New Japan Pro Wrestling's Start to 2026 Has Me Hopeful

We are now on January 6th as of the time I begin writing this. Two days removed from Wrestle Kingdom and two days removed from the retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi. Man what an emotional match and ceremony for one of if not the all time great that left me pretty emotionally drained for the RevPro show I was at after. It’s a curious time for New Japan now they have to put all their ducks in a row. I am however cautiously optimistic for the future coming out of New Years Dash.

Of course the return of the V4 heavyweight title is a good move I love that belt and its history. We need to see how the history of the titles work I’d just merge the world heavyweight title lineage into it. The same way I didn’t like forgetting the history of the heavyweight title I am the same with the world heavyweight title. That belt is the legacy and history of the likes of Ospreay, Shingo, ZSJ, Moxley, SANADA, Takeshita & Goto as well as additional world title reigns of Okada, Naito & Jay White. All those G1 wins for title matches the emotional wins then mean nothing? I don’t like that so look merge the history pretend it was never a new belt and bring back that history of champions video please. Just as a wrote this literally 2 hours later I’m reading they merged the lineage, I’ve seen enough boys New Japan is back.

Tsuji’s belt philosophy is also well done and handled and I hope that follows through in action. 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. This is great New Japan at the moment needs to tell and then show and with this we know about each title we know we can and cannot go for it so it allows thoughts and at least internally ranking. It’s smart to allow belts an identity and something the Global title has lacked now we know what it stands for we can think about what to expect from it.

Speaking off massive changes we are now in a wrestling world without Bullet Club. The merger of War Dogs and The Unaffiliated into Unbound Company means that one of wrestlings most important stables has now ended. Bullet Club has been useful for a while and especially since the House of Torture feud ended. I dunno Bullet Club in any guise as faces just doesn’t work for me even The Elite gave themselves separate branding to move away from it. With all of the contracted War Dogs looking at options it was about time (although I think most will stay and Finlay will go) it was time. With Tsuji giving the announcement and as heavyweight & global champion it’s odd to see the leader of Bullet Club just happy to be second banana. I do expect him to lose some sort of loser leaves town match to Newman at some point though.

Speaking of those leaving seems like both SANADA & EVIL are considering options. Often a blight in my viewing House of Torture is the faction that needs a big rework imo and losing two tenured members that allows Ren to take centre stage may work. I don’t know what EVIL is thinking as nowhere will treat him as good as New Japan do. Maybe he has an offer from somewhere or All Japan or somewhere have promised a triple crown title run but odd call. But maybe a little refresh is needed and I think New Japan needs to continue its youth wave. If you lose SANADA and EVIL then look towards Thunder Masami who said he’s graduating from JTO and looks good from what I’ve seen or I’ll always say Young Guns are New Japan wrestlers and should be looked at. Be smart and play within your limits but new Japan has a fresh face and fresh ace and that should continue.

And speaking on an investment of youth the Young Lions Cup is back. I’m excited by this I imagine this is setting up Murashima for excursion and maybe Kato. Lot of people made note that 3 new Young Lions at ringside so it’s time for a few to be cycled to the next stage in their career. I’ve felt before that Nagai will just show up first BOSJ match with nickname and gimmick and Murashima and Kato will be off. Interesting one is Yasuda who’s dojo rival Nagai has passed him by he’s an interesting one let’s see how he’s 2026 goes.

But we can’t talk about 2026 for New Japan without the new super rookie in Aaron Wolf. I really enjoyed his debut vs. EVIL and the 8 man tag at New Years Dash was fine as a new Japan 8 man tag is but we will see with his New Beginning match with Ren goes but it’s a good start. Aaron Wolf is a huge name and star in Japan and if he’s good at wrestling on a consistent basis then New Japan will make him ace no doubt in my mind. It does lead into the summer and the G1. I think we can see massive swifts in the people in it. If the likes of EVIL, SANADA and Finaly leave we have three big holes which Aaron Wolf and the Knock Out Brothers will take easily. Also Tanahashi will not be in this one and that opens and extra spot. With G1 doing a date in America this year I wonder if AEW gets extra spots I can see Takeshita and Andrade both being in but with such a young line up I think it could be fun and I would expect another first time winner this year.

Finally, I just want to touch on one of my favourites for 2026 in Yuto-Ice. I was privileged to see Knock out Brothers and YoungBlood a few times live during their excursion and always felt Yuto had this unique charisma about him but man he’s so much better since coming back then I thought. He has a brashness and arrogance that a lot of New Japan wrestlers don’t have which makes him perfect opposition to the likes of Uemura, Oiwa and Umino. Knock Out Brothers feel more L.I.J then they ever did Bullet Club because really they do feel ungovernable (this is my also nicely asking for Tsuji vs. Ice in the G1 please and thanks).  Since I wrote the initial bit on War Dogs I know there’s speculation maybe War Dogs aren’t happy with Tsuji just announcing that we will see I still think it’s a way of writing Finlay out in the end of everything but if Knock Out Brothers stay they fit with this and Ice in the future has that fit to be the second top heavyweight behind Tsuji like Shingo was for Naito in L.I.J. I also love his way of setting up seemingly generational rivalries. Bringing back up his debut injury against Uemura and blaming him is great stuff and will keep coming back up it’s smart. Much like your title belt history matters and playing off of it is the right thing. It’s Fire vs. Ice come on. With Oiwa it’s a fascinating clash of lives. Oiwa the privately educated and Ice the street fighter punk, him calling Oiwa a boring salaryman is funny but speaks to the talent of Yuto to carry such an odd line and make it work here I am booking the G1 of a tag team wrestler because he’s so good at engaging people.

As it stands I remain positive despite my transgressions at the end of 2025. A stronger New Japan is better for wrestling as a whole and as such the next few months of setting up the top of the card should be fun and I look forward to the first half of this year and the New Japan Cup. Now if we could just get some sort of announcement on a Royal Quest 5 that’d be great.