While things continue as normal in North America, the wrestling scene in Japan has been brought to a halt by the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak. Companies have been cancelling shows, or running their major cards live for fans to watch with no one in attendance. This even includes New Japan Pro Wrestling, who cancelled their Anniversary card and the first half of the New Japan Cup earlier this month. With more time to look at the situation, they have went ahead and cancelled some more dates.
The Rest Of The New Japan Cup Cancelled
NJPW pushes their year forward after Wrestle Kingdom and the New Beginning Tour with an annual single elimination tournament, the New Japan Cup. The winner gets a title shot of their choice, and while it doesn’t hit the heights of the G1 Climax, it is a great way to set up stories to be told through the spring and summer. With the first batch of shows cancelled, people felt it would just start later in the month. This will not be the case. All events up to March 21st have been cancelled by NJPW, with five more events shut down.
New Japan Pro Wrestling Makes An Apology
On their official English website, njpw1972.com, the following statement was posted along with the cancellation notice. “We apologise to fans who were looking forward to the remainder of the New Japan Cup. Ultimately, the health and safety of our fans, wrestlers and staff, as well as society at large is our utmost concern, and we will make announcements about events scheduled after March 22 upon careful monitoring of this developing situation.”
Both fans and wrestlers are eager for New Japan Pro Wrestling to return, and hope the New Japan Cup will still happen later this year. They produced a fantastic field of matches, with ones like Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay being especially looked forward too. Fans are also still wanting to see the previously planned main event of their cancelled Anniversary Show, where IWGP Heavyweight & Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito was to face IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi. It would have been their first encounter as opponents, with a student vs. teacher dynamic.
Do you think NJPW will be able to bounce back from these cancellations in April? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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