[7.0] "I enjoyed this show quite a lot. It was not as lively as Korakuen, but still fun. NJC matches were good, even Boltin throwing Fale around was quite entertaining and Drilla vs. Ishii is an obvious stand out. Main event was a good heartwarming dads fight."

[5.0] "An average NJC show highlighted by a superb Ishii vs Moloney match that had no reasons to go that hard. Other than that, the Boltin match was horrible but every other tournament match was at least good. In the end we got a preview of Goto vs Nagata which was decent. **1/2"

[6.0] "Chase Owens & SANADA vs TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura: A basic house show standard tag team match to get the show started, nothing much memorable happened here, Owens and SANADA getting the win here was okay [*3/4]. Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr vs Jakob Austin Young, Jeff Cobb & TJP: A fine multi man match, a couple of interesting exchanges which were made by ZSJ/TJP with their technical exchange and Jackson/Cobb with their power exchange, Oiwa getting the win was good to see [**3/4]. David Finlay, Gabe Kidd & Gedo vs Ren Narita, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi: A fine multi man match with typical HoT tactics trying to/being used, Finlay getting the win for his team was okay as the finish did feel a bit awkward [**]. Dick Togo, EVIL & SHO vs BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji: I did not have much interest in this match to be honest, I thought it was a bit boring at times, nothing memorable happened [*3/4]. Boltin Oleg vs Bad Luck Fale: Fale is very limited on what he can do in the ring these day, Oleg getting the win was the right call here, it did have low expectations [**]. Great O-Khan vs El Phantasmo: Not to the standard of their previous match, the count out botch was definitely noticeable and should have ended the match earlier than it actually did, the action was okay but could have been better [**]. Drilla Moloney vs Tomohiro Ishii: MOTN definitely, they had a hard hitting match that was quite a decent tournament match to watch, Drilla getting the win was surprising but could do well for his career, Ishii was solid as well [****]. Tetsuya Naito vs Callum Newman: A fine match for what it was, they had an okay showing but the end felt a bit weak [**3/4]. Hirooki Goto & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata: A fine tag team match but should not have been the main event, it was okay but should have let a NJC match be the final match on the show [***]"

[4.0] "This was much weaker than night 1. Match of the night goes to Moloney and Ishii. Everything else was decent at best."

[5.0] "After a great first night of the New Japan Cup, we sadly got a not-so-good one. Some decent preliminary tag matches which is always expected. They seemed to be setting up a lot of storylines (more than usual) during the tag matches this tournament which I like. Fale vs Boltin was fine for what it was and honestly better than most would expect. Boltin carried the match and the rough Kamikaze finish was still impressive. He takes on Shingo Takagi next which is going to be a fun one.. GOK vs ELP felt so off. They don't have much chemistry with one another and that can definitely improve over time but they probably would've been better off sticking with a comedic leaning match as both do well in that. Really looking forward to the GOK vs Umino rematch though. Ishii vs Drilla was MOTN. Ishii always deliver and Drilla feels right at home in the heavyweight division. Naito vs Newman was pretty bad until the final minute of counters/reversals. Those two just can't seem to click and Callum is still struggling to find an identity that isn't Wish.com Ospreay. I like the guy but his fundamentals and in-ring storytelling leave a lot to be desired. I assume Cobb beats Naito in the next round to set up a tag title defense or we see Umino beat GOK and finally get a win over Naito. The main event was a solid tag match with the average age of the four involved being around 51 years old. A lot of those guys can still work a solid match and the crowd was into it. Goto got the win for his team and Tanahashi got to send the crowd home happy. Really only Drilla vs Ishii or Naito's star power were potential choices to main event so I get why NJPW went with what they did. I was initially listening to English commentary before switching over to Japanese. TJP did some of the worst commentary work I've ever heard and I actually thought he was decent in the times he filled in last year but this was just awful."

[6.0] "A lot of decently good matches, a pretty good one with Ishii v Moloney and a terrible one with naito v Newman. also the Main Event shouldn't have been the main event of a show that is called NJ Cup Day 2. It's preview matches, then the Cup matches. It just felt wrong."

[5.0] "Nothing to ride home with. The second night of the New Japan Cup was not imprssive. Drilla and Ishii are Innocent"

[4.0] "Frustrating day two of the 2025 New Japan Cup. Boltin's match was insanely one-dimensional, but at least that one dimension was good. ELP really annoyed me with his botched 20-count spot. Tournament Ishii was revived for one night only, but then we had to watch a wonky Naito bout. All over the place, but Drilla Maloney was the performer of the night."