2020 Tokyo Olympics Judo gold medalist Aaron Wolf made a splash in his professional wrestling debut on Sunday, taking down EVIL to win the NEVER Openweight Championship.
Wolf’s first-ever match, which came with tons of domestic fanfare in the lead-up due to the 29-year-old’s athletic accomplishments, took place as part of NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 20 card inside the Tokyo Dome this weekend.
After enduring a beatdown not just from EVIL but the rest of The House of Torture, Wolf reversed an Everything is EVIL into a triangle choke which put the champ to sleep in just under 13 minutes.
House of Torture used referee distractions and bumps as an opportunity to enter the ring and attack Wolf. At one point, the towering Don Fale came off the ropes with a frogsplash which put Wolf through a table. Wolf also endured a chairshot and chalk in the eyes during earlier moments of the bout.
Wolf showcased a strong variety of moves during the match, getting a near fall with an Olympic Slam and also coming close to victory after a frogsplash off the top at one point. While he showed newcomer jitters during the pre-match ceremonies, Wolf seemingly shed many of those anxieties once it became time to fight.
Most NJPW newcomers go through a multi-year training process, wrestling on undercards and going on overseas excursions. Wolf, on the other hand, was pushed into the third-highest spot of the promotion’s biggest annual show in his first-ever match due to his celebrity status. The major spotlight came after months of hype, with NJPW promoting his debut ever since he signed with them back in June.
Wolf showed up sporting a Young Lion look, causing a reaction of shock from the capacity Tokyo Dome crowd. Shedding the judo gi onstage, Wolf walked to the ring in plain black trunks. He also was without the long hair he wore in the lead-up to the fight, instead having a plain buzzcut.
Results
- Katsuya Murashima & Masatora Yasuda def. Shoma Kato & Tatsuya Matsumoto (6:19) (Pre-show)
- El Phantasmo def. Chris Brookes (NJPW World Television Championship) (11:49) (Pre-show)
- Zack Sabre Jr., Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa def. Master Wato, Toru Yano & YOH, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe, Kaisei Takechi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura, Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & Boltin Oleg, Satoshi Kojima, Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii, Ren Narita, SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Clark Connors, OSKAR & Yuto-Ice (NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships) (Rambo Match) (20:46)
- Syuri def. Saya Kamitani (IWGP Women’s Championship & NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship) (12:08)
- Jake Lee, Andrade El Idolo, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan & HENARE def. David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi (14:24)
- El Desperado def. Taiji Ishimori, SHO & Kosei Fujita (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship #1 Contender Match) (7:38)
- Aaron Wolf def. EVIL (NEVER Openweight Championship) (12:53)
Still to come
- Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yota Tsuji (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship & IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
