New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) returns to live action on the morning of June 15th in Eastern Standard Time, with a surprise card in the vein of New Years Dash events of the past. The NJPW English commentary team took to the companies official English language podcast to discuss this event, but more importantly, both brackets of the New Japan Cup several days ago.
Due to travel restrictions, it’s unlikely the June 15th card will contain any surprises, but with GHC (Pro Wrestling NOAH’s championship governing body) National Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima‘s profile briefly going live on NJPW’s English website, the possibility exists that those currently in Japan could make a surprise appearance.
It is more likely that the show will contain a card made up of those announced for the New Japan Cup, which could foreshadow likely matchups to come as the single-elimination tournament progresses. Seeing IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions GoldenAce (Hiroshi Tanahashi/Kota Ibushi) teaming in a multi-tag match against Dangerous Tekkers (Zack Sabre Jr./Taichi) is likely and could perhaps see Minoru Suzuki join his Suzuki-Gun unit mates, and Yuji Nagata join the tag team champions.
The possibility to see IWGP Junior Tag Team Champions Roppongi 3K (Sho/Yoh) team up to face the Los Ingobernables de Japon (LIJ) team of former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions of current NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi (also 1/3 of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Championship team) and Bushi (also 1/3 of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Championship team).
Roppongi 3K has struggled against the team of Shingo and Bushi in the past but did defeat them during the NJPW 47th Anniversary Show on March 6, 2019, for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. A match featuring the four could present an effective showcase for fans that have missed NJPW during its over three months absence from live events due to COVID-19.
The event is likely to feature IWGP Intercontinental and Heavyweight ‘Double Champion’ Tetsuya Naito in one way or another. Despite the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion sometimes not being present during the New Japan Cup, the circumstances surrounding 2020 will likely result in Naito competing during the upcoming slate of events.
The split tour will be held from June 15 – 17 and June 22 – 24, live on New Japan World.
The NJPW official English language podcast discussing the New Japan Cup is available below.
