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NJPW WRESTLING DONTAKU REPORT
MAY 3, 2026
FUKUOKO CONVENTION CENTER
FUKUOKO, JAPAN
AIRED LIVE ON NJPW WORLD
Announcers: Walker Stewart, Chris Charlton, Gino Gambino
(1) TORU YANO & MASTER WATO & YOH vs. RYUSUKI TAGUCHI & TAISEI NAKAHARA & TIGER MASK
Wato pinned Nakahara after a springboard uppercut.
WINNERS: Wato & Yoh & Yano at 5:12.
(2) THE KNOCKOUT BROTHERS (Yuto-Ice & Oskar) vs. TOMOAKI HONMA & MASATORA YASUDA
Yuta caught Yasuda with a hard knee and he sold like he was knocked out.
WINNERS: Yuta-Ice & Oscar via KO at 3:13.
(3) TMDK (Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita & Ryohei Oiwa & Robbie Eagles) vs. YUYA UEMURA & EL DESPERADO & MISTICO & TAICHI
Uemura pinned Jackson with a Frankensteiner.
WINNERS: Uemura & Desperado & Mistico & Taichi at 10:28.
(4) TATSUYA MATSUMOTO & BISHIMON (Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi) vs. UNITED EMPIRE (Henare & Great-O-Khan & Will Ospreay)
(5) SHOTA UMINO & KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. HOUSE OF TORTURE (Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi)
Umino pinned Takahashi with the Second Chapter.
WINNERS: Umino & Takeshita at 11:43.
Umino offered Takeshita a handshake after the match, but he didn’t accept.
(6) UNITED EMPIRE (Jakob Austin Young & Francesco Akira & Jake Lee & Callum Newman & Zane Jay) vs. THE UNBOUND CO. (Shingo Takagi & Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X & Drilla Moloney & Daiki Nagai)
Maloney pinned Zane with the Drilla Killa to conclude a fun tag match.
WINNERS: Unbound Co. at 10.22.
Shingo and Newman fought after the bell to set up their IWGP Hvt. Championship match tomorrow.
(7) DON FALE vs. AARON WOLF
Fale jumped Wolf when he got into the ring. Wolf fired back and the ref called for the bell. Wolf tried to slam Fale, but he couldn’t. Fale then slammed Wolf to the mat and put the boots to him. They went to the outside and Fale tossed Wolf into a pile of chairs. Fale worked over Wolf inside the ring. They went back to the floor and Wolf countered a whip and sent Fale into the guardrail. He then whipped Fale hard into the guardrail again.
Wolf couldn’t get Fale up, so he hit a judo throw and an elbow drop for a two count. Wolf went up top and almost completely missed a splash. He got a two count. He then went for a triangle. Chase Owens came down to the ring to distract the ref. Wolf let go of the hold and slingshotted Owens into the ring. Fale ended up pushing Wolf into the ref. Here we go.
Owens and Fale took turns working over Wolf until the ref recovered. Fale hit a Samoan Drop, but Wolf kicked out at the last second and the fans applauded. Fale hit The Grenade and went for an elbow, but missed. Wolf didn’t even jump up for The Grenade. Wolf whipped Fale into the corner and hit a big slam and the fans applauded. He then wiped out Chase Owens. He tore his shirt off and hit the Angle Slam for the win.
WINNER: Aaron Wolf at 10:30. (¼*)
(Radican’s Analysis: A mix of bad and good here. Wolf isn’t ready to be in the ring yet at this level and it shows. NJPW didn’t do a lot to protect him here, as he had to go at it with Fale, who can barely move at this stage of his career, for over 10 minutes. The good news is that the fans responded to Wolf during his comeback, which shows he’s got some leeway when it comes to the fans turning on him. All of his singles matches should be kept around five minutes or less at this point until he improves.)
(8) REN NARITA (w/Dick Togo) vs. BOLTIN OLEG – NEVER Openweight Championship match
Narita and Togo jumped Oleg as he made his entrance. Oleg got the upper hand once the match started, but when they went back to the outside. Togo distracted Oleg and Narita nailed him with a chairshot. Narita threw Oleg into a section of chairs and he managed to get back into the ring while selling his shoulder, which was heavily taped.
Narita went right after Oleg’s shoulder. He tossed him shoulder-first into the exposed corner. Oleg hit a belly-to-belly suplex to cut Narita off. Narita used the ref to set up an arm submission on Oleg, but he managed to free himself quickly. Narita tried to wrap a chair around Oleg’s arm and slam it into the ringpost, but Oleg countered and tossed the chair at Narita.
Oleg had Narita up on his shoulders, but Narita slipped away and shoved Oleg into the ref. Youshinobu Kanemaru came down, but Oleg made him spit whisky into Togo’s face. Oleg then dead-lifted Narita out of the corner and into a powerbomb for a nearfall. Oleg got the Argentine Backbreaker, but Sho ran onto the apron and distracted the ref. Aaron Wolf ran down and carried Sho to the back.
Narita hit a Double Cross on Oleg for a nearfall. Narita went up top, but Oleg caught him and hit Kamikaze! Oleg could not make the cover due to the damage to his shoulder. He hit The Verdict, but Narita was right next to the ropes. Oleg climbed the ropes with Narita on his shoulders, but he escaped and caught Oleg with a jumping arm bar.
Oleg struggled as Narita cranked on his arm. He finally got his foot under the bottom rope to break the hold. Narita worked another arm submission. Oleg tried to slam his way out, but Togo ran into the ring with the ref distracted and hit a low blow. Oleg was forced to tap out.
WINNER: Ren Narita at 15:20 via submission. (*1/2)
(Radican’s Analysis: The crowd was mostly dead for the action until the last portion of the match where they came alive a little bit for Wolf helping out Oleg. This was just a mess of interference and the cameras did a poor job of showing why the ref was distracted, especially for the finish.)
After the match, House of Torture attacked Oleg unto Aaron Wolf ran down to the ring to make the save. Wolf got on the mic and challenged Narita to a rematch for the NEVER Openweight Championship. He promised to take the title back from Narita.
(9) YOTA TSUJI vs. ANDRADE EL IDOLO – IWGP Global Hvt. Championship match
Andrade tied Tsuji’s legs up top. He climbed the ropes and connected with a double stomp on Tsuji, who was hung upright in the turnbuckles. The announcers noted that Andrade was out here representing the United Empire and not fooling around with the women in the crowd as he usually does during his matches. They traded blows and Tsuji went for a springboard, but Andrade met Tsuji on the ropes and hit a modified Spanish Fly! Holy s—t!!
Tsuji sent Andrade to the floor and nailed him with a tope. He connected with a knee in the corner back inside the ring a short time later. They went back and forth and Andrade eventually hit a running double knee strike in the corner for a two count. Andrade went for a split-legged moonsault, but Tsuji got his knees up.Andrade was hung up in the ropes and Tsuji went for a curb stomp on the apron, but Andrade somehow caught him and slammed him on the apron while hung up in the ropes.
Andrade got a running start and hit a step up twisting splash to the floor and the fans gasped. Andrade set up for the DM, but Tsuji blocked it. Andrade placed Tsuhi up top and nailed him with a chop. He then hit a superplex. He hung on and went for the three amigos, but Tsuji countered the third one and hit a modified falcon arrow for a two count. Both men were slow to get up after that sequence.
Tsuji set up for the Marlowe Crash, but Andrade shoved him into the corner. Andrade got hung up in the ropes and this time Tsuji connected with a double stomp up top onto Andrade, who was hanging in the ropes for a two count. The fans fired up and chanted for Tsuji. They traded strikes on the apron. Tsuji ended up hitting a headscissors takedown off the apron to the floor. A replay aired of both men crashing down to the mat on the outside.
They battled up top again. Andrade wanted a suplex to the floor. Tsuji hit a super Spanish Fly a short time later! Tsuji hit a big arm capture slam a short time later. Tsuji set up for a Gene Blast, but Andrade cut him off with a spinning back elbow and both men were down. The ref began a 10 count and neither man moved until he reached nine. The crowd cheered when both men began to stir to break the ref’s count.
They went back to the trading chops in the middle of the ring. Andrade stood and allowed Tsuji to hit him. Tsuji nailed him with a huge chop, but Andrade did not go down. Andrade fired back and hit an overhand chop to Tsuji’s chest and he collapsed to his back. Tsuji got up and returned the favor with an overhand chop. Idolo stumbled, but did not go down. Andrade went for another overhand chop, but Tsuji cut him off with a headbutt.
They traded pinning combinations a short time later. Andrade went for a springboard, but Tsuji nailed him with a Geneblaster for a near fall. Tsuji set up for another Geneblastter, but Andrade leap frogged it. Tsuji blocked a DM attempt and Andrade hit a hammerlock DDT for a near fall. Andrade went for the DM again, but he could not hit it. He got a double underhook and hit a code red. He hit a double underhook throw out of the corner, but both men had to kick out at the same time.
Tsuji hit an alley oop. He then locked in the Boston Crab. Andrade struggled, but got to the bottom rope. They went up top again. Tsuji went for the Guerrero Special, but Andrade fought out of it. Andrade caught Tsuji in a headlock and turned it into a DDT on the ringpose. He spilled to the floor while delivering the move. Andrade finally managed to hit a DM and it was good for the pin.
WINNER: Andrade el Idolo in 32:57 to become the new IWGP Global Hvt. Championship. (****⅓)
(Radican’s Analysis: This was a war of attrition between both men. It seemed to be slow in spots, but it got going late, as both men endured some crazy sequences to set up the finish. Andrade’s DDT on Tsuji as they battled up top was particularly impressive. It felt like they didn’t have a great plan coming into this match.
There wasn’t much of a strategy from either man in the match, as the story was more about both guys being unable to hit their matches until late in the match. I’m not sure where Tsuji goes from here having dropped both the IWGP Hvt. Championship and now the IWGP Global Hvt. Championship.
Usually the rule of thumb in wrestling is a replacement in a match wins the match, so perhaps NJPW felt included to go with Andrade, who was subbing for Gabe Kidd in this match. Hopefully they can find a way to build Tsuji back up quickly as they approach their second biggest show of the year, Dominion, and the G1 in the near future.)
Andrade got on the mic and said he did it. He thanks Yuta. He said that he was better tonight. He says that even though he works in AEW, he now works for both companies. He said both companies are in his blood. Idolo thanked everyone in Japan. He asked who wants to challenge him.
Drilla Maloney came out first. Then Shota Umino came out. They argued about who was going to challenge Idolo. Both men went down to ringside and Andrade asked if they wanted the title. Andrade proposed a three-way match in NJPW for the Global Championship. Three-way matches are rare in Japan. Andrade left the ring and told Umino and Maloney to call him.
They left the ring, so Andrade ran back into the ring and was announced as the new IWGP Global Hvt. Champion. Confetti shot off as Andrade posed with the belt in the middle of the ring.
Contact Sean at pwtorchsean@gmail.com. Follow him on X @SR_Torch and on Bluesky @SeanRadican
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