NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 Part II Notes: El Desperado Wins Shot at IWGP Jr. Title, Death Vegas Invitacional & G1 Climax USA Events Announced for 2026, Aaron Wolf Wins NEVER Openweight Title in Debut Match, Yota Tsuji Wins IWGP World Title

El Desperado Wins Shot at IWGP Jr. Title

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan featured El Desperado defeating SHO, Kosei Fujita and Taiji Ishimori in a #1 Contender Four-way match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

El Desperado Despy did it ☠️ #エル・デスペラード#njwk20 #njpw pic.twitter.com/Q5t168MgoT

— Bryan San ブライアン (@haremking1992) January 4, 2026

As a result of his victory, El Desperado will face off against DOUKI for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title at a future show.

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Death Vegas Invitacional & G1 Climax USA Events Announced for 2026

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event also featured the announcement of NJPW’s events schedule for 2026.

Among the events announced included a new Death Vegas Invitacional event, which takes place on April 16th in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It was also announced that NJPW will be holding a new G1 Climax USA event as part of this year’s G1 Climax tournament on July 11th in Chicago, Illinois.

New 2026 U.S. 🇺🇸 shows just announced at Wrestle Kingdom 20!

DEATH VEGAS invitational comes to Las Vegas on Thursday, April 16!

G1 CLIMAX 36 at NOW Arena in Chicago on Saturday, July 11!

More details coming soon! #njpw #njwk20 pic.twitter.com/UEYw0kINhG

— NJPW of America (@NJPWofAmerica) January 4, 2026

This will be the first G1 Climax show held in the United States since 2019.

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Aaron Wolf Wins NEVER Openweight Title in Debut Match

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event also featured Aaron Wolf defeating EVIL to become the new NEVER Openweight Champion.

AARON WOLF CHOKED OUT EVIL! Aaron Wolf is the new NEVER Openweight Champion in his debut match!#NJWK20 pic.twitter.com/iTJJyeU5S0

— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) January 4, 2026

This was Wolf’s official debut match in NJPW and his first ever championship victory in his NJPW career.

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Yota Tsuji Wins IWGP World Title

Sunday’s NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 event also featured Yota Tsuji defeating Konosuke Takeshita to become the new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.

THE ALPHA HAS TAPPED OUT!
Yota Tsuji is the NEW IWGP World Heavyweight Champion!#NJWK20
pic.twitter.com/3RnGVFh7BO

— Fightful Wrestling (@Fightful) January 4, 2026

This match also featured Tsuji’s IWGP Global Heabyweight Championship being on the line as well in a title vs. title match.

Following the match, Tsuji gave a speech to the crowd and first gave his praise of Takeshita for the match they had. After some more words, Jake Lee ran out and attacked Tsuji laying him out. Lee then grabbed the IWGP World title and gave it a look before tossing it onto Tsuji’s body and left the ring to mostly silence.

Jake Lee attacked the IWGP World Heavyweight and IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji after he beat KONOSUKE TAKESHITA.

The fans chanted “go home”.#NJPW #njwk20 #棚橋引退 #辻陽太 #ジェイク・リー pic.twitter.com/hpu50j8jDP

— meraWRESTLING (@meraWRESTLING) January 4, 2026

This was Tsuji’s first ever IWGP World Heayweight Championship victory in his NJPW career.