Callum Newman Wins IWGP Heavyweight Title at NJPW Sakura Genesis 2026, Gabe Kidd Surprise Appears & Attacks Yota Tsuji

Indie / Misc
Apr 4, 2026

Saturday’s NJPW Sakura Genesis 2026 event at the Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan featured Callum Newman defeating Yota Tsuji to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion.

Following the match, Will Ospreay went into the ring to congratulate Newman on his title victory and put belt around Newman’s waist. Before Newman could give a victory speech, a mystery masked person ran out and attacked Tsuji. This person took over their mask revealing himself to be Gabe Kidd. Kidd continued his attack and unzipped his jacket revealing him wearing an AEW shirt. This lead to Shingo Takagi getting involved only to get laid out by Kidd as well. Kidd grabbed Tsuji’s IWGP Global Heavyweight title and held it up for a bit before tossing it where Tsuji was and proceeded to leave to the back.

After Kidd left, a dazed Takagi got into the ring only to be told by Newman to get out which Takagi did at first before getting back into the ring and issued a challenge to Newman for his title. Newman talked about how he beat Takagi before and accepted his challenge. After Takagi left, Newman gave his victory speech to the crowd and then posed for the camera with the rest of United Empire alongside him in the ring.

This was Newman’s first ever IWGP Heavyweight Championship victory in his NJPW career. As a result of his victory, Newman also became the youngest ever IWGP Heavyweight Champion in NJPW history, surpassing the previous holder Shinsuke Nakamura.

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