David Finlay Wins New Japan Cup 2025

David Finlay is the winner of the 2025 New Japan Cup, having defeated Shota Umino in the final of the tournament at Aore Nagaoka in Niigata on Thursday, March 20.

Finlay had an even match with Shota Umino, during which Umino looked to put his Wrestle Kingdom 19 failure behind him after he hit Finlay with a jumping knee and a huge lariat, but the War Dogs leader managed to kick out. Finlay was then able to prevent Umino from hitting any more big moves and a flurry of counters led to Finlay connecting with Overkill for the win.

Post-match, Finlay told Umino that to win in the future he would have to do it Finlay's way. Finlay then came face to face with IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto, who he will challenge for the belt at Sakura Genesis on Saturday, April 5. Finlay previously made Goto's children cry when he defeated Goto in an IWGP Global Heavyweight Title match at King of Pro-Wrestling 2024.

2025 was the first time David Finlay has won the New Japan Cup. The following results have taken place across the tournament:

First Round:

• Yuya Uemura def. SANADA
• EVIL def. Yota Tsuji
• Ryohei Oiwa def. Chase Owens
• Gabe Kidd def. Ren Narita
• Boltin Oleg def. Bad Luck Fale
• Great-O-Khan def. El Phantasmo
• Drilla Moloney def. Tomohiro Ishii
• Tetsuya Naito def. Callum Newman

Second Round:

• Yuya Uemura def. YOSHI-HASHI
• Zack Sabre Jr. def. Ryohei Oiwa
• David Finlay def. EVIL
• Taichi def. Gabe Kidd
• Shota Umino def. Great-O-Khan
• Drilla Moloney def. TJP
• Shingo Takagi def. Boltin Oleg
• Jeff Cobb def. Tetsuya Naito

Quarter-Finals:

• Shingo Takagi def. Drilla Moloney
• Shota Umino def. Jeff Cobb
• David Finlay def. Yuya Uemura
• Zack Sabre Jr. def. Taichi

Semi-Finals:

• David Finlay def. Zack Sabre Jr.
• Shota Umino def. Shingo Takagi

Final:

• David Finlay def. Shota Umino

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