We officially have new IWGP Tag Team Champions. Well, sort of.
Callum Newman and Great-O-Khan are officially the new IWGP Tag Team Champions! They beat Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI in the main event of NJPW Wrestling Redzone this past Saturday.
At Sakura Genesis, The United Empire’s Callum Newman & Jeff Cobb beat Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi) for the prestigious belts and it felt that the dominant faction was on top of New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
Then New Japan dropped the bombshell of Jeff Cobb leaving the promotion. After weeks of trolling the internet about him jumping ship to WWE, there may be truth to the rumors afterall. Nevertheless, Cobb had his final match in New Japan against Hiroshi Tanahashi at the Road To Wrestling Dontaku 2025 show. The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion picked up the victory.
New Japan was said to be blindsided by Cobb’s decision since they still had plans for the 42-year-old. Though officials knew that Cobb would be leaving, they didn’t expect it to be so soon. Cobb was forced to relinquish the tag title and New Japan had Newman and Great-O-Khan earn the belts at Wrestling Redzone.
The duo won thanks to Newman, who got the pin on YOSHI-HASHI after the Prince’s Curse. Newman also got Cobb’s championship match on May 4th as well. Originally, Cobb was set to challenge Hirooki Goto for the IWGP World Heavyweight title at Wrestling Dontaku, but Newman will get that honor instead.
As for Cobb, it hasn’t officially been confirmed that he’s signed with WWE as it simply remains a rumor that he will. The former NJPW star is just back to his trolling ways as he finally opened up following the announcement of his departure.
While reports stated that Cobb is expected to sign with WWE, there’s no timetable on when he could possibly make his debut for the promotion.