Here’s a quick look at the NJPW stories that have sprung up since last we chatted at Dominion.

The Road to G1 Climax 36

The “Road to” shows for G1 Climax 36 have begun, and, with two exceptions, they are very conventional NJPW-style preview shows for the tournament. However, tomorrow’s show and the July 6 show, both of which will be held at Korakuen Hall, feature some significant matchups.

June 23

• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship #1 contendership match: Master Wato vs. Kosei Fujita [TMDK] vs. Francesco Akira [United Empire] vs. SHO [House of Torture]
• G1 Climax 36 play-in match: YOSHI-HASHI vs. Aaron Wolf
• G1 Climax 36 play-in match: Taichi vs. Yuto-Ice [Unbound Co.]

July 6

• G1 Climax 36 play-in match: OSKAR [Unbound Co.] vs. Yujiro Takahashi [House of Torture]
• G1 Climax 36 play-in match: El Phantasmo vs. Ryohei Oiwa [TMDK]
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: YOH (c) vs. the June 23 winner

Three of the four play-in winners seem pretty obvious, but it’s going to be a drag to not see whoever loses that ELP/Oiwa match in the tournament.

Also, it is bananas that NJPW is not going to have a field set or, presumably, announce the G1 Climax cards until five (realistically four) days before the first show. If they think they’re going to announce, like, Takeshita vs. Tsuji as the main event for Night 1 on July 7 and then get a big walk-up in Hoffman Estates on July 11, they had better think again.

Forbidden Door 2026

NJPW is once again participating in AEW’s Forbidden Door event, which takes place on Sunday, June 28, at the SAP Center in San Jose, California. The following matches that have already been announced feature NJPW wrestlers.

• IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship: Shota Umino (c) vs. PAC
• Owen Hart Foundation 2026 Men’s Tournament Final: Will Ospreay [United Empire] vs. Swerve Strickland
• Zack Sabre Jr. [TMDK] vs. Kenny Omega
• Shingo Takagi & Titán [Unbound Co.] vs. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) vs. El Sky Team (Mistico & Mascara Dorada)
• Steel cage match: Mark Briscoe, Konosuke Takeshita, Kyle O’Reilly, Orange Cassidy, Roderick Strong & Darby Allin vs. MJF, Andrade el Idolo, Jake Doyle, Kyle Fletcher, Kevin Knight & Kazuchika Okada

Additionally, HENARE and Great-O-Khan have issued a challenge for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, and Gates of Agony have answered, but the match has not officially been announced yet.

Dynamite is Wednesday night, so there’s a chance that something more will be added; notably, Callum Newman is briefly featured in a commercial for the event, but he claims to have suffered a shoulder injury during his Dominion match with Yota Tsuji, so he may not be able to participate.

For his part, Tsuji has made waves since his IWGP Heavyweight Championship win by declaring that he is boycotting the event because he feels AEW has treated NJPW shabbily. This earned him sharp rebukes on social media from the likes of Will Ospreay and Hirooki Goto, so we’ll see if he has a change of heart this week.

Tiger Mask’s Retirement Match

The very name of this show is incorrect, because, in fact, the July 7 show at Korakuen Hall will feature Tiger Mask IV’s retirement matches – NJPW has announced that Tiger Mask will wrestle both Black Tiger and the Dynamite Kid in separate matches. Notably, the Black Tiger in this match is not the current Black Tiger – Black Tiger IX – who is portrayed by the former Magnus in CMLL, but rather Black Tiger IV, Tiger Mask IV’s longtime rival, who is portrayed by Rocky Romero. Also, it should probably go without saying that the Dynamite Kid in question is not the long-deceased despicable human being, Tom Billington, but rather his 24-year-old nephew, Tommy Billington, who is signed with AEW and primarily wrestles for Ring of Honor. The Dynamite Kid match is meant to commemorate the early-’80s matches between the original Tiger Mask (Satoru Sayama) and Dynamite Kid, which are widely credited with revolutionizing and popularizing junior heavyweight wrestling.

It isn’t known if NJPW will continue the Tiger Mask character beyond Tiger Mask IV’s retirement. Tiger Mask isn’t an active media franchise at the moment, but the character is an institution in NJPW. There have been light rumors about wrestlers who might take up the Tiger Mask mantle, from Shoma Kato – who was Tiger Mask’s attendant until Kato left on excursion to CMLL – to DIA, the former Dragon Dia, who is still believed to have signed with NJPW but is sitting out for a while so that the issues his departure created between NJPW and Dragongate have a chance to blow over. I tend to doubt that NJPW would put the professionally handsome DIA in a masked role, but stranger things have happened.

Speaking of NJPW and Dragongate…

Rumor roundup

It is rumored that NJPW has signed or is attempting to sign Shun Skywalker, one of Dragongate’s biggest stars, who has stated that he is leaving that promotion. Skywalker has wrestled in NJPW before, most recently in the main event of Purge Night of Torture in November 2025 against EVIL. This would be a significant signing for NJPW, as Skywalker is a major talent and only 30 years old, but some believe Skywalker’s departure from Dragongate is a work; we’ll see how this turns out.

And that’s about it. I should be back tomorrow to cover the Korakuen show. See you then!