NJPW Announce Return of Young Lion Cup

By Noah Leatherland

At today’s press conference, NJPW announced the return of the Young Lion Cup. The competition will consist of six Young Lions competing in a single elimination tournament.

The tournament will take place on the Road to New Beginning shows. First round matches will take place on January 19th, with the second round on the 20th. Then, the finals will take place on February 1st.

Katsuya Murashima and Shoma Kato have received first round byes in the tournament. Murashima will face the winner of Daiki Nagai and Zane Jay. Meanwhile, Kato will meet the winner of Masatora Yasuda and Tatsuya Mastumoto.

The last edition of the Young Lion Cup came in 2019. Karl Fredericks emerged as the winner, with the rest of the field including names such as Ren Narita, Yuya Uemura, Shota Umino and current IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Yota Tsuji. Other past winners of the Young Lion Cup include Ryusuke Taguchi, Hirooki Goto, Satoshi Kojima and Masahiro Chono.

Traditionally, the winners of the Young Lion Cup are sent on their international excursion soon after the tournament.