Written by Brandon Hoffman
After watching New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s yearly super card, there has been much discussion about the feeling of restoration within NJPW’s stock. The execution of Hiroshi Tanahashi’s final match as well as the combining of multiple IWGP Championships made for a bold precursor for the future.
It truly feels like a hard reset with Yota Tsuji’s victory over Konosuke Takeshita placing a new face in the World Championship picture. Not only is the company’s faith in Tsuji the correct way to go about the future of NJPW, but there were some star-making matches on Wrestle Kingdom’s card besides the crowning of Tsuji.
Aaron Wolf’s NEVER Openweight Title debut against defending Champion, EVIL, instantly presented a new threat to the NEVER division and previews a big presence within New Japan’s roster depth. Aaron Wolf’s style of a big hoss wrestler became very exciting to watch, similar to Boltin Oleg’s introduction at Wrestle Kingdom 17, three years ago. The thought of having future matches such as Wolf v. Boltin Oleg, Wolf v. Tomohiro Ishii, and eventually Wolf v. Yota Tsuji sounds like a real hoot.
The main focus of this year’s New Year’s Dash saw the main event IWGP Tag Title match between the Knock-Out Brothers and TMDK’s Zack Sabre Jr. and Ryohei Oiwa. Not only was the title match very good from an in-ring standpoint, but the Tag Champions were proven to become reliable stars in the roster even after still being considered new since back from excursion months ago. In particular, Yuto-Ice’s promo after the match about restoring the “high” within wrestling through what New Japan has to offer demonstrated a promise the audience was super supportive of.
Unfortunately, there were some head-stratching decisions that did overshadow some of the greatness that Wrestle Kingdom and New Year’s Dash had to offer. The spontaneous nature of the United Empire feels very strange. Andrade El Idolo and Jake Lee have joined, Francesco Akira is back from injury, and Callum Newman is teasing dissension after the meeting with former leader Will Ospreay at New Year’s Dash. It is about a year’s worth of faction development all condensed in two nights, and it feels too fast to connect dots as to what could happen next.
The 10-man tag match at Wrestle Kingdom with the War Dogs/Unaffiliated (currently Unbound Co.) was enjoyable and got everyone a spotlight, but otherwise the main emotion given to me for United Empire’s development is confusion. It is an overall cautiously optimistic future for the midcard factions like United Empire and the House of Torture. The latter faction featuring SANADA suddenly leaving NJPW also threw a wrench into plans, I presume.
Speaking of the new Unbound Co., it appears to officially be the end of the Bullet Club main unit. In AEW, the Bang Bang Gang remains spearheaded by former Bullet Club leader Jay White. Other than that group, the Bullet Club is not represented in Japan by name and it is quite a bold move to get rid of such a historic faction. First Suzuki-Gun, then CHAOS, and now the most recognizable stable to American audiences of New Japan are all gone. It is such a bittersweet end, but it is certainly better than having its legacy limp on with all the House of Torture involvement.
The polarizing reactions for Shota Umino is also an issue too, as the crowd does not want to cheer someone who can never realistically “win the big one” right now. Poor Yuya Uemura, having to juggle the negative reactions with Umino while remaining one of the most consistently sound performers in all of wrestling right now.
When all is put on the table, NJPW needs to focus on pushing the correct up-and-comers like the Knock-Out Brothers, Aaron Wolf, and Yota Tsuji. Creating worthy programs and cohesive ways to make the continuous faction warfare interesting will create an enjoyable 2026 for the company.
