TMDK will cash in their shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championships at NJPW’s January 5, 2026 New Year Dash! card.
The title opportunity, earned by Zack Sabre Jr. and Ryohei Oiwa by prevailing in the lengthy World Tag League tour on Sunday, gives them an opportunity against incumbent champs Yuto-Ice and OSKAR.
While most winners of the World Tag League use their victory as an opportunity to win gold as part of NJPW’s biggest show of the year, Wrestle Kingdom inside the Tokyo Dome, Sabre Jr. and Oiwa have decided to use their title opportunity one night later.
Sabre Jr. explained recently that they see it as more important to be the first ones to get the spotlight following the high-profile card, instead of being a small part of a much larger night.
“Oiwa winning his first championship in the main event of the first night post Tanahashi [is] more important than being in the middle of the [Wrestle Kingdom] card,” Sabre Jr. said at a press conference this week.
Sabre Jr. and Oiwa won a 32-minute main event against Gabe Kidd and Yota Tsuji last weekend to win the month-long tournament. As noted in the comments by Sabre Jr., a victory would mark Oiwa’s first championship win in his wrestling career. It would also begin Sabre Jr.’s fourth run with the belts, a return to the tag title spotlight for the first time since 2022.
The tag title bout will headline New Year Dash, which is scheduled to take place at the Ota-City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan. No other bouts have been revealed for the show thus far.
