[8.0] "These two have encountered each other a countless amount of times and they never miss when they face off, their chemistry is undeniable, as they provide a great conclusion to this edition of the NJC. It wasn't their best match against each other, neither was it the best match of the tournament, but it's up there for sure. They really sold me on some of the near-falls, especially after the second penalty kick, which looked nasty too. Beautiful to see Zack take the trophy."
[10.0] "I mean, I wasn't going to miss a high profile Sabre match, was I? Even though my New Japan interest is pretty low right now I thought this would be worth going back for, and I was definitely right. There's something about the way he wrestles that defies the NJPW conventions. While most guys will sleepwalk through 15 minutes of meaningless matwork to pad out the time, he really looks like he is working to break the other guy down to a sack of broken bones and muscles at pretty much every moment. He is so good at making every moment look like it counts, and is good at not forgetting either the target of his offense or to sell anything that happened to him, unlike a lot of New Japan folks. Naito pulled his weight here too, I give him credit for sure. It turned out to be a battle of attrition against injured body parts, as Sabre turned Naito's knee into a ball of pain while Naito desperately fired back by battering Sabre's weakened neck from previous tournament matches. At 24 minutes it ended just shy of feeling like it was getting too long and what's even better, my man Sabre pulled off the victory! Super fun match."
[9.0] "Zack Sabre Jr.'s selling of the accumulated injuries is the glue that holds this match together. When the match is slow, the selling kept me intrigued until the pace finally picked up. Things did pick up nicely and built towards a satisfying conclusion. Great match but not an all time classic. ****1/2"
[9.0] "A nice way to cap off an excellent tournament and a supreme display of talent from ZSJ throughout all his matches leading up to, and including, this fight. Injuries were used to amplify their exchanges, especially the ribs of ZSJ. The unusual end of ZSJ going to his strikes and drivers to win the match was a welcomed change of pace to crown his as a two time NJ Cup winner."
[9.0] "One of the great rivalries in NJPW. These two have crossed paths over 60 times, including eight singles matches. Every encounter between them has been some combination of great technically and deeply personal. There is a unique respect-hate dynamic between them in which Tetsuya Naito is constantly attempting to get under the skin of Zack Sabre Jr. That may seem par for the course with Naito, but The Ungovernable One takes it to a different extreme when Sabre is his opponent. This time around, there were new layers added to this rivalry. For one, it was the New Japan Cup Final. Both competitors had won the tournament in the past. Both were obsessed with the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. For Naito, it was about self-awareness. He has circled the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 17 on his calendar and will commit every ounce of himself to reaching it. This is due in large part to the fact that Naito is now 39 and will turn 40 roughly a month prior to the G1. Given his style of wrestling, Naito has openly stated that he does not expect to wrestle too much longer. For Sabre, it was about the fact that he won the 2018 New Japan Cup, but failed to secure the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. He also came dangerously close to winning G1 Climax 31 after a legendary start to the tournament that included submitting Naito himself. That point is perhaps the most important of all. With an added wrinkle, of course. This was the first singles match between the two since Sabre injured Naito and forced him to miss the remainder of G1 Climax 31. They had done battle in a tag team environment, but this was different. There was also the cool historical contrast of Sabre facing Naito in the first round of the 2018 New Japan Cup and the Final in 2022. So what happens when two wrestlers who know each other as well as anyone possibly can have the added bonus of simultaneous revenge tours? An incredible New Japan Cup Final. Sabre is widely regarded as the best technical wrestler in the world, with only Bryan Danielson offering resistance to the claim. An individual who does not get enough credit for his own brand of technical wrestling, however, is Naito. Naito is one of the absolute best on the planet at targeting an area of the body and working it over to absolute perfection. He enlists a wide array of offense in pursuit of this, even altering his signature maneuvers to target said area. In this one, both competitors had one goal in mind: Destroy the neck. They also gave a master class in how to work over injured body parts to create new avenues to execute your primary game plan. Naito to the ribs that Sabre injured against Shingo. Sabre to the long-ailing knees. Ultimately, both to the neck. With mind-blowing counters, compelling suspense, a war for every hold, and mesmerizing near falls, this was special. I found myself gasping for air during the final few minutes of a match that put a magnificent bow on a phenomenal tournament. 4.5 stars, 9 out of 10. Unbelievable."
[10.0] "That was a beyond superb final. Naito and ZSJ are surely my favorites in New Japan, so yeah, may the best dude wins. Both had a good time at the beginning, laughing at each other's face and all this taunt shit they love to do. Once they went to serious business, that was a blast. Sabre targeted the legs for sure as Naito tried to do damage on the neck. The ingobernable wanted to avenge his Climax's humiliation and tried silly things to overcome ZSJ, good psychology. They had quite a great chemistry and showed it again. The final minutes were breathless and they gifted us with a superb finish."
[9.0] "Great match. I liked that ZSJ beat Naito in a Naito-style match with big moves and head-drops, rather than by a sneaky roll-up or submission as he often does. To me that really cemented his babyface turn. Some brutal strikes from both guys in there and some excellent selling by Zack. Still not sure if he genuinely had a rib injury or not! Congrats to the self-proclaimed Human Udon Noodle on a well-deserved victory!"
[8.0] "Well paced well structured; It had a good psychological battle and the action was great for the most parts. ZSJ targeted the leg like he did in their previous match but it wasn't his singular focus; Naito went after the neck and he was careful not to give Zack too many openings he needed to wrap him up. The ending stretch was pretty good and I liked how both men went after the weakened body part of their opponent whenever they were in a tight situation. The match wasn't smooth sailing, it was clunky at times and it did drag a tiny bit but overall, I thought they did a very good job. ****1/4"
[9.0] "Great match to cap off the tournament while also giving the MVP of the tournament the win too. Another great performance from ZSJ and Naito's been looking better recently from his injuries, which also played into the story of the match."
[9.0] "Excellent match, these guys are both incredible and while this wasn't quite the masterpiece I was hoping for it still mostly delivered. Really happy with Sabre's win as well, fully believe he deserves the push he's getting."
[8.0] "NJPW New Japan Cup 2022 final - I believed to the last that everything would go the original way and we would see a strong and fresh contender and so it turned out in the end. I'm happy for Zack and I believe in his victory over Okada. Tetsuya Naito had a hard time getting to the finals and only cunning helped him, but Zack was going for a break and he was not interested in other circumstances. He managed to break the opponent mentally and physically. It was a cool final of a decent tournament. The emotions of Zack's victory will remain with me for the rest of my life, I was very happy and shouted at the whole house."
[9.0] "I loved this match. It looked more like a genuine technical combat sport than even most of Zack Sabre Jr's matches do. They were both putting real weight and thought and effort into the holds and made it look like a proper struggle. Zack had to resort to power moves and a rare pin to win, which feels like it's setting something up for the next match. He's bulked up, learned Japanese and his wrestling just keeps on getting better - Zack's consistently super-entertaining right now and I'd love to see him become champ."
[7.0] "Good match, but mostly thanks to Sabre, who gave a strong performance. Naito didn? t do much in this match. It was a well-deserved victory for Sabre, as he truly was the MVP of the tournament."
[10.0] "Amazing psychology, with both men working over damaged body parts, and ZSJ injuring his rib early in the match, and selling it so well I'm not sure if it wasn't legit. The finishing stretches with Naito repeatedly targeting the neck of ZSJ by hammering elbows down on him, to ZSJ hitting him with multiple PKs and hitting him with a second Zack Driver to finally win was amazing. Definitely recommend."
[8.0] "This was a great finals match and an even greater win by Sabre. Nowhere near as good as the Takagi match previous, but much more enjoyable than the Ospreay match, Zack did a splendid job in this tournament. ****"
[7.0] "Inferior to the prior semi-final matches plus the Sabre vs Ospreay quarter-final, but still really good. There was an attempted story of Naito targeting Sabre's neck while Sabre targeted Naito's leg, but neither story got nearly enough focus. Sabre did a lot of work on Naito's leg early on, and Naito's selling was good in real-time then (despite also being a bit melodramatic for being so early in the match when a submission tease obviously wasn't convincing), but then Sabre massively cut back his consistency in targeting the leg, and Naito thus also decided to not bother selling it much. That bothered me from both men, but Naito still should have sold his leg for the rest of the match even if Sabre dropped his targeting, since that early targeting was extensive enough to warrant that. Sabre would at least also smartly switch things up by targeting Naito's neck, arm -- basically whatever he could get his hands on at the time, which allowed him to show off more of this slick technical wizardry and highlight how excitingly unpredictable he was. Naito's own targeting of Sabre's neck was very good, especially with his high-impact signature moves, though his constant aggressive elbow strikes to the area were quite overdone and lost their effect. Sabre would sell the neck damage well in real-time, but then he would also randomly grip his ribs as if they hurt instead despite nothing I could see affecting them? which was really confusing. Maybe he genuinely injured them. Anyways, his neck-selling was likewise essentially forgotten about whenever it was his turn to run through all his stuff, which was similarly disappointing. There was still a good amount to enjoy in that second half, since both men still displayed good body-part-targeting even if their accompanying long-term selling for each other wasn't very good. Sabre also remained exciting with his impactful strikes and tricky submissions and pins out of nowhere. Naito would impress with his bigger signature moves which fantastically destroyed Zack's neck, but he didn't hit as many as I would have liked in order to properly tease putting Zack away, so it ultimately wasn't enough to make up for his heavy brawl-based work earlier, which was still really solid but also just far too basic to be especially exciting. Even the flash pins he'd been building up this entire tournament weren't timed or placed properly to result in any truly convincing near falls. By contrast, Sabre's offence was very creative, flashy, and convincing all match long. Back to the positives, it was very exciting seeing them rapidly trade their big signature moves and go for corresponding near falls. Zack showed great fire as he desperately threw everything out to try end things, with it eventually taking 2 PKs, a Tornado DDT, and a Zack Driver to finally put Naito away. A really good match by the end. The structure was there for this to be better, but both men's selling and Naito's limited offence held it back. ***1/2"
[8.0] "A great match, that was unfortunately prevented from reaching greater heights by a slow start and ending slightly too early. Not as good as their G1 bout in 2021, but absolutely worth watching, especially the action packed latter half."
[8.0] "I was pretty hyped to watch this match, because these two always produce a fun one. I wasn't a massive fan of the start, but it wasn't bad...just not as action-packed as you'd think. It was methodical and technical, and SUPER clean. It picked up though, and started to get insane. I don't think it's a MOTY Contender, not even close, but it's still a really good one. Congratulations to Sabre Jr. on winning the Cup, man deserves all of it. [**** 1/4]"
[9.0] "A perfect end to the New Japan Cup 2022. Zack just became a possible winner for me since he passed to the semifinals beating Will Ospreay, and now he is showing a mastarpiece of tecnhical and striking wrestling. Every part of the match was leaded by him, as a savage monster who wanted to take off Naito's head. He almost killed him with those Penalty kicks, absolutely brilliant effort. Good goood match. [****3/4]"
[8.0] "I thought this was a pretty good ending to this years New Japan Cup, as Zack said after his victory this match took years off their life with how much they threw at each other and especially the attack on the necks. However, I can't quite explain it but this match just didn't have "it" for me for this to stand out as MOTY or anything like that. ****1/4"
[8.0] "A good match, but not as good as I thought it would be. ZSJ definitely had better matches this tournament. Glad ZSJ is getting a push though. Naito sadly seems directionless right now."
[9.0] "This is a great match, ZSJ is on fire right now, and I can not wait for his match against Okada, which I think he should win. I also hope he goes against Ospreay or Suzuki at Summer Sizzler."
[8.0] "Pretty neat New Japan Cup Final. This is Zack Sabre Jr's best run in NJPW, a lot of good matches and a outstanding final with a eternal foe of his. The limb work on this match was great, both of them were great in the offense and selling the moves as well, especially ZSJ, who was literally dying at the last Elbow Strikes that Tetsuya Naito was hitting. I think the closing stretch could've been a bit better, maybe one last sequence or a near fall from ZSJ, but still, a pretty good way to finish the bout. ****1/4"
[6.0] "6.5 - This was less like Naito/Cobb, ZSJ/Ospreay and ZSJ/Shingo, and more like Naito/Okada. Grindy, slow, not a whole lot obviously planned and a fair bit of time-padding. Naito had one or two less-than-crisp moments. Ending sequence was good, but not mind-blowing."
[9.0] "This was another awesome match and a great way to end the tournament. Even with the quiet crowds, I think that this was the best New Japan Cup ever. There were just so many fantastic bouts, and the final was no exception. Sabre has been comfortably one of the 20 best in the world for the past several years, but he might be better than ever today. ****1/2"
[9.0] "Another cup match, this time the final, another ZSJ banger. His G1 run was amazing and this Cup run might've been even better. He's one of the best in the world. Drama was perfectly built. So happy he won, he won't beat Okada but my god do I want him to do it. ****1/2"
"I felt a bit of staleness from Tetsuya Naito recently, after his Double Title run, and his tandem with SANADA helped move along The Ingobernable One ahead. His tag clashes with SuzukiGun's Dangerous Tekkers involved where easily his best 2021's work so adding his flawless chemistry with ZSJ to a great cup run with no predictable pins gave Naito enough momentum after his February defeat against Okada. On the other side Sabre is once again on fire as a singles, while I feel that his 2 year stint with Taichi as a tag team really helped his popularity with NJPW supporters. It was a great final that may be decisive in Sabre career. Must watch."
[9.0] "Awesome, Sabre did what he wanted from the beginning to the end with Naito looking to limit the dameges with an really perfect selling but even he managed some good offensives. Their Chemistry is great. Almost a 10 but not this time."
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