Wrestling Dontaku 2025 was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on May 3 and May 4, 2025, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka at Fukuoka Kokusai Center. Both nights featured nine matches, one of which was contested for two championships and the other for three contested for championships. The first night was headlined by House of Torture (EVIL, Ren Narita, SANADA, Sho and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) facing War Dogs (Clark Connors, David Finlay, Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd and Taiji Ishimori) in a Dogpound Steel Cage. The second night was headlined by Hirooki Goto defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Callum Newman. This was the nineteenth event under the Wrestling Dontaku name.
Production[]
Storylines[]
Wrestling Dontaku 2025 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.
David Finlay leader of War Dogs
The first night of Wrestling Dontaku 2025 will be headlined by House of Torture facing War Dogs in a Dogpound Steel Cage match. On February 11, at The New Beginning in Osaka, EVIL and Dick Togo, who had previously suggested their potential departure from NJPW, entered the ring and initially implied that they were severing ties with the House of Torture. However, this was revealed to be a deceptive tactic, subsequently, the House of Torture turned against Gabe Kidd, attacking him. Following these events, EVIL declared that War Dogs would no longer be associated with the Bullet Club, leading to a feud between both sides. During the 2025 New Japan Cup, undercard matches saw the two groups fight to a streak of countouts and disqualifications, much to the rage of the War Dogs. SANADA was torn between both sides, leading War Dogs to question his loyalty, until he attacked Yuya Uemura following his match against Finlay in the tournament. However, on April 5 at Sakura Genesis, during a match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship between both sides, SANADA turned on the War Dogs to join the House of Torture. Afterwards, War Dogs challenged House of Torture to a Dogpound Steel Cage match.
Hirooki Goto, who defended the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
The second night of Wrestling Dontaku 2025 was headlined by Hirooki Goto making his fifth title defense of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Callum Newman. On April 9, NJPW announced that Jeff Cobb and Callum Newman would vacated the IWGP Tag Team Championship, due to Cobb leaving NJPW. In a press conference, that same day, Newman challenged Hirooki Goto to a title match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, vowing to become the youngest ever IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Newman also announced he would take over the leadership of United Empire.
On April 5, at Sakura Genesis, after successfully defending his title, Yota Tsuji called out Uemura to be his next challenger to the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship. Their rivalry started at the very beginning of their careers and grew since both returned from excursion, leading to a trilogy of matches for the two in 2024, where Uemura won on January 4, 2024, at Wrestle Kingdom 18, but Tsuji would take his win back in a Hair vs. Hair Lucha de Apuestas match, on February 24 at The New Beginning in Sapporo.
On April 27 at Wrestling Hizen no Kuni, El Phantasmo regained the NJPW World Television Championship. Already scheduled to face Takeshita for the NEVER Openweight Championbship May 9 at Resurgence, Phantasmo said that he was eager to defeat Takeshita in Japan as well as the US, putting his newly won title on the line and declaring Takeshita as his first challenger.
Results[]
Night 1[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1P | Katsuya Murashima defeated Daiki Nagai by submission | Singles match | 7:26 |
| 2 | Master Wato, Oleg Boltin, Toru Yano and Yoh defeated TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles and Ryohei Oiwa) | Eight-man tag team match | 8:39 |
| 3 | Tomohiro Ishii, Taichi, Taka Michinoku and Yuya Uemura defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito and Yota Tsuji) | Eight-man tag team match | 9:03 |
| 4 | Ryusuke Taguchi, Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi defeated United Empire (Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan and Jakob Austin Young) | Six-man tag team match | 10:43 |
| 5 | El Phantasmo (c) vs. Konosuke Takeshita ended in a time-limit draw | Singles match for the NJPW World Television Championship | 15:00 |
| 6 | Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi | Singles match | 13:05 |
| 7 | Shingo Takagi defeated Shota Umino | Singles match | 15:06 |
| 8 | War Dogs (David Finlay, Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney, Gabe Kidd and Taiji Ishimori) defeated House of Torture (EVIL, Ren Narita, SANADA, Sho and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) | Dog Pound match Since House of Torture lost, they were forced to leave Bullet Club. |
26:18 |
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Night 2[]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1P | Katsuya Murashima and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Hitamaru Sasaki and Jet Wei | Tag team match | 9:07 |
| 2 | War Dogs (Gedo and Taiji Ishimori) defeated Batten Blabla and Mentai Kid | Tag team match | 6:01 |
| 3 | Master Wato and Yoshi-Hashi defeated United Empire (Great-O-Khan and Jakob Austin Young) | Tag team match | 8:46 |
| 4 | Fukuoka Triple Crazy (Maika, Hazuki and Koguma) defeated Starlight Kid, AZM and Yuna Mizumori | Stardom exhibition six-woman tag team match | 9:15 |
| 5 | El Phantasmo and Oleg Boltin defeated The Don Callis Family (Konosuke Takeshita and Rocky Romero) | Tag team match | 8:05 |
| 6 | Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano, Ryota Chikuzen, TAJIRI and Yoh defeated TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Kosei Fujita, Robbie Eagles, Ryohei Oiwa and Zack Sabre Jr.) | Ten-man tag team match | 10:22 |
| 7 | Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito) defeated Taichi, Taka Michinoku, Shota Umino and Tomohiro Ishii | Eight-man tag team match | 10:05 |
| 8 | Yota Tsuji (c) defeated Yuya Uemura | Singles match for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship | 23:43 |
| 9 | Hirooki Goto (c) defeated Callum Newman | Singles match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship | 24:01 |
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