The ink has dried; the protagonists (and antagonists) of NJPW’s second most prestigious tournament have been unveiled. The 2026 New Japan Cup’s 24 entrants are set. As per usual, the winner of the tournament shall receive a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
The tournament will kick off on March 4th at Korakuen Hall, with the final taking place on March 21st in Nagaoka.
Eight Competitors Receive Byes to the Second Round
With 16 participants having to earn their way to the last 16, that leaves eight random recipients of the second round bye. Chief among them is two-time winner Zack Sabre Jr, who awaits the winner of Ryohei Oiwa vs Yuto-Ice. Three-time winner Hirooki Goto also heads straight to the second round. He will be one of the favorites heading into the tournament, but he hasn’t won the Cup since 2012.
Also receiving byes are Unbound Co.’s Drilla Moloney and Shingo Takagi, Sabre Jr’s TMDK stablemate Hartley Jackson, Strong Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii, and Yujiro Takahashi.
First Round: The Standout Matches
It may be the opening round, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t more than a few highly anticipated encounters. NJPW’s Olympic gold medalist, and now former NEVER Openweight Champion, Aaron Wolf, debuts against the experienced Don Fale.
With Fale’s House of Torture stable costing the former judoka his title at The New Beginning in Osaka, Wolf will be looking for revenge. Wolf will have to be wary of the wily Fale, though. His record in the New Japan Cup is impressive, having made the final in 2014 and 2017.
Elsewhere, Jake Lee begins his campaign for another world title shot against tag team specialist YOSHI-HASHI. The NJPW veteran has 11 tag team titles on his résumé, but singles success continues to elude him. Lee fell just short of overcoming Yota Tsuji at New Beginning, but that failure will only fuel his ambitions. Should YOSHI-HASHI land an upset, his long-time friend and tag team partner Hirooki Goto awaits him in the second round.
Last year’s finalist, Shota Umino, will be hoping to go one step further in 2026. But before he can entertain thoughts of Cup gold, he will need to dispose of the tricky Chase Owens. The American has bounced around various sub-groups in NJPW and has yet to strike out properly on his own.
Perhaps the New Japan Cup is his best shot at singles success. Owens has never made it past round two in seven attempts, but he does have some impressive upsets to his name. Scalps over AEW’s Juice Robinson, Tomohiro Ishii, and Tiger Mask prove that Owens is capable of punching above his weight when necessary.
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