Sport of Pro Wrestling - NJPW New Japan Cup - Night Nine (March 14) Stats, Research & Broadcast Notes

NJPW New Japan Cup – Night Nine

Date: March 14, 2021

Venue: Baycom Gymnasium (Amagasaki Memorial Park Gymnasium), Hyogo

Time: 4:00pm JST

New Japan Cup Bracket Update

First Match: David Finlay, Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji vs. Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI

Second Match: DOUKI, Minoru Suzuki, Taichi vs. Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, KENTA

Third Match: Hirooki Goto, Kazuchika Okada, SHO vs. BUSHI, Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito

Fourth Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Juice Robinson, Toa Henare vs. EVIL, Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi

65.6% of entrants to the Sport of Pro Wrestling New Japan Cup Bracket Challenge selected both SANADA and Yuji Nagata to advance from the first round. 96.9% of those entrants have picked SANADA to progress to the third round.

SANADA

Fifth New Japan Cup appearance, fifth consecutive
2020: Eliminated by EVIL in the semi-final. 2019: Eliminated by Kazuchika Okada in the final. 2018: Eliminated by Zack Sabre Jr in the semi-final. 2017: Eliminated by Tomohiro Ishii in the second round.

Yuji Nagata

14th New Japan Cup appearance, third consecutive. Two time winner: 2007, 2011
2020: Eliminated by Kazuchika Okada in the second round. 2019: Eliminated by Tomohiro Ishii in the first round. 2017: Eliminated by EVIL in the first round. 2016: Eliminated by Hirooki Goto in the first round. 2015: Eliminated by Hirooki Goto in the first round. 2013: Eliminated by Minoru Suzuki in the first round. 2012: Eliminated by Minoru Suxzuki in the first round.2010: Eliminated by Yujiro Takahashi in the first round. 2011: Defeated Shinsuke Nakamura in the final to win the tournament. 2009: Eliminated by Hirooki Goto in the semi-finals. 2007: Defeated Togi Makabe in the final to win the tournament. 2006: Eliminated by Giant Bernard in the finals. 2005: Eliminated by Hiroshi Tanahashi in the first round.

Yuji Nagata’s 6 hours, 19 minutes, and 40 seconds of Total Match Length in the New Japan Cup is fourth all time. Only Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto, and Tomohiro Ishii have spent more time in the ring during New Japan Cup matches than Yuji Nagata.
Nagata’ s 27 New Japan Cup Matches are good for fifth most all time. Only Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano and Togi Makabe have had more matches than Nagata.
SANADA has the most New Japan Cup wins in the last five years with eleven. That is two more than Kazuchika Okada and now three more than his first round opponent, Tomohiro Ishii.
Yuji Nagata has only been eliminated from the New Japan Cup in the second round once (2020), but he has only made it past the second round in four of the 14 New Japan Cup tournaments he has participated in (2006, 2007, 2009, 2011).
SANADA has passed the second round in every New Japan Cup he has participated in except for his first tournament appearance in 2017.

SANADA is typically known for his stamina, his ability to go long in a singles match and come out victorious has been fruitful in the past, but Nagata shouldn’t be ignored in this metric. Last summer, he had a stretch of three straight singles matches over 20 minutes, two with Minoru Suzuki and one with Kazuchika Okada. Nagata only won one of those matches, but he was very competitive in all three.

In the last 365 days, nobody has more NJPW wins than SANADA and his +39 Fall Differential is the best in the company. Simply put, SANADA is the reason that he has won many of his 70 victories.
SANADA’s 98 matches in the last 365 days are also the most in NJPW, tied with former tag team partner EVIL.

SANADA and Yuji Nagata have met twice in singles matches. Once, less than a month ago, SANADA defeated Yuji Nagata in 12 minutes and one second at Korakuen Hall on the Road To Castle Attack.
Their first match was just about ten years ago in April of 2011 when Yuji Nagata defeated SANADA in 22 minutes and 44 seconds in All Japan Pro Wrestling’s Champion Carnival final at Korakuen Hall.