Various: Boltin Oleg vs. Tomohiro Ishii for NJPW Strong Openweight Title Set for NJPW The New Beginning USA 2026, Maria Kanellis & Mike Bennett Announce Birth of Third Child, Indies/Misc.

Jan 21, 2026

Boltin Oleg vs. Tomohiro Ishii for NJPW Strong Openweight Title Announced 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 a NJPW Strong Openweight Championship match of Boltin Oleg vs. Tomohiro Ishii (c).

A huge addition to New Beginning USA in Trenton New Jersey February 27!

Boltin Oleg will challenge STRONG Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii!

👀https://t.co/kHJdx765mF

🎟️https://t.co/bTJqdj66AB #njpw #njnbgusa pic.twitter.com/2KiUioDAgY
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) January 21, 2026

Current card for NJPW The New Beginning USA 2026:

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 Women’s Champion and NJPW STRONG Women’s Champion Syuri to appear
IWGP Tag Team Champions Knockout Brothers (OSKAR & Yuto-Ice)
Tomohiro Ishii, Boltin Oleg, El Desperado, and David Finlay to appear

Maria Kanellis & Mike Bennett Announce Birth of Third Child

Former AEW and ROH talent Maria Kanellis recently announced on Twitter that she gave birth to a new child named William Mercury Bennett on January 19th for her family with Mike Bennett.

“William Mercury Bennett was born yesterday afternoon at 7 pounds 7ounces and 18.8 inches. He is an absolute angel. William gets his name from his great-grandfather who is my godfather and was an immigrant from Greece. And my brother who is a veteran, husband, father, and wonderful brother. They are two of the toughest men I know. William Mercury’s name means strong willed warrior, messenger. We are so in love.”

William Mercury Bennett was born yesterday afternoon at 7 pounds 7ounces and 18.8 inches. He is an absolute angel. William gets his name from his great-grandfather who is my godfather and was an immigrant from Greece. And my brother who is a veteran, husband, father, and… pic.twitter.com/E2eHSZqYbh
— MariaKanellisBennett (@MariaLKanellis) January 20, 2026

Misc. Wrestling News & Notes

Jake Doyle recently announced on Bluesky that he has two final appearances left in the indies under his former ring name of Jake Something. Doyle stated that he will then be going by his current ring name going forward for his wrestling career.

Tuesday’s NJPW Road to The New Beginning 2026 event in Tokyo, Japan featured Shoma Kato defeating Masatora Yasuda and Katsuya Murashima defeating Daiki Nagai in Semifinal Rounds matches for this year’s Young Lion Cup tournament. Kato and Nagai will be facing off against each other in the Finals of this year’s Young Lions Cup tournament at NJPW’s Road to The New Beginning 2026 event on February 1st in Tokyo.

This past Monday’s NJPW Road to The New Beginning 2026 event in Tokyo featured Daiki Nagai defeating Zane Jay by disqualification in a First Round match for this year’s Young Lions Cup tournament. Jay attacked Nagai with a chair after Callum Newman showed up to interrupt the match. Following the match, Jay appeared alongside Newman in a backstage post-match press conference. Jay announced that he was done as a Young Lion and Newman announced that Jay is the newest member of the United Empire faction.

Marigold held a press conference in Japan on Tuesday to officially announce the debut of a new Trios championship called the 3D Trios Championship in the company. It was announced that “3D” stands for Dream, Diamond, Destiny. It was also announced that a tournament to crown the inaugural champions will be taking place starting at their January 24th show and the Finals to take place at their February 15th show.

Marigold also recently announced one new match for the card of their New Year Golden Garden 2026 event on January 24th in Tokyo, Japan:

GHC Women’s Championship – Utami Hayashishita vs. Mayu Iwatani (c)

WrestleCon recently announced that WWE Hall of Famers The Steiner Brothers (Rick & Scott Steiner) and Eric Bischoff and former WWE talents Candice Michelle, Al Snow, and Mr. Kennedy will be making an appearance for the company at their WrestleCon Las Vegas convention on April 16-19, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Film Updates reported that animated film Zootopia 2 recently surpassed $1.78 billion in box office revenue making it the new highest ever grossing animated film of all time in Hollywood history. This film features CM Punk and Roman Reigns among the voice cast and portraying the roles of Zebros.

As noted before, former WWE wrestler Ted DiBiase Jr. was charged in April of 2023 with several criminal charges by the United States Department of Justice over his involvement in embezzling welfare funds as part of a larger welfare scandal in the State of Mississippi. WJTV reported that DiBiase Jr.’s attorneys filed a motion this past Sunday before The U.S. District Court, Southern District of Mississippi requesting for a mistrial. It was reported that the reason for the request is due to DiBiase Jr.’s attorney Scott Gilbert will be unavailable for three to four weeks due to a health issue. It was also reported that the judge has the defense when they would like the trial to resume and the defense responded stating no less than three months. It was also reported that John Davis, former Mississippi Department of Human Services executive director, is currently undergoing cancer treatment and it is not known if he will be able to continue testifying in the trial. Prosecutors reportedly responded stating that DiBiase Jr. still has two attorneys on his team and the case should be able to proceed as scheduled. The prosecutors reportedly are concerned about the availability of witnesses if the judge grants the defense’s request for a mistrial and break.

Game Changer Wrestling recently announced that Vengador and Oro are the next official competitors for this year’s Jersey J-Cup tournament at Jersey Championship Wrestling’s Jersey J-Cup 2026 event on February 6-7 in Jersey City, New Jersey.

GCW also recently announced one new match for the card of their Holy Smokes event on February 15th in Phoenix, Arizona: