New Japan Pro Wrestling streamed a press conference on NJPWWorld.com & HERE, addressing the promotion’s future, after a forced hiatus due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Japanese government’s state of emergency has been lifted since May 25th and a timetable was announced for the return of live events to the country. NJPW and their parent company Bushiroad addressed that timetable on Tuesday.
NJPW canceled 53 shows since February 26th, including both their New Japan Cup tournament, as well as the Best of Super Juniors tournament, as company officials didn’t want to add unnecessary risk to their fans, staff & performers. Hiroshi Tanahashi even said that to wrestle during a pandemic would be a “black eye” on professional wrestling. NJPW officials announced Tuesday that, after performing antibody testing on roster and staff, as well as creating guidelines in compliance with the Japanese Sports Authority, events would return on June 15th.
The first event back will be a mystery card called Together Project Special on the 15th, followed by New Japan Cup 2020 from June 16th to July 11th, with the tournament winner receiving a shot at Tetsuya Naito’s IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Heavyweight Championships on July 12th. Both the July 11th & 12th show will take place at Osaka-Jo Hall and will replace this year’s Dominion event.
All events will be 1/3rd capacity.
6/15
6am ET
Together Project Special
- Card TBA
6/16
6am ET
New Japan Cup 2020
Night 1
- First Round Match: Togi Makabe vs. Yota Tsuji
- First Round Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. El Desperado
- First Round Match: Toru Yano vs. Jado
- First Round Match: Tomoaki Honma vs. Hiromu Takahashi
- A special match TBA
6/17
6am ET
New Japan Cup 2020
Night 2
- First Round Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
- First Round Match: Yuya Uemura vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- First Round Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Taiji Ishimori
- First Round Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Gedo
- A special match TBA
6/22
6am ET
New Japan Cup 2020
Night 3
- First Round Match: Kota Ibushi vs. ZSJ
- First Round Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi
- First Round Match: Ryusuke Taguchi vs. SANADA
- First Round Match: Shingo Takagi vs. SHO
- A special match TBA
6/23
6am ET
New Japan Cup 2020
Night 4
- First Round Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Yoshi-Hashi
- First Round Match: YOH vs. BUSHI
- First Round Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. EVIL
- First Round Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi
- A special match TBA
6/24
6am ET
New Japan Cup 2020
Night 5
- Second Round Matches
7/1
6am ET
New Japan Cup 2020
Night 6
- Second Round Matches
7/3
6am ET
New Japan Cup 2020
Night 7
- Semi-Final Matches
7/11
4am ET
New Japan Cup 2020
Night 8
- New Japan Cup 2020 Final
7/12
2am ET
New Japan Cup 2020
Night 9
- Double Title Match For The IWGP Heavyweight & IWGP Intercontinental Heavyweight Championships: Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. New Japan Cup Winner
Here is your official #njcup bracket!
Left bracket preview: https://t.co/klB5pzUcZF
Right bracket preview: https://t.co/uE0sWPUcty
Get your picks ready: the action starts next week on @njpwworld!#njpw pic.twitter.com/hXPDWtuk5T
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) June 9, 2020
