The 2019 New Japan Cup semifinals are set. 

Quarterfinal action wrapped up today as NJPW ran their second consecutive night in Shizuoka. 

The main event featured a rematch of last year’s New Japan Cup final, with Zack Sabre Jr. taking on Hiroshi Tanahashi, reprising that battle with another instant classic. 

The other tournament bout saw the end of Colt Cabana’s Cinderella story in wrestling’s version of March Madness, with him falling to SANADA in the semi-main. 

Full results and match recaps are below:

HIROYOSHI TENZAN, SATOSHI KOJIMA & YUYA UEMURA DEFEATED YUJI NAGATA, MANABU NAKANISHI & YOTA TSUJI 

A stronger opening contest than last night here, with the youngsters carrying much of the match. Kojima hit Tsuji with a lariat and pinned him. 

TAICHI & TAKA MICHINOKU DEFEATED WILL OSPREAY & SHOTA UMINO 

The audience reacts to Umino in a different way than they do the other young lions. He’s already special, but he’s going to be in main events for a decade, barring injury. 

Ospreay did a lot considering his tough match with Okada the night before. Taichi taunted Ospreay with Ospreay’s NEVER title, and beat him down after the match, so look for that at some point in the future. 

Taichi submitted Umino with the Stretch Plum. 

BAD LUCK FALE, CHASE OWENS & HIKULEO DEFEATED JUICE ROBINSON, MIKEY NICHOLLS & REN NARITA 

Chase and Juice continue to trade tag wins in advance of their U.S. title match on Sunday. 

After a kendo stick shot from Jado, Chase hit a Jewel Heist on Narita for a near fall, then used a package piledriver for the pin. 

After the match, HIKULEO and Fale held Juice and forced him to watch Owens hit a second package piledriver on Narita. 

MINORU SUZUKI, LANCE ARCHER & DAVEY BOY SMITH JR. DEFEATED MICHAEL ELGIN, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & TOA HENARE 

The Suzuki-gun credibility rehab tour continues, as the group picked up another tag victory on this tour. 

Suzuki and Taguchi did some comedy together, which worked because of their differences. Elgin and Smith did a bunch of power stuff together, and that also worked really well. Archer hit the Blackout on Henare for the pin. 

TETSUYA NAITO, EVIL, SHINGO TAKAGI & BUSHI DEFEATED KOTA IBUSHI, TOGI MAKABE, TOMOAKI HONMA & TORU YANO 

Naito and Ibushi are so good that even in taking it easier than usual in an undercard tag match, they were still excellent. We also saw a new wrinkle from EVIL, as he used a Sharpshooter on Honma to pick up the win here via submission. 

Naito again taunted Ibushi after the match, and that looks to be a future Intercontinental title bout. 

TOMOHIRO ISHII & HIROOKI GOTO DEFEATED KAZUCHIKA OKADA & YOSHI-HASHI

This provided a preview of Saturday’s Okada vs. Ishii semifinal bout. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that their match will not be lacking in intensity. 

Early on, Okada tried to break cleanly and taunt Ishii in doing so, but Ishii responded by slapping Okada across the face.

Later, they did an awesome series of counters and reversals as each looked to hit their finisher. Ishii avoided a dropkick, and hit Okada with a lariat. 

The finish saw Goto hit an ushigoroshi, Ishii hit a sliding lariat, and Goto hit the GTR on YOSHI-HASHI for the win. 

NEW JAPAN CUP QUARTERFINAL MATCH: SANADA DEFEATED COLT CABANA (14:57)

They had a solid outing, but not a spectacular match. They never got out of second gear, and they didn’t seem to have a lot of heat. The crowd was not very well mic’d, but even still, not a lot of audience reaction came across on the broadcast. 

They began with some mat work. Colt used a headscissors, and SANADA popped out. Colt offered SANADA the Paradise Lock, but it was a trap, as Colt used a cradle for a near fall. SANADA finally applied the Paradise Lock, then sent Colt to the floor. 

They did a couple of comedy spots, but the focus remained serious. SANADA did his leapfrog dropkick spot, then hit a pescado. SANADA used a chinlock. They traded strikes, and SANADA hit a Frankensteiner. 

Colt hit a double jump splash, picking up a two count. He crashed and burned on a moonsault attempt. SANADA went for a springboard dropkick, but Cabana caught him, then used the Billy Goat’s Curse. SANADA crawled to the ropes, forcing a break. 

Colt hit a top rope rana, but SANADA rolled through into a cover for a two count. SANADA went for Skull End, but had to settle for a draping neckbreaker. 

SANADA went for a moonsault, but Colt got his knees up and used a cradle for a two count. SANADA countered the Superman. Colt went for it a second time, but SANADA escaped, then used Skull End for the submission. 

NEW JAPAN CUP QUARTERFINAL MATCH: HIROSHI TANAHASHI DEFEATED ZACK SABRE JR. (21:12)

They worked a great old school match, almost exclusively built around trading holds. 

Sabre picked up an early one count after the opening mat grappling sequence. He worked for an armbar, but Tanahashi kept his hands clasped, then managed an escape. 

Tanahashi called for a knuckle lock — and Sabre engaged. They traded the advantage in the hold, before Tanahashi used a suplex to break it. 

Sabre used the threat of an armbar, then stomped on Tanahashi’s left arm. Sabre used a wristlock, then again stomped on the left arm, establishing the target of his attack for the match. 

They exchanged forearm shots and uppercuts. Tanahashi hit a flying forearm, a bodyslam, and a somersault senton to pick up a two count. 

They traded cobra twists. Tanahashi used a pumphandle slam. Sabre countered with a kick to the face, then applied an octopus hold over the ropes. On the break, Tanahashi hit a dragon screw, dropkick, and dragon screw combination in the ropes. 

Tanahashi slapped on a cloverleaf, but Sabre slipped out of the hold into a triangle choke. Tanahashi managed to escape and went back to the cloverleaf, but Sabre forced a rope break. 

Sabre used a guillotine, then transitioned to a wristlock, but Tanahashi reversed into a Twist and Shout. Tanahashi hit two more Twist and Shouts, then hit Slingblade for a near fall. 

Sabre used an octopus hold, hit a PK, avoided a dragon screw, and used a European clutch for a near fall. Tanahashi used an O’Connor roll for a near fall, but Sabre used the cover to transition to Orienteering with Napalm Death. Tanahashi used a dragon screw to break the hold. 

Sabre used a wristlock into a clutch for a near fall. He went for a backslide, but Tanahashi escaped and hit an inverted Slingblade. Tanahashi used a Japanese leg clutch hold for the pin. 

Tanahashi closed the show with a series of air guitar encores.