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The Fallout From Wrestle Kingdom 19 & Wrestle Dynasty

It has been a tumultuous season for the IWGP Tag Team titles. A lot has happened with the belts, so let’s just get right on into it.

The tag titles had been vacated going into Wrestle Dynasty after HENARE’s unfortunate injury, so new champions had to be crowned. First in line was one half of the former champions, Great-O-Khan, who had recruited his old tag team championship partner Jeff Cobb for this new campaign. Next were the Young Bucks, who had made a challenge for Wrestle Dynasty to whoever would be champion going into the show. Also making a claim were the new World Tag League winners, Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi, who wanted to leverage their tournament win into a title match for themselves.

The result was a three-way tag match at Wrestle Dynasty for the vacant tag belts. Chaos ensued as bodies flew everywhere. Would it be the power of the UE team, the skill of the LIJ team, or the synergy of the Young Bucks that would win out? The action was frantic, and as the dust settled, it was the Young Bucks who prevailed over the two New Japan teams, claiming the IWGP Tag Team titles for the second time. 

The New Beginning in Osaka

However, the team they beat in the three-way was the United Empire team, and Naito & Hiromu, who were technically unbeaten in the match, asked for a rematch, which the Young Bucks obliged. The rematch was set for New Beginning in Osaka, where the World Tag League winners took on the IWGP Tag Team Champions. Proving their claims, it would be Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi who walked out as champions, defeating the Young Bucks on their very first defense.

New Japan Cup & Sakura Genesis

The next major event took place at the New Japan Cup, where Naito competed. He did well in his opening match, beating United Empire’s Callum Newman, but he fell in the 2nd round to another member of the Empire, Jeff Cobb. With this victory, Cobb sought to challenge the championship team for their tag titles, which Hiromu accepted on behalf of Naito.

Let’s zoom in for a moment on this mini-rivalry between Tetsuya Naito and Callum Newman. Callum Newman is a relative newcomer to New Japan. He first debuted for New Japan during the Destruction tour in 2023, and has come a long way since. He first encountered Tetsuya Naito in a singles match at last year’s Dominion event, where he lost. He has since gone on to face Naito two more times, once in last year’s G1 Climax, and once in this year’s New Japan Cup, losing both times. Naito has been Newman’s most high-profile and frequent opponent here in New Japan, so it’s quite appropriate that he be the first person Newman challenges for a title, even if it is in tag team action. It’s almost as if Newman is using Naito to challenge himself, to learn, grow, and improve in the ring. 

As a result, when Callum Newman did finally pin Tetsuya Naito to win this match at Sakura Genesis, it was a very triumphant moment. Although he has yet to beat him in singles action, getting a personal pin over Naito in a title match was still a significant victory for Newman, and played a big part in building Newman’s momentum for his eventual World Heavyweight title match.

Wrestling Red Zone

Alas, as far as the IWGP tag titles were concerned, the sweetness was short-lived. Just about a week later, Newman’s championship partner Jeff Cobb was announced to be leaving New Japan, forcing the team to relinquish the titles. This would be the 4th reign in a row that ended without a single defense (the 10th in a row with one or no defenses), and the second time UE has had to vacate the tag titles, so it’s been a bit of a cursed season for the titles. Fortunately, the titles wouldn’t remain vacant for long, as the aforementioned World title match between Goto & Newman provided a nice catalyst for that.

As a way to build to that match, we would see the two face off with their respective tag partners to decide the new tag champions. Goto called on his Bishamon teammate YOSHI-HASHI, while Newman pivoted to Great-O-Khan as his partner. While the looming World title match felt like a bigger deal, crowning new Tag champions was still an important piece of business, and it provided a nice preview for said World title match. In the end, though, Newman was able to get one up on his future title challenge, winning the match for his team and bringing back the tag titles to the United Empire.

Dominion 6.15

Callum Newman then went on to challenge Goto for the IWGP World Heavyweight title, while O-Khan had a short series with ELP over the TV Title. Being busy with those, the IWGP Tag Team titles have not had much of a spotlight for a while. However, they do have a defense scheduled for Dominion against the unlikely pairing of Tomohiro Ishii & Taichi. With Main Unit becoming more actively associated with other teams, absorbing Chaos and partnering with Just 4 Guys, some strange and new tag teams have arisen. Ishii & Taichi debuted as a team making a huge impact, defeating the former champions Naito & Hiromu, making a great case for themselves as title contenders. Can they keep up their momentum and win the tag belts, or will United Empire finally keep a firm hold on the titles that seem to always slip out of their grasp?

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