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

5. Shota Umino Earns His Stripes (Night 3)

Shota Umino Hiroshi Tanahashi
NJPW

The most promising of NJPW’s current Young Lion crop, Shota Umino, was thrown into the 2019 New Japan Cup under the perfect circumstances, facing the legendary Hiroshi Tanahashi in the first round. A sublime in-ring story ensued.

Umino was never going to win. These wrestler's roster tiers couldn't be farther apart: Shota is a trainee, and Tanahashi is an all-timer. Regardless, the black-clad warrior fought from his heart, leaving nothing in the tank as he stood toe-to-toe with the icon, who was visibly taken aback by his opponent’s gusto. Content to take it as a straightforward exhibition early on, the Ace found himself forced to get nasty as Umino put up the fight of his life. At one point, Shota flexed on his opponent by stealing his Cloverleaf, and nearly caught Tanahashi with a heart-stopping roll-up, before falling to the aforementioned roll-up himself. Tana had defeated him, but the Young Lion took a giant step forward. The narrative was without flaw.

Night 3 was the show on which it felt like the tournament had truly started. Elsewhere, Hiroyoshi Tenzan fell to an over-performing Ryusuke Taguchi in the Cup opener, Zack Sabre Jr. tied LIJ bruiser EVIL in knots to advance, and the Tetsuya Naito/Kota Ibushi Match Of The Year candidate went down. It was the most well-rounded show up to that point, and a shot in the arm for the Cup as a whole

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.