New Japan Cup

The **New Japan Cup** (often abbreviated **NJC**) is an annual single-elimination tournament held by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion since 2005. Originally intended for every April, it was rescheduled to March in 2007.

The tournament is considered the second most prominent tournament in NJPW, after the G1 Climax, which is held in a round-robin format. Since 2006, the winner, receives an opportunity at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. However, unlike with the G1 Climax, the reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion does not participate in the tournament. Between 2014 and 2020, the winner of the tournament could also choose to challenge for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship; in 2015, the winner could also challenge for the NEVER Openweight Championship. The tournament usually featured sixteen participants, before extending to thirty-two participants from 2019 onwards. Although it previously featured almost exclusively heavyweight wrestlers, the 2020 edition of the New Japan Cup began allowing junior heavyweight wrestlers, becoming an openweight tournament. That same year, due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, NJPW held the American version of the tournament, with the winner of the tournament, being given the right to challenge for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, is the inaugural winner of the tournament, being the first wrestler to win in two times. Hirooki Goto holds the records for most wins of the New Japan Cup with three, and the only wrestler to win back-to-back New Japan Cup in 2009 and 2010. All past winners have chosen to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, with the exception of 2014 winner Shinsuke Nakamura, who challenged for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship; the 2020 winner EVIL, due to Tetsuya Naito also being both IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Champion, with the winner of the New Japan Cup would automatically challenging for both championships.

## 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.

### 2008

The 2008 New Japan Cup was a 16-man tournament held from March 9 to March 23. The winner, Hiroshi Tanahashi, became the first two-time winner of the NJC and went on to fail in his challenge against IWGP Champion Shinsuke Nakamura 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. Giant Bernard and Yuji Nagata, 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 Hiroshi Tanahashi on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2009.

1This match originally ended in a double countout at 3:18, but it was restarted with Inoue 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, Yuji Nagata, went on to unsuccessfully challenge Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship 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.

### 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 IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

### 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 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. On March 7 it was announced that due to Tomoaki Honma's injury he was unable to compete and Yuji Nagata was set to be his replacement.

### 2018

The 2018 New Japan Cup is scheduled to take place between March 9 and 21. This tournament will feature the heavyweight debut of Taichi, as well as the returning Hiroshi Tanahashi, who returned from an injury.

### 2019

The 2019 New Japan Cup took place between March 8 and 24. The winner of the tournament would challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at G1 Supercard on April 6. Unlike the previous year, the tournament featured 32 wrestlers instead of 16 and marks the New Japan Cup debut of 7 wrestlers. On February 23, Finlay injured his shoulder, NJPW would later announce that Finlay would hat to forfeit his place at the tournament. On March 4, NJPW announced that Ryusuke Taguchi would replace Finlay in the tournament.

### 2020

The 2020 New Japan Cup was supposed to take place between March 4 and 21. Like the previous year, the tournament would have featured a 32 participants format and would have marked the New Japan Cup debut of Jeff Cobb, Will Ospreay, Shingo Takagi, KENTA, David Finlay, who last year had to forfeit his place due to a torn labrum, and Young Lions (Alex Coughlin and Karl Fredericks). On February 26, following recommendations by the Japanese Ministry of Health regarding the coronavirus outbreak, NJPW canceled the events between March 1 and March 15 including the first and the second round of the tournament. On March 10, NJPW announced that the remainder of the tournament would be canceled as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, under the recommendations of the Japanese Ministry of Health. On June 8, during an online press conference, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced that the promotion of the return of the 2020 New Japan Cup between June 16 and July 11, with all, shows being held behind closed doors, except for the finals would allow fans into the arena, but only a third of the venue's normal capacity, after the Japanese Government lifted some restrictions in many regions in Japan.

On July 31, during an online press conference, NJPW of America CEO Takami Obari announced the New Japan Cup USA, the American version of the New Japan Cup, to be held between August 7 and August 21, featuring the foreign talent working in NJPW, with the winner receiving an opportunity for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.

### 2021

The 2021 New Japan Cup took place between March 4 and 21. The winner of the tournament would challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis on April 4. Unlike the previous year, the tournament featured 30 wrestlers instead of 16. EVIL and Hiroshi Tanahashi progressed to the second round, due to EVIL being the winner of the 2020 New Japan Cup and Tanahashi holding the NEVER Openweight Championship. Two matches of the tournament took part on March 4 at NJPW's 49th anniversary event.

### 2022

The 2022 New Japan Cup took place between March 2 and 27. The winner of the tournament would challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Hyper Battle on April 9. Unlike the previous year, the tournament featured 48 wrestlers instead of 16 which included wrestlers from both heavyweight and junior heavyweight divisions. On February 28, NJPW announced that Kota Ibushi would be forced to forfeit his match against Great-O-Khan, due to his recovery from a shoulder injury. Meanwhile, it was also announced that Hiroyoshi Tenzan would also forfeit second match, due to being sidelined with a knee injury.

### 2023

The 2023 New Japan Cup was announced on January 7, 2023 and took place between March 2 and 21. The winner of the tournament would challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis on April 8. Unlike the previous year, the tournament featured 24 wrestlers instead of 48. During the second round, Will Ospreay suffered a shoulder injury against his United Empire stablemate Mark Davis, this led to Davis announcing in an interumptum press-conference that Ospreay would be forfeiting the tournament, with Davis being his replacement.

## Gallery

* Gallery
* Winners

New Japan Cup trophyNew Japan Cup old trophyNew Japan Cup 5000000¥ check

Hiroshi TanahashiGiant BernardYuji NagataHirooki GotoKazuchika OkadaShinsuke NakamuraKota IbushiTetsuya NaitoKatsuyori ShibataZack Sabre Jr.EVILWill OspreaySANADA

## Notes

1. ↑ From 2006 until 2013, the winner of the tournament would always earn a match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. From 2014 onwards, the winner could decide between challenging for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. In 2015 only, the winner could also choose to challenge for the NEVER Openweight Championship. In 2019, the winner would faced Jay White at G1 Supercard and in 2020, due to Tetsuya Naito being both the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Champion, the winner would received a match against him for both titles, instead of choosing a title challenge of their choise.
2. ↑ Ospreay withdrew from the tournament due to a shoulder injury suffered during his match with Davis, whom replaced Ospreay on his behalf.

## References

1. ↑ New Dimension – 東京・後楽園ホール New Dimension – 第7試合 . New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved on 2017-02-12.
2. ↑ 現地時間・4月6日（土）マディソン・スクエア・ガーデン大会にて、IWGPヘビー級選手権が実現！『NEW JAPAN CUP』優勝者が"王者"ジェイ・ホワイトに挑戦！  (in Japanese). New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2019-02-12). Retrieved on 2019-02-12.
3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `dominion`
4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `NJC2005`
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 戦国炎舞 -Kizna- Presents New Japan Cup 2017  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro-Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2017-03-11.
6. ↑ 戦国炎舞 -Kizna- Presents New Japan Cup 2017  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro-Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2017-03-17.
7. ↑ “春の最強決定トーナメント”『New Japan Cup 2018』の全日程が決定！開幕は3月9日(金)後楽園！3月21日(水・祝)アオーレ長岡＜優勝決定戦＞のチケット概要が決定！  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro-Wrestling* (2017-11-28). Retrieved on 2017-11-28.
8. ↑ Currier, Joseph 2019-02-11. NEW JAPAN CUP WINNER TO CHALLENGE FOR IWGP TITLE AT MSG . Wrestling Observer Newsletter.