The National Wrestling Alliance is beginning to prepare for their upcoming Crockett Cup signature live event, with fifteen teams already announced on the recent NWA Powerrr show on The Roku Channel. But as of this writing, NWA owner Billy Corgan went to the social media platforms “X” and Instagram and announced on his birthday, March 17th, that another team will make its presence known, and they are coming from the Land of the Rising Sun.
“We have a surprise, last-second entrant into the 2026 Crockett Cup. Yes, from All Japan Pro Wrestling, the Titans of Calamity. ”
Talos, a frequent columnist here at Slam! Wrestling has faithfully documented his time working for the legendary All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion as well as his forays into the Japanese culture. Starting off as rivals, he and Ren Ayabe have made waves as the Titans of Calamity, winning the 2025 World’s Strongest Tag Team Determination League (All Japan’s version of the Crockett Cup) and claiming the All Japan Tag Team titles. In NWA’s press release, they also noted the following historical detail.
“Past winners of this prestigious Japanese round-robin tournament include pairings like former NWA Worlds Champions Terry and Dory Funk, Jr. It’s also been won by a string of former NWA World Tag Team Champions, including “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and “Bam Bam” Terry Gordy, Williams and Mike Rotundo, and The Dudleys.”
They both will certainly tower over most of the competition, which includes newcomers The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson), The Colons, and last year’s 2025 Crockett Cup winners, The Immortals (Odinson and Kratos).
However, Corgan pointed this out during his announcement.
“But here’s the rub; because they’ve entered this tournament so late, they enter in the 16th seed. That doesn’t mean they are the 16th seed. That means they enter a tournament to determine the 16th seed, and if they can get past that, then they got to work their way all the way up the ladder.
This is an incredible announcement. I’m so proud to bring it to you. Thanks to All Japan Pro Wrestling for making us part of your world, as we want to be part of yours once more.”
This is not the first time All Japan and the National Wrestling Alliance have paired up. Historically, All Japan, under the guidance of Giant Baba, worked with the NWA in bringing in foreign invaders, or gaijin, to work in Japan. Among the notables of that period were Ric Flair, Jack Brisco, and Harley Race. Conversely, All Japan introduced American fans to its wrestlers and its “King’s Road” brand of in-ring storytelling. Men like The Great Kabuki (who was the precursor to The Great Muta), as well as Jumbo Tsuruta, the first wrestler to unite the Pacific Wrestling Federation, NWA United National, and NWA International Heavyweight titles into what is commonly known as The Triple Crown. He defeated Stan Hansen in 1989 in Tokyo.
We hope to interview the Titans about this historic exchange in the weeks ahead, as well as other tag teams heading to Forney this April.
𝘽𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙆𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎: The newest addition to the 2026 NWA Crockett Cup tag team tournament has international ramifications!
Titans of Calamity, the current All Japan Pro Wrestling World Tag Team Champions and winners of last year's AJPW REAL WORLD TAG TEAM LEAGUE 2025, will… pic.twitter.com/vQIpc2gkFu
— NWA (@nwa) March 18, 2026
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