NJPW Cancels 9 More Shows Due To Coronavirus
The coronavirus outbreak claims another wrestling scalp.
The ongoing coronavirus outbreak just claimed another major wrestling scalp in the form of this year's New Japan Cup, with NJPW announcing that they had scrapped all remaining dates on the tour.
Per New Japan's English-language website, all nine shows scheduled between today (10 March) and 21 March, which would've been the tournament's final night, are now off. This comes just two weeks after NJPW cancelled the tour's first 11 dates for the same reason.
The writeup states that further announcements regarding shows after 22 March will be forthcoming. Their decision was made in accordance with "recommendations laid out by a specialist government task force meeting," and there's no word on what will become of the cancelled shows.
All Japan Pro Wrestling has also scrapped all events scheduled through 22 March.
On today's episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer stated that the Japanese government has quietly advised all entertainment companies to refrain from doing anything before 25 March. NJPW's next event after that date would be the Sakura Genesis 2020 pay-per-view on 31 March. The New Japan Cup would have determined IWGP Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito's number one contender for this show, though one would have to imagine that it, too, is in jeopardy.