NJPW Reveals New Japan Cup 2018 Bracket
NJPW announced the bracket for the 16-man, single elimination New Japan Cup 2018 Tournament that will take place between March 9 and March 21. All of the events will air live on NJPW World and half of them will include English Commentary. The winner will receive a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Also, the video above is the New Japan Cup 2018 Press Conference featuring Hiroshi Tanahashi, for (somewhat rough) English subtitles click "CC", Settings, Subtitles/CC, Auto-Translate, English.
Below are the first round match-ups:
Top Bracket
* Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii
* Juice Robinson vs. Yujiro Takahashi
* Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Taichi
* Bad Luck Fale vs. Lance Archer
Bottom Bracket
* YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kota Ibushi
* Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
* Toru Yano vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
* Chuckie T. vs. SANADA
Last year, Katsuyori Shibata defeated Bad Luck Fale in the finals and would then lose to IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada at Sakura Genesis 2017. The first New Japan Cup 2018 event will air on March 9 at 4:30am ET / 1:30am PT.