The full 24-man field has been revealed for NJPW’s annual New Japan Cup.
The single-elimination tournament, which gives the winning wrestler a shot at any title of their choosing, is scheduled to kick off early next month, with opening round matches going from March 4 to 8. The bracket will continue until a March 21 card in Nagaoka, where the winner will be crowned in the grand finals.
As is usually the case for this bracket, not all wrestlers will have to compete in the opening round. Eight talents were given a bye to the second round, including former world champions Zack Sabre Jr., Hirooki Goto, and Shingo Takagi.
The opening round features appearances from numerous prominent names in the promotion. IWGP tag champs The Knockout Brothers are both set to compete, Jake Lee will try to rebound from his recent unsuccessful title bid against Yota Tsuji in the bracket, and former NEVER Openweight Champion Aaron Wolf will be in action.
Here’s a look at all of the opening round matches, along with who is already through to round two.
Opening Round (March 4-8)
- Yuya Uemura vs. Great-O-Khan
- Aaron Wolf vs. Don Fale
- Taichi vs. Ren Narita
- El Phantasmo vs. Boltin Oleg
- YOSHI-HASHI vs. Jake Lee
- OSKAR vs. Callum Newman
- Shota Umino vs. Chase Owens
- Yuto-Ice vs. Ryohei Oiwa
Wrestlers given bye to Second Round (March 10-14)
- Drilla Moloney
- Shingo Takagi
- Tomohiro Ishii
- HENARE
- Hirooki Goto
- Hartley Jackson
- Yujiro Takahashi
- Zack Sabre Jr.
