Now that former WWE stars Jox Moxley (f.k.a. Dean Ambrose) and KENTA (f.k.a. Hideo Itami) are competing in New Japan G1 Classic Tournament, another former WWE star seems to also have been stung by NJPW tourney fever. TJP (f.k.a. TJ Perkins; man, there’s a ton of “f.k.a.” so far) will take part in this year’s New Japan Pro Wrestling Super J-Cup tournament.
But this isn’t TJP’s first rodeo in (possibly) the top promotion in the land of the Rising Sun. Since leaving WWE, he has been performing on the independent circuit and in Impact Wrestling. You MIGHT even recall his days at Impact BEFORE his time in WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic, but he has some history in New Japan too. Back in the early-2000’s, TJP trained in NJPW’s first LA Dojo in the early 2000s and worked for the company for a few years afterwards, later returning to take part in the 2011 edition of New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors tournament.
This year’s NJPW Super J-Cup (featuring wrestlers from NJPW, Ring of Honor and Mexico’s AAA) will take place from August 22-25, 2019, over the course of three shows in Tacoma, WA, and San Francisco and Long Beach, CA. This will be the first time the tournament will take place entirely outside of Japan, and while the promotion has yet to announce other wrestlers taking part in the tournament, prior editions typically featured between eight and sixteen.
Also, #PS1DiscSwap Crew RISE UP!
**UPDATE: Here’s the full bracket for the 2019 Super J-Cup, starting this Thursday, August 22nd:
The PractitioNERD 