Results
- Satoshi Kojima, Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii def. Katsuya Murashima, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura (10:23)
- Konosuke Takeshita & Rocky Romero def. El Phantasmo & Shoma Kato (8:43)
- Boltin Oleg, Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI def. SANADA, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi (9:23)
- Andrade El Idolo, Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young def. Clark Connors, Gabe Kidd & Hiromu Takahashi (10:31)
- Aaron Wolf, Master Wato, Toru Yano & YOH def. Dick Togo, Don Fale, EVIL & Ren Narita (5:37)
- HENARE, Great-O-Khan, Callum Newman & Jake Lee def. Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, David Finlay & Drilla Moloney (9:04)
- Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles def. DOUKI & SHO, El Desperado & Kuukai, Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships) (Tornado Four-Way) (7:24)
- OSKAR & Yuto-Ice def. Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. (IWGP Tag Team Championships) (26:22) (Recommended)
Knockout Brothers overcome Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa in stellar headlining act
The Knockout Brothers are still NJPW’s top team.
OSKAR and Yuto-Ice retained their IWGP Tag Team Championships on Monday night, defeating the TMDK duo of Zack Sabre Jr. and Ryohei Oiwa in the main event of New Year Dash!! from the Ota City General Gymnasium in Tokyo, Japan.
The impressive 26-minute performance saw the champs have to dig deep in order to get past ex-IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Sabre Jr. and fast-rising star Oiwa.
The match put a significant focus on Oiwa, who nearly closed out the matchup late against Yuto-Ice. After surviving a nasty knee to the head and a PK from Yuto-Ice, Oiwa started to battle back into the bout.
The TMDK prospect took OSKAR out of the equation with a huge German Suplex, then took down legal man Yuto with a slicing lariat. But OSKAR was able to recover quickly and get back into the ring, allowing the champs to hit their KOB double-team piledriver for the win.
The match continued an impressive run for the reigning champs, who have made quite the impression since they returned to the NJPW roster last fall. Past title appearances saw them beat the duos of Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura, as well as Taichi and Tomohiro Ishii. However, neither past performance saw them go as deep as they did this week.
The aforementioned two past teams they faced, Umino & Uemura along with Taichi and Ishii, hit the ring during the post-match ceremonies to demand a rematch. The champs argued that the duos should face off in a #1 contender’s match, with the prevailing squad getting a second crack at them.
TMDK adds junior tag gold to collection
TMDK has added a second set of belts to their collection in early 2026.
The duo of Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships in the co-main event of the night, winning a tornado four-way tag match.
A double-team piledriver to Bullet Club’s Robbie X earned them the pinfall win in seven minutes to capture the titles. Their victory ended a 204-day reign for DOUKI and SHO, which first started with a win over Master Wato and YOH. Having not been pinned during the four-way, the duo is likely getting a rematch sometime in the future.
The win for Fujita and Eagles came just 24 hours after the trio of Zack Sabre Jr., Hartley Jackson and Ryohei Oiwa captured the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championships at Wrestle Kingdom 20.
The returning Francesco Akira made a post-match attack on Taiji Ishimori, causing Hiromu Takahashi to run in for the save. Takahashi teased a future tag matchup, saying he will team with Ishimori to take on Akira.
Will Ospreay says he will help United Empire, Jake Lee gets denied title opportunity
Numerous angles, including a world title rivalry, emerged out of a tag bout between United Empire and the Bullet Club War Dogs.
Newly-crowned IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji responded to a challenge from Jake Lee, who attacked him after he won the top belt at Wrestle Kingdom 20. Tsuji denied Lee a shot at the title, saying that nobody can immediately get such a big opportunity after a year out of the ring.
Still, Lee continued mind games with Tsuji, holding his title after United Empire picked up the win in tag action on Monday.
A post-match brawl also saw David Finlay go head-to-head with Callum Newman. The duo of Great-O-Khan and HENARE got their hands on Drilla Moloney and Shingo Takagi.
Moments later, former United Empire leader Will Ospreay made a surprise appearance to confront Newman. Ospreay said that United Empire needs help, and promised that he would assist the group once he is back from injury someday.
“I can’t come back right now … But when I’m good to go, I’m gonna handle some business in AEW, and I’m gonna come back to New Japan Pro Wrestling. And I’m coming back to support you.”
Newman hugged Ospreay after his comments, but expressed significant frustration at the same time, eventually storming out of the ring alone.
Gabe Kidd calls for fight against Andrade, SANADA teases departure & more
Yota Tsuji’s next challenger for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship will be determined next month in Osaka, if finalized.
Gabe Kidd called out the recently-returned Andrade El Idolo on Monday night, throwing out the idea of battling it out in a #1 contenders match for Tsuji’s title as part of The New Beginning in Osaka card on February 11.
“You got something to say, let’s f****** fight about it,” Kidd said before a brief tussle with Andrade.
While Tsuji currently holds NJPW’s top belt, it has been noted that he plans to still also defend his Global Heavyweight belt in separate appearances.
It seems that House of Torture aren’t done with Aaron Wolf yet. Ren Narita attacked Wolf during the post-match of an eight-man tag bout, then sent a message by briefly hoisting his newly-won NEVER Openweight Championship. It’s possible that he’ll try to avenge the loss teammate EVIL suffered at Wrestle Kingdom 20 last weekend.
SANADA spent Monday teasing a departure from NJPW. While on his way to the ring for six-man tag action, the House of Torture member carried a guitar with the message: “Goodbye NJPW, See you next f****** time.” On Instagram in the lead-up to the match, he posted: “One match remains.”
Young Lions Katsuya Murashima and Shoma Kato got significant spotlights early in the evening.
Murashima, who was riding the momentum of a submission win on Wrestle Kingdom’s pre-show, briefly got the better of Tomohiro Ishii during a six-man tag opener on Monday. Kato had a significant exchange against ex-IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita, sending him into a guardrail and battling with him throughout an eight-minute contest.
