The United Empire is in full control of NJPW. With Callum Newman as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and now AEW’s Andrade El Idolo as the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship, the faction wears all the top singles gold in the promotion.
At Wrestling Dontaku Night One, Yota Tsuji put up and lost his WGP Global Heavyweight Championship to the financial backer of The United Empire in what turned out to be one of the best matches of 2026.
Tsuji gets sent over the top rope to the floor early on. Tsuji is right back in the ring to give Andrade an arm drag out of the ring. Andrade pops back into the ring, is whipped of the ropes and does his Tranquillo pose smiling at Tsuji. Tsuji extends his arm to the sky give his best Los Ingobernables de Japon salute as well.
Tsuji drop kicks Andrade out of the ropes and to the floor. Tsuji Stinger Splashes Andrade in a corner. He gives him a series of elbows to the head. Andrade slips out and slams Tsuji’s head into the turnbuckle. Andrade lays in some chops. Tsuji just smiles. Andrade takes his glove off and gives Tsuji more of what he wants. Andrade wraps Tsuji in the Tree of Woe and stomps on him. They get into an exchange of chops in the middle of the ring. Tsuji runs into the ropes, jumping to the second rope, Andrade catches him in a Spanish Fly.
Andrade, inside the ring, catches Tsuji running on the apron for a spinning powerslam. Andrade dives over the top rope with a spinning splash. Tsuji returns the favour minutes later with a hurracanrana off the apron to the floor. Tsuji with a Spanish Fly off the top rope for a two count. Tsuji runs at Andrade prepare for a spear. Andrade blocks it with a discus elbow to the head.
Tsuji puts Andrade in the elementary Young Lion move, the Boston Crab, as he promised he would. Andrade makes it to the ropes to break the hold.
As they battle on the top rope, Andrade DDTs Tsuji on the top of the steel post. WOW!
Andrade slides back into the ring. He pins Tsuji with the hammerlock DDT to become the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship.
As Andrade is celebrating, Drilla Moloney and Shota Umino step out. Andrade agrees to give them a triple-threat match for the title.
Earlier in the evening, Boltin Oleg put up the NEVER Openweight Championship against House of Torture’s Ren Narita and as you suspect, there was a lot of shenanigans.
As Oleg is making his way to the ring Narita blasts him from behind with his push-up bar. Narita pounds on Oleg as Dick Togo chokes him with his garotte. Oleg breaks free of Togo and whips Narita into the ringside barricade. Oleg knocks Narita out of the ring with a shoulder tackle. Togo calls for the official as Narita lays unmoving on the arena floor. Oleg chases off Togo. As the official is worried about Togo, Narita smashes Oleg with a steel chair. Narita attacks Oleg’s injured, taped up arm and throws him into the fifth row on the floor.
In the ring, Narita works over Oleg’s arm using a unprotected turnbuckle. Togo took care of that pad some time ago. Narita puts a steel chair around Oleg’s arm. Oleg blocks and clotheslines Narita with the chair. Yoshinobu Kanemaru arrives taking a swig of his whiskey. Oleg hoists Kanemaru up. As he hefts him in a backbreaker Kanemaru spits the whiskey in Togo’s face. Oleg heaves Kanemaru into Narita.
As Oleg has Narita in a backbreaker Sho shows up. Aaron Wolf sneaks up on Sho scoops him up and carries him to the back. As Oleg picks up Narita to slam him, Togo low-blows him. Oleg is forced to tap out to the cross arm breaker. Ren Narita is your new champion! The House of Torture attacks Oleg until Wolf returns to chase them off.
Tomorrow’s Wrestling Dontaku Night Two card is:
Masatora Yasuda vs Taisei Nakahara
NJPW World TV Championship- Konosuke Takeshita vs Chase Owens
Ryusuke Taguchi & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs Unbound Co. (Gedo & Daiki Nagai)
Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma vs Knockout Bros. (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice)
Aaron Wolf, Toru Yano, Tiger Mask, YOH & Master Wato vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (Ren Narita, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi, Don Fale & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
TMDK (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles) vs Mistico & El Desperado
Yuya Uemura & Taichi vs TMDK (Ryohei Oiwa & Harltey Jackson)
Unbound Co. (Yota Tsuji, Drilla Moloney, Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X) vs United Empire (Jake Lee, Francesco Akira, Jakob Austin Young & Zane Jay)
NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Team Championships- Bishamontin (Boltin Oleg, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) vs United Empire (Will Ospreay, HENARE & Great-O-Khan)
IWGP Heavyweight Championship- Callum Newman vs Shingo Takagi
NJPW’s Wrestling Dontaku Night One
Toru Yano, YOH and Master Wato vs Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi and Taisei Nakahara
Wato clobbers Nakahara with a top rope uppercut for the win.
Winners: Toru Yano, YOH and Master Wato
Tomoaki Honma and Masatora Yasuda vs Knockout Bros. (OSKAR and Yuto-Ice)
Talk about a mismatch. One knee smash puts Yasuda down. As he prepares to hit another, the official declares that Yasuda has been knocked out.
Winners: Knockout Bros. (OSKAR and Yuto-Ice) by KO
El Desperado, Taichi, Mistico and Yuya Uemura vs TMDK ( Robbie Eagles, Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa and Hartley Jackson)
We get some bad, really lame lucha music because Mistico’s theme is copyrighted. Ugh. Jackson hoists Uemura up to put him away with Jagged Edge. Uemura escapes. A flying crossbody doesn’t pin Uemura. Uemura flips Jackson over with a Poison Rana for a pin.
Jackson and Taichi share words after the match. Mistico and El Desperado challenge Eagles and Fujita for their IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship tomorrow night. The champs agree.
Winners: El Desperado, Taichi, Mistico and Yuya Uemura
Goto Revolutionary Army (Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI and Tatsuya Matsumoto) vs United Empire (Will Ospreay, HENARE and Great-O-Khan)
Khan locks the claw on Matsumoto. Matsumoto is out. Khan though refuses to release the claw. Khan laughs. Khan smashes Matsumoto’s head against the mat over and over again. Khan pins Matsumoto with the claw. Ospreay reads Khan the riot act. Ospreay points out that Matsumoto was out and done. There was no need for that.
Winners: United Empire (Will Ospreay, HENARE and Great-O-Khan)
Konosuke Takeshita and Shota Umino vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi)
Takeshita and Umino have a staredown after not being on the same page during the match. Takeshita though pushes Umino out of the way as Yujiro swings his cane. It catches Takeshita instead, right in his eye. Umino DDTs Owens and clotheslines Yujiro. He pins Yujiro with Second Chapter. Umino rushes over to make sure Takeshita is okay. Takeshita refuses to shake Umino’s hand though.
Winners: Konosuke Takeshita and Shota Umino
Unbound Co. (Shingo Takagi, Drilla Moloney, Taiji Ishimori, Robbie X and Daiki Nagai) vs United Empire (Callum Newman, Jake Lee, Jakob Austin Young, Francesco Akira and Zane Jay)
Moloney catches Young with a beautiful spinning chop after absorbing strike after strike from him. Brainbuster from Moloney, spear and Drilla Killa for the win. In a preview of their match tomorrow, Shingo and Callum get into it. Callum bails from the ring though when the tide turns against him.
Winners: Unbound Co. (Shingo Takagi, Drilla Moloney, Taiji Ishimori, Robbie X and Daiki Nagai)
Aaron Wolf vs Don Fale
The two big bulls of NJPW finally lock up. As Wolf is introduced, Fale rushes across the ring and nails him with a punch to the head. Wolf bounces off the ropes shoulder butting Fale but that big man won’t go down. Running forearm smashes drop Fale to one knee. Wolf attempts to slam Fale but cannot. Fale easily scoops up Wolf and slams him. The fight goes to the floor. Fale whips Wolf into a ringside barricade. Fale scatters some fans as he whips Wolf into rows of empty chairs. Back in the ring. Fale applies the Tongan Death Lock and stomps Wolf out of the ring.
Wolf whips Fale into the barricade. It almost implodes. Wolf judo throws Fale. Fale kicks out of running elbow drop. Fale kicks out of a splash from the top rope. Chase Owens jump up on the apron as Wolf has Fale in a submission hold. With the official out Fale and Owens double-team Wolf. Fale hits the Grenade but misses an elbow drop. Wolf knocks Owens off the apron. Wolf pins Fale with an Angle Slam.
Winner: Aaron Wolf
Boltin Oleg (c) vs Ren Narita – NEVER Openweight Championship Match
Winner: …and new NEVER Openweight Champion, Ren Narita
Yota Tsuji (c) vs Andrade El Idolo – IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship Match
Winner: …and new IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion, Andrade El Idolo
