NJPW to Return With Live Shows on June 15th, New Japan Cup Matches Announced

NJPW held an online press conference on Monday night, announcing that NJPW will resume live events starting this coming weekend with New Japan Cup matches set to start. You can see a full recap and the video below.

NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi introduced himself and thanks the fans and press for tuning in. He announced the resuming of NJPW’s events, noting that there have been 53 cancelled shows since the last event on February 28th, and thanked the fans for supporting them during this time.

Sugabayashi says that the Japanese government lifted the nationwide state of emergency on May 25th and they’ve created guidelines with support of the Japanese Sports Authority to safely resume events. They stated antibody testing on talent and staff last week and have begun prepping venues for events.

NJPW’s first show back will take place on June 15th, 110 days after their last show. The upcoming schedule is:
* June 15th – 17th
* June 22nd – 24th
* July 1st – 3rd

All shows will have a 7 PM JST (6 AM ET/3 AM PT) start time. They will not have live audiences and will be streamed live. The first event will be featured in a Together Project Special. The matches will be revealed by the ring announcer at the start of the show.

From June 16th through July 3rd, they will present the previously-postponed New Japan Cup, known as the NJPW World Special New Japan Cup 2020. The opening round matches are:

June 16th
* Togi Makabe vs. Yota Tsuji
* Tomohiro Ishii vs. El Desperado
* Toru Hano vs. Jado
* Tomoaki Honma vs. Hiromi Takahashi
* A special match to be announced

June 17th
* Kazuchika Okada vs. Gedo
* Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki
* Yuya Uemura vs. Yoshinibu Kanemaru
* Gabriel Kidd vs. Taiji Ishimori
* A special match to be announced

June 22nd:
* Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi
* Kota Ibushu vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
* Ryusake Taguchi vs. SANADA
* SHO vs. Shingo Takagi
* A special match to be announced

June 23rd:
* Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. YOSHI-HASHI
* YOH vs. BUSHI
* Satoshi Kojima vs. EVIL
* Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi
* A special match to be announced

The second round will take place on June 24th and July 1st, with four cup matches and one special match on each show. The quarterfinals take place on July 2nd, with four cup matches and one special match, followed by the semifinals on July 3rd with two cup matches and two special matches.

Sugabayashi says that the cup will feature heavyweight and junior heavyweight wrestlers. The finals take place on July 11th in Osaka-Jo Hall. The winner will then get his title match on July 12th in the same venue. The title match will be against Tetsuya Naito for both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships, and the July 11th and 12th shows will replace NJPW Dominion which was planned for June 14th. There will be a live audience there at about 1/3 of normal capacity. Ticket information will be announced soon.

The company also announced that due to the current situation, the July Hokkaido Tour has been canceled. He apologized to everyone who was looking forward to the events, and said that there will be further schedule announcements as they continue to monitor the situation. He guaranteed that all possible precautions will be made for future shows and said that the guidelines will be made available on the NJPW website. Further measures for audience safety at live events will be announced soon.

Sugabayashi then turned things over to Tahanashi, who came in and said that the cancellation of events hurt fans and wrestlers alike. He said he was concerned that the return would take longer than they thought, and is thrilled they can come back on June 15th. He said we can count on the talent to give us everything they couldn’t the past few months. He said they will create and deliver a fresh NJPW to everyone and said it’s time to get ready to have fun.

All shows announced will be live streamed on NJPW World.