New Japan Pro Wrestling has announced the brackets for this year’s New Japan Cup tournament. 48 wrestlers will take part in the tournament this year. The brackets are below:
Top Left Side of Brackets:
- Kazuchika Okada vs El Desperado
- Master Wato receives bye to 2nd round.
- Toru Yano vs Taichi
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan receives bye to 2nd round.
- Yuji Nagata vs Hirooki Goto
- Dick Togo receives bye to 2nd round.
- CIMA vs Taka Michinoku
- Yoshinobu Kanemaru receives bye to 2nd round.
Bottom Left Side of Brackets:
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yoh
Bad Luck Fale receives bye to 2nd round.- Tetsuya Naito vs Yujiro Takahashi
Gedo receives bye to 2nd round.- Togi Makabe vs Jeff Cobb
Satoshi Kojima receives bye to 2nd round.- Tomoaki Honma vs Yoshi-Hashi
Kosei Fujita receives bye to 2nd round.
Top Right Side of Brackets:
- Kota Ibushi vs Great-O-Khan
Taiji Ishimori receives bye to 2nd round.- Ryohei Oiwa vs Zack Sabre Jr.
Douki receives bye to 2nd round.- Yuto Nakashima vs Aaron Henare
Sanada receives bye to 2nd round.- Bushi vs Will Ospreay
El Phantasmo receives bye to 2nd round.
Bottom Right Side of Brackets
- Tomohiro Ishii vs Shingo Takagi
Tanga Loa receives bye to 2nd round.- Chase Owens vs Jado
Tiger Mask receives bye to 2nd round.- Ryusuke Taguchi vs Evil
Tama Tonga receives bye to 2nd round.- Hiromu Takahashi vs Sho
Minoru Suzuki receives bye to 2nd round.
1st round matches will take place March 2nd, 6th, and 7th. 2nd round will take place March 9, 10, 12, and 13. 3rd round will take place March 14, 15, 17, 18. Quarter-Finals will be held on March 20 and 21. Semi-finals will take place on March 26th and the finals will be held on March 27th.