Dave Meltzer Picks His Current New Japan Cup Favourite

I was listening to today's edition of Wrestling Observer Radio whilst writing the most recent post, which covered the current betting odds for the New Japan Cup and - after publishing - a part of the podcast discussed the tourney. 

A subscriber emailed Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez with a question asking 'of the remaining New Japan Cup participants, who do you think will benefit the most from beating Okada?'

Meltzer's response might be of interest to those looking to gamble on the tournament.

The newsletter writer noted that he presumes Tomohiro Ishii will defeat Kambi's tournament favourite - Hiromu Takahashi - when they meet in the quarter-finals on Thursday.

As of the time of writing, Ishii is 7/4 to win that meeting. 

If Ishii progresses, and Okada moves on from his quarter final against Taiji Ishimori, the two CHAOS members will meet in the next round.

When talking through the bracketing, Meltzer went on to state that Ishii stood out to him as an outright favourite to win the entire tourney. 

This was comforting to my ears as Ishii was the wrestler I backed when the market was initially published earlier this month. I have since placed wagers on Shingo Takagi (already lost) and Taichi (after he beat Tanahashi in round one).

Even though I like the idea of Ishii winning, I still believe we shouldn't overlook the fact that IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion - Tetsuya Naito - will defend his titles against the tournament winner at Dominion a day after the final and, to add to that, Hiromu Takahashi and Naito were set to wrestle each other on a New Japan anniversary show before the pandemic forced NJPW to shut operations. 

Takahashi winning the tournament would give us that match albeit five months later than scheduled.