The NJPW World TV Title tournament began on Friday with two matches under the parameters of the division.
Zack Sabre Jr. and David Finlay were the first to advance, winning their matches on the first night of the Battle Autumn tour at Korakuen Hall in front of 608 fans.
The matches will be contested with a fifteen-minute time limit with the World TV title designed to be their version of Stardom’s High-Speed Championship.
ZSJ submitted Alex Zayne with a heel hook in the main event of the card with five seconds remaining and stated his goal is to win his first singles championship in New Japan.
David Finlay pinned Yoshinobu Kanemaru after hitting Trash Panda and advancing to the second round, where he will be facing ZSJ on 10/27.
The tournament continues Saturday with Jeff Cobb vs. YOSHI-HASHI and Aaron Henare vs. EVIL. Sunday’s card features Taichi vs. SANADA and KENTA vs. Hirooki Goto. The final first-round matches take place on 10/26 with Great O-Khan vs. Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii vs. Ren Narita.
Quarter-final matches are on 10/27 and 10/30 with the semi-finals on 11/5 in Osaka and the final on 1/4 at Wrestle Kingdom.
