New Japan Pro Wrestling: My Hopes For 2026

This could be a big year for wrestling. Tanahashi and Cena retired and we are likely to see the end of the careers of the likes of AJ Styles and Tiger Mask. This is combined with TNA's bigger TV deal, AEW continuing to roll through (and they just ended up with a TV deal in South Korea) it's a big year. But as the title of this post says it is about New Japan Pro Wrestling. We are 2/2 for positive shows this year and will be starting the New Beginning tour later this month. I think as the third biggest wrestling company in the world it is odd to say they need a rebuilding year but I think it is needed. New Japan will start by using the celebrity of Aaron Wolf as a main hook in shifting tickets while using the increased eyes to establish it's top of the card. Look seeingly it's working and if it's a good move then it's a good move but I think by the time we hit January 4th 2027 New Japan should be fully formed in this new era. I personally just want to note a few things that I would look in in terms of 2026 for New Japan what I'd implement without going too mad.

The Title Belts
We are off to the best start with the return if IWGP Heavyweight Title and it absorbing the lineage of the IWGP World Heavyweight Title. It's a simple move that fans wanted for years and helps build some good will. It is also good to see Tsuji's philosphy of each belt explained with the IWGP Heavyweight title will be defended in Japan by the best of New Japan and the Global title on international events, or against invaders from other companies and now I hope that can be shown. But I do feel this is needed for the other heavyweight singles belts. I say heavyweight but both the TV & NEVER title are Openweight belts they just seemingly are never won the junior heavyweights. Personally to me I feel like the TV title matches should come with a sense of panic due to the 15-minute time limit and should be wrestled at a faster pace, it'd be like the CMLL lightning matches smaller time frame need to hit big moves quickly to win, when these matches are announced you know each wrestler is in a rush to hit those big moves and get the win. For the NEVER Openweight belt I always go back to the likes of Ishii and Shibata with that belt the hard knocks this belt is the one for hard hitting matches the real slugfests. I do think Aaron Wolf can bring this in matches with the likes of Ishii, Oleg, O'Khan and Henare so I think this one is easy enough to implement. 

However, I do think some titles need to go and well it is all three of the STRONG titles. I think New Japan Strong as a brand is dead and as such so should the titles around it. I mean look when was the last time Ishii defended that title? When was the last time New Japan mentioned the STRONG tag titles. With Syuri having both belts they should be merged and at New Beginning USA we should get Wolf vs. Ishii and Los Hermanos Chavez (who should be in World Tag League this year come on now) vs. Knock out Brothers in title for title matches bringing and end of the STRONG titles. I believe this to be the right call to make these belts are kinda just hanging around some of them nowhere near New Japan for the longest time so bringing them to an end as well as New Japan STRONG makes sense. I would however bring in a new title belt in the NEVER Openweight Tag Titles. I feel these can provide worth and give fun teams like Oiwa & Fujita or Newman & Akira could give worth to belts like that good openweight tag belt opens doors for interesting teams we wouldn't get with any other belt in New Japan currently. 

One final thing which is more of a tournament thing than a title but bring back the Super J-Cup. It's not fair the Heavyweights get 2 tournaments but the Juniors get 1. Bringing back the signle elimination tournament for the Juniors is good more tournaments more big wins. 

Establishment of Key Feuds
The thing I love about New Japan feuds is that they really never end. A promotion focused on matches will always go back to those matches and as such those issues never die. It's why we remember Okada vs. Tanahashi or Okada vs. Omega they could keep coming back to them. The thing about a large part of feuds in New Japan is they have a strong history building through, a lot of the core roster will train together as young lions and fight in draws and trade wins over and over again until they're both back from excursion, gimmicked out and keep fighting. Sometimes you get lucky and those rivals were part of the same Noge Dojo tryout group. I think that's great a personal history of growth over years is something that Japanese wrestling has really over other countries. 

For the current crop of talent this needs to continue. I think the key feud New Japan should be built around is Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura, they have a strong history, a Wrestle Kingdom match and to me are the 1A (Tsuji) and 1B (Uemura) of the current talent for New Japan. For me Uemura is the choice for the Cup Win this year (and I think it'd also help Umino's character development). These personal stories are the best Yuto-Ice holding that grudge against Uemura over getting injured in his debut match against him, the shared history of Yota Tsuji and him living with Gabe Kidd's mother while on excursion. I do think we need to have these and I do feel the current crop of Young Lions really lack (even more reason to fastrack that generational Kosei Fujita and Daiki Nagai feud). Looking at the current roster the likes of Umino vs. Ren, Oleg vs. Wolf & HENARE vs. Gabe Kidd have history and can have history. I would also now start buulding that depth of generational issues with the junior heavyweight young lions. I don't know what division Shoma Kato will end up in but he, Masatora Yasuda & Tatsuya Matsumoto are all Junior Heavyweights (so is Zane Jay but I can see him as a Heavyweight based on height alone) so maybe there's something with these guys. I do feel for the next generation of Juniors there's an open spot in the big four with Fujita, Wato & Nagai so be interesting to see who takes it. 

Young Lion Development
Speaking on Young Lions I always remember President Tanahashi speaking about how he was jealous on how WWE are able to develop TV/Live Show ready talent quicker then they can. I personally think what it means to be a wrestler in both companies is different and as such require different training but I do see his point. To get a New Japan ready talent from day 1 in the Noge Dojo to fully fleshed out takes years and as a process if you don't have a steady stream of good talent it can be disaster for the company. I do think we've seen changes in how this is handled with the likes of Newman, Oleg, Fujita and now Nagai all being Young Lions for factions and then when a tournament comes up getting their great and title. It's a new way of doing things and for some it'll work others needs that traditional route to find themselves, look at the Knock Out Brothers I don't think they become the duo they are by staying in New Japan over going to Europe.

I think maybe an evaluation of talents are needed. I think these all depend of on if they meet a certain role. Oleg was highly touted rookie (even won the 6 man tag belts as a Young Lion) and Fujita was a needed Junior for TMDK as they branched out post Zack Sabre Jr joining. If you have the talent to help right now it makes sense to keep them around. Maybe it's looking for the best fit in terms of where they would best develop? New Japan likely will use CMLL & Europe as it's main excursion places as I think if you send anyone to America it's minaly going to be ROH matches, maybe that'll work with the occasional AEW Collision match but I don't see a Young Lion randomly being shoved into TV time (but the ROH stuff is still matches infront of a different live crowd and if it works out a ROH PPV match). Oiwa in NOAH worked out well I do wonder if New Japan will do more Japanese excursions. My personal thinking is if you have someone good at wrestling but can still develop but feel they lack personality I think a run with DDT could very well help and should be somewhere New Japan looks at. Considering Chris Brooks got a Tokyo Dome match and it's a vital place in the history of Konosuke Takeshita maybe it is something being considered. 

I do have one particular Young Lion I do want to raise who I think might be around time for his debut. About 3 years ago New Japan ran a TV show on FujiTV called 'The Spirit'. The closest comparison would be Tough Enough and this produced three winners in Shoma Kato, Masatora Yasuda and a 15 year old I can only find the name of Omura. He'd now be 18 and while I think he is just about finishing High School in Japan soon or maybe he already has I don't know. It'll be interesting to see if he comes back as a Young Lion at some point. To get the approval and contract at 15 they must've seen something in Omura so he will be an interesting prospect for New Japan should he become a wrestler. 

Free Agency Shrewdness
This is a difficult one to really gauge. Japan (or maybe it's just New Japan) operate on 12 month at a time contracts so I don't really know the full scope of Japan and free agents. However, New Japan do need young and fresh talent to compliment their core. I know Thunder Masami has recently left JTO and at 20 could be one hell of a prospect. I don't think booking or hiring anyone for the sake of someone new so it has to be the right fit. I remember a few years ago that gave Nick Nemeth and Matt Riddle title runs and it just didn't work. Be smart look at who's around and maximise your talent to budget.

The New Japan USA Academy and Fale Dojo could also be used for this. I do think that the American academy has good prospect in Matt Vandagriff (who was on pretty much every NJPW Strong show) and Allan Breeze (who won the New Japan Academy Cup) to name a few and I feel they could add to the show even if you want to have pin eaters. It also creates the look that the American academy is a way into New Japan in Japan. I personally felt Vandagriff deserved more then he got give him the Strong Survivor title back he had gear made for it and everything. I'd also look at the Fale Dojo for this as well. I can't tell you what they do there or how it works but if the Knock Out Brothers trained there and it worked for them then it is worth a look at who's coming through. People go to these training places because they want to go to New Japan so let's use that. 

A Full Look Into The Factions
We are looking at a new landscape for New Japan Pro Wrestling with the (potential) end of the Bullet Club. Over the last few years we've seen the end of Bullet Club and CHAOS and newer stables like TMDK taking more of a spotlight. I believe the longest running faction outside of Hontai at the moment in New Japan is United Empire which formed in 2020 so everything is still pretty new and fresh. I do think however it is always important to make sure the stables have clear teams or unions in them. I dunno this might just be me wanting titles to matter but I think clear unions of Trios need to be defined for this upcoming year. I know the 6-Man tag titles are just there and New Japan doesn't overly care mainly looking to just throw three people together but I think trios looking to establish themselves. I see teams like Knock Out Brothers & Daiki Nagai or Narita, SHO & Douki or Kidd, Drilla & Clark. I dunno I think it's worth just trying to show within groups people have their preferred partners and those they want to go after titles with.

However, I still think New Japan can look into additions to its stable line up. I will continue to say that Shota Umino needs something, a goal or a change in his personality if you want at the top he needs to do something different as Uemura does everything he does but better. If you look at Hontai you see Umino in this new generation is number three behind Yuya Uemura and Aaron Wolf and man ain't nobody been a top guy being number three in a group. I do think he needs something and maybe this current story of him wanting to be champion in 2026 is something to make him more desperate. I'd like to see a group maybe he can add others like Boltin Oleg and other who are knocked down the pecking order of Hontai and Wato has teamed with Umino a lot before (and honestly I think the best way for him to evolve is to go back to his real name in Hirai Kawato over Master Wato). I would also like a bit of a change for House of Torture maybe they can win a match or two clean every now and then? I know break the habit of a lifetime but I think it could help and I'd personally love a pivot to them being a more violent stable in that wrestling real type of looking like they'll rip your limbs off type wrestling over wait 10 minutes for 60 run ins type wrestling. Just something to add that has nowhere else to go. 

Making More Use of Partnerships 
Ignoring STARDOM which is owned by the same parent compant New Japan has a good number of allies around the wrestling world. With CMLL in Mexico, RevPro in England and AEW (and ROH) in America. While Young Lions do go on excursion to at least two of these I do think New Japan can do more. Between not really understanding that AEW needed New Japan wrestlers on weekly TV to sell the PPV and running a real different schedule to other companies I do wonder if New Japan has never really bothered looking at how to maximise these partnerships their end. With New Japan working on tour schedules for most of the time I do think extra mini excursions could be great for talent. Imagine if during Best of the Super Juniors we see Shota Umino in CMLL or during the G1 we see Kosei Fujita have a run in RevPro. I think this can help wrestlers I mean it's a lot better than fill up the card multi man matches it gives some matches and maybe a feud with meaning. I think this help some wrestlers, new enviornment being a focal point of their matches over just being a tag partner while the more important tournament happens.

This is also a two way street and while you can send people over I do think New Japan should be looking at who they can have from especially AEW (but I will throw out very quickly how Young Guns need to be in World Tag League as Luke Jacobs is the most New Japan coded wrestler you will see fucking hell Gedo what are we doing). Look, New Japan has done a lot of giving it's time for some taking. You mean to tell me one of these non-tournament road to and lead ups they can't get someone like Lee Moriarty in for a run and have a losing effort for the TV or Openweight title? Unfortunately, New Japan and its partners find themseves up against a company that prefers monopolisation (and getting sued) so everyone needs to help build each other up. A little bit of extra depth some new faces and first time matches could help New Japan and you'd hope add to the NJPW World Subscription numbers.

Conclusion
This was a lot longer then I thought it would end up being. But, I suppose this is a good thing this means New Japan are giving a reason to care and a reason to be invested. I said at the end of last year the G1 climax should not have been won by Takeshita it needed to be Tsuji but Tanahashi's retirement gave them the best place to have Tsuji be the guy. Now New Japan need to sort that entire roster out into the best possible formation and look while the interest in Aaron Wolf is working they need to use that to keep eyes on the product and bring in new ones.