NJPW reveals talent list for New Year Dash 2026
While most of the matches will remain a mystery, NJPW has revealed the list of talent set for action at New Year Dash 2026.
The annual post-Wrestle Kingdom event is being held at Ota City Gymnasium in Tokyo on January 5. It’s already been announced that an IWGP Tag Team Championship match will headline the Dash lineup with Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa challenging OSKAR & Yuto-Ice. The rest of the card will be determined by the results of Wrestle Kingdom, but NJPW has confirmed that the following talent are scheduled to compete:
- Aaron Wolf
- Oleg Boltin
- Shota Umino
- Yuya Uemura
- Hirooki Goto
- YOSHI-HASHI
- Toru Yano
- Tomohiro Ishii
- Taichi
- Satoshi Kojima
- El Desperado
- YOH
- Master Wato
- Zack Sabre Jr.
- Ryohei Oiwa
- Kosei Fujita
- David Finlay
- Gabe Kidd
- Drilla Moloney
- OSKAR
- Yuto-Ice
- Clark Connors
- Taiji Ishimori
- Yota Tsuji
- Hiromu Takahashi
- Shingo Takagi
- Callum Newman
- Great-O-Khan
- Andrade El Idolo
- HENARE
- EVIL
- Ren Narita
- SANADA
- Yujiro Takahashi
- DOUKI
- SHO
- Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Konosuke Takeshita
This will be the first NJPW show to take place following the retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi, who is facing off against Kazuchika Okada in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom.
Either Takeshita or Tsuji will be entering New Year Dash as a double champion. They’re set to clash at Wrestle Kingdom with the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship both on the line.
Wolf, an Olympic gold medalist in judo, could also be a champion by the time New Year Dash begins. He is making his pro wrestling debut at Wrestle Kingdom, challenging EVIL for the NEVER Openweight Championship.
Andrade, now free to wrestle elsewhere following a holdup with his WWE non-compete clause, has been announced for Wrestle Kingdom and New Year Dash. Both shows will air live on NJPW World.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.