NJPW New Japan Cup – Night Two
Date: March 6, 2021
Venue: Ota City General Gymnasium
Time: 5:00pm JST
Watch: NJPWWorld (Japanese live, English to follow)
New Japan Cup 2021 First Round
Tomoaki Honma vs. Minoru Suzuki
New Japan Cup History
Tomoaki Honma
- Ninth New Japan Cup Appearance, third consecutive
- 2020: Eliminated by Hiromu Takahashi in the first round. 2019: Eliminated by Taichi in the first round. 2016: Eliminated by Satoshi Kojima in the first round. 2015: Eliminated by Togi Makabe in the first round. 2010: Eliminated by Toru Yano in the first round. 2009: Eliminated by Takahashi Iizuka in the first round. 2008: Eliminated by Giant Bernard in the first round. 2007: Eliminated by Takashi Iizuka in the first round.
Minoru Suzuki
- Seventh New Japan Cup Appearance, third consecutive
- 2020: Eliminated by Yuji Nagata in the first round. 2019: Eliminated by SANADA in the second round. 2017: Eliminated by Katsuyori Shibata in the first round. 2014: Eliminated by Shinsuke Nakamura in the semi-finals. 2013: Eliminated by Toru Yano in the second round. 2012: Eliminated by Togi Makabe in the second round.
- Tomoaki Honma is still searching for his first New Japan Cup victory. Nobody has lost more first round matches in the New Japan Cup than Honma, as he is 0-8 in the New Japan Cup
- Minoru Suzuki’s best New Japan Cup finish was in 2014 when he was eliminated in the semi-finals by Shinsuke Nakamura.
Recent History – Overall
- Nobody has taken more losing falls thus far in 2021 than Tomoaki Honma (12).
Recent History – Singles (365 Days)
Head To Head History
- This will be the first-ever singles meeting between Tomoaki Honma and Minoru Suzuki
History in Ota City Gymnasium
- Tomoaki Honma has had two singles matches in Ota City General Gymnasium. They were both New Japan Cup first round matches, they were both losses.
- Minoru Suzuki has participated in three singles matches in Ota City General Gymnasium. He is 1-2 in the building with
New Japan Cup 2021 First Round
Juice Robinson vs. KENTA
New Japan Cup History
Juice Robinson
- Fourth New Japan Cup appearance
- 2019: Eliminated by Chase Owens in the first round. 2018: Eliminated by Hiroshi Tanahashi in the semi-finals. 2017: Eliminated by Katsuyori Shibata in the second round.
KENTA
- First New Japan Cup Appearance
- This is Juice Robinson’s fourth New Japan Cup appearance. Juice’s best finish in the New Japan Cup came in 2018 when he was eliminated by Hiroshi Tanahashi in the semi-finals.
- This is KENTA’s first New Japan Cup appearance. Of course, he was last year’s New Japan Cup USA champion.
Recent History – Singles (365 Days)
- Only six NJPW wrestlers have more singles victories in the last 365 days than KENTA.
- Juice Robinson’s only singles matches in the last 365 days occurred during the G1 Climax tournament where he went 4-5 over the course of the tournament and 1-4 over the course of the last 5 matches.
Head To Head History
- One of Juice Robinson’s G1 Climax victories in last year’s G1 was over KENTA in their first proper singles meeting.
- Juice Robinson and KENTA did meet a few times in 2015 under different monikers in Florida.
History in Ota City Gymnasium
- Juice Robinson has wrestled in three singles matches in Ota City General Gymnasium, he is 1-2. His lone victory came over Shingo Takagi during the 2019 G1 Climax.
- KENTA has only wrestled in one singles match in Ota City General Gymnasium. He defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi during the G1 in his first match back in Japan after returning from his time with WWE.
New Japan Cup 2021 First Round
Kazuchika Okada vs. Shingo Takagi
Sport of Pro Wrestling New Japan Cup Bracket Challenge
- 63.6% of entrants of the Sport of Pro Wrestling New Japan Cup bracket challenge picked Kazuchika Okada to advance out of the first round including Rocky Romero, who picked Okada to win the whole tournament.
- 22.5% of brackets entered at Sport of Pro Wrestling have Kazuchika Okada winning the entire tournament.
- 36.4% of entrants to the Sport of Pro Wrestling New Japan Cup bracket challenge picked Shingo Takagi to advance out of the first round including myself, Dave Meltzer, and Kevin Kelly who picked Shingo to win the whole tournament.
- 18.2% of brackets entered at Sport of Pro Wrestling have Shingo Takagi winning the entire tournament.
New Japan Cup History
Kazuchika Okada
- Fifth New Japan Cup appearance, third consecutive. 2013 & 2019 winner.
- 2013: Defeated Hirooki Goto in the final to win the tournament. 2015: Eliminated by Bad Luck Fale in the first round. 2019: Defeated SANADA in the final to win the tournament. 2020: Eliminated by EVIL in the finals.
Shingo Takagi
- Second New Japan Cup appearance, second consecutive
- 2020: Eliminated by SHO in the first round.
- Kazuchika Okada’s .867 winning percentage in New Japan Cup Matches is the highest all time.
- Okada has reached the finals in three of the four New Japan Cups that he has participated in. He has won the tournament twice.
- In his only New Japan Cup Match, Shingo Takagi was eliminated by SHO in the first round of last year’s tournament.
Recent History – Singles (365 Days)
- Kazuchika Okada’s 16 singles victories over the last 365 days are the most in NJPW.
Head To Head History
- This will be Kazuchika Okada and Shingo Takagi’s second singles match. Okada defeated Takagi during last year’s G1 Climax in a classic.
History in Ota City General Gymnasium
- Kazuchika Okada is 3-3 in his six singles matches in Ota City General Gymnasium. In his only New Japan Cup match in Ota City, he lost to Bad Luck Fale in the first round of the 2015 tournament.
- Shingo Takagi is 1-2 in his three singles matches in Ota City General Gymnasium. Shingo’ s only victory in this building was his third Open The Dream Gate championship victory in 2015 while he was with Dragon Gate.