New Japan Pro Wrestling had a big weekend with two Castle Attack events in Osaka and a significant episode of New Japan Strong on Friday night. The promotion has now revealed the brackets for the upcoming New Japan Cup tournament.
The single-elimination tournament this year features 30 wrestlers, 2 of whom will receive a bye to the second round. EVIL won the tournament last year and has been granted a free pass to the second round. Hiroshi Tanahashi won the inaugural tournament in 2005 and has also been granted a first round bye.
The rest of the brackets are as follows:
New Japan Cup 2021 Brackets
March 4th, 2021
- Satoshi Kojima vs Jeff Cobb
- Tetsuya Naito vs Great-O-Khan
March 5th, 2021
- Toru Yano vs Bad Luck Fale
- Hirooki Goto vs Taichi
March 6th, 2021
- Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi
- Tomoaki Honma vs Minoru Suzuki
- Juice Robinson vs KENTA
March 7th, 2021
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Will Ospreay
- Gabriel Kidd vs Zack Sabre Jr.
March 9th, 2021
- Yuji Nagata vs Yota Tsuji
- Tomohiro Ishii vs SANADA
March 10th, 2021
- David Finlay vs Chase Owens
- Yoshi-Hashi vs Yujiro Takahashi
- Toa Henare vs Jay White
NJPW Anniversary Show Lineup
NJPW also announced the lineup for its upcoming Anniversary show on March 4th from the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo.
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Heavyweight vs Junior Heavyweight Champion vs Champion Match
Kota Ibushi (c) vs. El Desperado - New Japan Cup 2021 (1st Round)
Tetsuya Natio vs. The Great-O-Khan - New Japan Cup 2021 (1st Round)
Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Cobb - Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, David Finlay, Toa Henare, and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. EVIL, KENTA, Chase Owens, Jay White, and Taiji Ishimori
- Master Wato, Gabriel Kidd, Tomoaki Honma and Hirooki Goto vs. Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr., and DOUKI
