Yota Tsuji’s first IWGP title challenger confirmed
Jake Lee is officially first in line to challenge Yota Tsuji for the IWGP Championship.
In an angle that took place today, Tsuji finally agreed to defend his IWGP Championship against Lee at New Beginning in Osaka on February 11. The match will be formally announced by NJPW when the full card is revealed in the coming days.
A match between Tsuji and Lee has been building since Wrestle Kingdom 20, when Tsuji was attacked by Lee following his victory over Konosuke Takeshita. Lee returned to NJPW that night when he was unveiled as the newest member of United Empire. Tsuji did not immediately accept Lee’s challenge, instead saying that Lee needed to show why he was worthy of a title shot.
United Empire (Lee, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young) defeated Unbound Company (Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi, Taiji Ishimori & Gedo) in a 10-man tag match at today’s Road to New Beginning event. To get the victory, Lee pinned Takagi while the rest of United Empire held Tsuji back and forced him to watch.
After the match, United Empire beat down Unbound Company as they continued to force Tsuji to look on. The champion then agreed to face Lee at New Beginning in Osaka, saying he could not watch United Empire do this to his friends.
Tsuji holds both the IWGP Championship and IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship at the moment. He’s set a clear distinction between the titles, saying the IWGP Championship will be defended in Japan against the best competition NJPW has to offer. The Global title will be defended overseas and in Japan against “invaders” from outside the company.
Edion Arena is hosting the New Beginning in Osaka, with the following matches either official or having been set up:
NJPW New Beginning in Osaka 2026 (Wednesday, February 11) —
- IWGP Champion Yota Tsuji defends against Jake Lee
- IWGP Tag Team Champions The Knock Out Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) defend against Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura
- NEVER Openweight Champion Aaron Wolf defends against Ren Narita
- Global title number one contender’s match: Gabe Kidd vs. Andrade El Idolo (not yet official)
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.