The New Japan Cup is an annual knockout tournament run by New Japan Pro Wrestling. It features between 16 and 48 wrestlers from NJPW, with the winner of each match advancing to the next round. This continues until there are only two wrestlers left, and the pair have a match together at the New Japan Cup Finals event that year.
The winner of the tournament is given a trophy for their efforts, as well as a title match against the reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion (except for Shinsuke Nakamura in 2014, who instead challenged for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship).
The first New Japan Cup took place in 2005, with Hiroshi Tananhashi winning the tournament. Since then, with 14 winners in the past 21 tournaments. On Tanahashi (2), Yugi Nagata (2), Kazuchika Okada (2), Zack Sabre Jr (2) and Hirooki Goto (3) have won the cup more than once, with many wrestlers reaching the final multiple times without winning.
Here is a list of every winner of the New Japan Cup since 2005. Below lists the winner, the year and date they won the cup, as well as who their final opponent was and the match rating for the bout (as voted by fans on Cagematch.net.
| Year | Winner | Date | Final | Match Rating |
| 2005 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | April 24, 2005 | Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Manabu Nakanishi | Not Rated |
| 2006 | Giant Bernard | April 30, 2006 | Yuji Nagata vs. Giant Bernard | 7.67 |
| 2007 | Yugi Nagata | March 21, 2007 | Yuji Nagata vs. Togi Makabe | 6.75 |
| 2008 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | March 23, 2008 | Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Giant Bernard | 7.65 |
| 2009 | Hirooki Goto | March 22, 2009 | Hirooki Goto vs. Giant Bernard | Not Rated |
| 2010 | Hirooki Goto | March 22, 2010 | Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto | 8.00 |
| 2011 | Yugi Nagata | March 20, 2011 | Yuji Nagata vs. Shinsuke Nakamura | 7.69 |
| 2012 | Hirooki Goto | April 8, 2012 | Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto | 8.22 |
| 2013 | Kazuchika Okada | March 23, 2013 | Hirooki Goto vs. Kazuchika Okada | 7.93 |
| 2014 | Shinsuke Nakamura | March 23, 2014 | Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bad Luck Fale | 7.29 |
| 2015 | Kota Ibushi | March 15, 2015 | Hirooki Goto vs. Kota Ibushi | 7.95 |
| 2016 | Tetsuya Naito | March 12, 2016 | Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito | 7.92 |
| 2017 | Katsuyori Shibata | March 20, 2017 | Katsuyori Shibata vs. Bad Luck Fale | 7.58 |
| 2018 | Zack Sabre Jr | March 21, 2018 | Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. | 9.03 |
| 2019 | Kazuchika Okada | March 24, 2019 | Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada | 8.66 |
| 2020 | EVIL | July 11, 2020 | Kazuchika Okada vs. Evil | 5.55 |
| 2021 | Will Ospreay | March 21, 2021 | Shingo Takagi vs. Will Ospreay | 9.03 |
| 2022 | Zack Sabre Jr | March 27, 2022 | Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr. | 8.48 |
| 2023 | SANADA | March 21, 2023 | Sanada vs. David Finlay | 7.57 |
| 2024 | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD |
Here are some facts about the winners of the New Japan Cup.
- Giant Bernard, Will Ospreay and Zack Sabre Jr are the only foreign wrestlers to win the tournament (with two of those being English, and one American).
- The 2018 and 2020 finals are the only ones to be rated over 9.00 by Cagematch.
- Hirooki Goto has the most New Japan Cup wins (3) and most final appearances (6). However, he has never won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
- Hirooki Goto, Giant Bernard, Zack Sabre Jr and Katuyori Shibata are the only New Japan Cup winners to never win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
Want to learn more about the New Japan Cup? Check out our guide to NJPW to learn more.