For the first time in over a year, Josh Barnett will return to an NJPW ring this summer.
Barnett will appear as part of Blue Justice XVIII on June 20, a self-produced show from NJPW veteran Yuji Nagata in Chiba, Japan.
Barnett is expected to team alongside Nagata and NEVER Openweight Champion Aaron Wolf to take on House of Torture’s Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru.
Barnett was most notably a frequent name in NJPW from 2003 to 2004. The MMA star made his in-ring debut against Nagata, challenging for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
He made his return to the NJPW ring after two decades away in 2025, appearing as a surprise entrant in the Wrestle Kingdom New Japan Rambo. Barnett appeared again later that week on New Year Dash to face Boltin Oleg in a five-minute exhibition bout.
Here’s the full lineup, which NJPW revealed on Monday
- Togi Makabe, Toru Yano & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Satoshi Kojima, Hiroshi Yamato & Taisei Nakahara
- Master Wato & Masatora Yasuda vs. DOUKI & SHO
- Shota Umino & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jake Lee & Zane Jay
- Ryohei Oiwa, Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita vs. Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Jakob Austin Young
- Taichi, Yuya Uemura & El Desperado vs. Yuto-Ice, OSKAR & Daiki Nagai
- Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH vs. Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi & Gedo
- Yuji Nagata, Aaron Wolf & Josh Barnett vs. Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
