New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

had held a variety of

professional wrestling tournament On various occasions in professional wrestling, a single-elimination tournament of varying match types are held, often to determine a champion for a vacant or newly-created championship, to determine the number-one contender for a championship, t ...

s competed for by wrestlers that are a part of their roster.

Sporadic tournaments

Pin-Pinfall; Sub-Submission; CO-Countout; DCO-Double countout; DQ-Disqualification; DDQ-Double Disqualification Ref-Referee's decision; NC-No Contest

1974 Karl Gotch Cup

The 1974 Karl Gotch Cup was a round-robin tournament held from October 25 until December 8. The tournament featured 8 participants. The tournament was held during the Toukon Series II tour. The winner of the tournament was

Tatsumi Fujinami (born December 28, 1953) is a Japanese Puroresu, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE on a legends contract. Fujinami is best known for his long tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. ...

, who defeated Masashi Ozawa to win the tournament. Fujinami would later become a Japanese legend having success in both the junior heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. He would later become a six times IWGP Heavyweight Champion and also won the G1 Climax. Later he was abroad, to Mexico's Universal Wrestling Association and to Jim Crockett Promotions in the U.S.

Vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship tournament

A tournament for the vacant

IWGP Heavyweight Championship The was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on June 12, 1987, in the final of an IW ...

was held on April 24, 1989.

Kyushu Cup

The Kyushu Cup was a four-man tournament, which took place on June 12, 1990.

Japan/US All Star Tournament

The Japan/US All Star Tournament was an interpromotional

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

pitting NJPW wrestlers against

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...

wrestlers. The tournament took place during the 1996 G1 Climax.

G2 U-30 Climax Tournament 2003

The G2 U-30 Climax Tournament 2003 was a tournament.

Yuko Six Man Tag Team Tournament

The Yuko Six Man Tag Team Tournament was a tournament.

President Hoshino 10 Million Yen Offer Tag Tournament

The President Hoshino 10 Million Yen Offer Tag Tournament was a tournament.

Samurai! TV Openweight Tag Team Tournament

The Samurai! TV Openweight Tag Team Tournament was a tournament.

Yuke's Cup PREMIUM One Night Tag Tournament

The Yuke's Cup PREMIUM One Night Tag Tournament was a tournament.

J Sports Crown Openweight Six Man Tag Team Tournament 2010

The J Sports Crown Openweight Six Man Tag Team Tournament 2010 was a tournament.

J Sports Crown Openweight Six Man Tag Team Tournament 2011

The J Sports Crown Openweight Six Man Tag Team Tournament 2011 was a tournament.

IWGP Intercontinental Championship Tournament

On April 8, 2011, NJPW announced the participants in the tournament to crown the first IWGP Intercontinental Champion. The list of participants included former

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

performer

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

, who had signed a contract with NJPW in January 2011,

Kazuchika Okada (born November 8, 1987) is a Japanese professional wrestler. , he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he is a member of the Don Callis Family stable and is the current AEW Continental Champion in his first reign. Known as the , he is b ...

, who had been on a learning excursion to American promotion

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busines ...

(TNA) since February 2010, Hideo Saito, who had been on a similar tour of Puerto Rican

World Wrestling Council The World Wrestling Council (WWC; Spanish: "Consejo Mundial de Lucha") is a professional wrestling promotion based in Puerto Rico. It was originally established as Capitol Sports Promotions in 1973 by Carlos Colón, Victor Jovica, and Goril ...

since September 2010, former IWGP Tag Team and

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions The is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on August 8, 1998, at an NJPW live event. The IWGP Junior ...

Tetsuya Naito is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his 20-year run in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he served as the leader of the ''Los Ingobernables de Japon'' stable, and was a multi-time world champion. ...

and

Yujiro Takahashi , is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of House of Torture and a former member of Bullet Club. He is one-third of the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions with Ren Narit ...

No Limit No Limit may refer to: Music Record labels *No Limit Records, a record label founded by Master P *No Limit Forever Records, a record label founded by Romeo Miller, son of Master P Albums * ''No Limit'' (Art Pepper album), 1977 * ''No Limit'' ...

, NJPW regulars

Tama Tonga Alipate Aloisio Fifita Leone (born October 15, 1982), better known by his ring name Tama Tonga (), is a Tongan-American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand where he is a former WWE Tag Team Ch ...

and

Toru Yano is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, trained by and signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was the KOPW (New Japan Pro-Wrestling), KOPW 2020 and the KOPW (New Japan Pro-Wrestling), KOPW 2021. He is one of the ...

and American independent worker

Dan Maff Daniel Lopez (born October 28, 1973), better known by his ring name Dan Maff, is an American professional wrestler, known for his time with Ring of Honor (ROH). Professional wrestling career Da Hit Squad Lopez attended Jersey All Pro Wrestling ...

, who made his first appearance for NJPW during the tour. On May 6 it was announced that Tonga had suffered an injury, which would force him out of the tournament. He would be replaced by former TNA and

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011; the promotion was subs ...

performer Josh Daniels. On May 15, MVP defeated Yano in the final of the tournament to become the inaugural champion. ;Tournament bracket

NEVER Openweight Championship Tournament

On October 5, 2012, over two years after the founding of NEVER,

announced the creation of the project's first championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship. The title was originally created with the idea of using it to "elevate younger wrestlers". The first champion was to be determined in a sixteen-man

, which was set to take place November 15 and 19, 2012. The title and the tournament were announced by New Japan president Naoki Sugabayashi and NEVER regular

, who was scheduled to enter the tournament, but was forced to pull out after suffering a knee injury. Much like regular NEVER events, the tournament also featured wrestlers not signed to New Japan;

freelancer ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

Daisuke Sasaki is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), where is a former two-time DDT Universal Champion. In addition to that, in DDT, he is also a former three-time KO-D Openweight Champion, one-time DDT Extreme Champi ...

, Hiro Tonai,

Kengo Mashimo is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW). His style is a combination of submission wrestling and hard martial arts style strikes. Professional wrestling career Kaientai Dojo/Active Advance ...

Ryuichi Sekine is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer and is best known for his time in the professional wrestling promotion Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo). Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2008–present) Sekine i ...

Shiori Asahi is a Japanese wrestler, currently working for Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW). He also appears sporadically for Big Japan Pro Wrestling and 666. Championships and accomplishments * Active Advance Pro Wrestling ** 2AW Tag Team Champion ...

and

Taishi Takizawa is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler better known by the ring name . Trained by Taka Michinoku, Takizawa has spent most of his career working for his Kaientai Dojo Professional wrestling promotion, promotion. From December ...

from

Kaientai Dojo Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW) is a Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese professional wrestling promotion and training facility originally owned and promoted by Taka Michinoku. The promotion places emphasis on a style of Professional wre ...

, and

Masato Tanaka is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship#Title History, one-time FMW Brass Knuckle ...

from

Pro Wrestling Zero1 , often referred to simply as Zero1 and sometimes referred to as Pro Wrestling Zero1 Catch as Catch Can (stylized as ZERO1 and PRO WRESTLING ZERO1 CATCH AS CATCH CAN, respectively), is a Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese professional wre ...

. The entire first round of the tournament took place on November 15 and saw Shiori Asahi,

Yoshi-Hashi is a Japanese professional wrestler, signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he performs under the ring name Yoshi-Hashi (stylized in all caps as YOSHI-HASHI), and is a former four-time IWGP Tag Team Champion, with Hirooki Goto; as well ...

, Taishi Takizawa,

Ryusuke Taguchi is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, trained by and performing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is a former List of IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions, two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, List of IWGP Junior He ...

Tomohiro Ishii is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is currently a double champion: being the Strong Openweight Champion in his first reign, and one-half of the current IWGP Tag Team Champions with Ta ...

, Kengo Mashimo,

Karl Anderson Chad Allegra (born January 20, 1980) known by the ring name Karl Anderson , is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is primarily performing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is also known for his time in WWE. Ander ...

and Masato Tanaka advance. The rest of the tournament took place four days later. During the second round, Kengo Mashimo defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Karl Anderson defeated Shiori Asahi, Masato Tanaka defeated Taishi Takizawa, Tomohiro Ishii defeated Yoshi-Hashi. The semifinals saw Anderson defeat Mashimo and Tanaka defeat Ishii. In the final of the tournament, Tanaka, the 39-year-old, who, despite officially being affiliated with Pro Wrestling Zero1, had worked for NJPW regularly since August 2009, defeated Anderson to become the inaugural NEVER Openweight Champion. Though the title was originally designed to be defended at NEVER events, NJPW has not held a single NEVER event since the championship tournament.

Vacant NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship

On August 1, 2020, NJPW announced a tournament to crown new NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions.

Inaugural KOPW Championship

NJPW announced a tournament to Crown the inaugural KOPW Champion.

Vacant IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

On August 31, 2020, NJPW announced a league tournament to crown new

on the New Japan Road tour.

Lion's Break Crown

Lion's Break Crown was a tournament that took place between September 25, 2020 and October 9, 2020 on

NJPW Strong NJPW Strong is a brand name utilized by Japanese professional wrestling promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and its New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (NJoA) subsidiary. In its original incarnation, ''NJPW Strong'' was the name of a weekly ...

Annually held tournaments

Footnotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Japan Pro-Wrestling tournaments New Japan Pro-Wrestling lists