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The New Japan Cup (NJC) is an annual single-elimination professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) since 2005. It is considered the second most prominent heavyweight tournament in NJPW, after the G1 Climax 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. 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 instead, while in 2015–2018, the NEVER Openweight Championship was also an option; only the 2014 winner Shinsuke Nakamura chose not to compete for the Heavyweight Championship, challenging for the Intercontinental Championship instead. In 2020, due to Tetsuya Naito 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 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 both the inaugural winner of the New Japan Cup, and the first wrestler to have won it twice; Hirooki Goto, Yuji Nagata, Kazuchika Okada, and Zack Sabre Jr. 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 #EventDateCityVenueAttendanceFinalNew Japan Cup: New Japan Openweight TournamentApril 24, 2005OsakaOsaka Prefectural Gymnasium5,800Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Manabu NakanishiNew Japan Cup 2006April 30, 2006AmagasakiAmagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium5,200Yuji Nagata vs. Giant BernardCircuit 2007 New Japan Evolution: New Japan CupMarch 21, 2007Korakuen Hall1,450Yuji Nagata vs. Togi MakabeCircuit 2008 New Japan Cup: Who Is the HighestMarch 23, 2008AmagasakiAmagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium5,200Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Giant BernardCircuit 2009 New Japan Cup: Soul on the RingMarch 22, 2009AmagasakiAmagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium5,300Hirooki Goto vs. Giant BernardCircuit 2010 New Japan Cup: The Perfect GeneralistMarch 22, 2010AmagasakiAmagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium5,500Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki GotoNew Japan Cup 2011March 20, 2011AmagasakiAmagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium5,500Yuji Nagata vs. Shinsuke NakamuraNJPW 40th Anniversary Tour: New Japan Cup 2012April 8, 2012Korakuen Hall2,040Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki GotoNew Japan Cup 2013March 23, 2013Korakuen Hall2,015Hirooki Goto vs. Kazuchika OkadaNew Japan Cup 2014March 23, 2014AmagasakiAmagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium5,800Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bad Luck FaleNew Japan Cup 2015March 15, 2015HiroshimaHiroshima Sun Plaza5,120Hirooki Goto vs. Kota IbushiNew Japan Cup 2016March 12, 2016AomoriMaeda Arena2,919Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya NaitoNew Japan Cup 2017March 20, 2017NagaokaCity Hall Plaza Aore Nagaoka4,079Katsuyori Shibata vs. Bad Luck FaleNew Japan Cup 2018March 21, 2018NagaokaCity Hall Plaza Aore Nagaoka3,996Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.New Japan Cup 2019March 24, 2019NagaokaCity Hall Plaza Aore Nagaoka3,991Kazuchika Okada vs. SanadaNew Japan Cup 2020July 11, 2020OsakaOsaka-jō Hall3,318Kazuchika Okada vs. EvilNew Japan Cup 2021March 21, 2021SendaiXebio Arena Sendai2,299Shingo Takagi vs. Will OspreayNew Japan Cup 2022March 27, 2022OsakaOsaka-jō Hall2,987Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.New Japan Cup 2023March 21, 2023NagaokaCity Hall Plaza Aore Nagaoka3,384Sanada vs. David FinlayNew Japan Cup 2024March 20, 2024NagaokaCity Hall Plaza Aore Nagaoka3,003Hirooki Goto vs. Yota TsujiNew Japan Cup 2025March 20, 2025NagaokaCity Hall Plaza Aore Nagaoka3,271David Finlay vs. Shota UminoNew Japan Cup 2026March 21, 2026NagaokaCity Hall Plaza Aore Nagaoka3,007Yuya Uemura vs. Callum Newman
Tournaments
Year Tournament Aftermath Winner Times won Participants Challenged for Match Result2005 Hiroshi Tanahashi 1 16 colspan="3" 2006 Giant Bernard 1 IWGP Heavyweight Championship vs. Brock Lesnar at New Japan Cup 2006 Special 2007 Yuji Nagata 1 14 vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi at 35th Anniversary Tour: Circuit 2007 New Japan Brave 2008 Hiroshi Tanahashi 2 16 vs. Shinsuke Nakamura at New Dimension 2009 Hirooki Goto 1 14 vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestling Dontaku 2010 Hirooki Goto 2 15 vs. Shinsuke Nakamura at New Dimension 2011 Yuji Nagata 2 16 vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi at New Dimension 2012 Hirooki Goto 3 vs. Kazuchika Okada at Wrestling Dontaku 2013 Kazuchika Okada 1 vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi at Invasion Attack 2014 Shinsuke Nakamura 1 IWGP Intercontinental Championship vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi at Invasion Attack 2015 Kota Ibushi 1 IWGP Heavyweight Championship vs. A.J. Styles at Invasion Attack 2016 Tetsuya Naito 1 vs. Kazuchika Okada at Invasion Attack 2017 Katsuyori Shibata 1 vs. Kazuchika Okada at Sakura Genesis 2018 Zack Sabre Jr. 1 vs. Kazuchika Okada at Sakura Genesis 2019 Kazuchika Okada 2 32 vs. Jay White at G1 Supercard 2020 Evil 1 IWGP Heavyweight Championship &IWGP Intercontinental Championship vs. Tetsuya Naito at Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall 2021 Will Ospreay 1 30 IWGP World Heavyweight Championship vs. Kota Ibushi at Sakura Genesis 2022 Zack Sabre Jr. 2 48 vs. Kazuchika Okada at Hyper Battle '22 2023 Sanada 1 24 vs. Kazuchika Okada at Sakura Genesis 2024 Yota Tsuji 1 28 vs. Tetsuya Naito at Sakura Genesis 2025 David Finlay 1 24 vs. Hirooki Goto at Sakura Genesis 2026 Callum Newman 1 24 IWGP Heavyweight Championship vs. Yota Tsuji 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 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, 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 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, 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. The winner of the tournament, Kazuchika Okada, went on to defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship 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 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. Tomoaki Honma was originally announced for the tournament, but was pulled out and replaced with Yuji Nagata after suffering a spinal cord injury.
2018
The 2018 New Japan Cup took place between March 9 and 21. The winner of the tournament, Zack Sabre Jr., challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. 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 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.
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 in Osaka.