He said backstage that the NEVER trios titles are worthless but that he wants to change that and aspires to be like the Goto, Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI team from the pandemic.

This guy is just unfathomably based.

It just felt like the right time to put the belt on him. Maybe NJPW didn't know he was going to be so over; I was kinda surprised myself. The perfect finish imo would have been a fire blaster countered into the grip headlock with both wrestlers trying to hold on in agony (due to Tsuji's body work throughout the match).

The Omega angle was probably worked out a month or more ago, so there was no chance of a back peddle, but it just feels like a missed opportunity to me. Ryogoku let NJPW know that they were ready for Oiwa to be champ.

That being said, this is my moty so far. I literally couldn't tell who was going to win, the swings of momentum were crazy and unpredictable, and the quick counters harkened back to golden-age 2019 njpw that made me fall in love with the company.

I also think it would have been the perfect time to turn Tsuji heel with a fake handshake/passing of the torch afterwards, and then a relentless beat down of Oiwa, as he did to Yuto at g1. Njpw doesn't have a top heel right now and Tsuji screams "bad guy" pretty effortlessly.

I AM excited though for the possibility of Omega/Tsuji for the belt at WK, and a possible swan-song heel run as champion for Kenny ending in a wk 2028 retirement match. Callum vs Ospreay has moty potential. MJF and Oiwa have similar styles and could have great chemistry. Takagi and Mox will be fun as well.

Overall, King of Pro Wrestling was my favorite NJPW show since g1 36 night 1 and I am insanely hyped for the future. I just hope Oiwa gets the belt while he's still hot.

Katsuya Kitamura (December 14, 1985 – October 12, 2022) spent his entire pro wrestling career as a young lion in NJPW. Prior to that he was an accomplished amateur wrestler and was part of the Senshu University wrestling team, winning the All Japan Wrestling Championship in the 120 kg category in 2006.

His debut match was a dark amateur wrestling exhibition at Lion's Gate Project 1, where he wrestled fellow trainee Tomoyuki Oka (Great-o-Khan) to a time limit draw. His first televised match would see him team with Oka in a loss againt GoD in 2017. Kitamura would tag regularly with Oka, dubbing their team "Monster Rage".

Kitamura would see much success in the 2017 Young Lion Cup, winning all five bouts and emerging as the tournament winner. On January 5 at New Year's Dash, Katsuya began a Seven Trial series of matches where he would face seven different wrestlers. He found little success here though, losing to Jay White, Michael Elgin, Juice Robinson, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata.

Unfortunately, his seventh match never came, as he suffered a cerebral concussion and was unable to compete. It was reported that the severity of the injury may force retirement. He also suffered an additional leg injury in a scooter accident. After almost a year with no news or updates on his condition, Kitamura left NJPW on January 31, 2019. He did however, attempt a hand at MMA. Appearing in Rizin 32 on November 2021 where he lost a match againt Bobby Ologun.

Kitamura would unfortunately pass away at the age of 36. The cause was never made public.

Yota Tsuji hits the Fire Blaster to retain after an awesome match.

Afterwards, Kenny Omega would put a challenge forward for Tsuji’s IWGP.

This one is gonna be goood.

I was in Tokyo last week and saw my first NJPW show. 2 days later I somehow walked onto 3 wrestlers shooting some sort of promo.

Can you help me identify them?

And do you know where I could watch the promo? I’m not sure if it aired yet.

I know this sub have been filled of posts about the consequences of KOPW aftermath since yesterday, but no one seems talking about the simple solution that would fix the whole booking problem : having a Wrestle Dynasty show the day after Wrestle Kingdom.

Obviously we won't have a Wrestle Dynasty this year, and book the Tokyo Dome 2 night in a row is not a easy task I suppose.

But if you watch the list of teased matches, we have :

- Callum vs Ospreay, which to me is the only one who deserve the Wrestle Kingdom spot, because it's the peak of Callum's year long storyline in New Japan and should happens in Japan.

- Oiwa vs MJF, which is great for Oiwa only if he win. MJF having a solo spot for the dome baffling me.

- Shota vs Mox, which to me make a bit sense but also downgrade badly the whole character grow of Shota, which totally stop to mention Mox and the Deathriders. It would have been perfect before the 2nd chapter twist

- KOB vs Cage & Cope (they start the build with Oskar telling he want to face them and we know Cope want to do a Dome match)

- Yuya vs Gabe, we all know this is wrong, Yuya should have been in the main event spot and having the Global title feel like a consolization spot (even they want to put Yuya in Tanahashi spot bringing back a shining Global title like it was with the Intercontinental title)

- Tsuji vs Omega, which steal the main event spot of Yuya Uemura and need a weird build (Omega need to have the winning pin at Power Struggle? He will just pin Oleg obviously)

The whole point of the list is, they should keep this list of matches at Wrestle Dynasty, they would have a perfect Wrestle Kingdom and a perfect Wrestle Dynasty back to back to finish an almost perfect 2026 year.

Awesome match. Wolf had gotten very good, very fast and Fujita remains one of the best in the world.

One of NJPW’s best matches of the year. Shota delivers at a top level again. Surprising winner here but damn I think this one deserves its own thread, genuine MOTY contender

Ospreay and Newman vs. KOB at Power Struggle

Wow Aaron Wolf Vs Kosei Fujita was awesome Fujita is an awesome pro wrestler!! This whole event rules

I watched Tsuji V. Oiwa and decided to get back into NJPW after not watching wrestling for a while.

Could someone tell me who the top guys are now?

Last I watched Tsuji was a young lion and he seems to have become alright.

This Oiwa guy is fantastic!

1st April 1986
Weekly Pro (Issue No 136)

For Sayama, "Tiger Mask" was merely a step along the path toward pursuing authentic martial arts. He had accepted the role and performed it to his own satisfaction, but...what did Sayama say about the emergency?

https://puroprogramtranslations.blogspot.com/2026/10/tiger-masksayama-emergency-alarm.html

If not I'm going to buy it immediately, please understand you're holding a lot of power in your hands right now

THIS IS NOT AN AEW HATE POST. Also, is mainly about stories within NJPW. I also didn't know how to title this thought.

For the past three years that has been a match seemingly built towards for between a NJPW wrestler and a big AEW star. But the closer we get to the likely Tokyo Dome match, the beneficial outcome for NJPW seems harder inadvertently due to AEW booking.

In 2024, Jon Moxley spent a lot of 2024 in NJPW and winning the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. The story was his connection to Shota Umino and whether or not he could surpass his former mentor. Umino had one failed challenge before supporting Moxley to defend the belt against EVIL. Moxley however dropped the belt back to Naito.

A few months after the Death Riders story would start with Moxley as the dominant heel champion. This appeared to be a storyline that emerged short notice and was not long planned for. Umino would go on to lose in the WK main event before facing Moxley's lieutenant Claudio as a proxy at Dynasty. There is more to Umino's underwhelming end to 2024 such as his pre-G1 Injury and poor booking from NJPW themselves to hype him up for the Tokyo Dome spots. Perhaps if the Death Riders story didn't emerge and Moxley continued with his aimless 2024 in AEW he could have let Umino get his big win.

For 2025, they built towards a title for title match between Konesuke Takeshita and Yota Tsuji which luckily went down as we hoped but looked a bit more interesting at the end of the year. Takeshita was deep into a feud with Okada which most predicted to end at World's End with Takeshita winning the Continental Classic and Championship which may have made AEW reluctant to him losing the IWGP championship. However, in the end that big feud was delayed and all went as planned.

Now for 2026, the clear story has been the tension in United Empire with Ospreay returning to NJPW. They seem to not want to pull the trigger too early thus indicating this is a Tokyo Dome match. However, Ospreay is now AEW Champion and set to hold the belt for a while. Normal booking logic would be Newman beating Ospreay to fully lay claim to United Empire and establish him as a leader but it seems very unlikely to have Ospreay lose right now in a straight up singles match.

We will see how things develop and not being an AEW hater, they need to focus on their own programming. Also, NJPW could strike the iron earlier and not have to do the big crossover match at the Dome.

https://x.com/yamato_oldtype/status/1002188722022985728

Tried to mark this as a spoiler post so please delete if not allowed.

After thinking about it, I kind of hate the idea behind the three way at Power Struggle. I think Oleg vs Kenny would have been the better choice, but they both probably want to see how Oleg matches up against both Tsuji & Omega, and they probably want to protect Kenny and keep him as healthy as they can for WK.

Still, I would preferred if the World Title match of WK was specifically just full time NJPW talent.

My unpopular opinion is that I hope Tsuji wins. Hell, he can even pin Kenny.

The result of that I hope would be Tsuji vs Oiwa/Yuya and Kenny vs Oleg in a similar spot to Kenny vs Gabe Kidd.

Kenny cam definitely afford the losses, and the pins by both Boltin and Tsuji would do so much more.

Anyway, thats my fantasy booking for the day.

Also, who do we think potentially comes out to challenge the winner for Power Struggle?