Tag: Ryohei Oiwa

Title match to headline NJPW New Year Dash 2026

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Gold will be on the line at NJPW New Year Dash 2026 when Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa get their shot at the IWGP Tag Team titles.

The main event of the January 5 show will see Sabre & Oiwa challenge OSKAR & Yuto-Ice for the belts. It’s a title shot that Sabre & Oiwa earned through winning NJPW’s World Tag League tournament. Though the winners traditionally get their title shot at Wrestle Kingdom, that won’t be the case this time.

NJPW explained Sabre & Oiwa waiting to get their title shot by highlighting how important of a position the New Year Dash main event is this time around. It’s a chance to help kickstart a new era for NJPW following the retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi.

“Of course, I want to be in the Tokyo Dome match too,” Oiwa said in an interview. “But the main event of the next show after Mr. Tanahashi leaves is the one that will most impact New Japan’s future. I feel a sense of mission because I think it’s an absolutely crucial event we cannot fail.”

Tanahashi’s last match will headline the January 4 Wrestle Kingdom show at the Tokyo Dome. He’s facing off against longtime Kazuchika Okada at the event.

Ota City Gymnasium in Tokyo will then host New Year Dash. The show — which is traditionally a mystery card with little announced in advance — will air live on NJPW World.

During World Tag League, Sabre & Oiwa lost to OSKAR & Yuto-Ice in block action. But both teams were able to make it to the semifinals out of B Block. Sabre & Oiwa went on to win the tournament, while OSKAR & Yuto-Ice fell to Yota Tsuji & Gabe Kidd.

NJPW crowns World Tag League tournament winners

Posted on by Bryan Rose

New World Tag League winners have been crowned.

Zack Sabre Jr. and Ryohei Oiwa of TMDK won this year’s tournament, defeating Yota Tsuji and Gabe Kidd in the finals. The closing minutes of the match had Kidd battling Oiwa until the latter blasted Kidd with a huge lariat. Kidd fell on top of his head and Oiwa covered him to win the tournament, setting up a likely IWGP Tag Team title match at Wrestle Kingdom 20 against current champions Knock Out Brothers (Yuto-Ice and Oskar).

After the match, it was Oiwa who cut a promo for the team, saying he was not a NPC, he was the main character and has gotten stronger by being a part of TMDK, thanking Sabre. He said they would be on top in 2026 and NJPW will also be on top. The show ended with streamers and the tournament winners posing with their trophies. 

In comments made backstage following the show, Sabre told Oiwa that they had to take the titles from the Knock Out Brothers, saying they are a real tag team now. 

Yuto-Ice and Oskar nearly made it to the finals before losing the B Block tiebreaker match against Sabre and Oiwa, who advanced to the finals with eight points. Tsuji and Kidd advanced to the finals from the A Block with 10 points, edging out Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI via tiebreaker.

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

Two new Young Lions to debut at NJPW Summer Struggle

Posted on by Ethan Renner

A pair of NJPW Dojo Young Lions will make their debuts at Tuesday’s Summer Struggle event. 

Ryohei Oiwa and Kosei Fujita will make their Korakuen Hall debuts this week, facing each other in singles matches on each of the four Summer Struggle shows scheduled for this week on August 24, 25, 26 and 27.

Both Oiwa and Fujita were part of December 2020 NJPW tryouts. Both also joined the NJPW Dojo in April 2021. 

Oiwa, 22, is 5’10” and weighs in at 198 pounds, according to NJPW. He has an amateur wrestling background, wrestling throughout middle school and through his college career. He placed third in the 2018 JOC nationals in the 86 kg weight class. 

Fujita, 19, is also 5’10” and weighs 183 pounds. He also has an amateur background, claiming the JOC Western and Central Japan freestyle tournament in the 80 kg weight class in high school. 

Oiwa and Fujita will fill the void left when Yuya Uemura and Yota Tsuji graduated from the NJPW Dojo and were sent on international excursion earlier this month.