New Japan Pro Wrestling has recently announced that Ryusuke Taguchi will be taking the place of an injured David Finlay in the upcoming New Japan Cup. Finlay was scheduled to compete against Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the first round of The New Japan Cup on March 10th, however, he injured his left shoulder during a match on February 23rd. His injury happened while going for an uppercut off the top rope in a match against The Briscoes.
Finlay’s replacement, Taguchi, is a Former Two-Time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, a Former Six-Time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and a Three-Time & Current NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion in New Japan.
The first round matches for The New Japan Cup are as follows:
March 8th:
– Yuji Nagata vs. Tomohiro Ishii
– Juice Robinson vs. Chase Owens
– Tomoaki Honma vs. Taichi
– Manabu Nakanishi vs. YOSHI-HASHI
March 9th:
– Toa Henare vs. Lance Archer
– Will Ospreay vs. Bad Luck Fale
– Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin
– Mikey Nicholls vs. HIKULEO
March 10th:
– Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
– Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino
– EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
– Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito
March 11th:
– Toru Yano vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.
– Satoshi Kojima vs. Minoru Suzuki
– Hirooki Goto vs. SANADA
– Togi Makabe vs. Colt Cabana
You can check out the full tweet of the announcement below:
Ryusuke Taguchi is taking the place of David Finlay in the New Japan Cup!
Read the full press release on the NJPW official English website!https://t.co/vlApVUGYDz#njpw #njcup pic.twitter.com/dKz9STiBez
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) March 4, 2019