New Japan Cup night one live results: Matches canceled due to ring issue

The 2025 New Japan Cup kicks off today with two opening round matches in the single-elimination tournament.

In the main event, EVIL will face Yota Tsuji in a Bullet Club House of Torture vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon battle. The winner will advance to a matchup against David Finlay on the March 11 event.

Yuya Uemura faces SANADA in the semi-main in the night’s only other tournament bout. The winner will move on to face YOSHI-HASHI in the second round on March 11.

Finlay, YOSHI-HASHI, Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, Shingo Takagi, TJP, Jeff Cobb, and Shota Umino were all awarded first round byes in this year’s 24-man tournament.

The eventual New Japan Cup winner will challenge the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion at Sakura Genesis on April 5 in the main event of that show. Hirooki Goto currently holds the IWGP World title, but must defend it on March 15 against Yuji Nagata.

Five tag team matches fill out today’s undercard. The show streams live from Korakuen Hall beginning at 4:30 AM Eastern time.

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Special Announcement from President Hiroshi Tanahashi

Tanahashi addressed the Korakuen Hall tonight in full entrance gear. Thanking the crowd for their time, Tanahashi announced that the matches for the New Japan Cup as advertised were cancelled. Due to a broken ring post, the matches tonight couldn’t proceed as planned, for wrestler and crew safety. Members of the roster entered the ring to greet the crowd.

TAKA Michinoku and Yuya Uemura appear

Michinoku briefly addressed the crowd before leaving them with Uemura. Decked out in full gear and unsure what else to do, Uemura smiled and waved as he greeted the Tokyo crowd and left.

Hartley Jackson and Ryohei Oiwa appear

Jackson jokingly professed he broke the ring with his weight. Oiwa agreed, to which Jackson raised his can of beer. Thanking the audience for their time, the TMDK members removed their shirts and left; Hartley built up to his disrobing.

Francesco Akira, Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, Callum Newman, and Jakob Austin Young appear

Khan thanked the crowd for their time, but shifted blame from Jackson to himself, due to his great love and spirit for the NJPW ring. Akira broke up Khan’s speech, declaring that the United Empire should do their “official” pose, essentially being the Ginyu Force team pose from the anime, “Dragon Ball Z.” They repeated this pose to several angles for the crowd. Cobb concluded this by slamming Young to the mat and helping him back up. Akira politely held the imaginary ropes open for his teammates so they could exit the ring.

The crowd got their money’s worth with the Dragon Ball Z reference. And now I want any and every subsequent speech tonight to have someone taking the blame way from someone else and onto themselves for the ring post’s current status.

Los Ingobernables de Japon appear

LIJ emerged, with Hiromu Takahashi and Yota Tsuji still adorned in full gear. BUSHI invasively inspected the broken ring post, tapped it lovingly, and took a photo of it. Thanking the crowd, the team said no more. Naito and BUSHI did their signature poses, while Takahashi and Tsuji held aloft their IWGP Tag Team Championship and IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship respectively.

BULLET CLUB War Dogs appear

Gedo boasted the War Dogs’s dominance and told the Korakuen Hall audience to hurry up and take their photos and leave. That was it.

Hiroshi Tanahashi reappeared

Main event Tanahashi addressed the crowd once more. With 40 minutes left to broadcast, The Ace took the time to call out Toru Yano. Yano excitedly entered the ring. He was then followed in succession by Hirooki Goto, El Desperado, El Phantasmo, and Jado.

Phantasmo asked if Desperado wanted to kiss, to which the latter became extremely bashful. Tanahashi then ordered them to kiss, further adding shyness to the grinning Desperado. They obliged, and Phantasmo proceeded to kiss Tanahashi and earned a peck on the cheek by Goto. Yano had sneakily fled to the audience, so Phantasmo searched him out and they kissed within the Korakuen Hall crowd.

Yuji Nagata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, and Tiger Mask appear

The tone changed when Nagata addressed his ucoming match with Goto on the 15th. Tenzan, Kojima, and Tiger Mask then lightened the mood with their brief speeches.

Sit-down with Nagata, Tanahashi, and Goto

An audience member asked how Goto’s children reacted to his title win. He responded that they fell asleep at the television by the time of Goto’s match.

Nagata told stories of previous IWGP World Heavyweight Championship matches.

Goto mentioned that their upcoming match is a full-circle moment for him, as he used to carry Nagata’s bags as a younger wrestler.

Honestly, this was a relaxing two hours of non-wrestling fun with the NJPW roster. This may go on record as one of the most wholesome nights of the company. Seeing everyone peel back and have a good time was refreshing. I like how some wrestlers remained in full gear, either planned or unplanned. The crowd getting to see them in wrestling form without actually wrestling was undoubtedly a treat considering the unexpected circumstances. Send them home happy.