Firstly, they decided to give 4 previous NJC winners first round byes despite there being some clear omissions from the cup. No Coughlin, Haste, Suzuki, Dad’s or JRs
Both members of Bishamon are near the current tag champs so it’s very likely Yoshi beats KENTA and Goto beats Chase to earn a title shot. However, this means Chase needs to beat Ishii
Alternatively a match between Goto and Ishii would be more interesting then their usual bangers and could be very important for the future of Chaos.
TJPs move to Heavy/Openweight is starting rough against one of the tournament favourites. This could be a story of TJP being in over his head. But I could see him getting an upset causing Finlay to have Jay-esque meltdown and downward spiral. Before forcing his rematch with Nemeth violently.
They are clearly teasing a contest between the former Dangerous Tekkers partners. However, standing in their way is Narita and we know how Gedo likes trolling. Thus we could see HOT being all over those matches and could lead to a short lived reunion. I could see a Suzuki, Taichi and Sabre 1 night only reunion vs HOT at Windy City Riot.
The GOAT Jack Perry is likely to beat Shota to set up a 2nd match in Chicago. Perry also looks primed to take on Sanada in a rematch from Forbidden Door.
My overall Prediction is Takagi winning beating Sanada or Finlay in the final to compensate for the lack of traditional face vs face/ inter faction anniversary match.
by shecanbromehard