New Japan Cup 2017 Brackets Announced

NJPW’s annual single elimination heavyweight tournament is set to kick off again in March. The company recently released brackets and scheduling information for this year’s tournament. The format has been changed slightly this year, with the semi-finals and finals no longer occurring on the same night. This year the semi-finals will be held on March 19th, and the finals on March 20th.

Last year’s winner, Tetsuya Naito, was able to turn his tournament victory into a successful IWGP Heavyweight Championship win over Kazuchika Okada. Every year the winner is awarded a title shot at the champion of his choosing.

This will be the 13th version of the New Japan Cup. Hiroshi Tanahashi has won the tournament twice, as has Yuji Nagata, while Hirooki Goto has won the cup on three occasions. Other past winners include Kota Ibushi (2015), Shinsuke Nakamura (2014), Kazuchika Okada (2013), and Giant Bernard aka Matt Bloom (2006

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