NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 Part I Notes: Thekla Makes Surprise Appearance, TMDK Wins NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Titles, Syuri Wins NJPW Strong Women’s Title, Jake Lee Returns & Joins United Empire, Francesco Akira Surprise Return

Jan 4, 2026

Thekla Makes Surprise Appearance

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan featured AEW talent Thekla making a surprise appearance.

During the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship Tornado Ranbo match, Thekla made her surprise appearance coming out with the BULLET CLUB War Dogs’ Clark Connors, OSKAR, and Yuto-Ice for their entrance to be in their corner at ringside.

.@YutoxIce & @pw_oskar & @ClarkConnors with @toxic_thekla

Sign up Now & Stay tuned to https://t.co/CcdQ1X9P52 #NJPW #njpwworld #njwk20 #棚橋引退 pic.twitter.com/fmKzbjuYIp
— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) January 4, 2026

TMDK Wins NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Titles

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom also featured TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Zack Sabre Jr., & Ryohei Oiwa) winning the Tornado Ranbo match to become the new NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions.

TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa & Hartley Jackson) won the Ranbo and are the NEW NEVER 6-Man Tag Champions!#NJWK20 pic.twitter.com/D4Tyg5CRg7
— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) January 4, 2026

The team entrants in order were:

Kaisei Takechi, Yuya Uemura, & Shota Umino
HOUSE OF TORTURE (Yoshinobu Kanemaru, SANADA, & Ren Narita)
BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors & Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice))
TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Zack Sabre Jr., & Ryohei Oiwa)
Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe
Boltin Oleg & Bishamon (YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto)
Team 150 (Satoshi Kojima, Taichi, & Tomohiro Ishii)
Toru Yano, YOH, & Master Wato

This was TMDK’s first ever NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship victory, Jackson’s first ever championship victory, and Oiwa’s first ever championship victory in their NJPW careers.

Syuri Wins NJPW Strong Women’s Title

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event also featured Syuri defeating Saya Kamiatani to become the new NJPW Strong Women’s Champion.

SYURI DEFEATS SAYA KAMITANI! SYURI IS A DOUBLE CHAMPION!#NJWK20 pic.twitter.com/kJb0JmOJJf
— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) January 4, 2026

This match also featured Syuri’s IWGP Women’s Championship being on the line as well in a title vs. title match.

This was Syuri’s first ever NJPW Strong Women’s Championship victory in her Stardom and NJPW career.

Jake Lee Makes Surprise Returns & Joins United Empire

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event also featured Jake Lee making his surprise return from injury.

Prior to the start of the 10-Man Tag Team match, Shingo Takagi, David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney, & Hiromu Takahashi came out first for their team’s entrance. They were followed by United Empire’s Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, HENARE, & Andrade El Idolo who stood on the stage for their mystery partner. This led to Lee’s music playing revealing he had betrayed BULLET CLUB War Dogs and joined United Empire as their newest official member.

UNITED EMPIRE New member,
X is @JakeLee19890119 👑

Sign up Now & Stay tuned to https://t.co/CcdQ1X9P52 #NJPW #njpwworld #njwk20 #棚橋引退 pic.twitter.com/sUwjHsmeRv
— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) January 4, 2026

This was Lee’s first appearance since September of 2024 due to a knee injury.

Francesco Akira Makes Surprise Return

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event also featured Francesco Akira making his surprise return from injury.

Following United Empire’s victory over Shingo Takagi, David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney, & Hiromu Takahashi in a 10-Man Tag Team match, a mystery masked hooded person came out to the ring and confronted United Empire. This mystery person proceeded to attack Hiromu Takahashi laying him out and took off his mask and hood reveled himself to be Akira. This led to the rest of United Empire being happy to see Akira back and celebrated together as a newly refined group.

.@JakeLee19890119 & @AndradeElIdolo & @Great_O_Khan & @HenareNZ & @PrinceofpaceCN & @francescoakira & @SuperJAYcup “UNITED EMPIRE👑”

Sign up Now & Stay tuned to https://t.co/CcdQ1X9P52 #NJPW #njpwworld #njwk20 #棚橋引退 pic.twitter.com/SMqwvpP9lN
— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) January 4, 2026

This was Akira’s first appearance since this past August due to a fractured wrist injury and surgery.

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event also featured