New Japan Cup 2019 Bracket

The month of March is always madness and I don’t mean “Macho Madness.”

I’m talking “March Madness,” as in the annual NCAA College Basketball Tournament. But for wrestling fans, “March Madness” also means WrestleMania season and the annual New Japan Cup Tournament.

Since 2005, the winner of the 16-man single elimination tournament would receive a title shot of either the Intercontinental, NEVER Openweight or IWGP Heavyweight Championship during the Sakura Genesis event in April. Previous winners include the likes of Tanahashi in 2005 and 2008, Hirooki Goto in 2009, 2010 and 2012, Kazuchika Okada in 2013, Kota Ibushi in 2015 and Zack Sabre Jr last year. This year’s tournament, though, includes some changes from prior years which will make things a little more interesting.

For the first time, the tournament has been expanded from 16 to 32 wrestlers, while still maintaining its single-elimination template. Unlike in past years, the current champions – NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay and Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito – are actually competing in the tourney. The winner will still be earning a title shot, but it’s being mandated this year that the winner will automatically be facing the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Jay White during the G1 Supercard show at Madison Square Garden on April 6.

The tournament begins March 8 and the finals will take place on March 23.

In the spirit of bracketology, here are my predictions for the tournament:

***Please note that at the time of this writing, David Finlay had reportedly suffered a shoulder injury and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) had yet to announce a replacement for his opening round match with Hiroyoshi Tenzan. ***

First Round Match Predictions:

March 8
Tomohiro Ishii def. Yuji Nagata
Taichi def. Tomoaki Honma
Yoshi-Hashi def. Manabu Nakanishi
Juice Robinson def. Chase Owens

March 9
Kazuchika Okada def. Michael Elgin
Mikey Nicholls def. Hikuleo
Will Ospreay def. Bad Luck Fale
Lance Archer def. Toa Henare

March 10
TBD def. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (I am making the prediction now that the replacement will be Tama Tonga. Keep this in mind for the second round.)
Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Shota Umino
Kota Ibushi def. Tetsuya Naito
Zack Sabre Jr. def. EVIL

March 11
Togi Makabe def. Colt Cabana
Toru Yano def. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
SANADA def. Hirooki Goto
Minoru Suzuki def. Satoshi Kojima

There isn’t anything major, upset wise, going to happen in the first round. NJPW will be looking to keep several of its established stars in the mix like Suzuki, Ishii and Ospreay, while also adding in some upcoming guys like Juice, Nicholls and SANADA. These competitors are established, but getting a win early in the tournament can give them some momentum going to further matches with those other stars.

Sweet 16 Round

Taichi def. Tomohiro Ishii
Juice Robinson def. Yoshi-Hashi
Kazuchika Okada def. Mikey Nicholls
Will Ospreay def. Lance Archer
Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Tama Tonga (If it is Tama, then I’m predicting a DQ victory after Tama attacks and trys to injure Tanahashi as a way to prevent him from advancing forward; thus, halting his rematch with Jay White.)
Kota Ibushi def. Zack Sabre Jr.
Togi Makabe def. Toru Yano
Minoru Suzuki def. SANADA

The second round will be interesting. Taichi and Juice have been heavily promoted and appear to have big years ahead of them. NJPW will be looking for an Okada and Ospreay rematch after last year’s anniversary show – Ospreay mixing it up in this tournament will be more than enough evidence to put him into the heavyweight division. Kota Ibushi now being under an actual contract opens the door for so many rivalries and matches that Gedo will jump on booking. Ibushi’s future world title reign will come soon as well.

Quarterfinals Round

Taichi def. Juice Robinson
Kazuchika Okada def. Will Ospreay
Kota Ibushi def. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Minoru Suzuki def. Togi Makabe

These matches look good and I have my surprise entrant throughout the tournament still moving on in Taichi. He is going to be a sleeper in this whole thing. Minoru Suzuki is just an overall vicious competitor and also appears to have one of the easier roads to the semifinals. In this scenario, Kota Ibushi gets his G1 Finals revenge over Tanahashi by taking the win back.

Semifinals Round

Kazuchika Okada def. Taichi
Kota Ibushi def. Minoru Suzuki

The result is a little obvious in one match while the other could be considered a toss-up. Even though Taichi will be a player this year and possibly be the one to take out Juice Robinson for the US Title, he won’t be able to topple the King (sorry Minoru) of NJPW. Okada moves on. I can make a case for both Minoru and Ibushi – Suzuki is easily your top bad guy in Japan and one of the most menacing individuals in pro wrestling. He should be winning the Heavyweight Championship sometime soon, but not right now. Meanwhile, Ibushi has been the one the New Japan officials have wanted to make a star for years, but he refused to sign a contract for so long. Now that the “Golden Star” is under contract with New Japan, expect him to get very close to the richest prize in the company.

New Japan Cup Finals

**Winner faces Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at G1 Supercard**

Kazuchika Okada def. Kota Ibushi

Ibushi’s time is not now, but I’ll be changing my tune in August if he enters the G1 Tournament. Okada is the money maker in New Japan and that won’t change. This is the story to be told after coming off his loss to Jay White at Wrestle Kingdom in January. New Japan will want Okada on its marketing posters all over New York City going into the G1 Supercard.

I don’t know if Okada wins at G1 Supercard, but I’ll guess that White might retain and then set up a Tanahashi rematch maybe at Dominion. If Okada does win, then the Jay White rematch could take place then or maybe Minoru Suzuki steps into the challenger spot. White winning the title in February set the tone for what the year is going to be like for NJPW, but it could easily turn into more of the same with Okada on top sometime soon. “Switchblade” will run through New Japan for a while as Juice, Ospreay and Ibushi climb that mountain, eager to push him off the top.