New Japan Cup

The New Japan Cup (often abbreviated NJC) is an annual single-elimination professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro Wrestling. Originally intended for every April, it was rescheduled to March in 2007. Though NJPW also runs the annual G1 Climax tournament, the NJC is different in that it is single-elimination, whereas the G1 is a round-robin. Like the G1 however, the winner of the tournament receives a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship; this stipulation was added in 2006. In 2014, the winner was given the right to choose whether to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight or the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. The following year, the winner could have also chosen to challenge for the NEVER Openweight Championship. The 2019 edition was also exclusively for the Heavyweight Championship, as the winner would headline the G1 Supercard at Madison Square Garden.
==Tournaments==
Year	Winner 	Championship match
2005	Hiroshi Tanahashi	N/A
2006	Giant Bernard 	Lost to Brock Lesnar for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
2007	Yuji Nagata 	Defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
2008	Hiroshi Tanahashi	Lost to Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at New Dimension.
2009	Hirooki Goto 	Lost to Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestling Dontaku 2009.
2010	Hirooki Goto 	Lost to Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at New Dimension 2010.
2011	Yuji Nagata 	Lost to Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at New Dimension～Pray,Hope,Power.
2012	Hirooki Goto 	Lost to Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestling Dontaku 2012.
2013	Kazuchika Okada 	Defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Invasion Attack 2013.
2014	Shinsuke Nakamura	Defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Invasion Attack 2014.
2015	Kota Ibushi 	Lost to A.J. Styles for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Invasion Attack 2015.
2016	Tetsuya Naito 	Defeated Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Invasion Attack 2016.
2017	Katsuyori Shibata	Lost to Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis 2017.
2018	Zack Sabre Jr. 	Lost to Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis 2018.
2019	Kazuchika Okada 	Defeated Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at ROH-NJPW G1 Supercard 2019.
2020	EVIL 	Defeated Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship & IWGP Intercontinental Title at NJPW Dominion In Osaka-Jo Hall.
2021	Will Ospreay 	Defeated Kota Ibushi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis.
2022	Zack Sabre Jr. 	Lost to Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Hyper Battle - Night 5.
2023	SANADA 	Defeated Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis.
==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, the winner of the tournament, went on to fail in his challenge against IWGP Champion Brock Lesnar 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 received byes to the second round, due to their victories in the 2006 New Japan Cup and G1 Climax respectively. Shinsuke Nakamura was injured in a non-tournament match on March 13, giving Tenzan an additional pass to the semifinals. The winner, Yuji Nagata, went on to defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi for the championship on April 13, beginning his second reign with the title. He also became the first person to reach the NJC finals twice, and the first to win both the New Japan Cup and G1 Climax.
Category:Professional wrestling tournaments
Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling tournaments