The Karl Gotch Cup is an in-frequent tournament promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) as a means of showcasing the younger talent on their roster. It would later be promoted by Inoki Genome Federation (IGF). The tournament was promoted in NJPW at the 1970s. It would be later succeeded and replaced by NJPW in the Young Lion Cup. The tournament was named Karl Gotch Cup to honor Karl Gotch.
The Karl Gotch Cup was a round-robin tournament in the same style as NJPW's annual G1 Climax tournament. NJPW hold the tournament three times since 1974 until 1976. But the tournament would return in 2017 in at Antonio Inoki's IGF as single elimination tournament. Wrestlers traditionally earn 1 points for a victory, 0,5 point for any sort of draw and 0 points for a loss. The two wrestlers with the most points at the end of the round-robin tournament will then face off in a singles match.
List of winners[]
| Tournament | Year | Winner | Total won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Karl Gotch Cup | 1974 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 1 |
| Karl Gotch Cup | 1975 | Yoshiaki Fujiwara | 1 |
| Karl Gotch Cup | 1976 | Shunji Kosugi | 1 |
| Karl Gotch Cup | 2017 | Ryuta Sakurai | 1 |
1974[]
The 1974 Karl Gotch Cup was a round-robin tournament held from October 25 until December 8. The tournament featured 8 participants. The tournament was held during the Toukon Series II tour. The winner of the tournament was Tatsumi Fujinami, who defeated Masashi Ozawa to win the tournament. Fujinami would later become a japanese legend having success in both the junior heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. He would later become a six times IWGP Heavyweight Champion and also won the G1 Climax. Later he was abroad, to Mexico's Universal Wrestling Association and to Jim Crockett Promotions in the U.S.
| Masashi Ozawa | 7 |
|---|---|
| Tatsumi Fujinami | 7 |
| Takashi Kimura | 6 |
| Yoshiaki Fujiwara | 5 |
| Makoto Arakawa | 3.5 |
| Masanobu Kurisu | 3.5 |
| Little Hamada | 3 |
| Donald Takeshi | 1 |
| Daigoro Oshiro | 0 |
| Final | ||||
| 1 | Masashi Ozawa | Pin | ||
| 2 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 10:37 | ||
1975[]
The 1975 Karl Gotch Cup was a round-robin tournament held from October 21 until December 7. The only two confirmed participants were Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Takashi Kimura. Fujiwara would defeat Kimura to win the Karl Goth Cup tournament.
1976[]
The 1976 Karl Gotch Cup was a round-robin tournament held from October 29 until December 7. The only two confirmed participants were Shunji Kosugi and Seiei Kimura. Kosugi would defeat Kimura to win the Karl Goth Cup tournament.
2017[]
The 2017 Karl Gotch Cup returned as singles tournament held on the course of one night on October 21. The tournament featured 4 participants. Yoshiaki Fujiwara presented the cup to the winner Ryuta Sakurai.
| Semifinals | Final | ||||||||
| 1 | Shinichi Suzukawa | Sub | |||||||
| 2 | Diego Anzaki | 3:54 | |||||||
| 1 | Shinichi Suzukawa | Sub | |||||||
| 3 | Ryuta Sakurai | 2:32 | |||||||
| 3 | Ryuta Sakurai | Sub | |||||||
| 4 | "brother" YASSHI | 1:40 | |||||||