Night two of Wrestling Dontaku 2026 takes place today.
Night two of the two-night event is also set for the Fukuoka International Center in Fukuoka, Japan.
The full lineup for the show is as follows:
- IWGP Heavyweight Champion Callum Newman retained against Shingo Takagi
- NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, & Oleg Boltin lost their titles against Will Ospreay, HENARE, & Great-O-Khan
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita lost their titles to El Desperado & Místico
- Yota Tsuji, Drilla Moloney, Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X defeated Jake Lee, Francesco Akira, Jakob Austin Young & Zane Jay
- Yuya Uemura & Taichi defeated Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson
- Aaron Wolf, Toru Yano, Tiger Mask, YOH, & Master Wato defeated Ren Narita, Don Fale, DOUKI, SHO, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- OSKAR & Yuto-Ice defeated Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma
- Gedo & Daiki Nagai defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & Tatsuya Matsumoto
- NJPW World Television Champion Konosuke Takeshita retained against Chase Owens
- Pre-show: Masatora Yasuda defeated Taisei Nakahara
Our live coverage kicks off beginning at 3 p.m. Japan Standard Time.
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Pre-show
Masatora Yasuda versus Taisei Nakahara
The pair grappled to start the night. Yasuda suplexed Nakahara and applied a Boston Crab. Nakahara submitted to the hold.
Main Card
Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Chase Owens for the NJPW World Television Championship
Owens jumped Takeshita before the bell; fortunately for the champ, he subverted this with a DDT on the floor. The challenger recovered by kicking his opponent into the blue steel guardrails and spiking him onto the apron moments into the match. Trading knee strikes, a C-Trigger by Owens got the better of Takeshita. Yujiro Takahashi blindsided Takeshita to lend Owens time for a comeback for his finisher, High Noon.
Owens tossed the referee into Takeshita. Takahashi pulled Takeshita in a full-nelson while Owens pulled out a branding iron. House of Torture descended upon Takeshita. Shota Umino showed up in support of the champion, and eventually, multiple babyfaces of the roster soon joined. Takeshita flung the referee back into action. Owens blasted Takeshita with horse stirrups. Takeshita responded with two Power Drives and a Raging Fire.
Post-match: Still wondering where his NJPW World Television Championship was, Takeshita immediately found himself submerged in darkness. A video showed the masked man from Sakura Genesis strutting around backstage. They entered, appearing behind Takeshita, delivering a Skull End. It was SANADA.
The story of Takeshita finding his place among the babyfaces, despite being seen as an outsider, was wholesome. That said, it would make sense to have this type of support whenever House of Torture matches happen, because come on, they’re an ongoing nuisance, and their tomfoolery can almost always be assured. It was a nice surprise to see SANADA, though.
Unbound Co. (Daiki Nagai & Gedo) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi & Tatsuya Matsumoto
Nagai survived a grapple fest with Taguchi on the mat, but an extended running of the ropes left him winded. Gedo struck Taguchi with punch after punch and walked away from a Funky Weapon. Taguchi hit a successful one moments later. Matsumoto collaborated with Taguchi with a double-Funky Weapon. Nagai executed a Spinebuster on Matsumoto and finished him off with a Flying Headbutt.
A more serious outing for Taguchi. I’ve seen everyone take note of Nagai’s performances as of late, and I’m pleased. His work ethic and time given have paid off in dividends. Come the Best of the Super Juniors, I believe he’ll cement that 2026 is his breakout year.
Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) defeated Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma
Ice readily handled Honma, and OSKAR’s additional pressure paved the way for his partner to land a shot at the veteran’s midsection. Failing a Bomboclat, Ice shook off his knee pain only to drop at Honma’s lariat. Umino tripped OSKAR with a drop toehold and applied an STF. OSKAR took advantage of Honma missing his Kokeshi with a leg drop. Umino flattened OSKAR with a Tornado-DDT, setting up a double-Kokeshi with Honma.
Honma refused OSKAR’s Nightmare Sleeper, returning fire with a Rocket Kokeshi. OSKAR reapplied the Nightmare Sleeper, swinging Honma around until grounding him. There, he submitted the seasoned wrestler for another Knockout Brothers win.
Knockout Brothers, by the time 2026 closes, will be in the top conversation of tag team of the year, if not the ultimate decisive topic.
Aaron Wolf, Toru Yano, Tiger Mask, YOH, & Master Wato defeated Ren Narita, Don Fale, DOUKI, SHO, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
House of Torture forewent their entrance to ambush Wolf during his solo march to the ring. Yano denied starting the match with Fale, leaving it to Tiger Mask. He dodged each interference, Super Driving SHO. Wato dizzied Kanemaru and SHO with Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreakers. Fale pressed his weight on Wato in a surfboard stand. YOH leapt in with dropkicks abound to the House of Torture. Togo dropped to a neckbreaker from the hot tag. Wolf charged in, knocking over Narita and landing an elbow drop.
Takahashi distracted the referee so that Narita could secure a leg hold on Wolf. House of Torture ran a train on Wolf and coordinated a Dick-to-Dick Contact, a series of words I didn’t expect to type. Despite this isolated focus, Wolf triumphed over House of Torture with an Angle Slam.
Post-match: Tiger Mask thanked the fans
I had fun with this one, despite it being a House of Torture match. Wolf in the closing stretch kept the drama, while staunchly holding hope throughout.
Taichi & Yuya Uemura defeated TMDK (Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa)
Uemura outgrappled Oiwa, enforcing strict pressure on the left arm. Jackson teased a sumo-style standoff with Taichi before shouldering him flat. Uemura gave the Aussie an arm drag and Oiwa a bulldog. Oiwa took Uemura to the mat with a side headlock. TMDK aligned to drain blood from Uemura’s head with a double-vertical suplex. Oiwa tied Uemura into a figure four leglock.
Uemura swung a comeback with a judo toss and snap arm twist. Oiwa quelled a Taichi uprising, crushing him with an elbow drop. Uemura’s shoulders bounced off the mat via Jackson tossing him mid-powerbomb. Taichi attacked Jackson from behind, but he responded with a senton. Returning to the sumo tease from earlier, Taichi and Jackson engaged in close grappling, with the former gaining the advantage with a hip toss. A Black Mephisto thwarted Jackson once and for all, gifting Uemura and Taichi the pinfall victory.
Post-match: Oiwa and Uemura shared impassioned words, but Taichi interrupted. He proposed that he and Uemura team up against Oiwa and the absent Zack Sabre Jr and hold nothing back in the World Tag League.
Jackson continues to be one of the most entertaining parts of any match he’s in. The sumo spots with Taichi were well worth the price of admission.
Unbound Co. (Drilla Moloney, Robbie X, Taiji Ishimori & Yota Tsuji) defeated United Empire (Francesco Akira, Jake Lee, Jakob Austin Young & Zane Jay)
X and Ishimori contended with Young, but Akira cut them off, especially with Samato Knees to Ishimori’s head. Moloney’s Drilla Killa missed its mark on Jay, yet that didn’t deter him from an explosive powerbomb. Tsuji cracked Jay’s spine with a Tilt-a-Whirl Backbreaker and applied a Boston Crab. Jay ultimately tapped out.
Small detail, but I loved how Tsuji’s disappointment in losing both of his titles flickered both in his entrance and in the match, and he still put on a smile. That’s an element of realism that speaks so much to his character at this juncture.
El Desperado & Místico defeated Robbie Eagles & Kosei Fujita (c) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
Desperado nearly met Fujita at every turn, but he was one step ahead with a dropkick to the solar plexus. Místico ate a tijeras takedown from Eagles. He’d mount a comeback with an arm drag from the top rope. Eagles found himself flat after a flying headscissors. La Mistica from the luchador transitioned into a pin attempt by Eagles. Desperado followed a Spinebuster to a Stretch Muffler to Fujita. Místico rocked Fujita with a tope suicida, which was met by Eagles soaring for a tope con hilo.
Following a train wreck that was Desperado’s dive to Fujita outside and into the barricade, the champion and challenger narrowly beat the 20-count. Throughout the match, Místico repeatedly tried La Mistica, but eventually employed it successfully. Though Eagles displayed a heated fire with strikes and kicks to Desperado, the latter quelled the former’s momentum by way of a spear. Fujta engaged in an armbar. Místico locked in a Numero Dos to Eagles, while Desperado returned to a Stretch Muffler on Fujita. Both members of TMDK tapped, leaving their masked opponents the new champions.
Music rights are frustrating, because I’m a huge fan of “Me Muero”. I’m sure it sounded great in the arena, as I can barely make out amid the commentary beneath the dubbed license-free music. Anyways, this match is a must-watch. Desperado has a new breath of life injected in partnership with Místico, who feels like a global superstar right now.
United Empire (Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Will Ospreay) defeated Bishamontin (Hirooki Goto, Oleg Boltin & YOSHI-HASHI) (c) for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship
HENARE and Khan pounded YOSHI-HASHI, warranting a save from Goto. Boltin tried to intervene, as did Ospreay. Khan clobbered Boltin’s arm outside, whereas HENARE tormented YOSHI-HASHI more with Ospreay swirling him about. YOSHI-HASHI soon fought out of his predicament with a dropkick to HENARE’s shin. Goliaths collided as Boltin and HENARE charged each other. Boltin caught his New Zealand opponent and nauseated him with his Boltin Shake. HENARE bounced back with a senton to Boltin. Ospreay met Boltin with a flying elbow, taking him and YOSHI-HASHI out with a dive into the guardrails.
Goto absorbed the chops, and the Kawada Kicks from Ospreay to unleash elbows. HENARE caught Goto with a Spinebuster. Ospreay plunged a 450-Splash onto Goto. Boltin rescued Goto in the nick of time, catching an Oscutter and turning it into a Kamikaze. HENARE and Boltin flung each other into the barricades, eventually wearing each other out on the concrete. Khan and HENARE convened for gut punches to YOSHI-HASHI and an assisted powerbomb. YOSHI-HASHI employed lariats to everyone, including an incoming Ospreay. Boltin returned to action, driving Khan to the corner for Bishamon to pick him apart. Ospreay devastated Goto with a Sky Twister Press outside. Khan and HENARE hoisted YOSHI-HASHI aloft for Ospreay to down him with a Hidden Blade. Khan pinned YOSHI-HASHI with an Iron Claw to add more gold to United Empire.
Post-match: Boasting their win, United Empire asked who was next. Out came OSKAR and Yuto-Ice, who didn’t challenge for the NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship. Instead, they put their titles on the line against HENARE and Khan.
If this match were a sandwich, the back-and-forths with HENARE and Boltin were the meat. Ospreay’s that condiment that, while not needed for United Empire’s new vision, made it taste all the better. Bishamon was the bread that kept it together, while Khan was very sparse lettuce, only later throwing in some juicy tomato.
Main Event
Callum Newman (c) versus Shingo Takagi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Newman unwisely sought to trade forearms with Takagi, but rebounded with his flurries of kicks. Sensing his sudden Oscutter would be shrugged off, Newman opted out to restrategize. Takagi grew tired of Newman wasting time meandering outside and returned him to the cerulean blue, where he struck with a lariat. Newman recovered, introducing his challenger to the steel guardrails. Before the dispersed crowd, Newman deployed a dropkick that drove Takagi into a swathe of chairs. Newman taunted Takagi, putting his arm around his wife and Stardom talent Natsupoi.
Back in the ring, Newman drove his fist into Takagi’s ribs. Takagi spun a comeback with a Tornado-DDT. Newman’s head bounced nastily off the floor from Takagi’s tope con hilo. Ducking a sliding Pumping Bomber, Newman punted Takagi flat. Stripping Hiroshi Tanahashi’s table with the ring bell and Heavyweight Championship clean, Newman plummeted Takagi into its unforgiving wood. Both men traded suplex after suplex, with Newman promising to respond but instead collapsing in exhaustion. The same fate befell Takagi after a forearm exchange. Resorting to pulling each other’s hair, Referee Red Shoes humorously chastised both men.
Takagi readied a Pumping Bomber, but Newman dropped once more to the mat. Playing dead, Newman waited as Red Shoes checked him. He surprised Takagi with an attack, but feigned a knee injury. Pulling Red Shoes out, Newman directed traffic for Zane Jay and Jake Lee to attack Takagi and Daiki Nagai. Yota Tsuji came to Takagi’s aid, but Newman stomped him. Plunging his Excalibur finisher into Takagi, he followed with Made in Essex and Prince’s Curse to no avail. Denying a low blow, Takagi crashed Newman to the mat with two Made in Japans and a Pumping Bomber. Neither of those did the trick, nor a Raging Dragon. Will Ospreay, on the outside, urged Newman to return to his feet. Out of Red Shoes’s view, Newman hit a low blow and a Prince’s Curse to Ospreays’ chagrin. Newman repeated this process after suffering a poisonrana, this time succeeding his low blow with a Make Way.
Post-match: United Empire in its entirety (even IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Andrade El Idolo) joined to celebrate with Newman. Ospreay was the only one looking disappointed. He argued with Newman’s approach to things. Newman responded that if Ospreay was going to hang out with the Death Riders in AEW, he’d have to strike Takagi in his stead. Ospreay begrudgingly obliged. Newman shifted focus to Tsuji and Takagi, stating that at Ignition to Dominion, they’d face him and Jake Lee; whoever could pin Newman would face him at Dominion.
Newman was such a nasty heel. He gained heat so easily, with even his fake selling spots hitting hard. Moreover, Takagi made what seemed a foregone conclusion for a title retention look all the more unpredictable with his story. There’s almost a “Paradise Lost” situation boiling with Ospreay, and I’m here for it.
Final Thoughts
If this is Gino Gambino’s last night on commentary again, I’m going to be sad. He added so much and had so much chemistry with Chris Charlton and Walker Stewart to both nights of Wrestling Dontaku. He’s unabashedly heel, and hilariously so.
Night Two, from top to bottom, was a blast. The three title matches that culminated the show were particularly awesome. New champions in Místico and El Desperado finished what was an incredible effort by them and TMDK. The same could be said of the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship match with Bishamontin and United Empire, with Will Ospreay for their new belts. For Newman to retain as a chickenshit yet effectively devastating heel against a hopeful and dynamite Takagi was an incredible display.
