NJPW New Years Dash 2026 is far better than it had any right to be. Featuring an incredible main event, fantastic storytelling up and down the show and a real focus on preparing for the future, it was the exact show the company needed. Every match not featuring House Of Torture was fun, and while their tag matches sadly left much to be desired, I would still thoroughly recommend this show as a great vantage point for beginning a frequent following of New Japan. The best New Years Dash show ever produced by NJPW.
NJPW New Years Dash 2026 features a blockbuster tag team title match as The Knockout Brothers battle the World Tag League winners Zac Sabre Jr and Ryohei Oiwa. Elsewhere on the card, a 4 way tag for the Junior Heavyweight Tag Titles and all the fallout from Wrestle Kingdom!
| NJPW New Years Dash 2026 Star Ratings | |
| Match / In Ring Promo | Result and Star Rating. |
| NJPW New Years Dash 2026 Opening Match Shota Umino, Yuya Uemura and Katsuya Morishima vs Satoshi Kojima, Taichi and Tomohiro Ishii | Tomohiro Ishii by Submission via Boston Crab (Ishii laid out Shota Umino with a headbutt after the match) GREAT- 3.5 Stars |
| El Phantasmo and Shoma Kato vs Konosuke Takeshita and Rocky Romero | Konosuke Takeshita by Submission via Boston Crab GOOD – 3.25 Stars |
| Boltin Oleg, Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi vs House Of Torture (SANADA, Yujiro Takahashi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) | Boltin Oleg by Pinfall via GYR/Shoto/Splash AVERAGE – 2.25 Stars |
| United Empire (Jacob Austin Young, Francisco Akira and Andrade El Idolo) vs Hiromu Takahashi, Clark Connors and Gabe Kidd | Andrade El Idolo by Pinfall via The Message (After Andrade’s victory, he and Gabe Kidd brawled around ringside. A number one contenders match for Yota Tsuji’s IWGP Global Championship was made between Gabe and Andrade for New Beginning In Osaka.) GREAT – 3.75 Stars |
| Aaron Wolf, YOH, Toru Yano and Master Wato vs House of Torture (EVIL, Ren Narita, Don Fale and Dick Togo) | Yoh by Submission via Texas Cloverleaf (Ren Narita laid out Aaron Wolf after the match and held up the NEVER Openweight championship) AVERAGE – 2.25 Stars. |
| United Empire (Callum Newman, Great O Khan, HENARE and Jake Lee) vs Yota Tsuji, David Finlay, Drilla Moloney and Shingo Takagi | HENARE by Pinfall via Assisted Powerbomb (Before the match, Yota Tsuji refused a shot to Jake Lee and asked him to state his case, Lee slapped Tsuji and began the fight) (After the match, O-Khan and HENARE lay out Takagi and Drilla, Lee taunts Tsuji who slaps him to the floor) GREAT- 3.75 Stars |
| Callum Newman and Will Ospreay Promo | Newman tells David Finlay to pick a time and place to fight. Will Ospreay comes out to say that when he is healed he will come back to New Japan and support Newman to bring United Empire back to former glory. Newman hugs Ospreay, but tries to hit Ospreay with a chair when his back is turned. HENARE stops this and Newman storms off. AMAZING – 4.25 Stars |
| House Of Torture (SHO and Douki) (c.) vs El Desperado and Kuukai vs Ichiban Sweet Boys (Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles) vs Bullet Club War Dogs (Robbie X and Taiji Ishimori)- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships | Kosei Fujita by Pinfall via Double Torture Rack Driver (After the match, Francesco Akira attacks Taiji Ishimori. Hiromu Takahashi makes the save and challenges Akira to find a partner for a tag team match) AMAZING- 4 Stars |
| Main Event- Knockout Brothers (Yuto-Ice and Oskar) (c.) vs TMDK (Zac Sabre Jr and Ryohei Oiwa)- IWGP Tag Team Championships | Yuto-Ice by Pinfall via KOB (After the match, The Knockout Brothers were confronted by Yuya Uemura and Shota Umino as well as Tomohiro Ishii and Taichi vying for tag title shots) MUST WATCH- 4.75 STARS |
NJPW New Years Dash 2026 Highs
The most exhilarating part of New Years Dash was the focus on supercharging a huge number of storylines. From the opening match every bout (bar perhaps one) felt like it was intentionally advancing something, be it a character, dynamic or setting up a future bout. The highlight from a story perspective was the short but terrific segment between Will Ospreay and United Empire, making the faction the most interesting it has been in several months and continuing the good work Newman has been doing. The same can be said for the exciting 3 way tag feud which developed after the main event, as can Gabe and Andrade’s brawl around ringside. Even Jake Lee and Tsuji , which continues not to thrill me as a world title program on paper, still advanced with the two demonstrating good chemistry in their preview tag.
The best match on a great show was the much anticipated tag title bout. The Knockout Brothers, currently the best tag team in Japan, taking on the Tag League winners Zac Sabre Jr and Ryohei Oiwa sounded like a recipe for success and it more than delivered. Yuto and Oiwa in particular were exceptional here, playing off a brilliant story of Yuto disrespecting and dismissing Oiwa as a private school weakling against his underground fighting background. This led Oiwa to fire up with horribly brutal strikes and elbows, even at points too much for even Oiwa to handle. Sabre took more of a backseat allowing the young stars to thrive, and it was a breathless affair. Only a few shaky fundamentals in a couple of places keep this from a 5 star match, but it was extremely tight. A corker of a main event.
Another great match came in the sprint for the Junior Tag Titles, which saw the usual very good work from all involved. I was thrilled that Fujita got his moment and won the belts, and him and Robbie Eagles should make reliable champions. I particularly enjoyed the battle of the Robbie’s with Eagles and X, with their interactions amusing and spectacularly flippy. Not much meat on the bone, but loads of fun.
Finally, it was great to see the spotlight given to the young lions on this show, with both Morashima and Kato given great shine. A lot of props must be given to Ishii and Takeshita for this, who both went out of their way to make the rookies look as good as possible!
NJPW New Years Dash 2026 Lows
There is one major negative on this show I can see, and sadly it’s the same that has polluted almost every New Japan show for several years, the appearance of House Of Torture. While Douki and Sho got away just fine, the undercard HOT tags were pretty wretched, with dull long stretches of nothing happening for the babyfaces to overcome. I could forgive the Bishamon tag for its dullness since it was entirely filler, but could not forgive the other tag match featuring Aaron Wolf. The fact that Wolf, directly following his huge debut, did nothing of any substance in an 8 man match where he was the babyface star is tantamount to treason and made that match deeply frustrating.
The only other negative of the evening came perhaps in an overly repetitive structure of post match angle, in which a heel would come out to attack the babyface and set up a match down the line. Unavoidable in a sense, but still a little over formulaic.
Summary
NJPW New Years Dash 2026 is far better than it had any right to be. Featuring an incredible main event, fantastic storytelling up and down the show and a real focus on preparing for the future, it was the exact show the company needed. Every match not featuring House Of Torture was fun, and while their tag matches sadly left much to be desired, I would still thoroughly recommend this show as a great vantage point for beginning a frequent following of New Japan. The best New Years Dash show ever produced by NJPW.
Matches- 0.75/1
Show Structure- 0.75/1
Atmosphere- 0.75/1
Storytelling- 1/1
Production/Theme- 0.75/1
Overall Rating- 4/5 Stars
Photo Credit- New Japan Pro Wrestling- January 5th 2026
For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article detailing the rating system here:
