Andrade El Idolo captured the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship by defeating Yota Tsuji on Sunday.
The title change headlined the first night of NJPW Wrestling Dontaku at the Fukuoka International Center.
Match results
- Toru Yano, YOH, & Master Wato def. Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi, & Taisei Nakahara
- OSKAR & Yuto-Ice def. Tomoaki Honma & Masatora Yasuda
- Yuya Uemura, Taichi, El Desperado, & Místico def. Ryohei Oiwa, Hartley Jackson, Robbie Eagles, & Kosei Fujita
- Will Ospreay, HENARE, & Great-O-Khan def. Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, & Tatsuya Matsumoto
- Konosuke Takeshita & Shota Umino def. Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi
- Shingo Takagi, Drilla Moloney, Taiji Ishimori, Robbie X, & Daiki Nagai def. Callum Newman, Jake Lee, Francesco Akira, Jakob Austin Young, & Zane Jay
- Aaron Wolf def. Don Fale
- NEVER Openweight Championship: Ren Narita (c) def. Oleg Boltin
- IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Andrade El Idolo def. Yota Tsuji (c)
Main event: IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship
Andrade El Idolo secured the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship by defeating Yota Tsuji in the night’s final encounter.
Both competitors wrestled at a fast pace early on. Tsuji gained control before El Idolo retaliated by wrapping the champion’s knee around a turnbuckle and hitting a double foot stomp.
The action progressed with a series of high-impact moves. El Idolo reversed a curb stomp attempt into a powerslam on the ring apron. Tsuji answered with an avalanche Spanish Fly followed by a lariat and knee strike. Near the end of the match, Tsuji applied a Boston Crab, but El Idolo reached the bottom rope to break the hold.
El Idolo avoided a Guerrero Special from the top rope. He then hit Tsuji with a DDT into the ring post, sending himself to the outside. Returning to the ring, El Idolo executed his finishing move, the Message, to win the title.
#andNEW
Destiny fulfilled in Fukuoka!
Andrade El Idolo survives an instant classic with Yota Tsuji to capture Global gold. Moloney and Umino answered the call next.#njDONTAKU report:https://t.co/r1x3xlGGZ1Watch the replay:https://t.co/DKJMC9YC1r pic.twitter.com/F5G2mllQY7
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) May 3, 2026
- Following his victory, the new champion issued an open challenge. Drilla Moloney and Shota Umino both entered the arena to confront him. El Idolo suggested that his first title defense should be a three-way match involving both men.
NEVER Openweight Championship and heavyweight singles action
Earlier, Ren Narita successfully defended the NEVER Openweight Championship against Oleg Boltin. Narita attacked Boltin before the opening bell and subsequently struck him with a steel chair. Boltin recovered to hit a Boltin Shake and a Boltin Splash.
A distraction from SHO allowed Narita to apply a Guillotine Choke and hit a Double Cross. After Dick Togo delivered a low blow to the challenger, Narita forced Boltin to submit with a cross-arm hold.
Prior to that match, Aaron Wolf achieved a pinfall victory over Don Fale.
Fale threw Wolf into the ringside seating area and used his size advantage to dominate early. Chase Owens distracted the referee, enabling Fale to maintain control. Wolf eventually rolled away from an elbow drop and slammed Fale to the mat. He finished the match by hitting an Angle Slam for the win.
Night two card updates
Místico and El Desperado will now challenge the Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on Monday. The scheduled non-title tag team match was changed following Místico’s challenge at the end of night one. Eagles accepted the challenge to put the titles on the line at Wrestling Dontaku night two.
Below is the updated card for NJPW Wrestling Dontaku night two on Monday:
- Pre-Show: Masatora Yasuda vs. Taisei Nakahara
- NJPW World Television Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Chase Owens
- Tatsuya Matsumoto & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Unbound Company (Daiki Nagai & Gedo)
- Tomoaki Honma & Shota Umino vs. Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice)
- Master Wato, YOH, Tiger Mask IV, Toru Yano & Aaron Wolf vs. House of Torture (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SHO, Yujiro Takahashi, Don Fale & Ren Narita)
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles) (c) vs. Místico & El Desperado
- Taichi & Yuya Uemura vs. T.M.D.K. (Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa)
- Unbound Company (Robbie X, Taiji Ishimori, Drilla Moloney & Yota Tsuji) vs. United Empire (Zane Jay, Jakob Austin Young, Francesco Akira & Jake Lee)
- NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Oleg Boltin, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto (c) vs. United Empire (Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Will Ospreay)
- IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Callum Newman (c) vs. Shingo Takagi
On Monday, Bruce Lord and Karen Peterson will have a full breakdown of all the action of both nights of Wrestling Dontaku 2026 for POST Wrestling Café members.
