New Japan Cup 2021 Results - March 20, 2021: Semi-Finals

A show that was briefly paused by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake

By Aidan Gibbons
20 March, 2021 11:10 AM

The final of the New Japan Cup 2021 was set earlier today as David Finlay faced Will Ospreay and EVIL took on Shingo Takagi in the two semi-final matches.

The semi-finals almost took place tomorrow, though, after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake rocked the Xebio Arena Sendai in Sendai, Japan. As the building started shaking, the six-man tag team match of Kota Ibushi, Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White, KENTA & Gedo was quickly brought to a halt, but the in-ring action resumed 25 minutes later after safety checks were completed. The show would have been called off if an aftershock rocked Sendai, but no such aftershock occurred.

Following the historic pause in the action, David Finlay took on Will Ospreay in the semi-main event. The IMPACT World Tag Team Champion injured his ankle in the latter stages after Ospreay pushed him to the outside during an ACID DROP attempt. The Commonwealth Kingpin then took advantage and worked over Finlay's ankle, but the FinJuice man managed to fight back and he almost picked up the win with ACID DROP, but Ospreay countered into a Powerbomb and followed up with Stormbreaker for the 1-2-3.

EVIL vs. Shingo Takagi followed in the main event and the match featured the usual interference and ref bumps that take place in every big match featuring The King Of Darkness. Takagi managed to survive the interference, though, and he connected with a Pumping Bomber and Last Of The Dragon after 22 minutes to win the match.

With the win, Takagi will face Will Ospreay in tomorrow's final. The two men will square off for the third time and fans will be hoping they have a match as good as their classic Best Of The Super Juniors 26 final.

Check out the full results from the New Japan Cup semi-finals below:
• Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan def. Juice Robinson & Yuya Uemura
• Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI & SHO def. Jado, Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale
• SANADA, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI def. DOUKI, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
• Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada def. Yujiro Takahashi, Jay White & KENTA
• Will Ospreay def. David Finlay - New Japan Cup 2021 Semi-Finals
• Shingo Takagi def. EVIL - New Japan Cup 2021 Semi-Finals