The Big Audio Nightmare is back as Adam Summers and Mike Sempervive talk New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Sakura Genesis and the Road to Wrestling Dontaku, along with the latest news across the Japanese pro wrestling scene.
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Tag: sakura genesis
WOL: Pat McAfee hates WWE so much he wants to save it
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)
NJPW announces Sakura Genesis card change
To help build toward an upcoming Junior Heavyweight title match, NJPW has made a slight change to the Sakura Genesis card.
Tiger Mask IV and Master Wato have swapped places on the April 4 lineup, with Tiger Mask now set to compete in an eight-man tag match opposite IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI. The match pits Tiger Mask, Aaron Wolf, YOH & Toru Yano against DOUKI, Don Fale, SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
As for Wato, he will now team up with Togi Makabe against Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita.
The change comes after Tiger Mask confronted DOUKI earlier this week and challenged him to a title match. A date for that bout has not been set yet. Tiger Mask, who only has three months left before the end of his in-ring career, wants to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title and retire as champion.
Sakura Genesis is being held at Sumo Hall in Tokyo and will stream live overnight at 3 a.m. Eastern/midnight Pacific.
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
- Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan & HENARE vs. Yuya Uemura, Taichi & El Desperado
- Tiger Mask, Aaron Wolf, YOH & Toru Yano vs. DOUKI, Don Fale, SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X vs. Jake Lee, Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young
- Togi Makabe & Master Wato vs. Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita
- Pre-show: KUSHIDA & Masatora Yasuda vs. Tatsuya Matsumoto & Taisei Nakahara
Will Ospreay set for NJPW return
Will Ospreay is back in action — and he’s now set to return to the NJPW ring.
In his first match in Japan in more than two years, Ospreay will reunite with United Empire stablemates Great-O-Khan & HENARE for a six-man tag match at NJPW Sakura Genesis on April 4. They’ll be facing off against Yuya Uemura, Taichi & El Desperado.
Ospreay underwent neck surgery in 2025 and spent several months sidelined until returning at AEW Revolution. His comeback match took place on Dynamite last week, with Ospreay defeating Blake Christian. Ospreay is now set to take on Jon Moxley at AEW’s Dynasty pay-per-view next month.
During his injury layoff, Ospreay said that — while AEW is his home base — he was hoping to be able to wrestle for NJPW a few times per year once he was cleared to return. He made an appearance at NJPW New Year Dash 2026 and had a tense interaction with Callum Newman, who is now the leader of United Empire.
The main event of Sakura Genesis will see Newman challenge Yota Tsuji for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Newman earned the title shot through winning this year’s New Japan Cup.
With the addition of this six-man tag match, the card for Sakura Genesis is now finalized. The show is being held at Sumo Hall in Tokyo and will air 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
- Will Ospreay, Great-O-Khan & HENARE vs. Yuya Uemura, Taichi & El Desperado
- 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 announces title matches for Sakura Genesis 2026
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 sets date for New Japan Cup winner’s IWGP World title match
New Japan Pro Wrestling has made Yota Tsuji’s next defense of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship official.
Tsuji will defend his title on April 4 at Sakura Genesis against the winner of the New Japan Cup, which is set to kick off on March 4.
The brackets for the upcoming tournament are below:
Left side —
- March 4: Yuya Uemura vs. Great-O-Khan (winner faces Drilla Moloney on March 10)
- March 4: Aaron Wolf vs. Don Fale (winner faces Shingo Takagi on March 10)
- March 5: Taichi vs. Ren Narita (winner faces Tomohiro Ishii on March 12)
- March 5: El Phantasmo vs. Oleg Boltin (winner faces HENARE on March 12)
Right side —
- March 6: YOSHI-HASHI vs. Jake Lee (winner faces Hirooki Goto on March 13)
- March 6: OSKAR vs. Callum Newman (winner faces Hartley Jackson on March 13)
- March 8: Shota Umino vs. Chase Owens (winner faces Yujiro Takahashi on March 14)
- March 8: Yuto-Ice vs. Ryohei Oiwa (winner faces Zack Sabre Jr. on March 14)
This will be the fourth year in a row the New Japan Cup winner has challenged the champion at Sakura Genesis. David Finlay was last year’s winner, and he lost his title challenge to Hirooki Goto on the show.
The match is set to be Tsuji’s second defense of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, which he won from Konosuke Takeshita at Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4, 2026. He successfully defended the title on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka against Jake Lee. Tsuji was also in action on Saturday in Trenton, New Jersey, where he successfully defended the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship against Andrade El Idolo at The New Beginning USA.
This year’s Sakura Genesis will take place at Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall) in Tokyo. No other matches have been announced for the card thus far.
Big Audio Nightmare: NJPW Sakura Genesis recap & Windy City Riot preview
The Big Audio Nightmare is back as myself and Mike Sempervive talk about everything happening in the very busy world of Japanese wrestling.
This week’s topics include:
- Full review and analysis of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Sakura Genesis
- A preview of NJPW Windy City Riot which I will be attending live
- A look at the full card for Stardom’s All Star Grand Queendom mega show…and much more!
Click here to listen (sub needed)
Big Audio Nightmare: New Japan Cup wrap-up, Sakura Genesis, Stardom
The Big Audio Nightmare is back as myself and Mike Sempervive talk about everything happening in the very busy world of Japanese wrestling.
This week’s topics include:
- Full analysis of the recently completed New Japan Cup
- Thoughts on the David Finlay vs. Shota Umino final and where both men go from here
- The longtime fan service that is Hirooki Goto
- A look at the Sakura Genesis card and the direction heading into Windy City Riot
- The Saya Kamitani vs Tam Nakano feud as we head toward the career match
- All that and much more
Click here to listen (sub needed)
Full card revealed for NJPW Sakura Genesis 2025
With New Japan Cup 2025 now over, NJPW has revealed the full card for Sakura Genesis.
The Saturday, April 5 event will be headlined by Hirooki Goto vs. David Finlay for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Finlay earned the title shot through his New Japan Cup win, where he bested Shota Umino in the finals after getting past EVIL, Yuya Uemura, and Zack Sabre Jr. in the earlier rounds.
Goto will be making the third defense of his title reign, which has already seen him defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yuji Nagata.
Finlay, the leader of Bullet Club War Dogs, has never been IWGP World Champion before.
Sumo Hall is hosting Sakura Genesis on April 5 with the show airing live on New Japan World. Six title matches in total are set for the event. The full card can be seen below:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Hirooki Goto defends against David Finlay
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji defends against EVIL
- IWGP Tag Team Champions Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi defend against Jeff Cobb & Callum Newman
- NEVER Openweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita defends against Ryohei Oiwa
- NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions SHO, Yujiro Takahashi & Ren Narita defend against Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shota Umino
- NJPW World TV Champion El Phantasmo defends against Great-O-Khan
- Yuya Uemura vs. SANADA
- Katsuya Murashima vs. Daiki Nagai
Frontier Zone match booked for NJPW Sakura Genesis
A new match announcement has been made for NJPW Sakura Genesis 2024.
NJPW’s Frontier Zone match will make its return as Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg take on Ayato Yoshida, Takuro Niki & Chicharito Shoki at Sakura Genesis. The Frontier Zone concept pits members of the NJPW roster against wrestlers from smaller promotions. Yoshida, Niki & Shoki are representing 2AW (Active Advance Wrestling).
NJPW wrote:
Since its inception in Ryogoku last October, the Frontier Zone has given wrestling fans the chance to sample brand new wrestling from outside the major scene, and that’s the case at Sakura Genesis when 2AW, Active Advance Wrestling gets involved!
Ayato Yoshida, Takuro Niki and Chicharito Shoki will be representing the group in Sumo Hall. It’s a return to the cerulean blue for Yoshida, who wrestled sporadically in NJPW between 2017 and 2019, which included a World Tag League 2018 team with then Young Lion Shota Umino. NJPW fans may remember 25 year old Chicharito Shoki from All Star Junior Festival last March, while 23 year old Takuro Niki will be looking to show the future of his promotion and NJPW at large. This young trio will have a tough time against veterans Toru Yano and Tomohiro Ishii, as well as the huge Boltin Oleg- catch how they fare by tuning in early for Sakura Genesis!
Airing on the pre-show, Ishii, Yano & Oleg vs. Yoshida, Niki & Shoki will kick off the action at Sakura Genesis.
Sakura Genesis is taking place from Sumo Hall in Tokyo on Saturday, April 6. The show will air live on NJPW World.
Here’s the full lineup:
NJPW Sakura Genesis 2024 —
- IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito defends against Yota Tsuji
- NEVER Openweight Champion EVIL defends against Shingo Takagi
- Jon Moxley & Shota Umino vs. Jack Perry & Ren Narita
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion SHO defends against YOH
- IWGP Tag Team Champions KENTA & Chase Owens defend against Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI
- Three-way match: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Clark Connors & Drilla Moloney defend against KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight) and Francesco Akira & TJP
- SANADA, Yuya Uemura & DOUKI vs. Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman
- Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI vs. David Finlay & Gedo
- El Desperado & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Kosei Fujita
- Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano & Boltin Oleg vs. Ayato Yoshida, Takuro Niki & Chicharito Shoki
Rural Revitalization match official for NJPW Road to Sakura Genesis
Eel will be eaten in Hamamatsu on Sunday.
Some unique rules have been made official for this weekend’s KOPW provisional title match between Great-O-Khan and Tanga Loa. A fan vote conducted on Wednesday confirmed it will be a “Rural Revitalization in Hamamatsu Match.”
The match will be contested under best-two-of-three falls, with the second fall being a five-minute eating contest.
The rules on NJPW1972.com read:
Round 1: ten minute most covers match (every pinfall attempt results in one point)
Round 2: five minute eel eating contest
Round 3: strap match (competitors joined with a strap, and must touch all four corners consecutively)
Hamamatsu is famous for its freshwater Unagi (eel) from nearby Lake Hamana. A travel guide for Hamamatsu reads, “If you hear Hamamatsu, you think of eel.”
The unique match type was suggested by Khan and earned 72 percent of the votes. Loa’s camp pitched a “King of Kaiju” match with rules resembling a traditional Texas Death Match.
14,704 fans voted in the social media poll, with 10,624 votes cast for the Rural Revitalization rules.
The Road to Sakura Genesis event on Sunday, March 31 will not air live on New Japan World but will be available on-demand at a later date, which NJPW1972.com says is only being done at Khan’s request.
The only way to watch live will be in person March 31, but thanks to the personal request of Great-O-Khan, the match will air on NJPW World at a later date!
Great-O-Khan, Tanga Loa choose KOPW stipulations for Road to Sakura Genesis
Great-O-Khan and Tanga Loa have chosen stipulations for their upcoming KOPW match.
Khan is scheduled to defend his interim KOPW title against Loa in Hamamatsu on Sunday. As per the championship rules, both competitors have submitted their proposed match stipulations for fans to vote on in a social media poll.
Loa was represented by Jado at a press conference on March 25. His camp has proposed a “King of Kaiju” match.
NJPW1972.com described the match type as:
Much like a classical Texas Deathmatch, the bout will see competitors look to score a pinfall, after which a ten count will be applied, the last standing being the winner
Khan reportedly commented, “That’s something an ape would think up” upon hearing the proposed stipulation.
Khan then stated he wants to bring “renewed interest in NJPW events in local areas of Japan” before proposing a “Rural Revitalization Match in Hamamatsu.” The match type follows best-two-of-three falls rules, with the second fall promoting Hamamatsu’s local cuisine.
NJPW1972.com describes the match type as:
The match will be a ‘two out of three falls’ bout, but with very different interpretations of falls.
Round one will be under ten minute time limit most covers rules. Every pinfall attempt will count as one point in the scenario.
Round two will be an eating contest, with the local specialty of eel being the focus for five minutes.
Round three will see the two connected via a strap with the winner having to touch all four corners consecutively to win.
Voting will begin at 10 a.m. Japan Standard Time on March 31.
Sunday’s show is not scheduled to air live on New Japan World. However, it will likely be available on-demand at a later date.
NJPW postpones Global title match due to Hiroshi Tanahashi injury
Hiroshi Tanahashi won’t be able to make his scheduled Global title challenge against Nic Nemeth.
NJPW had announced that Nemeth would defend the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship against Tanahashi at Sakura Genesis on Saturday, April 6. But Tanahashi has now been pulled from the Sakura Genesis card after further examination of an ankle injury that he suffered.
Tanahashi suffered a right ankle injury during his match against Matt Riddle at the New Beginning in Sapporo night one on February 23. Tanahashi then had to miss night two due to the injury.
Tanahashi has also been pulled from NJPW’s 52nd anniversary show and the New Japan Cup tour.
NJPW wrote that the Nemeth vs. Tanahashi match will happen at a later date to be determined:
Following further examination on an ankle injury sustained at New Beginning in Sapporo, Hiroshi Tanahashi will be absent from the New Japan Cup series, as well as Sakura Genesis on April 6 to allow for a full recovery.
His previously announced IWGP Global Championship match will be delayed until a later date to be determined.
We apologize to fans looking forward to seeing Tanahashi wrestle and appreciate your understanding.
Tanahashi lost the NJPW World Television Championship to Riddle at the New Beginning in Sapporo night one. That same night, Nemeth won the Global title from David Finlay. The match was Nemeth’s NJPW in-ring debut.
The Sakura Genesis match against Tanahashi was set to be Nemeth’s first title defense. Nemeth, formerly known as Dolph Ziggler, was released by WWE in September 2023.
Wrestling Observer Radio: UFC PPV, Sakura Genesis, Rampage, Battle of the Belts, Smackdown, news!
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about including a million weekend shows: UFC’s Saturday PPV, Sakura Genesis with multiple new champions, AEW Rampage and Battle of the Belts, Smackdown, news and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: Sabu recovering from medical emergency
01:15: UFC 287 recap
32:50: More on AEW at Wembley Stadium
38:49: NJPW Sakura Genesis recap, other NJPW notes
1:04:20: AEW Rampage and AEW Battle of the Belts VI recaps
1:18:10: WWE SmackDown recap, WWE Raw preview
Mercedes Mone title defense added to NJPW Sakura Genesis
Mercedes Mone will have two challengers in her first defense of the IWGP Women’s Championship.
NJPW has announced that Mone will defend the IWGP Women’s title against AZM and Hazuki in a three-way match at Sakura Genesis on Saturday, April 8. The match was made official with Mone accepting challenges that had been issued by both AZM and Hazuki.
BREAKING@mercedesvarnado has accepted the challenge of @azumikan1411 and @0929_hazuki for Sakura Genesis April 8!https://t.co/ZN8Z6QZk2G#njpw #njsg pic.twitter.com/bWKU83vy3W
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) March 24, 2023
The winner of the match will be in line to defend the IWGP Women’s Championship against Mayu Iwatani at Stardom’s event at the Yokohama Arena on Sunday, April 23.
NJPW wrote:
Since winning the IWGP Women’s Championship at Battle in the Valley, Mercedes Mone has been hitting red carpets and conventions in VIP style with the title, but has yet to make her first defense. Meanwhile, with the door open to challengers from around the world, two have stepped up from STARDOM.
First, High Speed Champion and young superstar of Queen’s Quest AZM would take to the microphone at a press conference recently to state that since Mercedes had mentioned her name as a prospective opponent, she’d be happy to step up. Later, the Wild Heart of STARS, Hazuki threw her hat into the ring as she proposed a three way match- even Mayu Iwatani said she would take on the winner April 23 at STARDOM’s Yokohama Arena event.
In a message released on social media today, Mercedes would issue her response. saying that ‘double the challenge means double the Mone’ the CEO took on the three way at Sakura Genesis April 8. Can Hazuki capture IWGP gold? Will AZM (that’s ‘A Zu Mi’), disrespected by Mercedes’ backhanded praise, make this title spectacular something more personal?
Mone, formerly known as Sasha Banks in WWE, returned to pro wrestling at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 this January. She made her NJPW in-ring debut at Battle in the Valley last month, defeating Kairi to win the IWGP Women’s title.
Sakura Genesis is taking place at Sumo Hall in Tokyo and will air live in English on NJPW World. The updated card for the show is listed below:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defends against SANADA
- IWGP Women’s Champion Mercedes Mone defends against AZM and Hazuki in a three-way match
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi defends against Robbie Eagles
- IWGP Tag Team Champions Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defend against Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis)
- NJPW World Television Champion Zack Sabre Jr. defends against Shota Umino
- Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI vs. Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & DOUKI
- Tama Tonga, Hikuleo & Master Wato vs. KENTA, David Finlay & El Phantasmo
- Jeff Cobb, Aaron Henare & Francesco Akira vs. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi & SHO
