Various: Athena vs. Syuri for IWGP Women’s Title Set for NJPW The New Beginning USA 2026, NJPW Announces Excursions for Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato, Indies/Misc.

Feb 3, 2026

Athena vs. Syuri for IWGP Women’s Title Set for NJPW The New Beginning USA 2026

New Japan Pro Wrestling recently announced one new match for the card of The New Beginning USA 2026, which takes place on February 27th at the CURE Arena in Trenton, New Jersey.

This new match announced was an IWGP Women’s Championship match of Athena vs. Syuri (c).

BREAKING@AthenaPalmer_FG is headed to New Beginning USA February 27- and is challenging @syuri_wv3s for the IWGP Women's title!@CUREarena TICKETS:https://t.co/bTJqdj5yL3 #njnbgusa pic.twitter.com/Yu5xugPoL5
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) February 3, 2026

Current card for NJPW The New Beginning USA 2026:

IWGP Women’s Championship – Athena vs. Syuri (c)
NJPW World Television Championship – Konosuke Takeshita vs. El Phantasmo (c)
NJPW Strong Openweight Championship – Boltin Oleg vs. Tomohiro Ishii (c)
IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji to appear
IWGP Tag Team Champions Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) to appear
El Desperado and David Finlay to appear

NJPW Announces Excursions for Katsuya Murashima & Shoma Kato

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that Katsuya Murashima and Shoma Kato will be going on excursion soon as part of their Young Lions developmental process.

It was announced that Murashima’s final date before he goes on excursion will be their The New Beginning in Osaka 2026 event on February 11th in Osaka. It was also announced that Kato’s final dates before he goes on excursion will be at their NJPW x CMLL Fantasticamania 2026 tour on February 24 in Osaka and February 26-27 in Tokyo.

NJPW’s official website:

Katsuya Murashima, Shoma Kato sendoffs set!
Young Lion Cup finalists set for excursions
The Road to the New Beginning saw the return of the Young Lion Cup in six man, single elimination action. The field worked their way down to the last two on February 1, with Katsuya Murashima just edging out Shoma Kato to win the first trophy of his career in a gripping final matchup.
Backstage, Murashima declared that his next step would be an overseas excursion, pledging to get stronger outside of Japan and return in championship form. With that excursion set and more details to follow, Murashima will temporarily bow out of NJPW competition on February 11 at New Beginning in Osaka.
There he will team up with the man he beat in the Young Lion Cup final Shoma Kato, with the two facing the intimidating task of Toru Yano and Togi Makabe. The Most Violent Players are set to deal a physical lesson to the two Young Lions in Murashima’s final match before graduation.
As for Shoma Kato, he also has sights set on overseas competition, specifically in Mexico. With a long held fondness for the lucha libre style, Kato’s last matches before excursion will be on the Fantasticamania tour to come later in the month of February. Three special Kato Sendoff Matches February 24 in Osaka, and 26 and 27 in Korakuen will see him tested against CMLL’s best, before he returns with the CMLL crew to make his Mexican debut to come. Stay tuned for who his opponents and/or partners may be, and best of luck to both Kato and Murashima on their respective excursions!

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Mystery Wrestling recently announced that AEW World Champion MJF will be making an appearance for the company at their Mystery Wrestling 23 event on March 26th in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

As noted before, Dark Silueta has been out of action for CMLL since this past September due to a shoulder injury. CMLL recently announced that Dark Siuleta will be making her in-ring return from injury at their Super Viernes event on February 6th at the Arena Mexico in Mexico City, Mexico. Dark Silueta will be teaming up with Persephone & Olympia in a Trios match against India Sioux, La Jaraochita, & Akari at the event.

Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling recently announced that NOAH talent Bryce Hansen will be making an appearance for the company at their co-promoted ROH x MLP Global Wars Canada event on March 27th and their Uprising 2026 event on March 28th in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Former WWE LFG talent Haze Jameson recently announced on TikTok that she will be known under the new ring name of Pinky Montoya going forward for her post-WWE wrestling career.

PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Major League Wrestling recently made several changes to their backstage personnel. Johnson reported that Josef Samuel recently returned to the company and will be heading up Talent Relations going forward. Former WWE announcer Rich Bocchini reportedly also recently returned to MLW and will be working under Samuel in the talent relations department. Nick Bonnano recently returned as well and is currently working as a producer and oversees promos and pre-tapes among his backstage duties with the company.

MLW recently announced that they will be holding a new MLW Fusion tapings on June 11th in Queens, New York.

AAW Pro recently announced that Tommaso Ciampa will be making an appearance for the company at their AAW EPIC: The 22 Year Anniversary Event on March 20th in Berwyn, Illinois.

Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that Hayabusa (Hayabusa II) will be making an appearance for the company at their Joey Janela’s Spring Break X event on April 17th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

GCW also recently announced that they will be holding a new One Night Only event on May 2nd at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

GCW also recently announced that former AEW and indies wrestler Marko Stunt will be coming out of retirement for one-night only at their Ashes To Ashes 2026 event on March 14th in Atlantic City, New Jersey.