New Japan Cup Night 4: End Of Round 1

Toru Yano vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.

Toru Yano defeated Davey Boy Smith Jr. in a monotonous 12:45 drag which produced absolutely nothing of note between the ropes. A Smith crossface was dramatic and there were one or two decent counters, the best one being the son of the British legend catching a rebounding Yano with a running powerslam, but that was all. Worse, after sitting through a slow and plodding pace for what seemed like a week, the bout had the worst finish of any in the competition so far.

Attempting to tie Davey Boy’s feet to the bottom rope with tape, Yano found himself flying up the aisle only for Smith to leave the ring to retrieve him. Instead of rolling Yano back into the ring as the official neared his 20 count, Davey sent him into the barricade and then missed the resulting charge, crotching himself on the apex. Rolling back inside in the nick of time, Yano took the countout victory.

Long singles matches are not Yano’s strong point and Davey Boy was having an off day, begging the question of why this was booked to go nearly 13 minutes when it would have been so much more tolerable with five of those trimmed off.

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• El Desperado
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• Chase Owens
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• Kazuchika Okada
• Michael Elgin

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