TMDK has six-man gold.
The trio of Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa and Hartley Jackson captured the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships in the opening spot of Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 card, prevailing in an eight-team Rambo match.
TMDK won the belts through a 20-minute contest, which saw trios enter in a Royal Rumble fashion. Whenever a wrestler was either thrown over the top rope and to the floor, pinned, or submitted, their entire three-man squad was eliminated from the match.
The first team to get taken out of the match was IWGP Tag Team Champions OSKAR and Yuto-Ice alongside Clark Connors, all of whom were eliminated after OSKAR was thrown over the top rope. The trio was notably accompanied by AEW’s Thekla.
The second team to exit was the trio of Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi and Togi Makabe, who were taken out after Boltin Oleg delivered a Kamikaze finisher to Tiger. The match was likely Tiger Mask’s last appearance in the Tokyo Dome, as he’s scheduled to step away from performing in July.
A double elimination occurred when both Taichi and Yuya Uemura were sent over the top and to the outside during a struggle in the ropes. Taichi had looked to capture gold alongside Tomohiro Ishii and Satoshi Kojima, while Uemura was working with Shota Umino and DDT’s Kaisei Takechi.
It became clear that new champions would be crowned when the defending trio of YOH, Toru Yano and Master Wato got eliminated next. YOH, who showed up in a Yano cosplay, was thrown over the top by House of Torture’s SANADA. YOH briefly dangled on the ring apron before SANADA teammates Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Ren Narita tossed him to the floor, eliminating his team.
Yano got revenge moments later, yanking SANADA off the ring apron to eliminate House of Torture.
It came down to TMDK and the team of Bishamon alongside Boltin Oleg. A duel between former IWGP World Champion Zack Sabre Jr. and Oleg came to a sudden end after the technician caught him with a roll-up pin to end the match.
It was emphasized during the post-match that the win marked Jackson’s first title victory in NJPW and Oiwa’s first-ever championship as a wrestler. For Sabre Jr., it was another accomplishment to add to an impressive collection.
The team of Wato, YOH and Yano captured the six-man belts back in July, ending a House of Torture reign. They defended the belts four times in 2025.
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)
Still to come
- Syuri vs. Saya Kamitani (IWGP Women’s Championship & NJPW STRONG Women’s Championship)
- Andrade El Idolo, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, HENARE & TBA vs. David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd, Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi
- Taiji Ishimori vs. El Desperado vs. SHO vs. Kosei Fujita (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship #1 Contenders Match)
- EVIL vs. Aaron Wolf (NEVER Openweight Championship)
- Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yota Tsuji (IWGP World Heavyweight Championship & IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship)
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
