Written by Brandon Hoffman
The 2026 New Japan Cup ended with a bang after being subjected to many whimpers early on. The final four of Uemura, Oleg, Umino, and Newman proved their worth with some good Quarter-Final matches and these past few days with the finale of this tour. Let’s review the last matches of this whole tournament, along with some future thoughts for New Japan.
>March 20, 2026, Night 11
Yuya Uemura v. Boltin Oleg, Semi-Final
What a different type of wrestling match this was. All the grappling, switching positions, and fight for control looked solid. It really put into perspective how other matches over-expose their arsenals for the sake of sensationalism. Guys like Ospreay and Ricochet can do all the flippy-doos they want, but Uemura and Oleg really highlighted an important aspect of professional wrestling. The struggle. Everything felt like it had purpose behind it; the slightly botched moves like the hurricanrana off the top rope felt gritty and filled with desperation.
Even the forearms exchanged between the two made the atmosphere heavy because of their subtle footwork. They weren’t just waiting around to be forearmed, they actively moved around to add extra realism into their power. That jittery feeling of a need to win got both men filled with adrenaline. Bonus points for that Dead Bolt Suplex fought to connect the whole match, then Uemura said screw it and hit two High Fly Attacks to finish it. This wasn’t a beautiful match, but it had that beating heart to make wrestling compelling. No highlight reels here, just straight “graps” for the love of the sport.
Callum Newman v. Shota Umino, Semi-Final
Much like Umino’s previously big matches, his nose somehow got bloody again. How does he manage every time? Between the two semi-final matches, there’s a clear difference between types of slow and methodical matches. There’s what we saw earlier with Oleg and Uemura, and then there’s this approach. The first half of this match saw slow selling and sudden strikes that felt like it came out of nowhere. Newman flip-flopped between being a scaredy cat and a ruthless killer, while also trying to parallel Ospreay’s previous meetings against Umino. I specifically recognized a spot of Umino wiping blood off of his chest before going berserk with strikes in the corner. I thought Newman was trying not to be Ospreay Lite?
Regardless of my unpopular opinions of this match’s pacing, the second half of this match kicked all sorts of ass. It marked such an overwhelming positive in Umino’s growth to find his own image. He finally appeared like he could main event a show without getting booed out of the building. It also helped that NJPW loved giving Umino lengthy matches to show off his style. Newman ended up winning this one in a half-hour slugger with the Prince’s Curse to put down Umino. This match made Newman a number one villain, and that’s a surefire way to create a foil for fellow Cup finalist Uemura.
Normally I would omit the pre-tournament matches when reviewing the New Japan Cup due to the multi-man tag matches being largely inconsequential. However, this time around there was one match before the Cup Final that served as both intriguing and ridiculous all in one fell swoop.
March 21, 2026, Night 12, Final Night
Konosuke Takeshita (c) v. Yujiro Takahashi, NJPW World TV Title Open Challenge
This was one of the strangest matches I’ve ever seen. This show took place in Niigata, Nagaoka, so we had to make room for the Open Challenge to be answered by the home prefecture boy, Yujiro Takahashi. We’re seriously positioning a Yujiro push in 2026? He’s been in New Japan for 20 YEARS. WHAT ARE WE DOING?!
This loud crowd made Yujiro the babyface and Takeshita the heel just because of the hometown reaction. It truly felt like we got transported into an alternate reality dimension. Yujiro cheated, bit the fingers, and threatened to use his cane, and he got cheered. Chase Owens (at ringside for the match) nearly screwed over Takeshita with a forced count out and the crowd reacted like Chase Owens just solved world hunger. Very surreal.
Absurdity of it all aside, the match didn’t last that long even for a TV Title match. Just some signature moves back and forth with the usual interference. Takeshita won with his Raging Fire after he fought off the 2v1 advantage of the House of Torture. Afterwards, Takeshita called out Shota Umino for a rematch with the TV Title on the line. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see their G1 match last year, but Takeshita v. Umino sounds like a great match to look forward to!
Callum Newman v. Yuya Uemura, New Japan Cup Final
It all came down to these two guys who absolutely deserved the main event spotlight. Right away, I don’t believe everything is clicking with Callum Newman. There’s something slightly off with how he’s being presented, or maybe how he carried himself in the ring? I’m just not as hyped as everyone else is about him, sorry. Either way, this match ran like a freight train with broken brakes. There was a lot of chemistry at play where Newman and Uemura just hit lariats to turn each other inside out.
Newman’s offense remained powerful as all heck, which rivaled Uemura’s arm destruction offense. Uemura targeted the arm the whole time only for the Dead Bolt to not be the finish, but rather a huge thorn in Newman’s radar. It’s all about those little things that built a great match, which made Oleg v. Uemura’s Semi-Final super engaging to watch. Although much like another previous Semi-Final, Newman v. Umino, the last stretch of this match was bloody insane. Uemura kicked out of TWO Excaliburs and TWO Prince’s Curses? Holy hell in a hand basket. The drama and the adrenaline rushed so fluently that Newman had to bust out a new finisher to win this one. The best way for me to describe it is an F5-Shouten. The NJPW website named it “Make Way.” It looked awesome!
Final Thoughts after Final Tournament Match
Having Newman win is the begrudgingly correct decision, especially since it came at the expense of having Uemura lose. My almost perfect predictions across the board got adhered to, making for a predictable but still great tournament. If the House of Torture stopped getting all this popularity from domestic audiences, my American heart would be very thankful. Seriously, did we need to ruin Aaron Wolf’s star power this way?
About the future Sakura Genesis World Title match, it’d be strange to have Yota Tsuji lose the Heavyweight Title this early in his reign. It will be awesome to see how an evolved Newman can withstand Tsuji’s unbound insanity. Newman definitely improved his work compared to the G1 Climax last year, bolstered by needing to “lock in” as the kids say. He met with Ospreay at New Year’s Dash, his nemesis David Finlay left the company, so he needed to step up and boy, did he ever.
If this is the Callum Newman we’ll be accustomed to for the coming years, we’re gonna be rejoicing for sure. To wrap up a point made earlier, he’s just not my absolute favorite and I can’t quite put my finger on why. Perhaps I can’t shake off the Young Lion cobwebs? Yuya Uemura has his own image since coming back from excursion for example, but ever since revitalizing his character the only thing Newman’s had different is that crown tattoo on his wrist. Regardless of whatever shortcomings Newman may have in my eyes, his New Japan Cup victory is well-earned. At only 23 years old, he’s got the brightest future ever ahead of him.
