Super J-Cup 2020 - 12/12/2020
The 8th Stage of Super J-Cup was aired last night on both NJPWWorld and FITE TV. Eight juniorheavyweight wrestlers across several different companies competed in this tournament.
Super J-Cup 2020 - NJPW LA Dojo, 12/12/2020 (NJPWWorld, Fite TV)
Super J-Cup 2020 1st Round: Chris Bey [Impact] d. Clark Connors (Art of Finesse, 9:36)
Super J-Cup 2020 1st Round: ACH [FREE] d. TJP [FREE] (Midnight Star, 9:52)
Super J-Cup 2020 1st Round: Blake Christian [GCW] d. Rey Horus [ROH] (Frog Splash, 12:00)
Super J-Cup 2020 1st Round: El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. Lio Rush [FREE] (Schoolboy, 15:16)
JR Kratos & Danny Limelight [Team Filthy] d. Rocky Romero [CHAOS] & Fred Rosser (Limelight > Romero, pinfall, 12:49)
Super J-Cup 2020 Semifinal: ACH [FREE] d. Chris Bey [Impact] (Midnight Star, 8:27)
Super J-Cup 2020 Semifinal: El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. Blake Christian [GCW] (Superkick, 7:24)
KENTA & Hikuleo [Bullet Club] d. Ren Narita & Kevin Knight (KENTA > Knight, Boston Crab, 10:02)
Super J-Cup 2020 Final: El Phantasmo [Bullet Club] d. ACH [FREE] (CR2, 16:11) - El Phantasmo wins Super J-Cup 2020
El Phantasmo, winner of last year’s SJCup, is now a two-time winner, putting him in such heady company as Jushin Thunder Liger and Naomichi Marufuji. And if that doesn’t make you question the whole continuing Super J-Cup thing, I don’t know what else will, because hoo lordy. El Phantasmo, two-time Super J-Cup winner, isn’t exactly something worth praising. I didn’t watch the event (I chose to see AAA Triplemania instead) so I don’t know if he made any anti-autism slurs this time around. But fact of the matter is, ELP is barely serviceable as a wrestler, not really worthy of a Two-Time Super J-Cup Winner push. (And no, it has nothing to do with his not being Japanese; the very first winner of Super J-Cup was Chris Benoit ffs. And the less said about him the better.)
After the debacle of 2016′s overhyped and underwhelming edition, the last one to take place in Japan, this and the previous edition just felt the least Super J-Cuppy Super J-Cups ever.
Now, to bring some positivity into this, I do appreciate there were more Black wrestlers featured in this than at any other time, with one even making the Final. And that Impact and GCW were able to get entries, into the semi-finals at that, is worth commending.
But even so, this feels less and less like a summit of juniorheavyweights, as Jushin Thunder Liger envisioned the tournament in 1994, and more an excuse for NJPW to prove their superiority. I did appreciate the rotating sponsors of SJCup in years past, where WAR, Michinoku Pro and Osaka Pro would host the event. Now it’s basically an NJPW invitational, and really, a New Japan of America invitational. And if NJoA is booking, that means Bullet Club is getting pushed.
In any event, this show was pre-taped; at which point, I don’t know, I would assume during the same swath of tapings NJPW Strong is in, given the appearance of Team Filthy in a previously unannounced match. The semi-main was changed, as Karl Fredericks was injured, but again, since this was pre-taped, who knows WHEN that injury actually took place. Another indie wrestler of color, Kevin Knight, was inserted into Fredericks’ place. Ren Narita, meanwhile, is shown in his first match since February. Why wasn’t he featured in the tournament, one has to wonder?
But there were plenty of other choices last night. Indeed, Chris Bey was challenging for Impact’s World Title against Rich Swann at Final Resolution, whilst Lio Rush was under a Marvel-sponsored mask as Arcano (a Spider-Man luchador) at Triplemania. Nothing here seems worth catching up on, although ACH and Lio Rush are always worth watching. Maybe we can get Lio Rush in an actual NJPW ring soon.
For now, allegedly, we will get an El Phantasmo v. Hiromu Takahashi match in the near future, possibly night 1 of WK15, to possibly lead into a title match at night 2 against Taiji Ishimori. In the meantime, no tour lineups, no further matches for WK15 announced. Knowing NJPW they’ll hold a presser when I’m in bed tonight, so perhaps tomorrow morning we’ll know more.