I’m more than a bit late on this, I know, but sometimes life happens. Thanks to those who offered their kind thoughts regarding my situation (one of my dogs had a severe health emergency) – I really  appreciate it. So far, signs have been positive, but with a 16-year-old dog, it sometimes seems like we’re just kicking the can down the road, which is not a great feeling. Anyway, from Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, here’s Sakura Genesis 2026.

KUSHIDA & Masatora Yasuda vs. Tatsuya Matsumoto & Taisei Nakahara

KUSHIDA has been wrestling the Young Lions on this tour as a training exercise. Nakahara steps to Yasuda, who is now the senior Young Lion, although it feels a little performative. This one is pretty much what you’d expect – KUSHIDA ties Nakahara and Matsumoto in knots for a while, then tags out to Yasuda, against whom Nakahara and Matsumoto mount a comeback, but Yasuda isolates Nakahara and taps him out with the Boston Crab. This was a perfectly acceptable opener.

Togi Makabe & Master Wato vs. Hartley Jackson & Kosei Fujita [TMDK]

Makabe is looking pretty heavy these days. The focus here is on Wato and Fujita, who are essentially previewing the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in May. Wato is isolated and worked over by the TMDK duo, but he eventually tags in Makabe, and the match comes down to the big men. Jackson scores a minor upset by pinning Makabe after the Jagged Edge (a Death Valley Driver). This was not great – a lot of it was the heavyweights bumping meat, which should be a good thing, but Makabe looks pretty well cooked and is perhaps no longer the most willing bumper.

Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori & Robbie X [Unbound Co.] vs. Jake Lee, Francesco Akira & Jakob Austin Young [United Empire]

Lee is now sporting full clown face paint. You do you, man. The opening sequence is largely about the junior tag teams, who met two days earlier in a title match at Korakuen Hall. The United Empire eventually isolates Robbie X; however, X slips free of Lee and tags in Takagi, who takes on all the heels. Lee tags in Young, and all six men exchange offense until the legal men, Takagi and Young, are isolated. As you can probably imagine, this is bad news for Young, who is pinned shortly thereafter with a sloppy Last of the Dragon. This was fine – the juniors looked good, and it makes sense to put Takagi over if he is challenging for the IWGP title, as he’s indicated during this tour.

Aaron Wolf, Tiger Mask, YOH & Toru Yano vs. Don Fale, DOUKI, SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru [House of Torture]

This match was initially supposed to have Wato on the Hontai team instead of Tiger Mask, but after Tiger Mask challenged DOUKI on April 2, the team was changed, and the match now serves as a preview tag for that match, which takes place at Wrestling Hizen no Kuni in Saga on April 29. SHO cuts a long promo before the match, and the first few sequences see SHO vs. YOH, Yano vs. Fale and Yano vs. DOUKI before Tiger Mask tags in and takes the fight to DOUKI. Tiger gets the better of him and hits an armdrag from the top rope before heel interference turns the tide and Kanemaru tags in. Tiger tags out to Wolf, and he is quickly cut off by the House as well, but after making his own comeback, he taps out Kanemaru with a head-and-arm choke. After the bell, Fale – who beat Wolf in the New Japan Cup tournament, remember – jumps Wolf, but Wolf quickly takes the advantage, hits an Angle Slam on the big man and pins him with Yano counting the fall. This sets up Wolf vs. Fale at Wrestling Dontaku. This whole thing was no bueno.

A video package announces the Best of the Super Juniors block assignments and the final two entrants, who are AEW’s Nick Wayne and deathmatch legend Jun Kasai, whose announcement gets a big reaction. As I mentioned in a previous post, I absolutely love the announcer for these videos. Notably, Desperado and Kasai, who have had a series of very highly regarded deathmatches, are in opposite blocks, so if they are to meet once again, it’ll be in the playoff round.

Yuya Uemura, Taichi & El Desperado vs. Will Ospreay, HENARE & Great-O-Khan [United Empire]

This is Ospreay’s first NJPW-promoted match since he left for AEW in February 2024, and he gets a big reaction from the crowd. Ospreay is 100% a babyface here, which obviously is in contrast with his faction. Ospreay starts against Uemura and they have a hot little exchange. Uemura tags in Desperado, who gets cut off and dominated by all three guys for an extended period. Desperado eventually makes a hot tag to Uemura, who beats up all three guys and then settles into a sequence with Great-O-Khan, who eventually gains the upper hand with the Samoa Joe “walk away from the high spot” spot. He tags to HENARE, who holds the advantage briefly, but Uemura makes his own comeback and tags out to Taichi, while HENARE tags in Ospreay. Ospreay hits a bunch of his old-school NJPW offense, but Taichi more than holds his own and even gets a few believable near-falls. Eventually, however, Ospreay gets the pin with the Stormbreaker. After the match, Great-O-Khan and HENARE beat up Desperado and Uemura, which Ospreay is not down with. Still, these are his boys, so they’re still cool. This was a lot of fun, particularly the Ospreay/Taichi sequence at the end.

NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Boltin Oleg & Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) (c) vs. Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens [House of Torture]

I don’t know who at NJPW thinks I need to see Yujiro in numerous meaningful matches over the past several weeks, but I assure you: I don’t. The House members jump the champs at the outset, and YOSHI-HASHI is isolated for the first few minutes. Goto gets the hot tag and takes it to Owens, but after a double-clothesline, both men tag out, to Boltin and Narita. Boltin dominates with his usual stuff, then gets Narita in a damn Torture Rack, which is a move I have not seen anyone use for some time. Dick Togo rings the bell, so Boltin, like a fool, lets him go, and Narita grabs a knee bar for a near-submission. Bishamon breaks it up, and the match breaks down, with the House running off Bishamon and Togo doing the chop to the groin from the middle rope on Boltin. Narita tries another submission, but Boltin reverses out and hits The Verdict. YOSHI-HASHI and Takahashi tag in, and Takahashi gets a near-fall with the Angle Slam. Goto makes the save and Bishamon goes through their tandem offense, but Takahashi takes out Goto with a fisherman buster and then hits Pimp Juice on YOSHI-HASHI for a near-fall. All six guys get involved, and the faces set up for their wacky triple-team finish. However, Narita cuts off Boltin, but then gets put back in the Torture Rack while Bishamon hit Shoto on Takahashi for the win. Following the match, Boltin challenges Narita for the NEVER Openweight title. This was perhaps a bit less dominant than I hoped it would be, but the visual of Boltin standing there with Narita in the rack while YOSHI-HASHI got the pin was certainly cool.

NJPW World TV Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Shota Umino

This starts off quick, as you’d imagine. After a striking sequence, Umino locks in an STF to try to get an early submission, but Takeshita makes the ropes and takes a powder. On the outside, Takeshita takes the advantage and targets Umino’s arm. After several minutes of Takeshita working on the arm, Umino manages to turn things around with a Tornado DDT, then hits a fisherman’s suplex for two. At this point, Charlton mentions that Umino has never held a title in NJPW, and holy crap, that just seems unbelievable. I mean, Chase Owens is a three-time tag champ. Umino hits his dumb slingshot DDT to the apron, and to Takeshita’s eternal credit, he makes it look good. They brawl outside, and Takeshita goes for a draping DDT on the guard rail, but Umino fights back and hits a Tornado DDT to the floor. Back in the ring, Umino hits Strike Knee and goes for a superplex, but Takeshita fights out and pulls the arm over the ropes. Umino hits a pop-up power bomb for two, but Takeshita blocks the lariat and hits the Blue Thunder Bomb. They fight over the Second Chapter and Takeshita hits it, but it gets only two. They trade knee strike attempts and lariats, culminating with a double down with two minutes left in the time limit. They trade suplexes and elbow strikes, and Umino goes for a poison rana, for which he severely under-rotates (he lands on his back), but Takeshita sells it anyway. They trade lariats, and Umino gains the advantage, but time runs out, so Takeshita retains.

After the match, a man wearing a creepy baby mask and a tuxedo distracts Takeshita while Chase Owens jumps Takeshita from behind. (Owens lost rock paper scissors to Yujiro for the open challenge title shot at the New Japan Cup final, you may recall.) Umino makes the save and presents Takeshita with his belt. Speculation is that the masked man is SANADA, particularly after some Redditors found the mask online and discovered that it cost $500. The match was good, but it never reached the manic highs that these TV title matches often do. I don’t think anyone in the crowd thought for a second that it was going to a finish, either.

IWGP Tag Team Championship: Knockout Brothers (Yuto-Ice & OSKAR) [Unbound Co.] (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & Ryohei Oiwa [TMDK]

This is a rematch of the New Year Dash!! match, which ruled. I say it every time, but the degree to which the Knockout Brothers have revitalized this division cannot be understated. Yuto and Oiwa start out fast, renewing their rivalry after their fun New Japan Cup match. Sabre and Oiwa take the advantage and isolate Yuto, working on his left arm. OSKAR eventually gets the tag and dominates both TMDK members. Eventually Sabre catches a kick by OSKAR, and he and Oiwa go to work on his knees, culminating in an amazing submission sequence by Sabre. Yuto eventually gets the tag and engages in a very long, very physical back-and-forth sequence with Oiwa, during which Oiwa gains the advantage by working on Yuto’s arm; this is really intense, and the crowd is really into it. Oiwa eventually gets two with the Chaos Theory, then gets another two with the Tenzan Suplex. Sabre and OSKAR get involved, and Sabre hits a Zack Driver followed by German Suplex from Oiwa for a close near-fall. Oiwa goes for The Grip twice, but Yuto counters each time, and then Yuto hits Cruella for the pinfall. The ending kind of came out of nowhere, but, regardless, this match was great. These two teams have amazing chemistry.

After the match, Yuto tosses Oiwa out of the ring and cuts another good promo that the crowd eats up. He asks who is left, and then challenges Bishamon. However, Great-O-Khan and HENARE come to the ring and make the challenge themselves. Bishamon then comes out, and Goto challenges Great-O-Khan and HENARE, with the winner taking on the Knockout Brothers in the future.

IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Yota Tsuji [Unbound Co.] (c) vs. Callum Newman [United Empire]

Ah, they brought back the heavyweight title intro; that’s great. Newman comes out with the entire United Empire, including Ospreay, and they’re all wearing their Reservoir Dogs suits. (Jake Lee is still wearing his goofy face paint, it should be noted.) Tsuji is accompanied only by Daiki Nagai. Tanahashi certifies the championship match, and away we go. The match starts off fast, with both guys going for and missing their secondary finishers. They go back and forth to start, with both guys hitting some heavy shots. Tsuji eventually gains control and gets two with a suplex, then hits a top-rope hurricanrana for another two-count. After a striking exchange, Newman hits a Tiger Suplex for two. A hot striking exchange turns into a rope-running sequence, which naturally ends with Newman taking the advantage. However, he is foiled in an attempt at an Oscutter on the apron, and Tsuji hits a Marlowe Crash variation instead. Tsuji then hits a crazy great-looking Curb Stomp from the apron to the floor that sends Ospreay rushing to Newman’s side in a memorable visual. Back in the ring, Tsuji tries to put him away with a suplex bomb, but only gets two. Tsuji then tries another Curb Stomp but hits Red Shoes, who was checking on Newman, instead. (This looked way better than you’d probably imagine.) Newman hits a knee strike on Tsuji and then calls for a chair from Zane Jay. Ospreay intercepts the chair from Jay, then begs Newman not to use it. Newman relents, but then eats a Hidden Blade and a Gene Blaster from Tsuji. Red Shoes is still out, however, and by the time Marty Asami hits the ring, Newman has recovered enough to kick out at two. Tsuji goes for another Gene Blaster, but Newman hits a Hidden Blade to turn the tide. (Ospreay looks like a proud papa.) Newman gets the best of a striking battle, then signals for the Oscutter, but instead hits Kiss the Crown and the Fire Bolt for two. Newman goes for Make Way, but Tsuji slips out the back and hits a German Suplex, a Destroyer and a Gene Blaster; Newman somehow kicks out at two. Tsuji goes for another Gene Blaster, but Newman counters with Excalibur. Newman hits Kiss the Crown and goes for Make Way, but Tsuji counters with a DDT and a Marlowe Crash for a near-fall. Tsuji gets a pump-handle slam for two, then tries for another Gene Blaster, but Newman counters with a rollup and Kiss the Crown, followed by the Prince’s Curse for two. Newman keeps going for Make Way and Tsuji keeps countering it. Tsuji goes for the Gene Blaster, but Newman pulls Asami in front of him, which stops Tsuji; Newman shoves Asami aside, kicks Tsuji low, and then finally hits Make Way for the pin and the championship. He is now the youngest IWGP champion in history at just 23 years old. The match was very, very good, although I do think Tsuji needs another finisher he can go to rather than just going for the Gene Blaster over and over again.

Tanahashi presents Newman with the belt, which Ospreay places around Newman’s waist. They share a hug, but as this is happening, another masked man hits a piledriver on Tsuji on the outside; he removes the mask to reveal himself as Gabe Kidd, who takes off his jacket to reveal an AEW t-shirt. Takagi runs out to try to break it up, but Kidd drops him, hits Tsuji with the Global title, and drags Tsuji to the back. Takagi then intercepts the microphone from Newman and challenges Newman for the title. (He hinted at making a title challenge to Tsuji for the title earlier in the tour.) Newman then cuts a short promo, and United Empire is left to celebrate the win.