New Japan Pro Wrestling 7/7/2026 Tiger Mask's Retirement Match

New Japan Pro Wrestling 7/7/2026 Tiger Mask's Retirement Match

Satoshi Kojima, Shota Umino & Yuji Nagata vs. Taisei Nakahara, Togi Makabe & Toru Yano

Tai is whipped into his opponents. Koji and Yuji take shots in the corner. Togi and Yano are sent into each other, then they hit corner attacks. Togi hits mounted corner punches on Koji while Yano hits them on Yuji. Yano tries to duck an enzugiri but Yuji hits one anyway. Yuji htis chest kicks and a faceick on him.

Yuji forearms Yano. Togi comes in and hits shots on his opponents. Yuji exploders Togi. Koji hits chops on Togi. Koji corner flying forearms him and Togi lariats him. Koji spinning forearms Togi and ddt's him. Togi hits a lariat on Koji. 

Tai and Shota go at it. Tai chops him then running back elbows him. Shota forearms him and Tai forearms him down. Shota blocks Tai's crab then slams him. Shota slams him 2 more times. Tai cradles Shota for 2. Tai forearms him then Shota forearms him down. Shota crabs Tai and submits him.

Thoughts: It was a shorter one here. Yuji was looking old here and had trouble throwing some of his kicks. It wasn't bad but didn't get the time to be anything too special and Tai took the fall s expected.

United Empire (Francesco Akira, Great-O-Khan, Jake Lee, Jakob Austin Young & Zane Jay) vs. Goto Revolutionary Army (Hirooki Goto, Tatsuya Matsumoto, YOH & YOSHI-HASHI) & Ryusuke Taguchi

Tat tries to double leg Zane. Zane backs him up in the corner and rubs his forearm in his face. Tat running euros him. Zane dropkicks him. Khan gives Goto the finger and the heels all beat up on Goto. Khan mongolian chops Goto. Khan takes a double shoulderblock. Yoshi is hiptossed onto Khan and Lee is suplexed onto Khan. Young and Akira take attacks from the faces. Tat dropkicks Zane out. 

Khan is group clubbed on. Yoshi running back elbows Khan and pulls his beard. Yoshi chops him and Khan rolls out. Yoshi gets hit from behind by Zane then gets stomped on by the heels. Yoshi is sent into the rails. Khan hits Yoshi with a chair. Yoshi is held for a sliding dropkick by Young. 

Akira rakes Yoshi's face on the top rope. Akira standing moonsaults him for 2. Akira chops him and Yoshi suplexes him. Yoh comes in and drops Akira with forearms. Yoh and RT take stereo atomic drops. RT hip attacks Young then Akira takes a double hip attack.

Lee comes in and is dropkicked in the knee then lariats over. Tat  crabs Lee and Lee ropebreaks. Tat hits forearms on Lee then Lee running knees him in the gut for 2. Tat side headlock takeovers Lee for 2. Lee knees Tat in the gut and pins him.

Thoughts: It was a waste of time. Everyone got their segment in and not much else. There wasn't a lot of effort put in this and we barely even saw Goto here. 

Aaron Wolf, Jado & Oleg Boltin vs. Unbound Co. (Gedo, OSKAR & Yuto-Ice)

Oleg shoulders Ice over. Ice hits forearms and kicks. Oleg forearms him down. Oleg misses a corner splash and Ice hits chest kicks in the corner. Ice running knees him for 2. Ice is lariated down by Jado. They all go out to fight. Gedo hits Jado outside and Ice hits shots on Oleg. Ice slaps Jado around then chokes him in the ring. 

Gedo boots Jado in the gut then leg chokes him over the 2nd rope. Gedo eye rakes Jado with his foot. Gedo hits punches on Jado. Gedo eye pokes him. Jado double chops him and shoulders him over. Wolf and Oskar get in. They shoulderblock battle and chop each other.

Os knees him in the gut and chops him. Wolf shoulders Os over. OS goes for a sleeper and Oleg breaks it up. Oleg double shoulders Wolf and Ice. Os lariats Oleg hard over the top rope. Wolf shoulder throws Os then Os slams him.

Wolf is thrown into the exposed buckle. Wolf misses a charge and goes into the exposed buckle. Gedo tries to pin him with his feet on the ropes and the ref catches him. Wolf shoulder throws Gedo and submits him with a triangle choke.

Thoughts: It wasn't bad. Oskar and Oleg going at it was fun and Wolf did fine. Either Gedo or Jado were losing here and it was Gedo's night to lose.

Ice and Oleg fight in the ring after. 

El Desperado, Masatora Yasuda, Master Wato, Taichi & Yuya Uemura vs. House Of Torture (DOUKI, Ren Narita, SANADA, SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) 

Sho tries to talk on the mic but Despy pulls the mic away. Tai then gives Sho his mic which is unplugged. Tai then talks on the mic, the faces charge and the heels slide out. The heels stall outside.

Kanemaru side headlocks Despy. Despy shoulders him over. Kanemaru chinlocks him. Despy backdrops Kanemaru. Kanemaru takes a double shoulderblock. Wato goes to springboard and is pulled down by Sho. Wato is then sent into the rails.

Wato takes running corner attacks inside and a 2nd rope Togo chop to the crotch. Douki slams and double tstomps Wato for 2. Wato hits chops on Douki. Douki superkicks him in the gut. Wato is double gorilla pressed for a double gutbuster then his limbs are pulled on.

Wato is sent into the exposed buckle. Wato boots Sanada out of the corner and flying headscissors him. Tai comes in and hits chops on Sanada. Tai side kicks him. Tai double lariats the heels then is sent into the exposed buckle. 

Yuya and Ren butt heads. Ren chokes him an Yuya hits forearms. Togo trips Yuya then Yuya is stomped by Ren and Togo. Yuya side headlock takeovers Ren. Ren germans him then Yuya dropkicks him. Tai is sent into the exposed buckles. Sho hits forearms on Tai and Tai no sells them. Sho eye rakes him then is sent into the exposed buckles. 

Masa finally gets in and hits forearms on Sho. Masa dropkicks him.  Sho takes running corner attacks. Wato top rope dropkicks Sho then Masa suplexes Sho for 2. Douki comes in and hits Masa with his stick. Sho straightjacket piledrivers Masa and pins him.

Thoughts: It was nothing special as usual with HoT doing their usual cheating. It was almost all people going into the exposed buckle and that got old quick.

Ren chokes Yuya with a towel after and sends him into the post. 

TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.) vs. Unbound Co. (Daiki Nagai, Shingo Takagi, Taiji Ishimori & Yota Tsuji)

Shingo and Oiwa go at it. They do a double knuckle lock. Oiwa armdrags him. They shoulderblock each other and Oiwa shoulders him over. Oiwa sentons him. Shingo sends Zack into Oiwa and does a flatliner + ddt combo on them. Yota flying headscissors Zack and flying pumping knees him. Yota tilt-a-whirl backbreakers him. Zack pele kicks Yota's arm and tilt-a-whirl armdrags him. 

Yota superkicks him and Zack euros him. Zack PK's him. Hart corner lariats Yota then does a regular lariat on him. Yota takes a double suplex. Hart slams him and misses a senton. Yota pumping knees him and suplexes him. TI comes in and with Kosei and flying double knees him. TI superkicks him for 2. 

Kosei springboard dropkicks TI for 2. Kosei slaps him. TI lariats him then TI handspring corkscrew kicks him. Nagai comes in and shoulders Kosei over. He corner dropkicks him for 2. Kosei slaps him and germans him. 

We get some fast action and Oiwa trades forearms with Yota. Yota curbstomps him. Kosei jumps off Oiwa's back and dropkicks Yota. Nagai spinning ddt's Kosei. Nagai comes off the top and Kosei gets his feet up. Nagai headbutts Kosei then Kosei pop-up germans him and wins.

Thoughts: We didn't get a ton of it but it was a fun little bout. They kept the pace up, Nagai brought some energy and they did alright with the little time they got. 

Shingo and Oiwa pose at each other outside after. They then shake hands.

Exhibition Match - Tiger Mask vs. Tommy Bilington

They lock up and Tom backs him up on the ropes. Tiger backs him up on the ropes. Tom boots him in the gut and wristlocks him. Tiger headflips out of a wristlock but Tiger keeps it on. Tom headflips out and overhead throws him. Tom back elbows Tiger then misses an elbow drop. Tiger spin kicks him. Tom headbutts him.

Tiger counters a hiptoss with an armdrag. Tom rebound germans him. Tiger throws Tom over the top. They fight outside and Tom is sent into the rail. Tom suplexes him on the floor. Tom rope dropkicks Tiger. Tom suplexes him for 2. They fight for a tombstone and the time runs out.

Thoughts: It only went 5 minutes here and there's really only so much you could say about it. It was a match...just barely.

Exhibition Match - Black Tiger vs. Tiger Mask

Black Tiger runs in. He boots Tom over and then stomps Tom and Tiger. TM spin kicks BT and Tom lariats BT. TM punches BT. BT knee drops him for 2. BT unties TM's mask on the buckles. BT hits chops on him. TM back body drops him over the top. TM topes him over the rails.

BT sits up top. TM top rope underhook suplexes him for 2. BT hits running corner lariats. TM crucifixes him for 2. BT low blows TM for 2. BT hits chest kicks and slaps TM down. The time limit then runs out and BT tombstones him after.

Thoughts: Like the prior match, it was another short 5 minute draw. BT heeled it up and TM got some of his signature moves in before this ended.

BT gets on the mic after. He says he's been in his shadow for 20 years. He says tonight is about him (Black Tiger) and he wants 5 more minutes. TM agrees.

Singles Match - Black Tiger vs. Tiger Mask

BT back elbows him and TM tiger suplexes him. TM then pins him.

Thoughts: Uh okay. Tiger Mask won here in seconds. 

Black Tiger takes his mask off and it's Rocky Romero. he gives the mask to Tiger. 

We then get a retirement ceremony for Tiger Mask. The roster, celebs, other wrestlers and legends (Fujinami, Great Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki) come out and all of them give him flowers. Original Tiger Mask comes out, I think with Super Tiger. TM4 asks to lock up with Original Tiger Mask one more time. They get an intro from the announcer and the bell rings. Original Tiger Mask does some foot work and they ring the bell once after they lock up.

Tiger talks on the mic and thanks everyone. He says he wanted to be a baseball player but says he saw Sayama and it changed his dreams. He talks about debuting in M-Pro then coming to NJPW. He says Sayama told him not to copy him but says he's Tiger Mask. He says he was able to make Tiger Mask his own over the years. He says he was smaller sized with big dreams and was told he couldn't be a pro wrestler.

He says it's sad not to wrestle anymore and sad not to travel with the wrestlers. He thanks everyone and says NJPW will keep on going. He says he hopes the fans keep showing their love for NJPW.  
They then do the 10-count for Tiger and throw him up in the air.

Thoughts: Not to be rude, but I can't say I have a lot of great memories of Tiger. Despite covering NJPW for such a long time, I've seen very few singles matches with Tiger and I can't say many of them were memorable. He mostly just did his signature offense and not a lot else. He was kind of like a mascot more than a great wrestler and outside of the Tiger Mask gimmick, he was not particularly memorable. Maybe it's just because he had been around for a while and was on the tail end of his career. I honestly can't even name one single great Tiger Mask IV match. I don't think he was bad, but he wasn't given a ton of opportunities to stand out and he didn't stand out when given the chance. He was just an average wrestler. I do expect NJPW or another fed to have another Tiger Mask at some point, but I imagine it'll be a few years down the line.

Overall thoughts: There was nothing you really needed to see here and it was more of a ceremonial event than an event that was trying to impress. The first match was alright but didn't get a lot of time. The second match was a waste. I liked Aaron Wolf's tag match and HoT's tag wasn't any good. The TMDK vs Unbound match was fun. Tiger Mask's final matches here were all short and nothing much of note. I'd give this a 4 out of 10 and wouldn't really recommend it. It was below average.