The New Japan Cup ( NJC ) is an annual single-elimination professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) since 2005. It is considered the second most prominent heavyweight tournament in NJPW, after the G1 Climax which follows a round-robin format.
89-545: Since the 2006 edition, the winner of the tournament, like with the G1 Climax, would receive a championship match, originally, for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship . However, unlike with the G1 Climax, the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion could not participate in the tournament (in the case of the champion winning the G1 Climax, he would get to pick the next challenger for his title). In 2014–2018,
178-658: A faction with Justin Credible and X-Pac called X-Factor . The group feuded with the Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray, D-Von and Spike ), defeating them in a six-man tag team match at Backlash . On the June 28 episode of SmackDown! , Albert defeated Kane in a no disqualification match , following assistance by Diamond Dallas Page to win the Intercontinental Championship , his first and only title in
267-556: A handicap Survivor Series match at the namesake event . Boss Man and Albert would challenge Big Show for the WWF Championship in a losing effort in a handicap match on the December 14 episode of Raw is War . On January 23, 2000, Albert competed in his first Royal Rumble match at the namesake event as the #21 entrant. He was eliminated by Kane . Shortly after, the team of Albert and Boss Man separated following
356-510: A spinal cord injury . The 2018 New Japan Cup took place between March 9 and 21. The winner of the tournament, Zack Sabre Jr ., challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship . Sabre also became the second non-Japanese wrestler, after Giant Bernard, to win the New Japan Cup. The 2019 New Japan Cup took place between March 8 and 24. Unlike the previous year, the tournament featured 32 wrestlers instead of 16 and marks
445-445: A villain . Albert defeated Scotty on the following episode of SmackDown! . Albert then moved to singles competition, mainly competing on Velocity for the next several months. During that time, Albert made a pay-per-view appearance at Rebellion , where he lost to Rikishi in a Kiss My Ass match . Albert competed in his first match on SmackDown! since July, on the December 5 episode of SmackDown! by defeating Rey Mysterio in
534-744: A fur rug to the ring. After being introduced to talent scout Tom Prichard by George Steele , Bloom was hired by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). After receiving supplementary training from Dory Funk Jr. , Bloom was assigned to the Power Pro Wrestling developmental territory in Memphis, Tennessee , where he wrestled as Baldo. While wrestling in PPW , Bloom won both the Young Guns Championship and
623-518: A handicap match at WrestleMania XIX , after assistance by The Undertaker's originally supposed partner Nathan Jones , who was attacked earlier in the show. A-Train continued the feud with The Undertaker by costing him a match against John Cena on the August 7 episode of SmackDown! . This culminated in a match between A-Train and The Undertaker at SummerSlam , which A-Train lost. A-Train then lost to Chris Benoit at No Mercy and, at Survivor Series ,
712-456: A losing effort to The Bella Twins with Team Rhodes Scholars in their corner when Nikki pinned Naomi after an interference by Cody Rhodes. The two teams were originally booked to face each other in an eight-person mixed tag team match on April 7 at WrestleMania 29 , but their match was cut due to time constraints. The match instead took place the following night on Raw , where Tons of Funk and The Funkadactyls emerged victorious. After nearly
801-541: A losing effort. The following night, Albert lost the Intercontinental Championship to Alliance member Lance Storm on the July 23 episode of Raw is War , after several wrestlers interfered. Following the title loss, Albert and X-Pac continued X-Factor as a tag team until November, when X-Pac was sidelined with an injury. Albert would then begin teaming with Scotty 2 Hotty after defeating him in
890-595: A loss, during his brief time in WWA he wrestled notable names such as Sgt. Slaughter and Bart Gunn . In November 1998, Bloom made his NWA debut losing to Shawn Stasiak . During his stay in NWA, Bloom and Bull Pain challenged Nick Dinsmore and Rob Conway for the NWA OVW Southern tag team titles ending in a no contest. He briefly wrestled as Baldo, a gimmick given to him by referee Freddy Sparta that saw him wear
979-480: A match at Survivor Series , which Stratus and T & A lost. The feud ended on the November 27 episode of Raw is War , where Holly Cousins defeated T & A and Stratus. At Rebellion , T & A competed against Dudley Boyz and Edge and Christian in a triple threat elimination tables match , which Dudley Boyz won. On the December 28 episode of SmackDown! , T & A dissolved when Bloom attacked Test under
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#17327762936571068-403: A match on the November 4 episode of Heat . On the November 10 episode of Jakked , Albert and Scotty teamed for the first time and defeated Alliance members Raven and Hugh Morrus, turning Albert into a fan favorite . Albert was nicknamed "The Hip Hop Hippo" as he danced with Scotty after matches and became a comical character. At Survivor Series , Albert participated in a battle royal , with
1157-543: A month of in-ring absence, Tons of Funk returned on the June 6 episode of Superstars , defeating Primo and Epico. On June 24, Tensai and Clay competed in a Triple Threat tag team match to determine the number one contenders for the Tag Team Championship against The Usos and 3MB (represented by Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal), although The Usos would ultimately win the match. In November 2013, Tons of Funk began to show signs of instability once Clay started
1246-418: A short match. Albert continued to attack Mysterio after the match, until Mysterio's tag team partner Edge made the save. The following week, on SmackDown! , Albert joined forces with Paul Heyman and Big Show , which saw Heyman persuade him to rename himself to A-Train and debut new attire, the latter of which saw fans often chant "Shave Your Back!" at him during his matches due to his hairy torso. Following
1335-467: A storyline where he became angry and jealous of the debuting Xavier Woods . As Clay began to exhibit more heel -oriented tendencies, such as repeatedly attacking Woods after he had defeated Woods in a match, Tensai and the Funkadactyls slowly became alienated from him. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs , Clay faced Woods' partner, R-Truth , and continually assaulted Truth instead of going for
1424-729: A tag team turmoil match to determine the #1 contenders for the Tag Team Championship. The APA won the match. In March, the WWF roster was divided into two brands , and both Albert and Scotty were assigned to the SmackDown! brand. They disbanded on the April 4 episode of SmackDown! when Albert attacked Scotty after the duo failed to defeat Billy and Chuck for the WWF Tag Team Championship, turning Albert into
1513-560: A three-way "Dogfight". In late October, Bad Intentions entered the 2010 G1 Tag League , where, after three wins and two losses, they finished second in their block. This put them in the semifinals where, on November 7, they were defeated by eventual winners Yuji Nagata and Wataru Inoue. On January 4, 2011, at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome , Bad Intentions successfully defended the IWGP Tag Team Championship in
1602-541: A three-way match against Beer Money, Inc. ( James Storm and Robert Roode ) and Muscle Orchestra ( Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man ). On May 3, Bad Intentions defeated No Limit to make their seventh successful IWGP Tag Team Championship defense, tying the record for most defenses, set by Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono . Bad Intentions made their record-breaking eighth successful IWGP Tag Team Championship defense on June 18 at Dominion 6.18 against Pro Wrestling Noah 's Takuma Sano and Yoshihiro Takayama , and in
1691-459: A trip to a professional wrestling event, Bloom, who as a child had aspired to wrestle professionally, met wrestler and wrestling trainer Killer Kowalski and expressed an interest in learning how to wrestle. Kowalski invited Bloom to attend his school , and Bloom opted to leave teaching and train as a wrestler. Bloom wrestled his first match in the WWA on May 15, 1998, facing Tiger Ali Singh in
1780-405: A vignette under the new ring name "Lord Tensai" (天災). On the April 2 episode of Raw , Bloom made his WWE re-debut as Lord Tensai, where he was accompanied by his follower Sakamoto before defeating Alex Riley . In the following weeks, Tensai went on a winning streak, scoring pinfall victories over lower card wrestlers and even main stars including John Cena and WWE Champion CM Punk . On
1869-562: A win, resulting in Tensai and the Funkadactyls leaving in protest and Clay subsequently losing the match. On the December 20 episode of SmackDown , Tensai defeated Clay in a singles match after a distraction from Woods and the Funkadactyls. After Tons of Funk disbanded, Bloom was taken off television and, in January 2014, began working in WWE's developmental territory NXT as a commentator under
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#17327762936571958-407: Is War , Zoo Crew unsuccessfully challenged Dudley Boyz for the WWF Tag Team Championship. On January 20, 2002, Albert participated in the 2002 Royal Rumble match as the #17 entrant. He was eliminated by Christian and Chuck . On the January 24 episode of SmackDown! , Zoo Crew unsuccessfully challenged Spike Dudley and Tazz for the WWF Tag Team Championship. At No Way Out , Zoo Crew participated in
2047-765: Is an American retired professional wrestler . He is signed to WWE , where he is the head trainer at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida . Bloom is best known for his in-ring appearances with WWE as Prince Albert , Albert and A-Train from 1999 to 2004, and as Lord Tensai and Tensai from 2012 to 2014, as well as for his appearances in Japan from 2005 to 2012 with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) as Giant Bernard ( ジャイアント・バーナード , Jaianto Bānādo ) . Championships held by Bloom over
2136-668: Is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix ( インターナショナル・レスリング・グラン・プリ , intānashonaru resuringu guran puri ) . The title was introduced on June 12, 1987, in the final of an IWGP tournament . It was unified with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on March 4, 2021, to form the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship . The championship was represented by four different belts from 1987 to 2021. The fourth and last generation belt
2225-488: The Heavyweight Championship , and engaged in a feud with Memphis mainstay Jerry Lawler , where he defeated him to become the inaugural PPW Heavyweight champion. Bloom debuted on WWF television on the April 11, 1999, episode of Sunday Night Heat , saving Droz from a beating at the hands of Big Boss Man . Introduced as the personal body artist of Droz, Bloom was dubbed Prince Albert (a pun on
2314-526: The IWGP Heavyweight Championship on April 3. The 2012 New Japan Cup was a 16-man tournament held from April 1 to April 8. With his win, Hirooki Goto , became the first three-time winner of the tournament. The 2013 New Japan Cup was a 16-man tournament held from March 11 to March 23. The winner of the tournament, Kazuchika Okada , went on to defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Invasion Attack on April 7. The 2014 New Japan Cup took place between March 15 and 23. The winner of
2403-517: The Prince Albert genital piercing ). On the April 25 episode of Heat , Albert made his in-ring debut by teaming with Droz to defeat Brian Christopher and Scott Taylor . Albert's first singles match occurred on the May 8 episode of Shotgun Saturday Night , in which he lost to Meat . Shortly after, Albert and Droz formed a short-lived trio with Key . Albert picked up his first win in WWF on
2492-612: The Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship . In January 2006, Bloom left AJPW and joined the rival New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. In April 2006, he defeated Yuji Nagata in the finals of the 2006 New Japan Cup . As a result of his victory, Bloom received a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship . He unsuccessfully challenged IWGP Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar on May 3, 2006, in Tenjin , Chūō-ku, Fukuoka . In July 2006, following
2581-708: The World Heavyweight Championship on the Raw brand, General Manager Paul Heyman held a SmackDown! brand-exclusive Royal Rumble on the January 29 episode of SmackDown! , to determine who would meet Lesnar for the WWE Championship at No Way Out . A-Train was eliminated by the eventual winner Eddie Guerrero . A-Train was traded to the Raw brand on March 22 before making his official Raw debut on June 7, losing to Chris Jericho . His last match
2670-600: The championship to Kurt Angle on the promotion's inaugural event. Angle later lost the belt in a unification match to the NJPW-recognized champion Shinsuke Nakamura in 2008. On January 5, 2020, Tetsuya Naito won the Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships. Both titles kept their individual history, but were defended at the same time. Sometimes, they were called "Double Championship". One year after Naito's victory, Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced
2759-565: The 2020 edition of the New Japan Cup, which would now be an Openweight tournament and take place from June 16 until July 11, with the final being held at Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka . Due to both the Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles being held by Tetsuya Naito , the winner of the tournament would earn a match against him for both titles at Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall , instead of choosing one title to challenge for. The original card for
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2848-622: The August 21 episode of Shotgun . The team of Droz and Albert prematurely disbanded when Droz was legitimately paralyzed in October 1999, and Albert would then unsuccessfully challenge Brown for the European Championship on the October 17 episode of Heat . Shortly after, Albert became the protege of the Big Boss Man, and became a part of Boss Man's team, consisting of Mideon and Viscera , who lost to The Big Show in
2937-740: The Complete Players ( Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi), but still managed to win their four other matches and advance to the semifinals of the tournament. On November 6, after defeating the Billion Powers (Hirooki Goto and Hiroshi Tanahashi) in the semifinals, Bad Intentions were defeated in the final of the 2011 G1 Climax by Suzuki-gun ( Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer ). On November 12 at Power Struggle , Bad Intentions made their tenth successful IWGP Tag Team Championship defense against Archer and Suzuki. On January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome , Bad Intentions lost
3026-653: The Cup, Hirooki Goto received a bye in the first round of the tournament. With his victory, Goto became the second two-time winner of the tournament and the first to win it back-to-back. Goto went on to challenge the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura on April 4, but would once again fail in his attempt to win the title. The 2011 New Japan Cup was a 16-man tournament held from March 6 to March 20. The winner, Yuji Nagata , went on to unsuccessfully challenge Hiroshi Tanahashi for
3115-649: The February 17, 2008, New Japan show, they lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Togi Makabe and Toru Yano . Following Tomko's departure for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on a full-time basis, Bernard began teaming with former World Championship Wrestling wrestler Rick Fuller in another powerhouse tag team. On September 5, 2008, Bernard and Fuller betrayed Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto to align themselves with Togi Makabe 's Great Bash Heel stable . In addition to wrestling for NJPW, Bloom also wrestled for their affiliate Wrestle Land as Rusher Road, where he
3204-490: The IWGP Tag Team Championship against Tanahashi and Goto. By winning, Bernard earned an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against Tanahashi on July 18, but failed. On July 23, Bad Intentions made an appearance for Pro Wrestling Noah, making their first successful defense of the GHC Tag Team Championship against the team of Takeshi Morishima and Yutaka Yoshie . On September 9, Bad Intentions became
3293-483: The IWGP Tag Team Championship to Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima), ending their record-setting reign at 564 days. They followed suit with their other title on January 22, losing the GHC Tag Team Championship to Akitoshi Saito and Jun Akiyama . On March 17, 2012, it was reported that Bloom had re-signed with WWE. Bloom publicly denied the signing; however, on the March 19 episode of Raw , he appeared in
3382-538: The June 27 edition of Heat , by defeating Val Venis in a street fight after assistance by Droz. Droz and Albert attacked Venis until his tag team partner The Godfather made the save. This led to Albert and Droz facing Godfather and Venis in a match on the July 4 episode of Heat . Droz and Albert continued to team together and received several shots for the WWF Tag Team Championship against Hardy Boyz ( Matt and Jeff ) but failed to win
3471-712: The June 29 episode of SmackDown , Tensai defeated Justin Gabriel to break his losing streak and also qualify for a spot in the World Heavyweight Championship Money in the Bank ladder match at Money in the Bank , though the match was ultimately won by Dolph Ziggler . Over the next three months, Tensai's losing streak resumed, as he lost to the likes of Tyson Kidd , Sin Cara , Randy Orton , and Ryback . Tensai finally ended his losing streak on
3560-462: The March 22 episode of SmackDown , Tensai and Clay were defeated by Team Rhodes Scholars in a tag team match after an interference from their associates The Bella Twins . Tensai (also now referred to by the name Sweet T) and Clay announced their official tag-team name "Tons of Funk" on the March 27 episode of Main Event , where they accompanied The Funkadactyls ( Cameron and Naomi ) to the ring in
3649-492: The May 21 episode of Raw , Tensai dropped the "Lord" portion of his ring name and his Japanese outfit worn during his entrance. Following this, Tensai began losing much more frequently throughout the rest of 2012, beginning with John Cena ending his winning streak before he also suffered a loss to World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus . His losing streak caused Tensai to often vent his frustrations by abusing and attacking Sakamoto, who eventually ceased appearing with Tensai. On
New Japan Cup - Misplaced Pages Continue
3738-515: The NJC and went on to fail in his challenge against IWGP Champion Shinsuke Nakamura on March 30. This match originally ended in a double countout at 2:35, but it was restarted with Makabe winning via pinfall in 14:49. The 2009 New Japan Cup was a 14-man tournament held from March 8 to March 22. Giant Bernard and Yuji Nagata , the winners of the Cups of 2006 and 2007, received byes in the first round of
3827-560: The New Japan Cup debut of 7 wrestlers. After David Finlay was pulled out of the tournament due to an injury, Ryusuke Taguchi was announced as his replacement. The 2020 New Japan Cup took place between June 16 and July 11. It was originally going to take place from March 4 until March 21, but was postponed when New Japan Pro-Wrestling suspended all of its activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic . On June 9, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced that it would resume its activities, beginning with
3916-481: The New Japan Cup has varied over the years, from a lowest of 14 in 2007 and 2009 to a highest of 48 in 2022; the 2021 tournament features 30 entrants. It is considered a heavyweight tournament, although the 2005, 2008–09, 2020, and 2022 editions were openweight tournaments instead, also featuring junior heavyweights ; in 2020, NJPW premiered the New Japan Cup USA , a version of the tournament taking place in
4005-725: The New Japan Cup, when it was scheduled to take place from March 4 to March 21, had to be completely re-worked for the eventual final card, as several wrestlers who originally planned to participate could not go to Japan when NJPW resumed its activities due to travel restrictions amid the pandemic. Of the 32 wrestlers included in the original card, 14 were not a part of the eventual tournament in June–July: Alex Coughlin, Bad Luck Fale , Chase Owens , Colt Cabana , David Finlay , Karl Fredericks , Jay White , Kenta , Jeff Cobb , Juice Robinson , Mikey Nicholls , Tanga Loa , Toa Henare , and Will Ospreay . The 2021 edition's schedule
4094-510: The October 5 episode of SmackDown , defeating Big Show by disqualification after Sheamus interfered. However, he would be back on the losing end the following week, after being defeated by Sheamus. On November 18 at the Survivor Series pay-per-view, Tensai took part in a traditional Five-on-Five Elimination tag team match , but he was the second man eliminated from his team, but not before eliminating Brodus Clay . In December, Tensai
4183-564: The United States to determine a contender for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship . Hiroshi Tanahashi is both the inaugural winner of the New Japan Cup, and the first wrestler to have won it twice; Hirooki Goto , Yuji Nagata , Kazuchika Okada , and Zack Sabre Jr. have since also become two-time winners. Goto is both the only three-time winner and the only person to have won
4272-413: The WWF. During this time, Credible left X-Factor and joined The Alliance . Albert held the Intercontinental Championship for a month, retaining the title against The Undertaker , Edge , Rhyno , former X-Factor teammate Justin Credible, and Tommy Dreamer . At Invasion , Albert represented WWF by teaming with Billy Gunn and Big Show against Alliance's Chris Kanyon , Hugh Morrus and Shawn Stasiak in
4361-640: The abdication of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship by Lesnar, Bloom entered a tournament for the title, losing to Hiroshi Tanahashi in the tournament final. In August 2006, Bloom took part in the 2006 G1 Climax Tournament, losing to Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the semifinals. On March 11, 2007, in Nagoya , Bloom and Travis Tomko defeated Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Omori to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship . At
4450-598: The course of his career include the GHC Tag Team Championship , IWGP Tag Team Championship and WWF Intercontinental Championship . Bloom was born in Peabody, Massachusetts. He attended Peabody Veterans Memorial High School , where he earned three letters in football and basketball , two in track and field , and one in baseball . Bloom also attended Camp Tevya in Brookline, New Hampshire in
4539-498: The debut of Bull Buchanan , who formed a tag team with the Big Boss Man. In March 2000, Prince Albert was recruited by Trish Stratus to form a tag team with Test , with his name being shortened to Albert at WrestleMania 2000 in a tag team match with Test against Head Cheese ( Al Snow and Steve Blackman ), which Test and Albert won. The tag team, known as T & A , competed in the tag team division throughout 2000, and feuded with various rival tag teams. Their first rivalry
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#17327762936574628-679: The early 1980s, and went on to attend the University of Pittsburgh , where he played football as an offensive tackle and an offensive guard . Bloom graduated in 1996 with a degree in sign language . Following the 1995 NFL draft , he was signed by the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free agent, but was eventually waived by the team. He then became a schoolteacher, teaching mathematics and English to children with behavioral problems and deaf children at Revere High School . After rewarding his three most apt students with
4717-412: The eight non-Japanese wrestlers (billed as gaijin ) to have held the title, with Vader being the first American champion, Hashimikov being the only Soviet-born champion, Omega is the only Canadian champion and White the only New Zealand champion. Antonio Inoki was the first champion in the title's history. Hiroshi Tanahashi held the record for most reigns with eight. Kazuchika Okada held the record for
4806-638: The event, T & A began feuding with Hardy Boyz, which led to T & A and Trish Stratus taking on Hardy Boyz and Lita in a losing effort at Fully Loaded . In October, T & A began feuding with the Acolytes Protection Agency ( Bradshaw and Faarooq ), leading to T & A and Stratus facing Lita and APA in a match at No Mercy , which ended in a no contest. T & A and Stratus would then begin feuding with Holly Cousins ( Crash , Hardcore and Molly ), which lead to T & A and Stratus facing Crash, Molly and Steve Blackman in
4895-604: The finals of the tournament on November 1. They went on to challenge for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but their match with the defending champions Team 3D ( Brother Ray and Brother Devon ) at Destruction '09 ended in a double countout. In April 2010, both Bernard and Anderson left CHAOS when the stable turned on them. Through NJPW's working agreement with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre , Bloom did his first tour of Mexico in May 2010, where he and Anderson managed to win six successive Two-out-of-Three Falls tag team matches in two straight falls, before he lost his final match of
4984-668: The first of which he received at the age of 14. His numerous tattoos represent his 8-year tenure in Japan. Bloom has appeared in twenty video games under his various gimmicks, such as Prince Albert in WWF WrestleMania 2000 , as Albert in WWF SmackDown! , WWF No Mercy , WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role , WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It , WWF Raw , WWE WrestleMania X8 , WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth , as A-Train in WWE Raw 2 , WWE SmackDown! Here Comes
5073-931: The longest reign in the title's history at 720 days during his fourth reign, over which he successfully defended the title 12 times, more defenses than any other title holder. Kensuke Sasaki 's fourth reign of 16 days is the shortest in the title's history. Over his five reigns, Okada successfully defended the title 30 times, the most of any champion. Big Van Vader's first and third reigns, Salman Hashimikov's only reign, Riki Choshu 's first reign, Tatsumi Fujinami 's third and fifth reigns, Masahiro Chono 's only reign, Genichiro Tenryu 's only reign, Scott Norton 's second reign, Hiroyoshi Tenzan 's first and third reigns, Kensuke Sasaki's fourth reign, Kazuyuki Fujita 's third reign, Manabu Nakanishi 's only reign, Hiroshi Tanahashi 's eighth reign, and Jay White 's only reign are all tied for least successful defenses at zero. Matt Bloom Matthew Jason Bloom (born November 14, 1972)
5162-432: The longest reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions, breaking the previous record of 446 days set by Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono in 2003. Bad Intentions made their second GHC Tag Team Championship defense on October 31, defeating Go Shiozaki and Shuhei Taniguchi at a Pro Wrestling Noah event. During New Japan's 2011 G1 Tag League , Bad Intentions suffered their first tag team loss in a year, when they were defeated by
5251-409: The match and Tensai danced with Clay after the match, signalling a face turn. Following this, Clay and Tensai formed a tag team and they went on to defeat established teams such as Primo and Epico , Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal of 3MB, and Team Rhodes Scholars ( Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow ), with the latter match taking place during the pre-show of Elimination Chamber on February 17. On
5340-472: The name change, A-Train continued his rivalry with Edge, losing to him via disqualification after a chair shot at Armageddon . On the December 19 episode of SmackDown! , A-Train and Edge had a rematch, which A-Train decisively lost via pinfall. On January 19, 2003, A-Train participated in the 2003 Royal Rumble as the #25 entrant. He was eliminated by Kane and Rob Van Dam . A-Train would then continue his alliance with Big Show as they lost to The Undertaker in
5429-528: The new ring name "Jason Albert". On August 7, Bloom stated he decided to retire from in-ring competition and announced that he would begin working as a trainer in the WWE Performance Center , resuming his teaching profession. On March 6, 2015, Bloom was reportedly promoted to interim NXT head trainer following the departure of Bill DeMott . On May 19, Bloom was promoted to NXT head coach from his previous interim role. Bloom married Farah Louise on September 3, 2005. At one point, Bloom had 28 body piercings ,
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#17327762936575518-485: The orders of Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley after T & A won a match against Too Cool. As a result, Albert and Stratus briefly feuded with Test, defeating him in a handicap match on the January 8, 2001, episode of Raw is War . After moving to singles competition, Albert participated in the 2001 Royal Rumble as the #17 entrant, being eliminated by Kane . Over the following months, he wrestled primarily at house shows and on Jakked and Heat . In March, Albert formed
5607-433: The process also became the new GHC Tag Team Champions upon defeating Sano and Takayama for the title. After the main event of the show, Bernard challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which Tanahashi said he would accept, if Bad Intentions beat him in a match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, alongside the man he just defeated - Hirooki Goto. On July 3, Bernard and Anderson successfully defended
5696-413: The rest of the event would be canceled if they were any additional aftershocks. The 2022 edition's schedule was announced on December 28, 2021, and the tournament ran from March 2 until March 27. The 2022 edition featured 48 participants which included wrestlers from both heavyweight and junior heavyweight divisions including the champions. The 2023 edition's schedule was announced on January 7, 2023, and
5785-427: The semifinals. The winner, Yuji Nagata , went on to defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi for the championship on April 13, beginning his second reign with the title. He also became the first person to reach the NJC final twice, and the first to win both the New Japan Cup and G1 Climax. The 2008 New Japan Cup was a 16-man tournament held from March 9 to March 23. The winner, Hiroshi Tanahashi , became the first two-time winner of
5874-472: The title due to an inability to participate in title defenses. When a wrestler had been injured or unable to compete for other reasons, tournaments were held to determine the new champion. In 2006, Brock Lesnar was stripped of the title for refusing to defend it, claiming he was owed money by NJPW. The company went on to crown a new champion, while Lesnar kept the physical belt. He signed with Antonio Inoki 's Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) in 2007, and lost
5963-424: The titles. Droz and Albert then resolved their rivalry with Venis and Godfather by losing to them in a street fight on the July 26 episode of Raw is War . They also competed in a Tag Team Turmoil match at SummerSlam , to earn a future title shot, but were eliminated by Edge and Christian . Albert received his first singles title shot against D-Lo Brown for his European and Intercontinental Championship on
6052-450: The tour on June 11 via disqualification. Upon his return to Japan, Bernard and Anderson defeated the teams of Seigigun ( Yuji Nagata and Wataru Inoue ) and No Limit ( Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi ) in a Three-Way Elimination match on June 19 at Dominion 6.19 to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Bad Intentions made their first successful defense of the IWGP Tag Team Championship on July 19, defeating Seigigun and No Limit in
6141-597: The tournament got to choose whether to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight or the IWGP Intercontinental Championship . The 2015 New Japan Cup took place between March 5 and 15. The winner of the tournament got to choose whether to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight , IWGP Intercontinental or the NEVER Openweight Championship at Invasion Attack 2015 on April 5. The 2016 New Japan Cup took place between March 3 and 12. The winner of
6230-495: The tournament ran from March 5 until March 21. The 2024 edition's schedule was announced on December 27, 2023, and the tournament will run from March 6 until March 20. IWGP Heavyweight Championship The IWGP Heavyweight Championship ( IWGPヘビー級王座 , IWGP hebī-kyū ōza ) was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion . "IWGP"
6319-488: The tournament two years in a row. The 2005 New Japan Cup was held from April 19 to April 24. The first two rounds were held on individual nights, with round one taking up the entire card on April 19. † Minoru was forced to pull out before his Round 2 match, due to suffering severe dizziness, and was replaced by Osamu Nishimura, who he beat in Round 1. The 2006 New Japan Cup was held from April 16 to April 30. Giant Bernard ,
6408-461: The tournament would once again get to choose whether to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight , IWGP Intercontinental or NEVER Openweight Championship at Invasion Attack 2016 on April 10. The 2017 New Japan Cup took place between March 11 and 20. Unlike previous years, this tournament was held across eight events in 10 days. Tomoaki Honma was originally announced for the tournament, but was pulled out and replaced with Yuji Nagata after suffering
6497-416: The tournament. The eventual winner of the tournament, Hirooki Goto , went on to lose the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match to Hiroshi Tanahashi on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2009 . This match originally ended in a double countout at 3:18, but it was restarted with Ishii winning via countout in 9:15. The 2010 New Japan Cup was a 15-man tournament held from March 14 to March 22. As the previous winner of
6586-635: The typical briefcase and contract for an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 16 . On October 25 at Road to Power Struggle, Okada's request was approved and he appeared with the championship; despite holding the championship belt, Okada was not recognized as the official IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the belt is still considered deactivated. There were seventy three reigns shared among thirty-one wrestlers with ten vacancies . Title changes happen at NJPW-promoted events. Big Van Vader , Salman Hashimikov , Scott Norton , Bob Sapp , Brock Lesnar, A.J. Styles , Kenny Omega and Jay White were
6675-665: The unification of both titles, deactivating the Intercontinental title and forming the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. On March 4, 2021, the Double Champion Kota Ibushi defeated El Desperado to unify and retire both titles. On October 21, 2021, after winning the G1 Climax , winner Kazuchika Okada asked for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt to be awarded to him for winning the G1 instead of
6764-488: The winner could choose to challenge for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship instead, while in 2015–2018, the NEVER Openweight Championship was also an option; only the 2014 winner Shinsuke Nakamura chose not to compete for the Heavyweight Championship, challenging for the Intercontinental Championship instead. In 2020, due to Tetsuya Naito being both the Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion,
6853-429: The winner getting immunity from being fired regardless of the result of the match between WWF and Alliance. Albert was eliminated by Billy Kidman and Test. At Vengeance , Zoo Crew defeated Christian and Test. On the December 13 episode of SmackDown! , Albert and Scotty's team was named Zoo Crew as they teamed with Tazz to defeat Christian and Dudley Boyz in a six-man tag team match. On the December 17 episode of Raw
6942-445: The winner of the tournament, went on to fail in his challenge against IWGP Champion Brock Lesnar on May 3. The 2007 New Japan Cup was a 14-man tournament held from March 3 to March 21. Giant Bernard and Hiroyoshi Tenzan received byes to the second round, due to their victories in the 2006 New Japan Cup and G1 Climax respectively. Shinsuke Nakamura was injured in a non-tournament match on March 13, giving Tenzan an additional pass to
7031-573: The winner received a match for both titles, and in 2021, after the Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships were unified into a new championship, the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship , the latter became the title the winner of the New Japan Cup would automatically challenge for; like previously with the Heavyweight title, the World Heavyweight Champion cannot compete. However, in 2022, it
7120-692: Was a loss to Val Venis on Heat . Two weeks later, he was sidelined with a torn rotator cuff and was released from his WWE contract on November 1, before he could return. In March 2005, Bloom began wrestling for the Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, adopting the ring name "Giant Bernard" (a reference to wrestler Brute Bernard ). He went on to join the Voodoo Murders stable alongside fellow WWE alumni Chuck Palumbo and Johnny Stamboli . On October 18, 2005, Bloom unsuccessfully challenged Satoshi Kojima for
7209-554: Was a member of the Roads stable until the brand's closure. In 2009, after betraying Togi Makabe, Bernard and the rest of GBH left the stable to join Shinsuke Nakamura and form the new stable known as CHAOS . Bernard formed the tag team Bad Intentions with CHAOS partner Karl Anderson and together the two of them went on to win that year's G1 Tag League after defeating Apollo 55 ( Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi ) in
7298-493: Was against Dudley Boyz ( Bubba Ray and D-Von ), which saw the two teams trade wins in a series of matches including a match at Backlash , which T & A won. At King of the Ring , T & A competed against Too Cool ( Grand Master Sexay and Scotty 2 Hotty ), The Hardy Boyz ( Matt and Jeff ), and Edge and Christian in a four corners elimination match for the Tag Team Championship, which they failed to win. Following
7387-490: Was announced on January 13. The tournament ran from March 4, on NJPW's anniversary event, to March 21. The final night was NJPW's first show held at Xebio Arena Sendai . Evil and Hiroshi Tanahashi received byes on account of being the previous edition's winner and the reigning NEVER Openweight Champion respectively. At the semifinals on March 20, the match between Kazuchika Okada , Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi and Bullet Club 's Jay White , Kenta and Yujiro Takahashi
7476-462: Was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year. A new IWGP Heavyweight Championship arrived only in 1987, replacing the old version. The 1987 version was defended regularly and was the top championship of NJPW until the introduction of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in 2021. Throughout the history of the championship, several wrestlers were forced to relinquish
7565-426: Was demoted to a comedy act, with Santino Marella calling him "Fat Albert" before proceeding to defeat Tensai. On the January 28, 2013, episode of Raw , Tensai was tricked into wearing lingerie while participating in a dance -off with Brodus Clay. Two days later on Main Event , after being mocked for his lingerie dance, Tensai defeated Titus O'Neil in a singles match. Clay came out to support Tensai during
7654-624: Was introduced in March 2008. The title formed what was unofficially called the "New Japan Triple Crown " ( 新日本トリプルクラウン , Shin Nihon Toripuru Kuraun ) along with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and the NEVER Openweight Championship . An early version of this championship was introduced in 1983 for the winner ( Hulk Hogan ) of the IWGP League 1983 . Since then, the championship
7743-407: Was on Brock Lesnar 's team in a ten-man Survivor Series match in a losing effort to Kurt Angle 's team, in which he was pinned by Bradshaw . On the January 22, 2004, episode of SmackDown! , A-Train defeated Shannon Moore to qualify for the 2004 Royal Rumble match , which he failed to win after being eliminated by the eventual winner, Chris Benoit. After Benoit decided to wrestle Triple H for
7832-586: Was once again an openweight tournament and featured all the champions from both the heavyweight and junior heavyweight divisions including the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. The first night of the 2022 tournament saw the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion take on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion in the first round, a match that usually happens at NJPW's anniversary event. The number of participants in
7921-512: Was stopped due to a 7.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred in the Miyagi prefecture. While Bullet Club went backstage; Okada, Tanahashi, and Ibushi stayed in the ring area to calm the crowd and pose for pictures while New Japan employees were performing safety checks throughout the arena, which took about half an hour. After the safety checks were made, the match was able to continue with ring announcer Makoto Abe informing attendees shortly beforehand
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