New Japan Cup 2015

[Papa Pillman]

The Brackets for NJPW's New Japan Cup 2015 have been announced. The first round will take place on March 5.
*for WWE fans unfamiliar with NJPW, this is essentially New Japan's equivalent to King of the Ring


After Nakamura switched up tradition last year by electing to challenge for the IWGP Intercontinental title, as opposed to the previous yearly prize of an IWGP Heavyweight title shot, it has been announced that this year the winner will have the right to choose between a shot at the NEVER Openweight Championship or either of the two previously mentioned IWGP belts. None of the holders of those three titles are eligible.

The winner of the Cup also receives a prize of 5,000,000 yen, and a newly designed trophy cup which has only been revealed via sketch:

The tournament is a 16-man single elimination bracket, and here are the matchups:
Bracket 1

Kota Ibushi vs. DOC Gallows

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano

Tetsuya Naito vs. “Machine Gun” Karl Anderson

Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale

Bracket 2

Yoshi-Hashi vs. Yujiro Takahashi

Togi Makabe vs. Tomoaki Honma

Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto

Satoshi Kojima vs. Katsuyori Shibata

As usual New Japan has set up a very interesting bracket with a ton of intriguing storyline possibilities.

Putting Tanahshi and Okada in the same bracket is a move that insures that they won't meet in the final, and adding Ibushi and Naito to that bracket along with the Bullet Club heavies makes for a loaded region. Also, while I don't see it going down in this manner, this bracket could conceivably allow Okada to win the cup by defeating a Bullet Club member in every round of the tournament to set up a showdown with Bullet Club leader AJ Styles to attempt to regain the IWGP Heavyweight championship that was taken from him by AJ in May of last year.

I expect Bullet Club will drop their first round matches in the bracket and set up an absolutely jaw dropping second round slate of Tanahashi/Ibushi and Naito/Okada.

As for Bracket 2, things in this bracket are far more wide open, highlighted by first round matches between the recently stripped NEVER champ Makabe against crowd favorite underdog Honma, and a potential night one show stealer between Hirooki Goto and the legendary Nagata, who will be less than two months shy of his 47th birthday and is coming off a masterful performance in a losing effort when he challenged Nakamura less than a week ago at New Beginning in Sendai for the IWGP IC title.

The most interesting bit of potential bracket fallout here is a looming second round encounter between Meiyu Tag teammates Goto and Shibata, who recently dropped the tag titles back to the Bullet Club's Gallows and Anderson. I expect Goto to advance past Nagata to set up that match, but I anticipate Shibata winning that second round showdown and ultimately advancing out of Bracket 2.

I won't pretend to have any idea who Jado and Gedo plan to have coming victorious out of Bracket 1, as either Okada or Tanahahi seem equally viable, and Ibushi seems like a realistic darkhorse. And while Okada or Tanahashi would be the clear favorite in the finals of the cup, and one of those two men winning would be logical and fully expected, I am actually going to go out on just a bit of limb and predict that Katsuyori Shibata may well win the 2015 New Japan Cup, setting this up to be his singles breakout year.


Let's hear everyone's thoughts on the direction that was taken with this year's bracket, as well as predictions, etc...

 

[ABMorales787]

And people complain about TNA having too many tournaments.

 

[MrHashasheen]

And people complain about TNA having too many tournaments.

New Japan runs like five tournaments a year, and they're usually the same ones. TNA just runs tournaments for the sake of tournaments.

 

[Papa Pillman]

And people complain about TNA having too many tournaments.

Really? I've never heard that criticism of TNA before. Literally, not once anywhere, from anyone. And whoever did say it was obviously being an idiot, TNA has very few tournaments and could stand to have A LOT more.

Criticizing a wrestling company for having too many tournaments is one of the most illogical and backwards criticisms I've ever heard.

As for NJPW specifically, since the promotion is set up to mimic more of a legit combat sport format like what has often been used in MMA/Shoot Wrestling/Kickboxing/etc. promotions(especially the Japanese ones), tournaments like this are regular occurrences and make total sense.

 

[Shadowmancer]

Shibata to win overall to go on to face AJ Styles. Though this could be a way to get Makabe back on the NEVER title

 

[klunderbunker]

Really? I've never heard that criticism of TNA before. Literally, not once anywhere, from anyone. And whoever did say it was obviously being an idiot, TNA has very few tournaments and could stand to have A LOT more.

Criticizing a wrestling company for having too many tournaments is one of the most illogical and backwards criticisms I've ever heard.

As for NJPW specifically, since the promotion is set up to mimic more of a legit combat sport format like what has often been used in MMA/Shoot Wrestling/Kickboxing/etc. promotions(especially the Japanese ones), tournaments like this are regular occurrences and make total sense.

Aside from them getting repetitive, boring, mostly predictable, a lame way of running a story and taking away the majority of the storylines for the sake of a set of brackets, I can't think of anything wrong with them either.

That's was a very, very common criticism for TNA. It's calmed down a bit lately but they still get annoying.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Aside from them getting repetitive, boring, mostly predictable, a lame way of running a story and taking away the majority of the storylines for the sake of a set of brackets, I can't think of anything wrong with them either.

Well if a company is only booking tournaments because they have no better ideas, then I guess I see the point.

But that does not describe New Japan's major tournaments. Often they are used to create new rivalries and storylines, as well as always having matchups that feed into or add onto the current story landscape.

And boring and predictable are about the two least accurate adjectives imaginable to describe NJPW tournaments.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

And people complain about TNA having too many tournaments.

Here's the difference, NJPW sells out every night, in every building that they run even tournament qualifiers in. These tournaments have long histories. Tournaments in Japan are the norm. Japan's view on wrestling is more akin to US audiences view on MMA than its view on wrestling.

I don't need to tell you how this contrasts to say TNA.

 

[Skuzzy]

tournaments are awseome. the japan cup is awesome. king of the ring was dope. the gold rush had its moments. theyre my favorite type of gimmick. fuck the haters.

 

[Shadowmancer]

I sort of want them to bring back the gold rush tournament it worked to have a different contender, as well as having that Shelton Benjamin Vs Shawn Michaels match that was in the opening credits of raw for a number of years

 

[ABMorales787]

Here's the difference, NJPW sells out every night, in every building that they run even tournament qualifiers in. These tournaments have long histories. Tournaments in Japan are the norm. Japan's view on wrestling is more akin to US audiences view on MMA than its view on wrestling.

I don't need to tell you how this contrasts to say TNA.

And there he goes. I make a passing remark, he goes on a defensive tangent.

Hey, if I say turds stink, will you go on a tangent about the different odors and which one is better?

 

[MrHashasheen]

Back on topic, I'm hoping Ibushi, Honma or Naito picks up the victory, and go for World, Openweight and Intercontinental in that order.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

And there he goes. I make a passing remark, he goes on a defensive tangent.

Hey, if I say turds stink, will you go on a tangent about the different odors and which one is better?

No, you said something stupid and I cleaned it up.

This is how we work.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

I will say this: New Japan's tournaments are all different whether it be format or weight-class/division so I think they feel fairly diverse. Haven't gotten around to The New Beginning yet so I'll look forward to this in due course, but Makabe vs. Honma has my attention for sure.

 

[ABMorales787]

No, you said something stupid and I cleaned it up.

This is how we work.

Define to me how NJPW doing too many tournaments is stupid. Please. Because I think it's just a sentiment I'm free to have, much like your own annoying opinions.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Define to me how NJPW doing too many tournaments is stupid. Please. Because I think it's just a sentiment I'm free to have, much like your own annoying opinions.

Because you compared it to how TNA does too many tournaments. TNA's tournaments aren't important, not one single one of them. NJPW have built their tournaments to mean something, they also book them very well to incorporate several storylines and even start new ones which is what keeps them all fresh and interesting.

You made an assumption based off what you have watched, in this case from TNA. That was stupid.

 

[ABMorales787]

I just love how stupidity riled up you get over a passing, sarcastic joke I made. NJPW's tournaments are also quite meaningless too. Why? Because I don't feel like sitting through multiple shows to see 1 simple gimmick. Do you sit around wondering who's gonna win in anticipation of unexpected upsets? Or just to see the matches that wouldn't normally make it to PPV? I know its the latter. That's what you have weekly TV. Instead of booking 5 tournaments to do in less one month what's supposed to be a weekly.

I know you live in your own bubble, but here's some news. Not everyone likes it. So come up with 50 "its good because the rest is shit" phrasings all you want. I'm still not gonna be sold on the need for so many tournaments.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

I think Ibushi will win and challenge Nakamura's IC title to finally beat him. I would love for Okada to win but I'm betting he will get screwed. Biggest hurdle for Ibushi is Tanahashi... but I think Ibushi will pull it off.

Shibata would be amazing but he's still a tag champ right? Maybe he'll win the G1

 

[The Dragon Saga]

I just love how stupidity riled up you get over a passing, sarcastic joke I made. NJPW's tournaments are also quite meaningless too. Why? Because I don't feel like sitting through multiple shows to see 1 simple gimmick. Do you sit around wondering who's gonna win in anticipation of unexpected upsets? Or just to see the matches that wouldn't normally make it to PPV? I know its the latter. That's what you have weekly TV. Instead of booking 5 tournaments to do in less one month what's supposed to be a weekly.

I know you live in your own bubble, but here's some news. Not everyone likes it. So come up with 50 "its good because the rest is shit" phrasings all you want. I'm still not gonna be sold on the need for so many tournaments.

Pot, meet kettle.

All I did was respond, in a rather nonchalant manner too. Not give a diatribe of my opinion. I told you why they have so many tournaments. It's not hard to understand. Maybe it is for you, but generally, it's not.

EDIT: The biggest issue you seem to have is getting that NJPW is a totally different product in a completely different cultural region that you're used to. It's not AAA or CMLL where wrestling isn't as popular as it used to be and both promotions are struggling from year to year, or WWE where they put stuff out, people watch out of habit and everyone enjoys themselves until something happens they don't like when we got to all start cancelling online subscriptions and whatnot. NJPW is the hottest wrestling promotion in the world, you understand that? Get that through your thick skull? You need me to explain to you why they are? Because unless you're extremely thick, I'll do it for you, just ask and I'll explain what's painfully obvious cause I've been realizing lately you need every little thing spelled out for you.

 

[ABMorales787]

Pot, meet kettle.

All I did was respond, in a rather nonchalant manner too. Not give a diatribe of my opinion. I told you why they have so many tournaments. It's not hard to understand. Maybe it is for you, but generally, it's not.

I fail to see how a defensive sermon qualifies as "non-chalant".

EDIT: The biggest issue you seem to have is getting that NJPW is a totally different product in a completely different cultural region that you're used to. It's not AAA or CMLL where wrestling isn't as popular as it used to be and both promotions are struggling from year to year, or WWE where they put stuff out, people watch out of habit and everyone enjoys themselves until something happens they don't like when we got to all start cancelling online subscriptions and whatnot. NJPW is the hottest wrestling promotion in the world, you understand that? Get that through your thick skull? You need me to explain to you why they are? Because unless you're extremely thick, I'll do it for you, just ask and I'll explain what's painfully obvious cause I've been realizing lately you need every little thing spelled out for you.

I watch wrestling from 6 different countries. So don't come preaching to me about different cultures as if I couldn't wrap that concept. What you don't get is how biased you are that it closes your mind from seeing such simple defects. Do I hate NJPW? Nope. Like it. I enjoy watching their shows. But I dislike that they are so dispersed and all longer than Wrestlemania. I especially hate the fans of the product that try to paint it as Gods gift to wrestling and get defensive when someone points out one simple flaw.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

I fail to see how a defensive sermon qualifies as "non-chalant".
I watch wrestling from 6 different countries. So don't come preaching to me about different cultures as if I couldn't wrap that concept. What you don't get is how biased you are that it closes your mind from seeing such simple defects. Do I hate NJPW? Nope. Like it. I enjoy watching their shows. But I dislike that they are so dispersed and all longer than Wrestlemania. I especially hate the fans of the product that try to paint it as Gods gift to wrestling and get defensive when someone points out one simple flaw.

But you're not pointing out a simple flaw. You're pointing out something you don't understand cause you can't get it through your thick head.

They sell out every show to every tournament they do. They are the hottest wrestling company in Japan. These events are very well received and liked and their tournaments, which they put emphasis on and creatively go about are a key element in their yearly story. None of that is a flaw.

 

[ScreaminNormanSmiley]

I didn't realize wrestling tournaments were so complex that the only way not to enjoy the format was to be too simple to comprehend them.

 

[ABMorales787]

But you're not pointing out a simple flaw. You're pointing out something you don't understand cause you can't get it through your thick head.

They sell out every show to every tournament they do. They are the hottest wrestling company in Japan. These events are very well received and liked and their tournaments, which they put emphasis on and creatively go about are a key element in their yearly story. None of that is a flaw.

5 times last year. And theyve done more in past years.

Who the hell is asking about attendance? I said "and people complain about TNA having too many tournaments". Here are you bitching endlessly about the dumb comment.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Shibata would be amazing but he's still a tag champ right? Maybe he'll win the G1

Shibata and Goto lost the IWGP tag titles back to Anderson and Gallows at New Beginning in Osaka a few days ago.

Styles took the IWGP title off Tanahashi, the Bucks took the jr. tag titles off of reDRagon in a 3-way that also involved the Time Splitters, and Kenny Omega retained the IWGP Jr. title on the same show to allow Bullet Club to dominate the title picture. Throw in Ishii regaining the NEVER title at the Sendai event and Nakamura retaining, and Chaos and Bullet Club now own all of the belts.

So the door is open for Shibata(or even Goto conceivably, though less likely) to win the Cup and challenge for one of the top titles.

 

[Shadowmancer]

It is entirely possible that they are going to have Makabe win and use this as a way to get the NEVER title back on him