NJPW Young Lion Cup tournament returning
Six up-and-coming NJPW wrestlers are set to battle it out for Young Lion supremacy.
NJPW has announced that the Young Lion Cup — which was last held in 2019 — is returning on the upcoming Road to The New Beginning tour. It’s a single-elimination tournament that will be held over three shows. The winner earns bragging rights as the top Young Lion in NJPW.
Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato, Daiki Nagai, Zane Jay, Masatora Yasuda, and Tatsuya Matsumoto are the six participants in the tournament. Due to being the most senior of the Young Lions, Murashima and Kato have received first-round byes.
Here is the full schedule:
NJPW Young Lion Cup 2026 —
Monday, January 19:
- First-round match: Daiki Nagai vs. Zane Jay
- First-round match: Masatora Yasuda vs. Tatsuya Matsumoto
Tuesday, January 20:
- Semifinals: Katsuya Murashima vs. either Daiki Nagai or Zane Jay
- Semifinals: Shoma Kato vs. either Masatora Yasuda or Tatsuya Matsumoto
Sunday: February 1:
- Finals: TBD vs. TBD
All three of these Road to The New Beginning events are being held in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall.
Karl Fredericks, who went on to compete for WWE NXT as Eddy Thorpe, was the winner of the 2019 Young Lion Cup. Other participants included Yota Tsuji, Shota Umino, and Ren Narita.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.