New Japan owner Takaaki Kidani has announced on today’s New japan up Show that the company will be bringing back the Super J Cup this year, a one-night junior heavyweight tournament . The Super J Cup will take place on August 21 at the Ariake Coliseum. New Japan, Ring of Honor, CMLL, Pro Wrestling NOAH, Dragon Gate, Suzuki-Gun, Zero-One and K-Dojo all will participate. Also on hand for the announcement were NOAH president Naomichi Marufuji (two-times winner of the Super J-Cup) and K-Dojo’s Taka Michinoku.
The original Super J-Cup (which happened in 1994) was the brainchild of the legendary Jushin “Thunder” Liger and is still considered one of the greatest one-night tournaments (or indeed wrestling events) of all time. This should be no surprise since the tournament featured Liger himself, Black Tiger II (Eddie Guerrero), Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit), Super Delfin, Dean Malenko, Negro Casas, The Great Sasuke and Shinjiro Otani among others. In other words, a who’s who of ultra-talented Junior Heavyweights. The final, which saw Wild Pegasus pin The Great sasuke is still considered one of the best wrestling matches ever by many. Originally meant as a one-time only event, the tournament would be organized four more times, in 1995, 2000, 2004 and 2009. Liger would win the 1995 and 2000 edition while Marufuji would win the 2004 and 2009 edition.
Given the talent that will be at NJPW’s disposal, this could very easily become one of THE events of 2016.
One last note, before anyone asks, no, it’s probably not a coincidence that NJPW has suddenly decided to bring back the Super J-Cup. We all know by now that our good friend Triple H will organize a Global Cruiser-weights Tournament later this year, so NJPW is clearly intent on showing them (WWE) how it’s done. Should be fun.
