New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the lineup and schedule for the 2021 New Japan Cup. The tournament will have 28 competitors, with last year’s winner EVIL and the NEVER Openweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi receiving first round byes.
The New Japan Cup 2021 will run from March 4th to March 21st. The winner will face the winner of Kota Ibushi vs. El Desperado at Sakura Genesis, in a match that will be the inaugural contest for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Here is the full schedule for the 2021 New Japan Cup:
3/4
3am EST
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Cobb
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Great-O-Khan
3/5
4am EST
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: Taichi vs. Hirooki Goto
3/6
3am EST
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: Tomoaki Honma vs. Minoru Suzuki
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: KENTA vs. Juice Robinson
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Kazuchika Okada
3/7
1am EST
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Gabriel Kidd
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Will Ospreay
3/9
4:30am EST
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: Yota Tsuji vs. Yuji Nagata
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: SANADA vs. Tomohiro Ishii
3/10
4:30am EST
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: David Finlay vs. Chase Owens
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: YOSHI-HASHI vs. Yujiro Takahashi
- New Japan Cup First Round Match: Jay White vs. Toa Henare
Round 2
March 11th, 13th, 14th & 15th
Quarterfinals
March 16th & 18th
Semi-finals
March 20th
Finals
March 21st
With first round byes for NEVER Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi and 2020 winner EVIL, this is your official New Japan Cup bracket!
Who do you have? The action kicks off LIVE and in English Thursday on @njpwworld!https://t.co/2AmxlTn0ES#njpw #njcup pic.twitter.com/2t4CXnhLTK
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) March 1, 2021
