New Japan Cup night one live results: Aaron Wolf vs. Don Fale, Great-O-Khan vs. Yuya Uemura
The first night of the New Japan Cup takes place today in Tokyo.
Two opening-round tournament matches are scheduled for Korakuen Hall on Wednesday.
Aaron Wolf will compete in his first New Japan Cup, facing House of Torture member Don Fale in the opening round. In the main event, The Great O-Khan takes on Yuya Uemura.
Also scheduled for the show is a 10-man tag featuring Gedo, Yota Tsuji, Robbie X, Taiji Ishimori, and Yuto-Ice against members of TMDK. In six-man action, Tomoaki Honma teams with Master Wato and Taichi to face House of Torture’s Dick Togo, DOUKI, and Ren Narita. An eight-man tag will see Daiki Nagai, Drilla Moloney, Shingo Takagi, and OSKAR take on Zane Jay, HENARE, Jake Lee, and Callum Newman. Toru Yano and Boltin Oleg team up against Jado and El Phantasmo, while Masatora Yasuda and Shota Umino face Yujiro Takahashi and Chase Owens. Tasei Nakahara will also make his debut in a singles match against Tetsuya Matsumoto.
Our live coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. JST.
*************************
Pre-Show
Tatsuya Matsumoto defeated Taisei Nakahara
These rookies began the night’s affairs switching control of each other’s arms. Matsumoto kept Nakahara grounded, returning him to the mat with a side suplex. Nakahara returned fire with relentless elbows and a dropkick. He sank in a Boston Crab, and when that didn’t work, he stomped his opponent. Matsumoto regained control with a Boston Crab of his own.
Matsumoto’s first singles victory and my first time seeing Nakahara. Not bad, not bad.
Main Card
House Of Torture (Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi) defeated Masatora Yasuda & Shota Umino
House of Torture sought to overcome Umino in the opening minutes, but he sent Takahashi out and clotheslined Owens. Outside, Owens strangled Umino with a microphone cord. Back inside the ring, Takahashi slammed Yasuda repeatedly to the mat. Umino clutched a comeback, overwhelming Owens with chops, strikes, and a Fisherman’s Suplex.
Patiently absorbing a meek tirade from Owens, Umino dazed him with a Tornado-DDT. Yasuda put Takahashi through a trial of suplexes. Takahashi struck Yasuda with a Reverse-DDT, while Umino and Owens battled against the barricades outside. Owens swung a stick at Umino, leaving Yasuda isolated. The Young Lion fell prey to Takahashi’s Pimp Juice, leaving House of Torture the victors.
Post-match: Owens assaulted the already-defeated Umino against the steel guardrail outside.
A decent enough opener. Yasuda did well, all things considered.
Oleg Boltin & Toru Yano defeated El Phantasmo & Jado
Boltin kept Phantasmo firmly planted to the mat with his immeasurable strength. He caused further impairment in chopping Phantasmo’s chest. Jado humorously avoided a tag-in, pretending to lace his boots outside. A Boltin Splash nearly spelled disaster for the former NJPW World Television Champion. An impassioned Yano stripped a turnbuckle of its pad, only for Phantasmo to bait him into charging upon the now exposed steel.
Jado paid homage to Perry Saturn’s Rings of Saturn onto the agonized Yano. Phantasmo made things worse, pinching Yano’s nipples so hard a hair came out. A Boltin Shake rattled Phantasmo, yet not enough to warrant Boltin’s Kamikaze. Jado joined Phantasmo in mounting offense to the mighty Boltin, and both suffered a double-clothesline. Applying a crossface to Yano, Jado refused to relinquish. Boltin held Phantasmo captive outside as Yano struck Jado with a low blow to steal the pinfall.
Post-match: Phantasmo showed a sign of respect, adorning Boltin with his NJPW Strong Openweight Championship won from the previous weekend’s New Beginning in USA event.
I’m not a fan of that nipple spot. The fact that a hair came out was nasty. That said, I did find enjoyment in the clash of styles between Phantasmo and Boltin.
Unbound Co. (Daiki Nagai, Drilla Moloney, OSKAR & Shingo Takagi) defeated United Empire (Callum Newman, HENARE, Jake Lee & Zane Jay)
Before the match, Jay berated production for using the Young Lion music for his entrance.
Following Newman riling him up before the bell, OSKAR unleashed vicious chops. Newman gathered speed, which OSKAR cut short using his whole immovable body to drop the Brit. OSKAR and Nagai pinballed Newman into each other’s elbows. Lee slid on a glove to scrape Nagai’s gums with his thumb. HENARE flung Nagai into two separate corners, succeeding with a Fireman’s Press and a senton. At last, Nagai earned respite with a dropkick.
Takagi ragdolled Jay about the place, lariating him out of the ring. He easily hurled Newman out of the ring but had to surprise Lee with a knee to the gut. Moloney and Takagi obliterated HENARE with a Death Valley Bomb. The New Zealander stood up to both with a Berserker. Jay quelled Moloney’s attempt to supplant him by unsheathing a high drop kick. His hubris proved to be folly, as Moloney blasted him with a powerbomb. Everyone traded their signatures and finishers, but it was Moloney’s patented Drilla Killa that put away the young Jay.
Post-match: Still enraged by the pre-match antics of Newman, OSKAR rendered him unconscious with a sleeper hold that none of the officials could break.
The new roster of United Empire members made a decent impression. I hesitate to say that for Jake Lee, as he has yet to resonate with me. Interestingly, Zane Jay graduated from Young Lion status so soon. And considering that Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors have been on AEW more lately, it’s surreal to see Moloney away from them, but poetic to see him contend with United Empire.
Master Wato, Taichi & Tomoaki Honma defeated House Of Torture (Dick Togo, DOUKI & Ren Narita)
House of Torture began with their usual routine of ambushing their opponents. Narita suffered a boot from Taichi. Honma had a successful Kokeshi but failed a subsequent attempt. Togo focused on Honma’s midsection, and with aid from DOUKI, double-stomped on his gut. The veteran Honma headbutted DOUKI and used a Kokeshi to finally escape the House of Torture’s, well, torture.
Wato laid out DOUKI and Narita with a duology of Flying Headscissors. DOUKI pulled out a Darkness Choke to squeeze the life out of Wato. Narita only enraged Taichi, who kicked him straight in the jaw. Togo made things worse for himself when he tried elbowing Taichi’s back; he responded with an elbow of his own. Narita swept Taichi’s leg and locked him into a kneebar. Thanks to the damage sustained to his knee, Taichi stumbled in an Irish whip, leading to a Dick-to-Dick Contact. Taichi rejected Togo’s attempt to strangle him with steel wire. His teammates laid out the opposing Hourse of Torture members so he could submit Togo with a Seitei Jujiro.
Taichi was the MVP of this bout. His selling of the knee was superb, and his comeback spots were heroic.
TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.) defeated Unbound Co. (Gedo, Robbie X, Taiji Ishimori, Yota Tsuji & Yuto-Ice)
Ice and Oiwa initiated things with a spirited exchange, with the latter managing a dropkick. Tsuji tagged in, demanding Sabre meet him in the ring. Twisting the IWGP Heavyweight Champion’s arm. Eagles tagged in, thudding Tsuji’s chest with resounding chops. Tsuji dragged Eagles in to punish him with chops of his own. Ishimori and X mounted a united front to Easgles, but the Aussie persevered with suplexes to X to escape.
Fujita overcame the odds with an assist from Eagles, but X stole the trajectory of the match via Pele Kick. Gedo excitedly gained steam before crashing like a full-speed locomotive into the mountain that was Jackson. Unwisely, Gedo’s plan for a Gedo Clutch was for naught. Thanks to Ice, this led to Unbound Co. and TMDK exchanging signatures and finishers. Jackson finished off Gedo courtesy of a Jagged Edge to finish the match.
I’m a fan of Jackson’s renaissance in 2026 NJPW. Coming in at the last moment to be the hot tag that would ultimately finish the multi-man tag capped off an action-packed and star-studded struggle. I’m here for it.
New Japan Cup Matches
Don Fale defeated Aaron Wolf
Wolf almost dispatched Yoshinobu Kanemaru and SHO’s attempts to ambush him. Unfortunately for him, Chase Owens attacked from behind. Fale would stomp him out and throw him back to the House of Torture outside for another thrashing. Things got worse for Wolf once Fale stepped on his back like a surfboard.
Fale left Wolf outside for almost a 20-count. Miraculously, he uprooted Fale in a Fisherman’s Suplex. Fale refused an Ankle Lock, shoving Wolf into the referee. Wolf singlehandedly steamrolled Fale’s House of Torture cohorts. Fale laid him out and set up a table while an intervening Toru Yano from Japanese commentary was ambushed. The table buckled under Wolf, who then threw its unforgiving wood into Fale’s face. Wolf reached for another Ankle Slam. House of Torture pulled the referee out at the last second, despite Yano levelling the odds to his best ability. Narita blindsided Wolf with the NEVER Openweight belt to lend Fale the pinfall victory.
I didn’t have a good time with this. I feel like a worse person for having witnessed it.
Yuya Uemura defeated Great-O-Khan
Khan operated like a heat-seeking missile, immediately using his Iron Claw on Uemura’s abdomen. Uemura responded with a couple of arm drags. Working over Khan’s arm, Uemura found himself in a predicament of another Iron Claw, this time on his skull. Uemura threw a Flying Crossbody, which Khan scouted and walked away from, Samoa Joe-style. At last, a dropkick nudged the match in Uemura’s favor. Returning his attention to Khan’s still-tender arm, Uemura yanked it in a series of snapmares. Khan’s Iron Claw found no ground, as Uemura shoved it away and resumed his siege on the arm.
In the abyss of the Korakuen Hall crowd, Khan flung Uemura into a sea of chairs. Wielding a steel chair, Khan prepared to swing on Uemura before Referee Red Shoes seized it as contraband. While the ref was distracted, Khan banged Uemura’s back with one of the crowd chairs. Barely eluding the 20-count at just 19, Uemura dove into the ring. There, he delivered Flying Crossbodies. Fleeing to the outside, Khan’s hope for escape bore no fruit, as Uemura decimated him with a plancha. Reaching for a Deadbolt Suplex, Uemura found his shoulder bitten by Khan. Gravitating Uemura to the mat, Khan’s Claw could not put him away. Surprising Khan with another arm hold, bending it behind his back. Fearful, Khan clutched Uemura’s hair to thwart another Deadbolt Suplex attempt. Finally, Uemura grasped victory with a successful Deadbolt Suplex and High Cross.
Post-match: Uemura thanked the Tokyo crowd for their support and asked them to stay fired up for the New Japan Cup.
Great match. Match of the night, I’d say. That said, I’m sure these two could’ve shaved a few minutes or more from this. Regardless, I have high hopes for Uemura in the New Japan Cup.
Final Thoughts
Not a bad show, but nothing quite eventful. Zane Jay rejecting his Young Lion status and Uemura earning his first win in the tournament are some welcome developments. Masatora Yasuda, Taichi, and Hartley Jackson were my personal highlights. Aaron Wolf’s defeat at the hands of House of Torture left a sour taste in my mouth.
That main event, however, is what I expect of NJPW’s greatness in 2026. The drama and spirit are exactly what should be demanded of the promotion, especially in a direction that saw a mass exodus of talent and the retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Corey Michaels covers the play-by-play action of events hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Referenced by content creators and Wikipedia articles, he adds his prosaic voice with authority to the F4W/WON audience.
A content writer and wrestling fan, Corey has woven the stories of our great sport into literature. He cuts to the emotional core of characters, rivalries, and angles.