To announce the signing of 2020 Olympic judo gold medalist Aaron Wolf a few months ago, New Japan Pro-Wrestling held a press conference. At that June presser, the CEO of New Japan’s parent company Bushiroad
Takaaki Kidani talked up the 29-year-old Japanese-American as a potential success to NJPW’s retiring “Ace” and current president, Hiroshi Tanahashi. President Ace said he hoped Wolf would debut at Wrestle Kingdom 20 on Jan. 4, 2026 — the same show he’s scheduled to have his last match on.
Tanahashi is getting his wish. So at the Tokyo Dome in a two-and-a-half months, we’ll start to see if Wolf can live up to the expectations set by Kidani and New Japan.
Yesterday (Oct. 13) at NJPW’s King of Pro-Wrestling event, we got a quick look at what Wolf’s been working on at the New Japan Dojo.
It came in the angle that set-up his debut match, and it came after EVIL defeated Oleg Boltin for the NEVER Openweight title. The new champ leads the infamous Bullet Club spin-off House of Torture, and they’re rarely satisfied just picking up a win. The group continued to beatdown Boltin after the match, prompting a run in from Wolf, who’d been seated ringside. The judoka threw HoT’s SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, and Dick Togo before getting into a stare down with their boss.
Wolf challenged EVIL to a match in an interview backstage after the show, but we didn’t get confirmation until today. If he still has it come Jan. 4, EVIL’s NEVER title won’t be on the line.
That — and the entire push since June’s announcement — tells us that Wolf ain’t losing his first match. There should still be plenty of interest in seeing what they highly-touted Olympic star can do.
Wolf vs. EVIL is the first match officially announced for Wrestle Kingdom 20, although World of Stardom and NJPW Strong Women’s champ Saya Kamitani said at a press conference today that she’ll wrestle on the card.
