With THE NEW BEGINNING now in the books, it’s time to look forward to the New Japan Cup, New Japan’s first annual tournament. The promotion announced the field and matchups today.
The New Japan Cup is a single-elimination bracket-style tournament and is an openweight tournament, meaning Junior Heavyweights participate along with Heavyweights. This year’s event has a field of 24, here is the bracket:
Yota Tsuji is the defending tournament winner. The winner will get an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot at SALURA GENESIS in April. Notably absent are NEW IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto & Hiroshi Tanahashi-their hinted-at 3/6 title match is now official. Goto has promised to defend against Yuji Nagata after that if victorious but whoever wins the Cup may be next.
The tournament begins on 3/8.
