Tag: njcup

New Japan wrapped up the New Japan Cup today with the Finals.

Today’s event was held at Aore Nagaoka in Niigata and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was also a live ABEMA broadcast in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 3271, a full house/near sellout.

Pre-show match: Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii beat Katsuya Murashima & YOSHI-HASHI. Ishii pinned Murashima.

Match 1: NJPW WORLD TV Champion El Phantasmo beat TBA, which turned out to be TJP, to retain the title. V4 for Phantasmo. Another open challenge. Next up: Great-O-Khan.

Match 2: Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Satoshi Kojima.

Match 3: Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & SANADA beat TAKA Michinoku, Taichi & Yuya Uemura. Owens pinned TAKA after a package driver.

Match 4: BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito beat Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb. Takahashi pinned Young with Maximum The Holding 3rd Form. Afterwards, despite the loss, Newman & Cobb made an IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship challenge. Accepted by Takahashi & Naito.

Match 5: Taiji Ishimori, Drilla Moloney & Gabriel Kidd beat Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita. Moloney pinned Sho after Drilla Killer.

Match 6: Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru & EVIL. Tsuji pinned Kanemaru after Gene Blaster. Afterwards, EVIL beat down Tsuji to issue an IWGP Global Championship challenge.

Match 7: El Desperado, Boltin Oleg & Hirooki Goto beat Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer), Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. goto pinned Jackson after GTR.

Main Event: New Japan Cup Finals: David Finlay beat Shota Umino to win the tournament. As a result, Finlay gets the next IWGP World Heavyweight Championship shot against Goto. That match will happen at SAKURA GENESIS on 4/5 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

The next event is 3/29 at Takaoka Techno Dome in Toyama to start the Road To SAKURA GENESIS tour. There will be no live or on demand broadcast. The only televised event of the tour (4 events) is the finale on 4/4.

UPDATE: The 4/2 event in Yamanashi, the 3rd of the tour, will now be streamed live and on demand on New Japan World. It will be headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi on wha may be Tanahashi’s final Yamanashi appearance before retirement.

Also, the full SAKURA GENESIS card is now official:
Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Nagai (pre-show)
Yuya Uemura vs. SANADA
NJPW WORLD TV Champion El Phantasmo vs. Great-O-Khan for the title
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino
NEVER 6-Man Tag Team Champions Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita vs. Gabriel Kidd, Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori for the titles
NEVER Openweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita vs. Ryohei Oiwa for the title
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb for the titles
IWGP Global Champion Yota Tsuji vs. EVIL for the title
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto vs. David Finlay for the title

New Japan finished up the preliminary portion of the New Japan Cup today with the second half of the Semifinals.

Today’s event was held at Big Palette Fukushima in Fukushima and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 722.

Match 1: Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima beat Katsuya Murashima & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Kojima pinned Murashima after a lariat.

Match 2: Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman, Jeff Cobb, TJP & Great-O-Khan beat Daiki Nagai, Jado, Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Tl Phantasmo. TJP pinned Nagai.

Match 3: Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer), Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii. Oiwa pinned Honma after The Grip.

Match 4: Drilla Moloney, SANADA & David Finlay beat TAK AMichinoku, Yuya Uemura & Taichi. SANADA beat TAKA with Skull End.

Match 5: Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & Gabriel Kidd vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho & Ren Narita went to a double countout.

Match 6: Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL beat BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji. EVIL pinned BUSHI after Magic Killer.

Main Event: New Japan Cup Semifinals: Shota Umino beat Shingo Takagi. As a result, the Final will be Umino vs. David Finlay.

The Final is Thursday at Aore Nagaoka in Niigata. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET. This will also be a live ABEMA broadcast in Japan.

New Japan continued the New Japan Cup today with the first half of the Semifinals.

Today’s event was held at Twin Messe Shizuoka South Building in Shizuoka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was also a Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 856.

Match 1: Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer) & Ryohei Oiwa beat Katsuya Murashima & Tomohiro Ishii. Jackson pinned Murashima after Death Valley Bomb.

Match 2: Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata beat Daiki Nagai & Hiroshi Tanahashi. Kojima pinned Nagai after a lariat.

Match 3: YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano beat TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura. YOSHI-HASHI beat TAKA with Butterfly Lock.

Match 4: Jado, Boltin Oleg & El Phantasmo beat Jacob Austin Young, TJP & Great-O-Khan. Oleg pinned Young after Kamikaze.

Match 5: Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb beat BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito. Newman pinned BUSHI after a running knee strike.

Match 6: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita & EVIL beat Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale, SANADA, Drilla Moloney & Gabriel Kidd. EVIL pinned Owens after EVIL.

Match 7: Tora Tsuji & Shingo Takagi beat Tomoaki Honma & Shota Umino. Tsuji pinned Honma after Gene Blaster.

Main Event: New Japan Cup Semifinals: David Finlay beat Zack Sabre Jr. As a result, Finlay advances to the Finals to face the Umino-Takagi winner.

The second Semifinal is tomorrow at Big Palette Fukushima in Fukushima. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

New Japan continued the New Japan Cup today with the Quarterfinals.

Today’s event was held at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 2752.

Match 1: YOSHI-HASHI & Tomihiro Ishii beat Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer) & Ryohei Oiwa. Ishii pinned Jackson after a vertical drop brainbuster.

Match 2: Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman, TJP & Great-O-Khan beat Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano, Hiroshi Tanahashi & El Phantasmo. TJP pinned Phantasmo after a huracanrana.

Match 3: Chase Owens, SANADA & Gabriel Kidd vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho & Ren Narita went to a double countout.

Match 4: BUSHI, Tetsuya Naito & Yota Tsuji beat Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Tsuji pinned Togo after Gene Blaster.

New Japan Cup Quarterfinals:
Match 5: Shingo Takagi beat Drilla Moloney.
Match 6: Shota Umino beat Jeff Cobb.
Match 7: David Finlay beat Yuya Uemura.
Match 8: Zack Sabre Jr. beat Taichi.
As a result, the Semifinals will be Finlay vs. Sabre & Takagi vs. Umino.

Main Event: IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto beat Yuji Nagata to retain the title. V2 for Goto. Next up: The Cup winner. That match will happen at SAKURA GENESIS on 4/5 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.

The first of the Semifinals (Finlay-Sabre) is tomorrow at Twin Messe Shizuoka South Building in Shizuoka. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin TONIGHT at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET. This will also be a live Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.

New Japan continued the New Japan Cup today with the remainder of Round 2.

Today’s event was held at Kanaoka Park Gym in Osaka and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 1069.

Match 1: Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata beat Katsuya Murashima, YOSHI-HASHI, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto. Nagata beat Murashima with Nagata Lock 2.

Match 2: Jado, El Phantasmo & Shota Umino beat Jacob Austin Young, Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan. Phantasmo pinned Young after a spinning backbreaker.

Match 3: Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale, SANADA & Gabriel Kidd beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita by DQ. Narita DQ’d. Dick Togo & EVIL interference. Which led to…

Match 4: Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Sho, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita, Dick Togo & EVIL beat Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale, SANADA, Gabriel Kidd, David Finlay & Gedo. EVIL pinned Gedo after Magic Killer. This was supposed to have been a tag match but after the prior match’s DQ it became an impromptu 12-man tag.

Match 5: Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat TAKA Michinoku, Yuya Uemura & Taichi. Oiwa pinned TAKA after The Grip.

New Japan Cup Round 2:
Match 6: Drilla Moloney beat TJP.
Match 7: Shingo Takagi beat Boltin Oleg.
Main Event: Jeff Cobb beat Tetsuya Naito.
As a result, Moloney will face Takagi in the Quarterfinals and Cobb will face Umino.

The Quarterfinals are tomorrow at Aichi Prefectural Gym in Nagoya. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.

New Japan continued the New Japan Cup today in Okayana with the start of Round 2.

Today’s event was held at Zip Arena Okayama in Okayama and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 1312.

Match 1: Daiki Nagai, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata beat Katsuya Murashima, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto. Nagata beat Murashima with Nagata Lock 2.

Match 2: Callum Newman, Jeff Cobb & TJP beat Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & Drilla Moloney. Cobb pinned Owens after Tour of the Islands.

Match 3: BUSHI, Yota Tsuji, Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi beat Jado, Toru Yano, El Phantasmo & Boltin Oleg. Naito pinned Jado.

Match 4: SANADA & Gabriel Kidd beat TAKA Michinoku & Taichi. SANADA beat TAKA with Skull End.

Match 5: Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino beat Jacob Austin Young & Great-O-Khan. Ishii pinned Young after a vertical drop brainbuster.

New Japan Cup Round 2:
Match 6: Yuya Yemura beat YOSHI-HASHI.
Match 7: Zack Sabre Jr. beat Ryohei Oiwa.
Main Event: David Finlay beat EVIL by countout.
As a result, the first Quarterfinals will be Uemura vs. Finlay and Sabre vs. the Kidd-Taichi winner (tomorrow).

The next event is tomorrow at Uwajima City General Gym in Ehime. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET.

New Japan continued the New Japan Cup today in Hyogo, wrapping up Round 1 and narrowing the field down to 16.

Today’s event was held at Baycom Park General Gym in Hyogo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 2412.

Pre-show match: Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI beat Daiki Nagai & Kasuya Murashima. YOSHI-HASHI beat Nagai with Butterfly Lock.

Match 1: Chase Owens & SANADA beat TAKA Michinoku & Yuya Uemura. Owens pinned TAKA after C Trigger.

Match 2: Hartley Jackson (Independent/Freelancer), Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Jacob Austin Young, Jeff Cobb & TJP. Oiwa pinned Young after The Grip.

Match 3: Gedo, David Finlay & Gabriel Kidd beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita. Finlay pinned Kanemaru after Overkill.

Match 4: Dick Togo, Sho & EVIL beat BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji. EVIL beat BUSHI with a scorpion deathlock.

New Japan Cup Round 1:
Match 5: Boltin Oleg beat Bad Luck Fale.
Match 6: Great-O-Khan beat El Phantasmo.
Match 7: Drilla Moloney beat Tomohiro Ishii.
Match 8: Tetsuya Naito beat Callum Newman.

Main Event: Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto beat Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata. Goto pinned Kojima after GTR.

As a result of today’s matches, the second half of the New Japan Cup Round 2 will be Oleg vs. Shingo Takagi, Khan vs. Shota Umino (gonna be FUN!), Moloney vs. TJP and Naito vs. Jeff Cobb.

The next event is Tuesday at Zip Arena Okayama with 3 of the 8 Round 2 matches currently scheduled. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

UPDATE: Clark Connors challenged El Desperado yesterday to a hardcore match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. It’s now official. That match will happen on 4/4, along with IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita vs. Taiji Ishimoti & Robbie X for the tites.

New Japan kicked off the 2025 New Japan Cup-Take 2 after yesterday’s unexpected ring building disaster forced the event to be cancelled-today with what was to have been the second event of the tournament, with many changes to the card as a result.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 1508, a legit sellout.

Pre-show match: Katsuya Murashima beat Daiki Nagai.

Match 1: Tiger Mask, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima & Yuji Nagata beat Tomoaki Honma, Toru Yano, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Hirooki Goto. Nagata pinned Honma with a backdrop hold.

Match 2: Jado, El Desperado & El Phantasmo beat Jacob Austin Young, Jeff Cobb & Great-O-Khan. Desperado beat Young with Numero Dos. Afterwards, Clark Connors appeared and issued an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship challenge to Desperado, and wanted it to be a hardcore match.

Match 3: Francesco Akira & Callum Newman beat BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito. Akira pinned BUSHI.

New Japan Cup Round 1:
Match 4: Yuya Uemura beat SANADA. As a result, Uemura advances to Round 2 and will face YOSHI-HASHI.
Match 5: EVIL beat Yota Tsuji. No repeat winner this year. As a result, EVIL advances to Round 2 and will face David Finlay.
Match 6: Ryohei Oiwa beat Chase Owens. As a result, Oiwa advances to Round 2 and will face Zack Sabre Jr.
Main Event: Gabriel Kidd beat Ran Narita. As a result, Kidd advances to Round 2 and will face Taichi.

Day 2 (originally 3) is tomorrow at Baycom General Gym in Hyogo. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin TONIGHT at-remember it’s the spring time change in the US-11 PM PT/3 AM ET.

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.

New Japan wrapped up the New Japan Cup today with the Finals.

Today’s event was held at Aore Nagaoka in Niigata and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This event aired as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2024 on YV Asahi in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 3003.

Match 1: BUSHI & Hiromu Takahashi beat Kysuya Murashima & Shoma Kato. BUSHI pinned Murashima.

Match 2: Francesco Akira, TJP & Great-O-Khan beat Ryusuke Taguchi, Tanga Loa & Tomohiro Ishii. Akira pinned Taguchi after 2/2.

Match 3: Mikey Nicholls & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb. Nicholls pinned Newman after Master Blaster.

Match 4: Gabriel Kidd, Chase Owens & KENTA beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe & YOSHI-HASHI. Owens pinned Tenzan.

Match 5: Yujiro Takahashi, Jack Perry & Ren Narita beat El Desperado, Yuji Nagata & Shota Umino. Narita beat Nagata with a cobra twist.

Match 6: Yoh beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru.

Match 7: Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano, Jado, El Phantasmo & Hikuleo beat TAKA Michinoku, DOUKI, Yuya Uemura, Taichi & SANADA. Phantasmo pinned TAKA after Super Thunder Kiss 86.

Match 8: Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito vs. Dick Togo & EVIL went to a double countout. Which led to…
Match 8 (again): Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito beat Dick Togo & EVIL. Naito pinned Togo.

Main Event: New Japan Cup Finals: Yota Tsuji beat Hirooki Goto to win the tournament. It’s the first Cup for Tsuji. As a result, Tsuji will face IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito for the title at SAKURA GENESIS on 4/6.

The next event is NJPW ACADEMY SHOWCASE 3 Saturday at the LA Dojo in Carson, CA. There will be no live broadcast, but it will be available on demand on YouTube at a later date.

The next Japan event is the Road to SAKURA GENESIS 2024 Tour starting on 3/30 at Takaoka Techno Dome in Toyama. There will be no live or on demand broadcast.