Quarterfinal night headlined with IWGP World Heavyweight title
We're just one week deep into the New Japan Cup series, but the field of 24 has already narrowed to eight, and after Saturday in Nagoya, we'll be down to our final four. The elite eight will do battle tonight with the winners advancing to semifinals Sunday and Monday, and Nagoya will also see a historic IWGP World heavyweight Championship match!
Watch live in English on NJPW World!
Main event: IWGP World Heavyweight Championship- Yuji Nagata vs Hirooki Goto
Singles record: 7-4 Goto
Hirooki Goto seeks his second defence of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in the main event against Yuji Nagata. It was in the immediate wake of Goto's huge title win in Osaka last month that Nagata stepped up and requested a shot, and after Goto defended against Hiroshi Tanahashi at Anniversary, he was happy to oblige.
While Goto waited nine years between top championship challenges before finally taking the title on February 11, Yuji Nagata's last challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship was back on December 11; an incredibly record of 13 years and four months ago. That massive span becomes harder to believe when considering Nagata's old nickname of 'Mr. IWGP', so associated was 'Blue Justice' with the title during the early 2000s. Though he only had two spells with the richest prize in wrestling, both were significant, with his first spanning 2002 and 2003, and seeing Nagata amass a record at the time of ten defences.
It was throughout this dominant period of Nagata's career that Hirooki Goto, a Young Lion graduate of the 2002 class alongside the likes of Ryusuke Taguchi and Shinsuke Nakamura, worked as Nagata's personal attendant. Goto was ringside in person to see Nagata wrestle at the peak of his powers, and now, in his own words 'the strongest I've ever been' faces the veteran as the champion. It's a full circle moment, one emphasized by Nagata's personal connection to the Dolphin's Arena in Nagoya where this match takes place; this is the site of Nagata's last IWGP challenge against Hiroshi Tanahashi on that December 2011 night, as well as where he wrestled firm friend Manabu Nakanishi to a 60 minute draw during his first reign.
The long serving Dolphin's Arena is approaching closure during the summer, laying to rest decades of pro-wrestling history. Along with it, might Nagata's title legacy end tonight with one last shot? Or at 56 years old, could he eclipse Genichiro Tenryu as the oldest ever IWGP Champion?
8th Match' New Japan Cup Quarterfinal: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Taichi
Singles record: 1-1
For the first time in a New Japan ring, and the first time in nine years, Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. face off one on one for a spot int he semifinals. Much has changed in the near decade since two singles encounters in Pro-Wrestling NOAH in 2016. Taichi was then a cowardly junior heavyweight, so infuriating in his in ring designs that Sabre once jokingly confessed that a key reason to join Suzuki-Gun lay in him not having to wrestle against the Holy Emperor anymore.
Yet in the intervening years, Taichi shifted to heavyweight, and became one of the most respected of competitors in NJPW. A good deal of that respect and appreciation from the NJPW faithful came through his tag team with ZSJ, and Dangerous Tekkers earning three IWGP Tag team Championship reigns that were highlights during difficult pandemic times. As Sabre began his rise in the eyes of New Japan fans, so too was Taichi cemented, and when both went their separate ways in the wake of Suzuki-Gun's dissolution, the world wondered when the two would finally face off.
It might have taken controversy in the form of Ren Narita continuing his vendetta against Gabe Kidd to force a countout elimination for the Mad Man to make it happen, but now here we finally are. Will ZSJ take a step closer ot his third New Japan Cup, or Taichi to his first?
7th Match' New Japan Cup Quarterfinal- David Finlay vs Yuya Uemura
Singles record: 1-1
Quarterfinal action sees Yuya Uemura, who has eliminated SANADA and YOSHI-HASHI to reach the third round, facing first round bye and round two EVIL victor David Finlay. While each shares a victory over the other, the fresher wound for Finlay to seek revenge for came last summer during the G1 Climax, where Uemura pinned the then IWGP Global heavyweight Champion, and would likely have been in line for a title opportunity that autumn had it not been for his recently healed triceps injury.
For both men though, there will be a task to break an Aichi curse tonight. Yuya Uemura has never won a singles match in this prefecture, stretching back to his Young Lion days right up to a defeat at the hands of El Phantasmo in the 2024 G1. Meanwhile, it was right here in Dolphin's Arena that David Finlay was scheduled to face eventual finalist Hirooki Goto in quarterfinal action and was forced to withdraw on mere hours' notice due to a health concern. One of these two will have a sizable weight removed from their shoulders tonight, while the other will likely deepen their complex with Nagoya.
6th Match' New Japan Cup Quarterfinal: Shota Umino vs Jeff Cobb
It&s a first time singles encounter when Shota Umino and Jeff Cobb battle for a spot int he final four. Umino and Cobb couldn&t be any more different in their attitudes post main event victories this week. Cobb, triumphant over Tetsuya Naito, reveled in his victory, mocked the fallen Ingobernable and had time for some choice words about Umino's recent new look backstage. Umino himself, had his hand raised after a win over Great-O-Khan, and promptly bowed and left, without the barest hint of a smile on his face. As the field narrows and a spot in the semifinals is at stake, emotions may be laid bare in a high stakes matchup tonight, but who will advance?
5th Match' New Japan Cup Quarterfinal: Drilla Moloney vs Shingo Takagi
Singles record: 1-0 Moloney
There are streaks, there are hot streaks, and then there is the kind of run that Drilla Moloney has been on in 2025 so far. Since transitioning to heavyweight, Moloney has beaten Shingo Takagi, Tomohiro Ishii and TJP in short order to make the last eight, and faces the first of those victims once more for a place in the final four.
For the Drilla, the memories of New Beginning in Osaka on February 11 will be a reference point, and what drives him forward to a second win. To Takagi, motivation from that osaka night will be just as strong, but in the opposite direction. If Takagi even slightly looked past Drilla in February, there isn't a chance he'll make the same mistake, and as the last member of Los Ingobernables De Japon in the Cup, he'll be swinging for the fences with his second ever final and first career trophy in mind.
4th Match: Los Ingobernables De Japon (Yota Tsuji, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI) vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo)
HOUSE OF TORTURE are, to the relief of many, out of the running when it comes to the New Japan Cup, but the behaviour of Ren Narita, interfering to cost Gabe Kidd a quarterfinal spot earlier this week, indicates that nobody is safe tonight, especially not David Finlay. EVIL will have revenge for his countout loss last week in mind for sure, but will switch gears tonight as he tangles with the man he eliminated in the first round, Yota Tsuji.
It will not be lost on EVIL that in eliminating Tsuji to start the NJC in Korakuen Hall, EVIL scored a victory over the current IWGP Global heavyweight Champion. Tonight there's the chance to drive that message home, as at least some of HOUSE OF TORTURE take a break from the developing BULLET CLUB war to facing LIJ.
3rd Match: War Dogs (Gabe Kidd, Chase Owens & SANADA) vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (Ren Narita, SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
War Dogs and H.O.T aren't being kept completely separate in Nagoya. Six man action will see Gabe Kidd looking to get his hands on Ren Narita once more. As the intra faction warfare continues, Kidd will be ready to fight all three members of the opposition on his own, but will be grateful for the aid of Chase Owens and SANADA, even if not verbally so. The question is, can SANADAlock in on this tag encounter.
2nd Match: El Phantasmo, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Boltin Oleg & Toru Yano vs United Empire (Great-O-Khan, Callum Newman, TJP & Jakob Austin Young)
It's United Empire versus Hontai in the second match of the night. Great-O-Khan, TJP, Callum Newman, Boltin Oleg and El Phantasmo are all looking to reset after New Japan Cup exits. For O-Khan that may mean targeting NJPW World TV Champion ELP after eliminating Phantasmo himself on night two, or it could be Hiroshi Tanahashi that United Empire targets as he continues his Final Road.
1st Match: YOSHI-HASHI & Tomohiro Ishii vs TMDK (Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson)
Sparks will fly from the opening match of the night, as Ryohei Oiwa and YOSHI-HASHI pick up their fight from earlier in the year and Hartley Jackson and Tomohiro Ishii bring the hard hits!
