NJPW announces field and first round matches for NJPW Cup 2025

NJPW has announced the complete field and match lineups for the first round of the NJPW Cup, which starts on March 7 with two tournament matches.

The New Japan Cup begins on March 7 and will see Yota Tsuji vs. Evil and Yuya Uemura vs. Sanada take place in first round action. The rest of the first round matches will take place on March 8 and March 9. The tournament concludes on March 20.

The entire tournament has 24 wrestlers with eight wrestlers randomly getting a first round bye. The wrestlers receiving a first round bye are David Finlay, Yoshi-Hashi, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Shota Umino, Jeff Cobb, TJP, and Shingo Takagi.

The winner of the tournament will face Hirooki Goto on April 5 at Sakura Genesis.

You can see the entire announced schedule for the NJPW Cup below:

NJPW New Japan Cup (First Round), March 7, Korakeun Hall. (Airing live on NJPW World with English and Japanese commentary).

• Yota Tsuji vs. Evil (winner faces David Finlay)
• Yuya Uemura vs. Sanada (winner faces Yoshi-Hashi)

NJPW New Japan Cup (First Round), March 8, Korakeun Hall. (Airing live on NJPW World with English and Japanese commentary).

• Ryohei Oiwa vs. Chase Owens (winner faces Zack Sabre Jr.)
• Gabe Kidd vs. Ren Narita (winner faces Taichi)

NJPW New Japan Cup, March 9 (First Round), Baycom Gymnasium. (Airing live on NJPW World with English and Japanese commentary).

• ELP vs. Great-O-Khan (winner faces Shota Umino)
• Tetsuya Naito vs. Callum Newman (winner faces Jeff Cobb)
• Tomohiro Ishii vs. Drilla Moloney (winner faces TJP)
• Boltin Oleg vs. Bad Luck Fale (winner faces Shingo Takagi)9

NJPW New Japan Cup, March 11 (Second Round), Zip Arena Okayama. (Airing live on NJPW World with English and Japanese commentary).

• David Finlay vs. Yota Tsuji vs. Evil winner (March 7)
• Yoshi-Hashi vs. Yuya Uemura vs. Sanada winner (March 7)
• Zack Sabre Jr. Ryohei Oiwa vs. Chase Owens winner (March 8)

NJPW New Japan Cup, March 12 (Second Round), Uwajima-city General Gymnasium. (Airing live on NJPW World with English and Japanese commentary).

• Taichi vs. Gabe Kidd vs. Ren Narita winner (March 8)
• Shota Umino vs. Great O-Khan vs. ELP winner (March 9)

NJPW New Japan Cup, March 12 (Second Round), Kanaoka Park Gymnasium. (Airing live on NJPW World with English and Japanese commentary).

• Jeff Cobb vs. Tetsuya Naito vs. Callum Newman winner (March 9)
• TJP vs. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Drilla Moloney winner (March 9)
• Shingo Takagi vs. Bad Luck Fale vs. Boltin Oleg winner (March 9)

NJPW New Japan Cup, March 15 (Quarterfinal Round), Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium. (Airing live on NJPW World with English and Japanese commentary).

NJPW New Japan Cup, March 16 (Semi-final Round), Shizuoka. (Airing live on NJPW World with English and Japanese commentary).

NJPW New Japan Cup, March 17 (Semi-final Round), Fukushima. (Airing live on NJPW World with English and Japanese commentary).

NJPW New Japan Cup Final, March 20. Ao-re Nagaoka, Ota-ku Gymnasium. (Airing live on NJPW World with English and Japanese commentary).