Tag: njpw

New Japan News: The Next Big Thing Arriving?

If you have followed New Japan and, in particular, Yuji Nagata on social media the last couple years, you may be familiar with the oldest 58-year-old’s side hustle as an amateur coach for a New Japan-sponsored team. Besides Nagata’s own son (not part of this as he is still in high school) that has included highly-viewed wrestler Shion Obata, who had great success at the amateur level including 4 straight runner-up All-Japan Amateur Wrestling Championship finished (not affiliated with All-Japan Pro Wrestling). Now he’s taking the next step-he will debut for New Japan at Tanahashi Jam 2, the second Hiroshi Tamahashi Produced event, on 11/19 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, against Boltin Oleg. Ohata, 25, is a super heavyweight at 185 cm (about 6’2”) and 130 kg/286 pounds, which is sumo-level and would easily make him perhaps the second-biggest man in the promotion behind only Hartley Jackson. He joined the promotion in July and certainly will be one to watch over the next 20-plus years.

Reminder: Tanahashi Jam will only be broadcast live in Japan on TV Asahi. No New Japan World live broadcast but maybe on demand at a later date.

BREAKING: New Japan of America Shutting Down (Updated)

New Japan has announced it is shutting down New Japan of America effective immediately. In a brief announcement in English, the promotion cited “optimizing allocation of management resources in a rapidly changing business environment” as the reason. This DOES NOT mean the end of New Japan events in the US-they will still be held with “the full backing and resources” of current NJPW owner TV Asahi group. What I wonder about now is things like the US-specific fan club.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: This also means the NJPW ACADEMY, aka the LA Dojo in Carson, CA, the promotion’s US-based training facility, is also shutting down. Lead trainer Fred Rosser may be done with New Japan as a result as US news sites are reporting he recently returned to WWE for what was a guest appearance as a coach at the Performance Center. No word on what this means for the STRONG Openweight/Tag Team/Women’s Championships.

New Japan News: World Tag League Field Announced (Updated x2)

New Japan followed up yesterday’s Tokyo Dome announcements today with the full field announcement for the upcoming World Tag League, the annual year-end Heavyweight tag team tournament. It’s a 2-block round-robin format event with 16 teams entered this year. The top 2 teams in each block will advance to the Semifinals and tiebreaker will be head-to-head result if needed. Here is the full field:

Block A: Yuya Uemura & Yuji Nagata, Aaron Wolf & Boltin Oleg, Yota Tsuji & Jeff Cobb, OSKAR & Yuto Ice, Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson, Callum Newman & Jake Lee, SANADA & Yujiro Takahashi, Lance Archer & Alex Zayne

Block B: YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto, Shota Umino & Satoshi Kojima, Togi Makabe & Toru Yano, Shingo Takagi & Drilla Moloney, HENARE & Great-O-Khan, Ren Narita & Shun Skywalker, Don Fale & Chase Owens, Taichi & TBA

Certainly no lack of interesting teams this year. Block A seems to favor The Grouch & Ice Ice Baby given they come in as the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Yeam Champions but there is definite upset potential. Wolf & Oleg are a very intriguing pair and fan favorites Archer & Zayne are a tough underdog out. Tsuji & Cobb should be contenders along with Oiwa & Jackson. Never know with Newman & Lee while House of Torture and Nagata seem to be there to be the jobbers with no Young Lions entered. Block B (unfortunately) starts and ends with Bishamon who as usual are all-but-Semifinalists already, while HENARE & Khan are the other early favorites. Takagi & Moloney should contend while I’m curious about Narita and Skywalker, in particular the latter in his first big opportunity in New Japan. Makabe & Yano re-form GBH and will probably weasel their way to some wins (Yano will at least). Fale & Owens and Umino & Kojima probably won’t contend. Can’t predict much about Taichi & TBA until we know who the TBA is.

The tournament starts on 11/21 and ends on 12/13. The eventual winners, unless it’s OSKAR/Ice, will get an IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship shot, likely at Tokyo Dome on 1/4. Although if anyone already in a Tokyo Dome match gets the title shot, it may wait until New Year Dash!! the day or so after.

UPDATE: The TBA with Taichi apparently was going to be Tomohiro Ishii but he remains out injured. That according to Zack Sabre Jr., who yesterday in a promo asked Taichi to choose ZSJ as the TBA and to re-form Dangerous Tekkers for the tournament.

UPDATE 2: It’s now official. Sabre will be the TBA teaming with Taichi.

New Japan News: Updated 1/4/2027 Card

New Japan’s traditional post-blowout event presser today in Tokyo was all about Tokyo Dome as we are now 2 months away from the biggest event of the year in Japan. Updating from yesterday, just about everything hinted at is now official. Here is the current card:
Mistico & TBA vs. Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X and Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles in a 3-way for the vacant IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Yoh vs. Sho for the title. If Sho wins, Yoh must leave New Japan. If Yoh wins, Sho must leave House Of Torture and re-form Roppongi 3K
Ryohei Oiwa vs. MJF
Will Ospreay vs. Callum Newman
Shingo Takagi vs. Jon Moxley in an Unbound Deathmatch
IWGP Global Champion Gabriel Kidd vs. Yuya Uemura for the title
IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji vs. Kenny Omega for the title

More as it becomes available.

New Japan 11/3/2026 Results

POWER STRUGGLE, New Japan’s annual November Hiroshima blowout event, is now in the books.

Today’s event was held at Hiroshima Sun Plaza in Hiroshima and can be watched on demand OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY on New Japan World. This event aired as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2026 exclusively on TV Asahi in Japan. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 3683, a legit sellout.

Match 1: KUUKAI, Master Wato & Aaron Wolf beat Zane Jay, Jacob Austin Young & Francesco Akira. Wolf beat Young with an armbar.

Match 2: Masatora Yasuda, KUSHIDA & Mistico beat Daiki Nagai, Gedo & Titan. KUSHIDA beat Gedo with a hoverboard lock.

Match 3: Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa beat Blake Christian & Lee Johnson. Oiwa beat Johnson with a headlock. Afterwards, a taped promo from MJF (All Elite Wrestling) was played, demanding a match with Oiwa on 1/4 at the Tokyo Dome.

Match 4: Kazuma Sumi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano & Yuya Uemura beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI, Shun Skywalker & Ren Narita. Uemura pinned Kanemaru after Lions Shiner.

Match 5: Shota Umino, Hyo & Yoh beat Yujiro Takahashi, Dick Togo & Sho. Hyo pinned Togo after Samson Driver. Afterwards, a mystery man appeared in a promo issuing an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship challenge to Yoh before attacking him. That mystery man was Sho. Challenge issued for 1/4 with the stip that if Yoh loses, he must leave New Japan. Accepted by Yoh. With his own stip-if Sho loses, Sho must leave House Of Torture and re-form Roppongi 3K with Yoh.

Match 6: Jeff (Corn On The) Cobb & Shingo Takagi beat Wheeler Yuta & Jon Moxley. Cobb pinned Yuta after Tour of the Islands. Afterwards, Takagi demanded a death match against Moxley on 1/4.

Match 7: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions OSKAR (The Grouch) & Yuto Ice (Ice Baby) beat Callum Newman & Will Ospreay by DQ to retain the titles. Ospreay DQ’d. Newman chair use. V1 for the champs. Afterwards, Newman seemingly turned on Ospreay and demanded a match on 1/4.

Match 8: Kenny Omega beat Yota Tsuji & Boltin Oleg in a 3-way by pinning Tsuji. As a result, Omega gets a rematch for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and it could be the 1/4 main event.

Match 9: Super Jr. Tag League Finals: Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori beat Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles to win the tournament. Ishimori pinned Fujita. As a result, X & Ishimori get the next IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship shot…except…the titles are now VACANT. Mistico & El Desperado then vacated the titles due to a Desperado injury, and instead there will be a 3-way of Mistico & TBA, Ishimori & X and Fujita & Eagles to crown new champions. Which just rendered this match and the tournament completely pointless and devalued it all. Yes there were questions about how long Desperado would be out but why not vacate it at the start if they knew?

Main Event: IWGP Global Champion Gabriel Kidd beat Taichi to retain the title. V3 for Kidd. They went 30 minutes. Afterwards, Death Riders beat down President Hiroshi Tanahashi and others to stand tall and send the crowd home not happy. Next up: Based on his involvement and subsequent beatdown, possibly Uemura.

If nothing else this event officially began setting up the 1/4 card with a heavy New Japan vs. AEW theme.

The next event is an El Desperado Produced event Monday at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo. Live streaming as a PPV on New Japan World will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET. The PPV is available for pre-order for $22.99 US (2500 Japanese yen in Japan or around $17) and will be available for purchase and on demand replays until 12/25 at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.

New Japan 11/1/2026 Results

New Japan wrapped up the Super Jr. Tag League today with the final day of Block B.

Today’s event was held at Aikawa City Sanyo Fureai Park Gym in Okayama and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 861.

Match 1: Shota Umino, Masatora Yasuda & Mistico beat Yushin Hatazawa, KUUKAI & Master Wato. Yasuda pinned Hatazawa after Blue Thunder.

Match 2: Taisei Nakahara, Nick Wayne & KUSHIDA beat Tatsuya Matsumoto, Kazuma Sumi & Ryusuke Taguchi. Wayne pinned Matsumoto after Waynes World.

Match 3: Yujiro Takahashi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI beat Gedo, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori. DOUKI beat Gedo with Italian Stretch 32.

Match 4: Toru Yano, Boltin Oleg & Aaron Wolf beat Satoshi Kojima, Yuya Uemura & Taichi. Oleg pinned Kojima after Kamikaze.

Super Jr. Tag League Block B:
Match 5: Daiki Nagai & Titan beat Dick Togo & Sho. Titan pinned Togo after La Lanza.
Match 6: Lee Johnson & Blake Christian beat Jacob Austin Young & Francesco Akira. Christian pinned Young.
Main Event: Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles beat Hyo & Yoh. Fujita pinned Hyo after The Interceptor.
As a result, Johnson/Christian & Fujita/Eagles finish tied for 1st at 4-1, 8 pts, but because of the tiebreaker (head-to-head result) Fujita/Eagles win the block and advance to the Finals to face Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X.

The Finals are Tuesday.

The next event is POWER STRUGGLE, the annual November blowout event, Tuesday at Hiroshima Sun Plaza in Hiroshima. Live streaming on New Japan World OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY will begin Monday at 11 PM PT/2 AM ET. This will be an exclusive TV Asahi live broadcast in Japan.

In other news after the event, the next Yuji Nagata Produced event, BLUE JUSTICE 20, was announced for 1/17/27 at Yachiyo Arena in Chiba.

New Japan 10/31/2026 Results

New Japan continued the Super Jr. Tag League today with the last day of Block A.

Today’s event was held at Nishiyama Park Gym in Kyoto and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 1121.

Match 1: Zane Jay, Jacob Austin Young & Francesco Akira beat Yushin Hatazawa, Lee Johnson & Blake Christian Jay pinned Hatazawa.

Match 2: Dick Togo, Yujiro Takahashi & Sho beat Gedo, Daiki Nagai & Titan. Takahashi pinned Gedo.

Match 3: Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles beat Tatsuya Matsumoto, Hyo & Yoh. Jackson pinned Matsumoto after a senton.

Match 4: Toru Yano, Shota Umino, Boltin Oleg & Aaron Wolf beat Taisei Nakahara, Satoshi Kojima, Yuya Uemura & Taichi. Oleg pinned Nakahara after Kamikaze.

Super Jr. Tag League Block A:
Match 5: Kazuma Suni & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Masatora Yasuda k Mistico. Taguchi beat Yasuda with Oh My & Gar Ankle.
Match 6: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI beat KUUKAI & Master Wato. DOUKI pinned KUUKAI after Suplex De La Luna.
Main Event: Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X beat Nick Wayne & KUSHIDA. Ishimori pinned KUSHIDA after Bloody Cross.
As a result, Kanemaru/DOUKI and Ishimori/X finish tied at 4-1, 8 points, but because of tiebreaker (head-to-head result) Ishimori/X win the block and advance to the Finals.

The tour-ender is tomorrow at Akaiwa City Sanyo Fureai Park General Gymnasium in Okayama with the final day of Block B. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin with, because of the time change, 1 AM PT/3 AM ET.

New Japan 10/29/2026 Results

New Japan continued the Super Jr. Tag League today with Block B.

Today’s event was held at Gifu Memorial Center Fureai Dome Gym 2 in Gifu and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 921.

Match 1: Shota Umino, Masatora Yasuda & Mistico beat Tatsuya Matsumoto, Kazuma Sumi & Ryusuke Taguchi. Umino pinned Matsumoto after a lariat.

Match 2: Yujiro Takahashi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI beat Yushin Hatazawa, KUUKAI & Master Wato. Takahashi pinned Hatazawa after Pimp Juice.

Match 3: Gedo, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori beat Taisei Nakahara, Nick Wayne & KUSHIDA. X pinned Nakahara after X Exclamation.

Match 4: Toru Yano, Boltin Oleg & Aaron Wolf beat Satoshi Kojima, Yuya Uemura & Taichi. Oleg pinned Kojima after Kamikaze.

Super Jr. Tag League Block B:
Match 5: Lee Johnson & Blake Christian beat Dick Togo & Sho. Christian pinned Togo.
Match 6: Hyo & Yoh beat Daiki Nagai & Titan. Yoh pinned Nagai after 3K.
Main Event: Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles beat Jacob Austin Young & Francesco Akira. Fujita pinned Young after Thrill Ride.

Standings (Block B):
1-Hyo/Yoh, 3-1, 6 pts
2-Fujita/Eagles, 3-1, 6 pts
3-Johnson/Christian, 3-1, 6 pts
4-Young/Akira, 2-2, 4 pts (OUT)
5-Togo/Sho, 1-3, 2 pts (OUT)
6-Nagai/Titan, 0-4, 0 pts (OUT)
The winners advance to the Finals. Due to one of the last remaining matches being between co-leaders, it’s down to 3 (Akira/Young are OUT because of that) and may come down to tiebreakers. Here’s what can happen in the last matches: If Fujita/Eagles beat Yoh/Hyo, Fujita/Eagles advance. If Yoh/Hyo win, Johnson/Christian MUST LOSE OR DRAW (Akira/Young) for Yoh/Hyo to advance. If both win OR Eagles/Fujita-Yoh/Hyo is a draw AND Johnson/Christian win, Johnson/Christian advance. That is the only way Johnson/Christian can advance because they lost to Fujita/Eagles but beat Hyo/Yoh. If both matches somehow are draws, a 3-way tiebreaker match will probably be needed.

The next event is tomorrow at Nishiyama Park Gym in Kyoto with the last day of Block A. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at midnight PT/3 AM ET.

New Japan 10/27/2026 Results

New Japan continued the Super Jr. Tag League today with only Block A.

Today’s event was held at Furukawa-shi E-S Sports Park in Ibaraki and can be watched on demand on New Japan World.

The announced paid attendance was 597.

Match 1: Yujiro Takahashi, Dick Togo & Sho beat Yushin Hatazawa, Lee Johnson & Blake Christian. Takahashi pinned Hatazawa.

Match 2: Tatsuya Matsumoto, Hyo & Yoh beat Gedo, Daiki Nagai & Titan. Hyo pinned Gedo after Samson Driver.

Match 3: Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles beat Zane Jay, Jacob Austin Young & Francesco Akira. Jackson pinned Jay after Death Valley Bomb.

Match 4: Toru Yano, Boltin Oleg & Aaron Wolf beat Taisei Nakahara, Yuya Uemura & Taichi. Oleg pinned Nakahara after Kamikaze.

Super Jr. Tag League lock A:
Match 5: Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori beat KUUKAI & Master Wato. X pinned KUUKAI after X Express.
Match 6: Kazuma Sumi & Ryusuke Taguchi beat Nick Wayne & KUSHIDA. Taguchi pinned KUSHIDA.
Main Event: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI beat Masatora Yasuda & Mistico. DOUKI pinned Yasuda after Suplex De La Luna.

Standings (Block A):
1-DOUKI/Kanemaru, 3-1, 6 pts
2-X/Ishimori, 3-1, 6 pts
3-Wayne/KUSHIDA, 2-2, 4 pts
4-Sumi/Taguchi, 2-2, 4 pts
6-Yasuda/Mistico, 1-3, 2 pts (OUT)
6-KUUKAI/Wato, 1-3, 2 pts (OUT)
The winner of the block advances to the Finals. Today means KUUKAI/Wato & Yasuda/Mistico are out with just one match left but Mistico’s fate was sealed with the El Desperado injury anyway. Right now, if the standings don’t change on the final day, X/Ishimori would advance because they beat DOUKI/Kanemaru so that means X/Ishimori just need to beat Wayns/KUSHIDA Saturday. DOUKI/Kanemaru must beat Wato/KUUKAI AND X/Ishimori must lose to advance. KUSHIDA/Wayne only have hopes if it’s a 3-way tie because they lost to DOUKI/Kanemaru. Sumi/Taguchi need a miracle because they only beat Wayne/KUSHIDA.

The next event is Friday at Gifu Memorial Center Furay Dome Gym 2 in Gifu with only Block B. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.

New Japan 10/26/2026 Results

New Japan continued the World Tag League today with the halfway point of the event.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on New Japan World. This was also a live Samurai! TV broadcast in Japan.

The announced paid attendance was 1132.

Match 1: Taisei Nakahara beat Yushin Hatazawa.

Super Jr. Tag League:
Match 2: Block B: Lee Johnson & Blake Christian beat Daiki Nagai & Titan. Johnaon pinned Nagai.
match 3: Block A: Nick Wayne & KUSHIDA beat KUUKAI & Master Wato. KUSHIDA pinned KUUKAI after Back To The Future.
Match 4: Block B: Hyo & Yon beat Jacob Austin Young & Francesco Akira. Yoh beat Young with a neck lock.
Match 5: Block A: Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI beat Kazuma Sumi & Ryusuke Taguchi. DOUKI pinned Sumi after Suolex De La Luna.
Match 6: Block B: Dick Togo & Sho beat Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles. Sho pinned Eagles.
Main Event: Block A: Masatora Yasuda & Mistico beat Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori. Mistico pinned X after La Mystica.

Standings:
Block A:
1-Wayne/KUSHIDA, 2-1, 4 pts
2-Kanemaru/DOUKI, 2-1, 4 pts
3-X/Ishinori, 2-1, 4 pts
4-Yasuda/Mistico, 1-2, 2 pts
5-Suni/Taguchi, 1-2, 2 pts
6-KUUKAI/Wato, 1-2, 2 pts

Block B:
1-Johnson/Christian, 2-1, 4 pts
2-Hyo/Yoh, 2-1, 4 pts
3-Fujita/Eagles, 2-1, 4 pts
4-Young/Akira, 2-1, 4 pts
5-Togo/Sho, 1-2, 2 pts
6-Nagai/Titan, 0-3, 0 pts
The winners of each block advance to the Finals. Nagai/Titan technically are all but out now due to tiebreakers.

The next event is tomorrow at Koga City ES Central Sports Park Hanamomo Gymnasium in Ibaraki. Live streaming on New Japan World will begin at 2:30 AM PT/5:30 AM ET.