NJPW has revealed the bracketing for the 2026 New Japan Cup.
Unlike previous years there appears to be no special or surprise entrants.
Here are this year’s pairings:
Here’s the schedule of the tournament matches thus far:
NIGHT ONE: Korakuen Hall, March 4
Yuya Uemura versus The Great-O-Khan
Aaron Wolf versus Don Fale
NIGHT TWO: Korakuen Hall, March 5
Taichi versus Ren Narita
El Phantasmo (NJPW World TV Champion) versus Boltin Oleg
NIGHT THREE: Ota March 6 (Anniversary event)
YOSHI-HASHI (NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag team Champion) versus Jake Lee
OSKAR (IWGP Tag Team Champion) versus Callum Newman
NIGHT FOUR: March 8, Hyogo
Shota Umino versus Chase Owens
Yuto-Ice (IWGP Tag team Champion) versus Ryohei Oiwa
In the past, such superstars as Brody King, Bad Dude Tito, Shane Haste, Matt Riddle, Shelton Benjamin and others have been surprise entrants.
The New Japan Cup is an annual single-elimination tournament with the winner getting a IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match at an event following the tournament. Hirooki Goto is the only wrestler in history to have won the tournament three times and two times in a row. Recent winners include David Finlay (2025), Yota Tsuji (2024), Sanada (2023), Zack Sabre Jr. (2022), Will Ospreay (2021), Evil (2020).
The success rate of a New Japan Cup winner going on to win the title match they earned is 42% overall, 8 out of 19.
