NJPW Announces Full New Japan Cup 2021 Bracket
Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi to clash in first round of New Japan Cup 2021!
New Japan Pro Wrestling has today released the full New Japan Cup 2021 tournament bracket, with former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi looking like the obvious first-round highlight.
Here's how the bracket looks:-
Last year's winner, EVIL, starts with a bye at the top of the bracket on the left, while NEVER Openweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi will face the winner of Toa Henare vs. Jay White at the bottom of the right.
The tournament begins with Satoshi Kojima vs. Jeff Cobb and Tetsuya Naito vs. Great-O-Khan at this week's 49th Anniversary Show (4 March) and culminates on 21 March.
NJPW have confirmed that the winner will challenge for Kota Ibushi's new unified IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at Sakura Genesis 2021 on 4 April. This follows today's news that New Japan is combining the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Titles, which Ibushi has held since Wrestle Kingdom 15, into a single belt.
The bracket guarantees that at least one big name will go out in the first round, thanks to the Okada/Takagi pairing. Elsewhere, Tetsuya Naito's positioning opposite the ascendant Great-O-Khan could see the Los Ingobernables de Japon leader fall at the first stage as well.