Update On NJPW World TV Title Tournament
After being announced at NJPW Declaration of Power, the NJPW World TV Championship Tournament has gotten underway and has already seen big players eliminated in the first round of action.
The tournament to decide the inaugural NJPW World Television Champion began on the first day of the company's Battle Autumn tour on October 14 and has featured two matches from the tournament on each day of the three events so far. On day one of the Battle Autumn tour, both David Finlay and Zack Sabre Jr. were first to move on to the quarter-finals, according to the NJPW website. Finlay defeated Suzuki-Gun's Yoshinobu Kanemaru, while Zack Sabre Jr. got the win over independent wrestling sensation Alex Zayne in the main event of the show. Then, on October 15, four more competitors vied for the chance to progress.
Aaron Henare represented the United Empire in a losing effort against EVIL, the sole representative of the House of Torture sub-faction in the tournament. The main event featured what has to be considered an upset, with YOSHI-HASHI defeating Jeff Cobb, as documented by NJPW. The "Imperial Unit" has long been considered a tournament monster, so his loss to the CHAOS stalwart was a shocking yet interesting development to end the second show of the tour.
The Battle Autumn tour continues
In the most recent event of the Battle Autumn tour, two of the most loaded singles matches in the first round took place (per NJPW). First, Hirooki Goto and KENTA went head-to-head, with the innovator of the G2S ultimately winning with his signature maneuver to move on in the tournament. Then, the long-awaited singles meeting between SANADA and Taichi commenced. They made the most of the 15 minutes allotted, with the match lasting 14 minutes and 57 seconds before SANADA got the victory with a flash pinfall to win the match.
Thus far, KENTA, SANADA, EVIL, YOSHI-HASHI, Zack Sabre Jr. & David Finlay have advanced to the quarter-finals of the TV Title Tournament, which will begin on October 27. However, there are still two matches yet to happen in the first round of competition. On October 26, the final two matches of the first round will take place, with Great O Khan battling Toru Yano and Ren Narita having his biggest test since returning from excursion against Tomohiro Ishii in the main event (via NJPW).