Tag: don fale

Two wrestlers advance to New Japan Cup 2026 second round

Posted on by Ian Carey

The first two matches in the 2026 New Japan Cup took place Wednesday.

In the semi-main event at Korakuen Hall, House of Torture’s Don Fale defeated Olympic gold medalist Aaron Wolf in the opening match of the single-elimination tournament. Several House of Torture members attacked Wolf during his entrance and continued to interfere throughout the match. At one point it appeared Wolf had the bout won with an Angle Slam, but the referee was pulled out of the ring before he could make the three count. Fale later picked up the win with his Grenade finisher.

In the main event, Yuya Uemura defeated Great-O-Khan to advance to the second round. Uemura picked up the victory with a Deadbolt Suplex followed by a high cross, then thanked the Tokyo crowd for their support as the show came to a close.

With the win, Fale moves on to face Shingo Takagi in the second round on March 10 in Okayama. Takagi received a first-round bye. Uemura will face Drilla Moloney the same night, with Moloney also having received a first-round bye.

Next up in the tournament, New Japan returns to Korakuen Hall on Thursday with two more first-round matches: Taichi vs. Ren Narita and Boltin Oleg vs. El Phantasmo.

Full coverage from today’s show, courtesy of Corey Michaels, is available here.

Full card revealed for NJPW Cup night one, new Young Lion to debut

Posted on by Bryan Rose

The card for the first night of the NJPW Cup has been released.

March 4 at Korakuen Hall will see Yuya Uemura face Great-O-Khan in the main event, while Aaron Wolf will face Don Fale in the co-main. Wolf will be looking to get a measure of revenge after members of the House of Torture, including Fale, attacked him prior to his match against Ren Narita at New Beginning in Osaka. He ultimately lost the NEVER Openweight title to Narita in under three minutes.

The undercard features matches pitting Unbound Company against the likes of TMDK and the House of Torture in multi-man bouts. El Phantasmo and Jado will also team together to face Botin Oleg and Toru Yano. The opener will have Shota Umino team with Masatora Yasuda to face House of Torture’s Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi.

A new Young Lion will also start on March 4. Taisei Nakahara, 25, will be making his debut against Tatsuya Matsumoto on the show’s kickoff match. NJPW’s website writes: “From Tsukushino city in Fukuoka, 25 year old Taisei Nakahara joined NJPW out of college, and after an extended period training in the Dojo now makes his debut. With a high school wrestling backbone, 175cm, 83kg Nakahara will have his skills put to the test by Tatsuya Matsumoto in a ten minute bout.”

Here is the full lineup:

New Japan Cup night one (March 4)

  • New Japan Cup opening round: Yuya Uemura vs. Great-O-Khan
  • New Japan Cup opening round: Aaron Wolf vs. Don Fale
  • Unbound Company (Yota Tsuji, Yuto-Ice, Taiji Ishimori, Robbie X, and Gedo) vs. TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa, Robbie Eagles, Kosei Fujita, and Hartley Jackson)
  • Taichi, Master Wato, and Tomoaki Honma vs. House of Torture (Ren Narita, DOUKI, and Dick Togo)
  • Unbound Company (OSKAR, Shingo Takagi, Drilla Moloney, and Daiki Nagai) vs. United Empire (Callum Newman, Jake Lee, Henare, and Zane Jay)
  • El Phantasmo and Jado vs. Boltin Oleg and Toru Yano
  • Shota Umino and Masatora Yasuda vs. House of Torture (Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi)
  • Kickoff match: Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Taisei Nakahara

Bad Luck Fale to miss NJPW G1 play-in match due to loss in family

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Due to a loss in his family, Bad Luck Fale is out of his scheduled G1 play-in match and won’t be competing on the remainder of the New Japan Soul tour.

Fale was set to face off against Ryohei Oiwa on July 4 with one of the last spots in this year’s G1 up for grabs. It will now be Oiwa vs. Satoshi Kojima to determine the final A Block competitor for the tournament.

“Fale, who was scheduled to compete on events through the New Japan Soul series, will miss the remainder of the tour due to a loss in the family,” NJPW announced without disclosing more information about the personal situation. “We apologize to fans looking forward to seeing Fale wrestle, and appreciate your understanding.”

An original Bullet Club member, Fale recently joined House of Torture and is now using the name Don Fale in NJPW. He is a wrestling trainer as well and runs the NJPW dojo in New Zealand.

New Japan Soul is the last NJPW tour before the G1, which begins on July 19 and ends on August 17. The tournament will feature the following entrants:

NJPW G1 Climax 2025 participants —

A Block:

  • Hirooki Goto
  • Oleg Boltin
  • Yuya Uemura
  • Yota Tsuji
  • David Finlay
  • EVIL
  • SANADA
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Callum Newman
  • Ryohei Oiwa or Satoshi Kojima

B Block:

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