New Japan Pro Wrestling
Sakura Genesis 2026
April 4, 2026
Ryogoku Kokugikan
Tokyo, Japan
Watch: NJPW WORLD
Callum Newman became the youngest ever IWGP champion in front of 6000 people at Sumo Hall. It was the culmination of an actual push, and it gave a satisfaction we have sorely missed. I have issues with the match itself, but overall, the Newman arc is a success. He is a credible threat and will be a solid heel champion.
The roster has started to find a structure again. We have a proper upper midcard forming, with the likes of Yuya Uemura, Yuto-Ice, Shota Umino and Oleg Boltin making their presence felt more and more. There’s less of a reliance on the old guard of Goto and ZSJ, creating a more forward-thinking promotion.
The main event scene is still lacking. Ospreay’s presence on this card gave us a stark juxtaposition, reminding us what real star power feels like. Newman and Tsuji may end up having incredibly important roles, keeping the title scene warm while the midcard finds its settling position and those stars emerge. Of course, Newman may take off to the moon and become the new Ospreay. The possibilities are worth chewing over, and it’s an exciting time to be a New Japan fan.
KUSHIDA & Masatora Yasuda def. Taisei Nakahara & Tatsuya Matsumoto
This generation of Young Lions is an interesting bunch. There’s an interesting, cocky charisma in their work. Matsumoto is a key example of this, taking the time to pose perfectly when his name is announced. It’s a promising sign, and I’ll watch them with interest.
This was a good YL match, and perfect for fans of distilled pro wrestling. Yasuda and Nakahara had a bit of agro, and KUSHIDA let the youngsters scrap. Whether it was altruism or veteran laziness is neither here nor there. **¾
TMDK (Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita) def. Master Wato & Togi Makabe
I’m enjoying Harley Jackson’s work at the moment, especially after a humanizing New Japan Cup. He’s positioned as the journeyman, scratching for his place on the card so he can pay his bills. It was fun to see him bump shoulders with Makabe here, and even more fun to see Makabe actually take a bump or two.
Fujita has found a little more charisma, and he’s helping TMDK find the middle ground between heel and face. His attitude was perfect to rile the ever-serious Togi Makabe, and it added a few wrinkles of interest to an otherwise perfunctory tag match. **¼
Unbound Co. (Robbie X, Shingo Takagi & Taiji Ishimori) def. United Empire (Francesco Akira, Jake Lee & Jakob Austin Young)
This was a sub-ten-minute blast of flips that helped build excitement for the upcoming Best of the Super Juniors.
Robbie X was a standout for myself and the Tokyo crowd. I’ve been something of a cheerleader for Robbie X for many years now, and I’m always overjoyed to see him get these big chances. He’s a whirlwind of a wrestler, and you’re never quite sure how he’s going to flip next. I’m looking forward to him bringing that excitement to the upcoming tournament.
There were some great high spots here, and a hot tag to a wound-up Shingo is always a joy. Unfortunately, there was a little too much clunkiness to elevate it beyond **¾
Aaron Wolf, Tiger Mask, Toru Yano & YOH def. House Of Torture (Don Fale, DOUKI, SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
Tiger Mask is getting a push in the build-up to his retirement match, and the interactions between him and Douki were the only wrinkles of interest here. Outside of that, it was the typical HOT match that has bored us for years now.
SHO did a terrible promo, and I was reminded of a time when some of us thought he had the potential to be one of the greatest junior heavyweights of all time. It’s such a shame that we’ll never be able to answer that question. Instead, we’re watching his prime tick away.
Wolf was a continuing non-entity and had completely lost the enigma he built at the Dome. At the moment, I don’t think New Japan needs him to succeed any more than he has. He brought a lot of eyes onto the Dome, and those eyes have probably found something more exciting to watch than Wolf’s vacant expression. **
United Empire (Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Will Ospreay) def. El Desperado, Taichi & Yuya Uemura
Ospreay’s return felt like a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it was great to hear Elevated live up to its name, lifting the crowd to another level. It was great to see Ospreay’s extra bounce on flips and bumps. Unfortunately, it also highlighted the journey New Japan still has ahead of it.
Ospreay is one of the greatest wrestlers in the world, and arguably one of the greatest of all time. It seems unfair to compare Yuya Uemura to him, but that is also the problem. I like Yuya a lot, but the gulf between him and Ospreay just seemed too wide. He will probably never reach Ospreay’s level, because few can, but the concept shouldn’t seem as impossible as it does.
HENARE, another exciting young wrestler, was great for a hot tag and not much else. GOK was the future once, and now he barely lifts his legs.
I am much more optimistic than most for the future of New Japan. We have to be realistic, though. The biggest reaction here came from Taichi facing off with Ospreay and that shouldn’t really be the case.
The hope did return in the post-match agro. Ospreay’s teammates attacked their opponents after the bell, leaving Will in an existential crisis. He has loyalty to his stable, but he doesn’t like their actions. It’s a nice simple story, and I’ve got a feeling it will lead to the inevitable Ospreay/Newman showdown. ***
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Title Match
Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) & Oleg Boltin (c) def. House Of Torture (Chase Owens, Ren Narita & Yujiro Takahashi)
HOT did their bell spot here; Oleg had Narita in a torture rack, and Togo rang the bell to distract him. It’s a terrible spot. It compounds the fact that this match is still happening despite our deep desire for it to end.
It’s a shame, because the Bishamon and Oleg Boltin combination is perfect. When they get going, they’re like an unstoppable juggernaut. Their wrestling is liquid, seamlessly moving from move to move in an immensely captivating way. The only thing that could stop this juggernaut was Yujiro; he’s so shit he couldn’t even take the bumps right and destroyed the run.
Terrible. *½
NJPW WORLD Television Title Match
Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Shota Umino – Time Limit Draw
Umino spent the New Japan Cup evolving into an interesting wrestler, and I was quite excited to see this match. Unfortunately, it was poorly structured and mired by a finish that stunk of dual-contract politics.
I enjoyed the opening few minutes. Both men grabbed each other’s throats and smashed their forearms on each other’s faces. However, once Takeshita took a powder, it became clear that they were trying to shove a twenty-five-minute epic into a fifteen-minute time limit. It needed to be a G1 sprint, but ended up feeling weirdly truncated. It would have been better to have the bell ring as they geared up to a final stretch rather than play the tired trope of the bell being two minutes too soon.
The work wasn’t bad, especially as they spent a good portion of the match dropping each other on their heads. It was just very Shota Umino: fine, but with an intangible missing piece.
I don’t particularly enjoy Takeshita’s work, despite recognizing how great he is. It may be down to the dual-contract status. There’s more political palaver to navigate, and it doesn’t endear him to the New Japan crowd. That being said, he needs to be in a position befitting of his talent and status. We’ve ended up on the fence, with TV Title matches going to time-limit draws. ***1/4
IWGP Tag Team Title Match
Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) (c) def. TMDK (Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.)
These teams have had a series of great matches, and frankly, I was ready for the feud to be put to bed. I was desperately wrong, and this match was the best they’ve had. It has left me excited for more Yuto-Ice and Oiwa battles.
Despite losing, it was Oiwa and ZSJ that seemed stronger throughout. There were moments when OSKAR’s power held the tide, but the cohesiveness of the TMDK team seemed certain to win them the gold. Yuto-Ice sneaked away with the pin in the end, but it was a big bloody nose. It played into the old adage of it being harder to keep a title than it is to win one, creating some brilliant drama.
The crowd was molten from the start, and it is a testament to the skill of ZSJ he had the crowd believing a submission could end the match before we’d even seen ten minutes of action. The TMDK team were consummate tag-team wrestlers, keeping the scrappy fighters apart and neutralising them.
The second half of the match saw Oiwa go after Yuto’s arm. It was a vicious performance, heightened by Oiwa being pushed away by the referee in mad panic to check the injured man. Of course, he went back to do more damage and a technical display of skill soon descended into a scrap.
The ending was chaos, with big moves folding into each other at an immense pace. ZSJ’s emotive screaming to Oiwa grounded the match in reality, and I was carried away by it.
There were some small criticisms. Yuto-Ice didn’t sell the arm as much as he could when it wasn’t being directly targeted, but it was a minor gripe that was overcome by the hatred between him and Oiwa.
They are building a superb rivalry here, and this match reinvigorated my interest in their feud. ****¾
IWGP Heavyweight Title Match
Callum Newman def. Yota Tsuji ©
Giving Newman the belt was the right choice. I don’t think Tsuji was ever a major player, but he has been elevated now. Newman, at minimum, will be the same. He has the potential to be much more, however, and it’s refreshing to see New Japan take the chance.
The match itself, however, was disappointing. There was a lot of good, but it took as much as it gave.
It settled far too quickly. One man dominated, then the other. They wrestled, ticking all the boxes, but it was flat. The tension from the entrances dissipated too quickly and much of the first half was uninteresting.
We were subjected to a misjudged one-act play just before the closing stretch. There was a ref bump, and Young tried to hand Newman a chair. It was Ospreay’s intervention that stopped it. I understood the story being told; we’re building to a moral collision between Ospreay and Newman. I have no doubt that it will be an incredible match, with Ospreay giving everything he has to put over his protege. The problem isn’t the story, but the execution. It felt clumsy and out of place. Ref bumps are a constant source of rolled eyes in this company, and they should have been kept far away from a match of this magnitude. Tsuji twisted the situation to his advantage and ended up with a visual pin while the ref was down. It was a strange moment of unnecessary, overbooked nonsense that detracted from the overall story.
Tsuji found his limits, too, so it’s a relief that he can shuffle back down the card and do some good there. He is a very good wrestler, but I never believe him. The Gene Blaster looks too weak, and its repeated use makes it hard to suspend disbelief.
There was a lot of good in this match. Newman’s work was picture perfect, and I was engrossed in the final stretch. It’s a match worth watching, but it could have been so much more. ***1/2
Gabe Kidd came out at the end wearing an AEW shirt, showing that the most promising prospect in wrestling has finally run out of ideas and is happy wallowing at the lowest common denominator. The cheapest of cheap heat.
Final Thoughts
The tag match was absolutely unmissable, and the main event was significant. We have a lot of interesting threads being formed, and New Japan continues its upward trajectory. The undercard was mostly skippable, but nothing was very long.
Newman as champion is an interesting prospect. His first defense will be against Shingo, which is absolutely perfect. He will be able to have a stellar match, and consolidate the push. There are still some hanging doubts over Newman, and he should use that match to blast them away.
