14 Ups & 4 Downs From NJPW's New Japan Cup 2019

6. Masters Of The Mat (Night 10)

Colt Cabana vs. SANADA was fine. Aggressively so. A surprise quarter-finals participant, Cabana realised his comedy shtick wouldn't fly against 'Cold Skull.' He showed flashes of his playful self, but was forced into a relatively straightforward gameplan against the multi-talented SANADA, and found himself jeered the last few times he delved into his box of tricks. This relative conservatism rendered stretches of the bout dry, though it was far from unwatchable.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr., on the other hand, was grade A, first-class professional wrestling.

ZSJ was built up as a dangerous guy who can beat anyone during last year's winning New Japan Cup run. He was a legitimate threat to Tana heading into this, and spent the early stages grinding his opponent down, as The Ace failed to execute his more traditional pro-wrestling offence on the Englishman. Tanahashi was in no mood to repeat last year's finals loss, though. A masterful selling performance saw him work through Zack's wizardry, building towards a tense, riveting closing stretch highlighted by a particularly close 2.99-count kickout and, eventually, Tanahashi's victory.

Like a modern day Bret Hart, Sabre works a style that almost any opponent can be slotted into to yield a great match. Slide someone as technically sound as Tanahashi into the mix, however, and magic happens. This was a reminder of that.