__NOTOC__ The New Japan Cup (NJC) is an annual

single-elimination A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

held by

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

(NJPW) since 2005. It is considered the second most prominent heavyweight tournament in NJPW, after the

G1 Climax The is a professional wrestling tournament held each August by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. Though it has sometimes been held as a single-elimination tournament, it is usually – and currently – held as a round-rob ...

which follows a round-robin format. Since the 2006 edition, the winner of the tournament, like with the G1 Climax, would receive a championship match, originally, for the

IWGP Heavyweight Championship The was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on June 12, 1987, in the final of an IW ...

. However, unlike with the G1 Climax, the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion could not participate in the tournament (in the case of the champion winning the G1 Climax, he would get to pick the next challenger for his title). In 2014–2018, the winner could choose to challenge for the

IWGP Intercontinental Championship The was a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was officially announced on January 5, 2011, and the Inaugural Champion MVP wa ...

instead, while in 2015–2018, the NEVER Openweight Championship was also an option; only the 2014 winner

Shinsuke Nakamura is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. Nakamura is known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former 3-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, with his first rei ...

chose not to compete for the Heavyweight Championship, challenging for the Intercontinental Championship instead. In 2020, due to

Tetsuya Naito is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his 20-year run in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he served as the leader of the ''Los Ingobernables de Japon'' stable, and was a multi-time world champion. ...

being both the Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion, the winner received a match for both titles, and in 2021, after the Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships were unified into a new championship, the

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship The is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The championship was created on March 1, 2021, by the unification of t ...

, the latter became the title the winner of the New Japan Cup would automatically challenge for; like previously with the Heavyweight title, the World Heavyweight Champion cannot compete. However, in 2022, it was once again an openweight tournament and featured all the champions from both the heavyweight and junior heavyweight divisions including the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. The first night of the 2022 tournament saw the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion take on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in the first round, a match that usually happens at NJPW's anniversary event. The number of participants in the New Japan Cup has varied over the years, from a lowest of 14 in 2007 and 2009 to a highest of 48 in 2022; the 2021 tournament features 30 entrants. It is considered a heavyweight tournament, although the 2005, 2008–09, 2020, and 2022 editions were openweight tournaments instead, also featuring junior heavyweights; in 2020, NJPW premiered the New Japan Cup USA, a version of the tournament taking place in the United States to determine a contender for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.

Hiroshi Tanahashi is a Japanese professional wrestler, sports executive and Podcast, podcaster. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he serves as the president and representative director of the promotion, and is also an active wrestler. Widel ...

is both the inaugural winner of the New Japan Cup, and the first wrestler to have won it twice; Hirooki Goto,

Yuji Nagata is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, and former mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Considered one of the greatest Japanese wrestlers ...

Kazuchika Okada (born November 8, 1987) is a Japanese professional wrestler. , he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he is a member of the Don Callis Family stable and is the current AEW Continental Champion in his first reign. Known as the , he is b ...

, and

Zack Sabre Jr. Lucas James Uggles Eatwell (born 24 July 1987), known by his ring name and its abbreviated form ZSJ, is an English-born professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is the second and current leader of the ...

have since also become two-time winners. Goto is both the only three-time winner and the only person to have won the tournament two years in a row.

Tournament Finals

Tournaments

Results

2005

The 2005 New Japan Cup was held from April 19 to April 24. The first two rounds were held on individual nights, with round one taking up the entire card on April 19. † Minoru was forced to pull out before his Round 2 match, due to suffering severe dizziness, and was replaced by Osamu Nishimura, who he beat in Round 1.

2006

The 2006 New Japan Cup was held from April 16 to April 30.

Giant Bernard Matthew Jason Bloom (born November 14, 1972) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the head trainer at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Bloom is best known for his in-ring appearances wi ...

, the winner of the tournament, went on to fail in his challenge against IWGP Champion

Brock Lesnar Brock Edward Lesnar ( ; born July 12, 1977) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist, Amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler and professional American football player. As a ...

on May 3.

2007

The 2007 New Japan Cup was a 14-man tournament held from March 3 to March 21. Giant Bernard and

Hiroyoshi Tenzan is a Japanese professional wrestler who is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and is better known by his ring name . With Satoshi Kojima, in 2008, they won the World's Strongest Tag Determination League in All Japan Pro Wrestling and the G1 Tag L ...

received byes to the second round, due to their victories in the 2006 New Japan Cup and G1 Climax respectively.

was injured in a non-tournament match on March 13, giving Tenzan an additional pass to the semifinals. The winner,

, went on to defeat

for the championship on April 13, beginning his second reign with the title. He also became the first person to reach the NJC final twice, and the first to win both the New Japan Cup and G1 Climax.

2008

The 2008 New Japan Cup was a 16-man tournament held from March 9 to March 23. The winner,

, became the first two-time winner of the NJC and went on to fail in his challenge against IWGP Champion

on March 30. ¹This match originally ended in a double countout at 2:35, but it was restarted with Makabe winning via pinfall in 14:49.

2009

The 2009 New Japan Cup was a 14-man tournament held from March 8 to March 22.

and

, the winners of the Cups of 2006 and 2007, received byes in the first round of the tournament. The eventual winner of the tournament, Hirooki Goto, went on to lose the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match to

on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2009. ¹This match originally ended in a double countout at 3:18, but it was restarted with Ishii winning via countout in 9:15.

2010

The 2010 New Japan Cup was a 15-man tournament held from March 14 to March 22. As the previous winner of the Cup, Hirooki Goto received a bye in the first round of the tournament. With his victory, Goto became the second two-time winner of the tournament and the first to win it back-to-back. Goto went on to challenge the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura on April 4, but would once again fail in his attempt to win the title.

2011

The 2011 New Japan Cup was a 16-man tournament held from March 6 to March 20. The winner,

, went on to unsuccessfully challenge

for the

on April 3.

2012

The 2012 New Japan Cup was a 16-man tournament held from April 1 to April 8. With his win, Hirooki Goto, became the first three-time winner of the tournament.

2013

The 2013 New Japan Cup was a 16-man tournament held from March 11 to March 23. The winner of the tournament,

, went on to defeat

for the

at Invasion Attack on April 7.

2014

The 2014 New Japan Cup took place between March 15 and 23. The winner of the tournament got to choose whether to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight or the

2015

The 2015 New Japan Cup took place between March 5 and 15. The winner of the tournament got to choose whether to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight, IWGP Intercontinental or the NEVER Openweight Championship at Invasion Attack 2015 on April 5.

2016

The 2016 New Japan Cup took place between March 3 and 12. The winner of the tournament would once again get to choose whether to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight, IWGP Intercontinental or NEVER Openweight Championship at

Invasion Attack 2016 Invasion Attack 2016 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on April 10, 2016, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan, and featured nine matches, six of which were contested f ...

on April 10.

2017

The 2017 New Japan Cup took place between March 11 and 20. Unlike previous years, this tournament was held across eight events in 10 days.

Tomoaki Honma is a Japanese people, Japanese professional wrestler primarily working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is a former List of IWGP Tag Team Champions, one-time IWGP Tag Team Championship, IWGP Tag Team Champion and a two-time G1 Ta ...

was originally announced for the tournament, but was pulled out and replaced with

after suffering a

spinal cord injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. It is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions. Symptoms of ...

2018

The 2018 New Japan Cup took place between March 9 and 21. The winner of the tournament,

Zack Sabre Jr Lucas James Uggles Eatwell (born 24 July 1987), known by his ring name and its abbreviated form ZSJ, is an English-born Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is the second an ...

., challenged

for the

. Sabre also became the second non-Japanese wrestler, after Giant Bernard, to win the New Japan Cup.

2019

The 2019 New Japan Cup took place between March 8 and 24. Unlike the previous year, the tournament featured 32 wrestlers instead of 16 and marks the New Japan Cup debut of 7 wrestlers. After David Finlay was pulled out of the tournament due to an injury,

Ryusuke Taguchi is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, trained by and performing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is a former List of IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions, two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, List of IWGP Junior He ...

was announced as his replacement.

2020

The 2020 New Japan Cup took place between June 16 and July 11. It was originally going to take place from March 4 until March 21, but was postponed when New Japan Pro-Wrestling suspended all of its activities due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On June 9, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced that it would resume its activities, beginning with the 2020 edition of the New Japan Cup, which would now be an Openweight tournament and take place from June 16 until July 11, with the final being held at

Osaka-jō Hall is a multi-purpose arena located in the Kyōbashi, Osaka, Kyōbashi area of Osaka, Japan. The hall opened in 1983 and can seat up to 16,000 people. Built on a site area of , part of its form uses stone walls, modeled after those of Osaka Castle ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. Due to both the Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles being held by

, the winner of the tournament would earn a match against him for both titles at Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall, instead of choosing one title to challenge for.

Original card

The original card for the New Japan Cup, when it was scheduled to take place from March 4 to March 21, had to be completely re-worked for the eventual final card, as several wrestlers who originally planned to participate could not go to Japan when NJPW resumed its activities due to travel restrictions amid the pandemic. Of the 32 wrestlers included in the original card, 14 were not a part of the eventual tournament in June–July: Alex Coughlin, Bad Luck Fale,

Chase Owens Steven Owens, better known by the ring name Chase Owens (チェーズ・オーエンズ ''Chēzu Ōenzu'', born March 7, 1990) is an American professional wrestler signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of House of Tor ...

Colt Cabana Scott Colton (born May 6, 1980), better known by the ring name Colt Cabana, is an American professional wrestler, color commentator, and podcaster. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a wrestler and as a coach, and he performs the same ...

, David Finlay, Karl Fredericks,

Jay White Jamie White (born 9 October 1992), better known by the ring name Jay White, is a New Zealand professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of the Bullet Club sub-group Bang Bang Gang. White is a former ...

Kenta Kenta (廉侍) is a masculine Japanese given name. (written: , , , or in katakana). Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese film director *, Japanese kickboxer *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japane ...

, Jeff Cobb,

Juice Robinson Joseph Ryan Robinson (born April 10, 1989), better known by his ring name Juice Robinson, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of the Bang Bang Gang stable. He also wrestles in Ne ...

, Mikey Nicholls, Tanga Loa, Toa Henare, and

Will Ospreay William Peter Charles Ospreay (born 7 May 1993) is an English professional wrestler. , he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a former two-time AEW International Champion. He is also known for his eight year tenure with New Japa ...

. ; Cancelled Round 1 card

2021

The 2021 edition's schedule was announced on January 13. The tournament ran from March 4, on NJPW's anniversary event, to March 21. The final night was NJPW's first show held at Xebio Arena Sendai. Evil and Hiroshi Tanahashi received byes on account of being the previous edition's winner and the reigning NEVER Openweight Champion respectively. At the semifinals on March 20, the match between

and

Kota Ibushi is a Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is best known for his tenure with New Japan-Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) and WWE. His career began with the Dramatic Dre ...

and

Bullet Club , stylized as BULLET CLUB and sometimes shortened to BC, is a professional wrestling Glossary of professional wrestling terms#stable, stable primarily appearing in the Japanese Professional wrestling promotion, promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling ...

and

Yujiro Takahashi , is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of House of Torture and a former member of Bullet Club. He is one-third of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions with Ren Narit ...

was stopped due to a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred in the Miyagi prefecture. While Bullet Club went backstage; Okada, Tanahashi, and Ibushi stayed in the ring area to calm the crowd and pose for pictures while New Japan employees were performing safety checks throughout the arena, which took about half an hour. After the safety checks were made, the match was able to continue with ring announcer Makoto Abe informing attendees shortly beforehand the rest of the event would be canceled if they were any additional aftershocks.

2022

The 2022 edition's schedule was announced on December 28, 2021, and the tournament ran from March 2 until March 27. The 2022 edition featured 48 participants which included wrestlers from both heavyweight and junior heavyweight divisions including the champions.

2023

The 2023 edition's schedule was announced on January 7, 2023, and the tournament ran from March 5 until March 21.

2024

The 2024 edition's schedule was announced on December 27, 2023, and the tournament ran from March 6 until March 20.

2025

The 2025 edition's schedule was announced on December 28, 2024, and the tournament ran from March 8 until March 20.

Notes

References

External links

New Japan Cup at NJPW.co.jp
{{New Japan Pro Wrestling events New Japan Pro-Wrestling tournaments

Tournament Finals

Tournaments

Results

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Original card

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

Notes

See also

References

External links