SANADA Returns To NJPW at Wrestling DONTAKU 2026

By: Lewis Carlan

Former IWGP World Heavyweight Champion SANADA has returned to NJPW after being away from the promotion for three months.

On Jan. 5th at NJPW New Year’s Dash, SANADA seemingly said to goodbye to NJPW as he stated he was going on a journey. Shortly thereafter, NJPW announced that SANADA would be taking a leave of absence from in-ring competition with no return date determined.

Well, NJPW fans now know that return date was May 4th at Wrestling DONTAKU 2026 Night 2.

On April 4th at SAKURA GENESIS 2026, a masked suited figure mysteriously appeared leaving fans to speculate on who it could be. They got their answer exactly one month later.

Following Konosuke Takeshita’s successful NJPW World Television Championship defense against Chase Owens, the mysterious masked figure appeared once again and proceeded to attack Takeshita. The individual took off the mask and was revealed to be SANADA.

There had been some speculation that SANADA could be headed to another promotion but those rumours have been put to rest on May 4th with SANADA returning to NJPW.