Tag: callum newman

Five title matches official for NJPW Dominion

Posted on by Joseph Currier

NJPW has confirmed a slate of title matches for Dominion 2026.

One of NJPW’s biggest events of the year, Dominion will be held at Osaka-jo Hall on June 14. A press conference was held overnight with NJPW making its first match announcements for the show. It was officially confirmed that the main event will be Callum Newman putting his IWGP Heavyweight Championship on the line against Yota Tsuji.

Newman vs. Tsuji is a rematch from Sakura Genesis, where Newman defeated Tsuji to become the youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history. Tsuji then earned another shot at the belt by pinning Newman in a tag team match earlier this week.

Among the other title matches set is the first defense for new IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Andrade El Idolo. The AEW star defeated Tsuji for the title at Wrestling Dontaku and will now defend in a three-way bout against Shota Umino and Drilla Moloney.

Six matches in total have been confirmed for Dominion so far, with five having championship stakes. The show will air live on NJPW World with English commentary.

NJPW Dominion 2026 (Sunday, June 14) —

  • IWGP Heavyweight Champion Callum Newman defends against Yota Tsuji
  • Three-way match: IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Andrade El Idolo defends against Shota Umino and Drilla Moloney
  • IWGP Tag Team Champions Yuto-Ice & OSKAR defend against Great-O-Khan & Henare
  • NEVER Openweight Champion Ren Narita defends against Aaron Wolf
  • NJPW World Television Champion Konosuke Takeshita defends against SANADA
  • Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa vs. Yuya Uemura & Taichi

The rest of the card will take shape in the coming weeks as NJPW is set to begin its Best of the Super Juniors tour this Thursday (May 14).

NJPW Dominion 2026 main event set

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The main event of NJPW Dominion 2026 is now set with Yota Tsuji earning an IWGP Heavyweight Championship rematch.

At the June 14 event in Osaka, Tsuji will challenge Callum Newman for the IWGP Heavyweight title. That was confirmed when Tsuji pinned the champion in a tag team match at Ignition to Dominion today. Tsuji & Shingo Takagi defeated Newman & Jake Lee in a bout that had significant stakes. If Tsuji & Takagi had lost, neither would have been able to challenge Newman for his title again.

Tsuji had a three-month reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion before dropping the belt to Newman at Sakura Genesis this April. In today’s tag match, he connected with a Gene Blaster spear to get the pin on Newman after Takagi took out Lee. Tsuji then got on the microphone and promised to get NJPW back on the right track after the dark road Newman has taken the company down as champion.

This will be the second defense of Newman’s reign. The youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history, he retained over Takagi at night two of Wrestling Dontaku earlier this week.

Dominion is traditionally one of NJPW’s biggest events of the year. Though not confirmed yet, an IWGP Tag Team title match is being built up with Yuto-Ice & OSKAR defending against Great-O-Khan & HENARE. Those teams needed to be separated after O-Khan & HENARE were on the winning side of a 10-man tag match at Ignition to Dominion.

NJPW Dominion 2026 (Sunday, June 14) —

  • IWGP Heavyweight Champion Callum Newman defends against Yota Tsuji

NJPW announces full card for Ignition to Dominion

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The full card has now been confirmed for NJPW Ignition to Dominion.

Taking place in Karatsu this Wednesday, the show could set the stage for the Dominion 2026 main event. Callum Newman & Jake Lee are facing off against Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi. If either Unbound Co. member scores a pinfall over Newman, they earn an IWGP Heavyweight Championship shot against him at Dominion. But if United Empire win, neither Tsuji nor Takagi can challenge for the title again as long as Newman is champion.

Newman issued the challenge for this match after cheating to retain his title against Takagi at Wrestling Dontaku. The youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history, Newman won the belt from Tsuji last month at Sakura Genesis.

Dominion is being held in Osaka on June 14. An IWGP Tag Team title match with Yuto-Ice & OSKAR defending against Great-O-Khan & HENARE of United Empire looks likely for that show. At ignition, they’ll be part of a 10-man tag match with Yuto-Ice, OSKAR, Taiji Ishimori, Gedo & Daiki Nagai facing O-Khan, HENARE, Francesco Akira, Jakob Austin Young & Zane Jay.

The full card for Ignition is listed below. It’s airing live on NJPW World at 4 a.m. Eastern/1 a.m. Pacific and is the last stop for NJPW before Best of the Super Juniors begins on May 14.

NJPW Ignition to Dominion (Wednesday, May 6) —

  • Callum Newman & Jake Lee vs. Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi
  • Yuto-Ice, OSKAR, Taiji Ishimori, Gedo & Daiki Nagai vs. Great-O-Khan, HENARE, Francesco Akira, Jakob Austin Young & Zane Jay
  • Aaron Wolf, Oleg Boltin & Tiger Mask vs. Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo
  • Yuya Uemura & Masatora Yasuda vs. Ryohei Oiwa & Kosei Fujita
  • Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma vs. Taichi & El Desperado
  • Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Toru Yano, YOH & Master Wato
  • Ryusuke Taguchi & Taisei Nakahara vs. SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru

NJPW sets up tag team match with IWGP title implications

Posted on by Joseph Currier

A high-stakes tag team match looks set to take place on the road to NJPW Dominion.

Night two of Wrestling Dontaku ended with IWGP Heavyweight Champion Callum Newman issuing a challenge to Yota Tsuji & Shingo Takagi. At Ignition to Dominion this Wednesday (May 6), Newman & Jake Lee will team up against the Unbound Co. duo. If United Empire win, neither Tsuji nor Takagi can challenge Newman for the IWGP Heavyweight title again. But if either Tsuji or Takagi manage to score a pinfall over Newman, that competitor earns the right to challenge for his belt in the main event of Dominion on June 14.

NJPW has not officially announced the tag match or revealed the full card for Ignition to Dominion. The show is airing live on New Japan World on Wednesday with a start time of 4 a.m. Eastern/1 a.m. Pacific.

At Dontaku today, Newman used a low blow to retain his IWGP Heavyweight Championship over Takagi. It was Newman’s first defense since winning the title from Tsuji at Sakura Genesis 2026.

Newman’s immediate focus remains on the United Empire/Unbound Co. feud, but a match against his former mentor Will Ospreay appears to be the ultimate direction. Issues between Newman and Ospreay continued to build at Dontaku, where Ospreay did not approve of Newman cheating to win. Ospreay was then initially reluctant to help United Empire with their post-match attack on Takagi and Tsuji. Backstage, Ospreay reaffirmed his commitment to United Empire and said he’s trying his best to be the kind of competitor Newman wants him to be.

Night two of Dontaku saw United Empire capture more gold with Ospreay, Great-O-Khan & HENARE defeating Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Oleg Boltin for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles.

Callum Newman reveals new long term NJPW contract

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Callum Newman has revealed his new NJPW contract.

Earlier this month at NJPW Sakura Genesis, Newman defeated Yota Tsuji to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Shortly after, in an interview with NJPW1972, Newman opened up about his NJPW contract status when asked about a move to AEW.

“I’m signed here. I live here now and I’ve got a long term contract. I’ve never spoken to Tony Khan. The only people I know there are Will[Ospreay] and Andrade[El Idolo],” Newman said.

A few days ago, before AEW Dynasty, Newman, alongside United Empire (Will Ospreay, Francesco Akira & HENARE), visited AEW to help Ospreay fight Jon Moxley and the Death Riders.

Speaking on Ospreay’s role in the United Empire, Newman said, “He’s still like my big brother. That won’t change. But his role now, I don’t know. Some guys like HENARE and Great-O-Khan might only see me as the leader when he’s not around. So we need to talk about that.”

There have been no other reports on Newman’s potential upcoming AEW visits. He is also scheduled to defend his title against Shingo Takagi at NJPW Wrestling Dontaku.

Three United Empire members make AEW debuts on Dynamite

Posted on by Josh Nason

Three members of United Empire made their AEW in-ring debuts as part of Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite.

After last weekend’s Sakura Genesis, Will Ospreay asked newly-crowned IWGP Heavyweight Champion Callum Newman for some help in AEW against the Death Riders from the group he founded.

Newman came through as he, Francesco Akira and Henare joined Ospreay in an anything goes eight-man tag team match against Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, PAC and Daniel Garcia on Dynamite as a teaser for Sunday’s Ospreay vs. Moxley match at Dynasty. The eight men also had a show-opening brawl, leading to the match that wasn’t announced before the show.

The end came when Moxley went for a fourth Paradigm Shift on Ospreay, but Newman ran in and hit Moxley with a clothesline, setting him up for a Ospreay Hidden Blade through a table as both Ospreay and Newman pinned Moxley. The double pin and Newman bailing out Ospreay could be important seeds for an eventual turn on Ospreay down the road.

It’s unknown if the three men will also be in attendance at Sunday’s pay-per-view.

Will Ospreay congratulates Callum Newman on IWGP Heavyweight title win

Posted on by Shounak Chakrabarti

New IWGP Heavyweight champion Callum Newman has received words of encouragement and praise from Will Ospreay.

The final moments of NJPW Sakura Genesis 2026 saw Callum Newman standing tall as the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Newman, 23, defeated Yota Tsuji to capture the title and become the youngest wrestler ever to hold the championship.

AEW wrestler Will Ospreay was present ringside during Newman’s victory. He soon opened up about Newman’s title victory on social media and reflected on their history together. Ospreay shared his relationship with Newman and how he had once expressed his belief in Newman to his parents.

“This was one of the best moments of my life to watch a kid that I started mentoring when he turned 15 and his parents brought him to me seminar. Congratulations to the youngest ever IWGP Heavyweight champion,” Ospreay wrote on social media.

Ospreay recently also asked Newman and United Empire for help to deal with Jon Moxley’s Death Riders on AEW. Ospreay is currently scheduled to face Moxley at AEW Dynasty for the Continental title.

WOL: Pat McAfee hates WWE so much he wants to save it

Posted on by Jim Valley

It’s the Saturday Wrestling Observer Live with Jim Valley.

Pat McAfee being Randy Orton’s “mystery caller” on WWE SmackDown has elicited two opinions from the fans: 1) It was the worst SmackDown ever or 2) Why can’t you just enjoy things? Nobody hates wrestling more than wrestling fans!

We’ll talk about why McAfee was the choice and who made the decision. We’ll also touch on Trick, Melo, Danhausen and the rest of the show as well.

Plus, a big surprise at Sakura Genesis, Billy Jack Haynes news, RIP “Flying” Fred Curry, NXT Stand & Deliver, and that’s not close mto all of it.

Right Click Save As (sub needed)

New champion crowned at NJPW Sakura Genesis

Posted on by Bryan Rose

History was made at Sakura Genesis.

Callum Newman, 23, defeated Yota Tsuji to become the youngest IWGP Champion of all time Saturday at Sumo Hall, scoring the pinfall after connecting with the Prince’s Curse and the make way. The shock win ends Tsuji’s reign with the championship, which he won back at Wrestle Kingdom 20 in January.

Will Ospreay, who wrestled earlier in the show, was the first to embrace Newman following his title win and put the IWGP Championship around Newman’s waist. Newman cut a short promo telling the crowd that there was no doubt about him anymore and to kiss the crown. The show closed with all members of United Empire, including Ospreay, posing with the new champion.

Later, during backstage comments, Ospreay asked Newman if they could talk privately, seemingly hinting that he may need help in AEW where the Death Riders and Jon Moxley have been playing the numbers game against him.

After the match, a hooded figure arrived and laid out Tsuji with a piledriver, later revealing himself to be Gabe Kidd. Shingo Takagi came out for the save, but Kidd landed in a punch before exiting the area. Takagi recovered and eventually crossed paths with Newman, issuing the first challenge for the title.

NJPW announces title matches for Sakura Genesis 2026

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Coming out of the New Japan Cup finals, NJPW has revealed most of the card for Sakura Genesis 2026.

United Empire’s Callum Newman was crowned the New Japan Cup winner this past weekend. With that victory, he now heads to the main event of Sakura Genesis on April 4 for an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against Yota Tsuji. It will be the second title defense of Tsuji’s reign. He already holds a victory over United Empire member Jake Lee.

In total, four championship bouts are part of the announced Sakura Genesis lineup. The IWGP Tag Team titles will be on the line when TMDK’s Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa challenge Oskar & Yuto-Ice. This is a rematch from the main event of New Year Dash 2026, where Oskar & Yuto-Ice retained over Sabre & Oiwa.

Konosuke Takeshita will make another defense of the NJPW World Television Championship, this time against Shota Umino. Takeshita won the belt from El Phantasmo last month and successfully defended against Yujiro Takahashi at the New Japan Cup finals.

Plus, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Oleg Boltin will put their NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles on the line against House of Torture (Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens).

Sakura Genesis is being held at Sumo Hall in Tokyo and will stream live on NJPW World.

NJPW Sakura Genesis 2026 (Saturday, April 4) —

  • IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji defends against Callum Newman
  • IWGP Tag Team Champions The Knock Out Brothers (Oskar & Yuto-Ice) defend against Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa
  • NJPW World Television Champion Konosuke Takeshita defends against Shota Umino
  • NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Oleg Boltin defend against Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens
  • Aaron Wolf, YOH, Toru Yano & Master Wato vs. Don Fale, DOUKI, SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X vs. Jake Lee, Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young
  • Togi Makabe & Tiger Mask vs. Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita
  • Pre-show: KUSHIDA & Masatora Yasuda vs. Tatsuya Matsumoto & Taisei Nakahara

NJPW Cup 2026 tournament winner crowned

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Make way for the prince.

Callum Newman defeated Yuya Uemura in the finals of this year’s New Japan Cup on Saturday morning. In what ended up being a classic battle between the two young stars, Uemura battled through two brainbusters but walked into a lariat from Newman, who then scored the pin with the Make Way.

The win makes Newman, 23, the youngest NJPW Cup winner to date. He will now challenge Yota Tsuji at Sakura Genesis on April 4 at Sumo Hall.

After the match, Newman cut a promo saying that no one in the company wanted to win this more than himself, declaring that this was his empire and his company now. The win, he said, makes him one of the best wrestlers in the company and declared himself the ace of New Japan. 

Yota Tsuji came to the ring and stared down his future opponent, telling Newman that at Sumo Hall, he was next. It was at this moment the rest of the United Empire appeared and circled around Tsuji, but Newman ordered them to stand down as the IWGP Champion retreated and headed to the back. The NJPW Cup winner then ended his promo by telling the crowd that they will all make way for the prince and kiss the crown.

Newman defeated OSKAR, Hartley Jackson, Hirooki Goto, and Shota Umino to make it to the finals. Meanwhile, Uemura bested the likes of Great-O-Khan, Drilla Moloney, Shingo Takagi, and Boltin Oleg.

NJPW star says new multi-year contract is ‘signed and sealed’

Posted on by Joseph Currier

NJPW star Callum Newman looks to have recently signed a new multi-year contract with the company.

In a backstage promo over the weekend, Newman — who is currently feuding with David Finlay — bragged about being the only foreigner who is under a multi-year deal with NJPW. He also sent out a tweet stating that the contract is “signed and sealed.”

“It’s all jealousy, that’s all it is. Everything’s based on jealousy in this f***ing company,” Newman said in his promo directed at Finlay. “I’m the only foreigner, as far as I’m aware, in this company who’s got a multi-year deal to one of the biggest f***ing companies in the world. And I’m only 23. Do you know what that means? I’m one of the f***ing best in the world. I’m better than Jay [White]. I’m better than Kenny [Omega]. I’m better than [Will] Ospreay.”

Newman is the leader of United Empire, an NJPW faction that Ospreay once led. Ospreay made a surprise appearance at NJPW New Year Dash earlier this month and offered to help Newman and United Empire get through the rough patch they’re going through. Newman didn’t seem too interested in his former mentor’s offer. He went to hit Ospreay with a steel chair before the rest of United Empire stopped him.

Ospreay and Newman are both from the United Kingdom, with Ospreay helping to bring Newman into NJPW in 2023. Ospreay is now contracted to AEW but has said he would like to occasionally compete for NJPW as well once he’s able to return from neck surgery.

As far as his feud with Finlay, Newman challenged Finlay to name a time and place for them to face each other.

Play-in matches set for final four NJPW G1 tournament spots

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Eight wrestlers are set to compete for the final four spots in NJPW G1 Climax 2025.

Over the weekend, NJPW revealed 16 of the 20 entrants who will be participating in this summer’s tournament. The last four spots are still up for grabs with play-in matches taking place during the New Japan Soul tour with events at Korakuen Hall on June 23 and Budokan Hall on July 4.

Here is the play-in schedule:

Monday, June 23 —

  • A Block play-in match: Taichi vs. Callum Newman
  • B Block play-in match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Drilla Moloney

Friday, July 4 —

  • A Block play-in match: Ryohei Oiwa vs. Bad Luck Fale
  • B Block play-in match: YOSHI-HASHI vs. Chase Owens

Moloney and Oiwa would be competing in their first-ever G1s if they are able to qualify for the tournament. Moloney is a member of Bullet Club War Dogs, while Oiwa is part of TMDK.

At NJPW Dominion on Sunday, Taichi & Ishii defeated Newman & Great-O-Khan to become the new IWGP Tag Team Champions. Ishii also currently holds singles gold as the NJPW Strong Openweight Champion.

The G1 begins on July 19 and runs through August 17. Here’s what the field looks like ahead of the last four entrants being confirmed:

A Block —

  • Hirooki Goto
  • Oleg Boltin
  • Yuya Uemura
  • Yota Tsuji
  • David Finlay
  • EVIL
  • SANADA
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Taichi or Callum Newman
  • Ryohei Oiwa or Bad Luck Fale

B Block —

  • El Phantasmo
  • Shota Umino
  • Shingo Takagi
  • Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Great-O-Khan
  • Gabe Kidd
  • Ren Narita
  • Konosuke Takeshita
  • Tomohiro Ishii or Drilla Moloney
  • YOSHI-HASHI or Chase Owens

NJPW crowns new IWGP Tag Team Champions at Wrestling Redzone

Posted on by Ian Carey

There are new IWGP Tag Team Champions.

Callum Newman and Great-O-Khan defeated Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI in the main event of NJPW Wrestling Redzone in Hiroshima on Saturday. With the win, they captured the titles that had been vacated by Newman and Jeff Cobb due to Cobb’s departure from the promotion.

Newman got the pin on YOSHI-HASHI after the Prince’s Curse to pick up the win for his team. Goto is set to defend the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Newman at Wrestling Dontaku on May 4.

After the match, the new champions were confronted by Tomohiro Ishii and Taichi, who issued a challenge for a future title bout. Great-O-Khan accepted on behalf of his team. Earlier in the night, Ishii and Taichi defeated Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito in the semi-main event.

This is Great-O-Khan’s fourth IWGP Tag Team title reign. He previously won the belts twice with Cobb, once with HENARE, and now with Newman. Great-O-Khan is currently a double champion in NJPW, also holding the promotion’s TV title.

NJPW Wrestling Redzone in Hiroshima results:

  • IWGP Tag Team Championships: Callum Newman & Great-O-Khan defeated Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI to win the vacated titles
  • Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii defeated Hiromu Takahashi & Tetsuya Naito
  • EVIL, Ren Narita & SANADA defeated David Finlay, Drilla Moloney & Gabe Kidd
  • Shingo Takagi & Yota Tsuji defeated Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura
  • El Desperado, El Phantasmo & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Francesco Akira, Jakob Austin Young & Templario
  • SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Clark Connors & Taiji Ishimori
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Master Wato, Oleg Boltin & YOH defeated Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.
  • Katsuya Murashima defeated Daiki Nagai