Results
- Masatora Yasuda def. Taisei Nakahara (Pre-show) (7:10)
- Konosuke Takeshita def. Chase Owens (NJPW World Television Championship) (11:32)
- Daiki Nagai & Gedo def. Ryusuke Taguchi & Tatsuya Matsumoto (6:50)
- OSKAR & Yuto-Ice def. Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma (9:00)
- Aaron Wolf, Master Wato, Tiger Mask, Toru Yano & YOH def. Don Fale, Ren Narita, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi (10:02)
- Taichi & Yuya Uemura def. Hartley Jackson & Ryohei Oiwa (13:51)
- Yota Tsuji, Taiji Ishimori, Drilla Moloney & Robbie X def. Jake Lee, Francesco Akira, Zane Jay & Jakob Austin Young (8:26)
- Mistico & El Desperado def. Kosei Fujita & Robbie Eagles (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships) (20:23) (Recommended)
- Will Ospreay, HENARE & Great-O-Khan def. Hirooki Goto, Boltin Oleg & YOSHI-HASHI (NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championships) (24:06)
- Callum Newman def. Shingo Takagi (IWGP Heavyweight Championship) (35:20) (Recommended)
The Prince still runs the show.
Callum Newman took down former world champion Shingo Takagi on Monday night to survive his first test as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Newman’s win, which emerged after 35 minutes of battle, headlined the second night of NJPW’s Wrestling Dontaku doubleheader from Fukuoka, Japan.
The tough battle saw Newman frequently rely on cheap tactics to take down Takagi.
While the first 25 minutes of the battle were a close, legal battle between the two, eventually the champ started to become desperate. It was near the 30-minute mark when Newman called upon United Empire teammates Zane Jay and Jake Lee to hit the ring for interference as the referee was down. Daiki Nagai and Yota Tsuji would come in to try and even the odds.
Takagi would get back into the fight many times later, but often have his momentum stopped by low blows from Newman. It seemed like he was nearing a second title win late in the bout, wobbling Newman with a Poisonrana then a Pumping Bomber. But, Newman avoided another Pumping Bomber by scoring another low blow. The illegal tactic allowed Neman to finish the bout with his Make Way finisher.
The tactics from Newman weren’t appreciated by Will Ospreay, the former United Empire leader who has prided himself on putting together a faction that didn’t cheat to win. Ospreay tried to stop a post-match beatdown from happening on Tsuji afterward, but his advice wasn’t taken kindly by the champ. Newman, establishing his dominance, forced Ospreay to join in on the attack, referring to him as “Death Rider Billy” at one point.
The bout also involved a spot where Newman tried to get under Takagi’s skin by disrespecting his wife, STARDOM wrestler Natsupoi, who was seated at ringside.
Newman started his title run last month when he scored a stunning victory over Yota Tsuji at NJPW’s annual Sakura Genesis card. The win made the 23-year-old the youngest talent to ever earn the title.
Takagi was looking for his second-ever reign with the top NJPW belt. He carried the title in late 2022 for over 200 days, a reign which ended after he lost to Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 16.
After the match, Newman booked a high-profile match for Wednesday’s NJPW show in Karatsu. He threw out the idea of teaming with Jake Lee to face Tsuji and Takagi in a tag match, with two special stipulations: If United Empire wins, Tsuji and Takagi will never be able to challenge Newman for his title again. But, if Newman loses, whoever earns the pinfall victory will be his opponent at Dominion on June 14.
Will Ospreay earns NEVER six-man belts alongside United Empire
United Empire added even more to their collection in the co-main event, as the hard-hitting trio of HENARE, Great-O-Khan, and AEW’s Will Ospreay took down NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Champions Bishamon and Boltin Oleg.
After taking Hirooki Goto and Oleg out at ringside with attacks, the trio set up a top-rope Hidden Blade from Ospreay into a HENARE powerbomb double-team finisher for the pinfall victory in 24 minutes.
The victory started Ospreay’s first title run in NJPW since he departed the promotion in 2024 to join the AEW roster full-time. It also ends what has been a dominant run for Bishamon and Oleg, who held the tag belts since January when they beat Zack Sabre Jr. and his TMDK teammates.
While Ospreay hasn’t always seen eye-to-eye with United Empire leader Callum Newman, who has brought more of an edge to the faction as of late, he has at least been able to help the group out since returning.
Just moments after winning gold, Great-O-Khan set his sights on winning even more. Alongside HENARE, he called out IWGP Tag Team Champions OSKAR and Yuto-Ice, who came down to the ring for a post-match face-off.
Earlier in the night: Mistico & El Depserado captures Jr. titles, SANADA returns
Mistico captured NJPW gold for the first time in over a decade on Monday, teaming with El Desperado to take down IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles.
While Mistico is mainly one of CMLL’s top stars, he is also an active AEW talent and, for years, has been a recurring name in NJPW. Monday started his first NJPW title reign since 2009, when he held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for 85 days.
The Ichiban Sweet Boys duo of Fujita and Eagles had only carried the tag titles for just over a week, earning them in late April against Robbie X and Taiji Ishimori. They will likely come to regret accepting the last-minute tag bout against Mistico and Desperado, which was only added to this show on Sunday night.
Konosuke Takeshita retained his NJPW World Television Championship in the opening match of the night, winning an overbooked singles bout against Chase Owens. After a dozen-or-so run-ins from House of Torture and Hontai wrestlers, plus a moment where Owens used spurs from his cowboy boots as a weapon, Takeshita closed out the match with a pair of powerdrive knees and a Raging Fire.
Arguably the most notable part of the segment came after the match, when former IWGP Heavyweight Champion SANADA, who has been away from NJPW since January, made his in-ring return with an attack on Takeshita. Many thought SANADA was on the outs with the company, being put on an indefinite leave earlier this year and bidding farewell to fans with the message “Goodbye New Japan.” But, he is now back and chasing the company’s TV title.
