New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced the full field of official competitors and bracket for this year’s New Japan Cup tournament, which takes place from March 5th to March 21st in Japan.
It was also announced that KENTA, Chase Owens, Jeff Cobb, Hirooki Goto, Tama Tonga, Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay, and Zack Sabre Jr. have all been given a first-round bye for this year’s tournament.
The winner of this year’s tournament will earn an automatic title shot for the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis 2023 on April 8th in Tokyo, Japan.
Full First Round matchups schedule for New Japan Cup 2023 tournament:
- March 5th – Taichi vs. SANADA (Winner faces KENTA)
- March 5th – Tetsuya Naito vs. El Phantasmo (Winner faces Chase Owens)
- March 6th – David Finlay vs. Tomohiro Ishii (Winner faces Great-O-Khan)
- March 6th – Shota Umino vs. Yujiro Takahashi (Winner faces Zack Sabre Jr.)
- March 8th – Ren Narita vs. EVIL (Winner faces Jeff Cobb)
- March 8th – Toru Yano vs. Mark Davis (Winner faces Will Ospreay)
- March 10th – Kyle Fletcher vs. YOSHI-HASHI (Winenr faces Hrooki Goto)
- March 10th – Shingo Takagi vs. Aaron Henare (Winner faces Tama Tonga)
Full bracket:
The New Japan Cup bracket is set!
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) February 13, 2023
24 battle in the March tournament, with the winner getting a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship April 8 at Sakura Genesis!
Who have you got? It all starts March 5!https://t.co/TESXG16iwS#njpw #njcup pic.twitter.com/DHpNcoKYCZ
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