If you didn’t know already, the 2024 New Japan Cup tournament wrapped up last week after a torturous run of matches that shined a giant bright light on the painful reality that New Japan Pro Wrestling is currently out of stars.
Now, you’d think that while buried in a scenario of losing three top tier talents in a little over a years time you’d want to lean into what the promotion is known for or what the company does, but no. NJPW took a different creative approach to booking this year’s tournament and the result was a painful affair and the worst tournament of the last ten years.
End the torture
What was the approach they took? Well, let’s circle back to that torture word I used earlier. Instead of putting the wrestlers they do have in situations where they could shine and have the great matches the New Japan Cup and New Japan Pro Wrestling is known for, the tournament was riddled with painful House of Torture matches that went the way all House of Torture matches go — heavy doses of outside interference, referee bumps, bizarre ringing of the ring bell, and other goofy shenanigans that lost it’s appeal and impact years ago.