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The New Japan Cup tournament has been going on for the past ten days, and seeing as this particular NJPW tourney is a single-elimination affair, we’re already down to the final eight competitors.
Unfortunately, one of those men has been forced to withdraw due to an injury suffered during his second round match. Will Ospreay hurt his shoulder, likely during his second round match with Aussie Open’s Mark Davis. New Japan pulled Ospreay from a non-tournament tag match yesterday (Mar. 14), and at the time noted there wasn’t currently a timetable for his return. That was then followed that with a press conference today announcing that the Aerial Assassin is withdrawing from the New Japan Cup.
Ospreay, the 2021 Cup winner who had to be considered a favorite to win this year given his strong showing at Wrestle Kingdom against Kenny Omega, nominated Davis as his replacement.
NJPW agreed, and Davis accepted:
With that change, the tournament quarterfinals will now be:
Mar. 17
• Tetsuya Naito vs. SANADA• EVIL vs. Mark Davis
Mar. 18
• Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga• David Finlay vs. Shota Umino
The finals will take place on Mar. 21 in Nagaoka. The winner gets a shot at IWGP World Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada.
Originally posted at: Read More