NNew Japan Pro Wrestling

So where will the next Young Lions go on excursion, if anywhere?

  • January 27, 2026

I haven't been keeping up with NJPW super closely but I am aware that they have another new crop of YLs that people are excited about, some of whom seem to be on the cusp of going on excursion soon. I enjoyed seeing their match from the outfield nosebleeds at the Tokyo Dome on 1/4.

I am also aware that NJPW has been doing a thing in recent years with guys like Oiwa and Fujita where they don't actually leave the country, or even the company, and instead do their "excursion" by being drafted into stables with top guys to learn from them. Oiwa was sent to NOAH, Fujita joined TMDK as their young boy, etc.

NJPW has also indicated that maybe they don't want or need to send their YLs away for years like they used to, if only to get them back into the fold and helping the mothership more quickly (so no more sending Hiromu or Wato to Mexico/US for 2+ years)

The most recent excursion returnees, KnockOut Brothers, did tours in (I believe) New Zealand and Europe/Germany.

I have also seen some rumors/suggestions that NJPW might send somebody to AEW since they are part of the partnership with CMLL and RevPro (two places NJPW has sent Young Lions before)

I suppose it makes sense with how they sent Yuya to TNA back in the day, but as a regular AEW viewer, I don't really trust or believe that AEW has the capability to properly host a Young Lion and fold them into the weekly TV product without harming their development. Maybe if they mostly work ROH or something.

by cooljammer00

14 comments

  1. It’s been implied that the winner of the Young Lions Cup tournament that’s currently on-going will receive an excursion.

  2. If a YL goes to AEW I assume they would be ROH Regulars vs being on Dynamite or Collision regularly. Mostly cause that seems to be the point of ROH. Not to mention indie dates which Yuya and Ren Narita (to a lesser extent) did.

    Edit: I do wonder if anyone else from the US School side will make their way to Japan like Zane Jay did. Then again I say this like Fred Rosser hasn’t been waiting for a shot for half a decade.

  4. They’ve got a few options. CMLL obviously, they could have 50-60 matches in ROH alone if they get sent there, RevPro/Europe is presumably still an option.

    – Shoma Kato – CMLL would have more for him given his size
    – Masatora Yasuda – CMLL, he’s born in Mexico so getting him trained up in Lucha makes sense
    – Katsuya Murashima – ROH with occasional shots in AEW
    – Tatsuya Matsumoto – Bit early yet but why not keep him and integrate him into Goto Revolutionary Army if that becomes a thing?
    – Daiki Nagai – Already integrated, can stay where he is
    – Zane Jay – Ditto

  5. I agree with the assessment that going to AEW would have them on ROH regularly. They’d probably occasionally job on Dynamite or Collision. I think CMLL runs the most frequent shows of their partners and is probably the consistently best place to send YLs.

    I’m not a fan of the abbreviated in country “excursions”. Idk the return doesn’t hit the same

  6. they need to ditch AEW and partner with WWE so the young lions can do some time in NXT and develop a character.

  7. I think Oiwa & Fujita provided the blueprint for how to get guys up to speed as quickly as possible.

    I’d keep the excursions relatively short (6 months is all you need), and relatively close (Japan, Australia, etc… anything of distance would have CMLL being much more preferable than AEW/ROH/Europe, etc.)

  8. RevPro and CMLL are the best stops because they’ll get more reps and more ringtime. A lot of RevPro matches go about 10 minutes compared to ROH which are often 5 or less.

    CMLL is great too since they do a show practically every night and they go about 20 minutes, even if they are tag matches.

  10. Mexico, Japan, and UK are the most reliable regions for YL’s to find work and veteran mentorship. AEW/ROH doesn’t provide enough ring time to be effective.

  11. Chris Charlton hinted on a recent show that Murashima will be going to RevPro/Europe. Both Kato and Yasuda have previously expressed that they’d like to go to CMLL.

    I’ve never heard actual *rumors* that someone will go to AEW on excursion, just fans speculating.

    As far as I know, NJPW did not send Yuya to TNA. They sent him to the LA Dojo with the idea that he’d work STRONG. Anything else he did he had sought out on his own. Which explains why he worked a bunch of non-NJPW shows on excursion while intovert Ren did >20.

  12. AEW/ROH don’t have enough shows for guys to get reps. They’d be working 1 to 2 days at most a week, as opposed to CMLL.

  13. NJPW has two partner promotions in America so a US excursion probably ends up being mostly working MLW, ROH and AEW. Ultimately that’s not a bad schedule with a few outside independent dates to buff up the calendar.

  14. Feel like Australia, Mexico, and Europe are all preferable over the US or Canada. Would be neat to see them do an excursion of half foreign location, half smaller Japanese promotion – DDT, NOAH, DG, AJPW, etc

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