YOH made his first appearance in months during the opening of tonight’s New Japan Cup finals.

He came out as the show opened. He noted that he had been out for a while, but now he was back. He challenged the current IWGP Junior Tag Team champions, El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, to a title match against himself and his Roppongi 3K tag team partner, SHO, for Sakura Genesis on April 4.

YOH tore his ACL in a match against BUSHI during last year’s New Japan Cup, which took place in June due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Roppongi 3K were the Junior Tag Team Champions during this time, and as a result had to vacate the titles. 

SHO has continued his run in NJPW as a singles wrestler. He made it to the second round of last year’s New Japan Cup before losing to SANADA. He also challenged for the NEVER Openweight and IWGP Junior Heavyweight titles, but was unsuccessful in winning either.