The New Japan Cup was a roller coaster ride.
The annual tournament was filled with plenty of twists and turns, but it finally got to its destination. David Finlay will challenge Hirooki Goto for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. That’s the official main event of Sakura Genesis. Finlay has never won the IWGP World Heavyweight title. Meanwhile, Goto is in the midst of his first title reign and he’s successfully defended the belt against Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yuji Nagata so far.
However, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has unveiled their full pay-per-view card and it’s a stacked show filled with six title matches.
AEW’s Konosuke Takeshita will defend the NEVER Openweight title against Ryohei Poiwa. This is Takeshita’s fifth title defense, with the AEW star winning the belt back at Wrestle Kingdom 19.
Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi are scheduled to put the IWGP Tag Team Championships on the line against Jeff Cobb and Callum Newman. Cobb pulled off a huge victory over the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the New Japan Cup. United Empire also got a victory over Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) following Cobb’s elimination from the New Japan Cup.
The war between Bullet Club War Dogs and House Of Torture continues as Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney, and Taiji Ishimori will challenge SHO, Yujiro, and Takahashi for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles. This will be House of Torture’s first title defense since winning the belts back in January.
Sakura Genesis takes place on April 5 at the Sumo Hall. Below is the advertised line-up for the New Japan’s latest pay-per-view:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto defends against David Finlay
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji defends against EVIL
- IWGP Tag Team Champions Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi defend against Jeff Cobb & Callum Newman
- NEVER Openweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita defends against Ryohei Oiwa
- NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita defend against Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino
- NJPW World TV Champion El Phantasmo defends against Great-O-Khan
- Yuya Uemura vs. SANADA
- Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Nagai