee match, which is why Tannahashi and Okada aren't here. Any big name who makes the semis is making the finals. Give me Stardust or give me death.
YOSHI-HASHI vs. Yuji Nagata
And so ends another underdog miracle run, precisely where they always end. There's the added benefit that these two were the final guys in the New Japan Rumble on the Wrestle Kingdom pre-show. Should be a good time. *o7*

Finals

Tetsuya Naito vs. Yuji Nagata in 20:00
Don't worry about drawing, because Hiroshima is a bullet-proof market for New Japan, and the drawing power of Nagata is criminally underrated, as demonstrated by his rather successful run with NOAH, last year. Anyway, give me Stardust or give me death.

[Red_And_Yellow]

Here's hoping I'm dead wrong!

[Red_And_Yellow]

So um, shit happened in Round 1. If you haven't seen it yet, look no further down.

SpoilerShow

The quarterfinals are:

Toru Yano v. Kota Ibushi
Tetsuya Naito v. Bad Luck Fale
Togui Makabe v. Yujiro Takahashi
Hirooki Goto v. Satoshi Kojima

Standings after 1st round:
Goober - 5 points
Greg - 4 points
Me - 4 points

Greg lost 2 semifinalists, Goober lost 2 semifinalists, and I lost one. We each lost someone in the final. Brackets = Busted. This picture sums up the first round entirely:

[GooberBM]

Greg lost 3 semifinalists, actually. This is why he doesn't play prediction games. He's already dead in the water

[Red_And_Yellow]

Yea, I don't think Greg can ever beat you because for him to max points he'd need Naito to win, who you have as well.

Feeling like Fale in the Final is a given, but could be wrong.

[Greg_McNeish]

How in the world could that be a given?

[Red_And_Yellow]

Being that they built a huge post match around him, I think Fale to the final is what there is to expect at this point, but I could be wrong.

[Greg_McNeish]

You mean like how they built the post-match of the first round main event around Suzukigun's dominance, two years ago (Okada/Goto final), Togi Makabe being geared up for a return to the finals two years before that (Nagata/Nakamura), or Tanahashi air guitaring the previous year (Goto/Makabe)? Twice in the last five years, the guy standing tall at the end of the first night has made the finals. That's the kind of track record to make it anything but a certainty.

[Red_And_Yellow]

I skipped most of the first half of the Quarterfinals today but I highly recommend checking out CHAOS v. Bullet Club 8 man tag. Super fun 8 man. Also, think it is a near certainty that Cody Hall is in the WWE sooner rather than later (my guess is by the end of 2016, not sure of his NJPW commitments), kid is so athletic and has an actual presence to him. He needs a ton of work but he's got a few things down that you can't teach.

[GooberBM]

As for the actual tournament, we've got Naito/Ibushi in one semi and Goto/Makabe in the other. Naito and Goto would definitely be IWGP Heavyweight Title challengers, Ibushi almost certainly would challenge Nakamura for the IC title. Makabe is a true wild card, as he could challenge for any of the three belts.

Oh and if Naito wins in the semifinals, I win the predictions game, if Ibushi wins then Red wins. Lots of intrigue to be found

[Greg_McNeish]

Thrilling results from the tournament matches, today. It's been a long time since all four New Japan Cup semi-finalists have had realistic shots at winning. Gotta figure that Ibushi would go after Nakamura's IC Title, with a victory, where any of the other three would be gunning for AJ Styles and the Heavyweight Championship. Yes, I am completely dismissing the possibility of Makabe challenging for the NEVER Title. Fuck that noise.

Should be an explosive event, in Hiroshima. I hear they know a thing or two about those....