A Disappointed Yota Tsuji Comments On Losing His Second IWGP Championship in One Month’s Time

By: Lewis Carlan

One month ago, Yota Tsuji was riding high atop New Japan Pro Wrestling as he held both the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Global Heavyweight Title. Tsuji was seemingly on his way to becoming a true leader and possibly even the new face of NJPW but it all came to a crashing halt in only one month’s time.

On April 4th, Tsuji lost the IWGP Heavyweight Title to United Empire leader Callum Newman at NJPW SAKURA GENESIS 2026. Then on May 3rd at WRESTLING DONTAKU 2026, he was defeated by AEW star Andrade El Idolo for the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship.

On April 4th Yota Tsuji woke up as a double champion and now on May 3rd, Tsuji will be going to sleep as a double former champion.

Following his loss to Andrade, Tsuji had these backstage post-match comments as he was understandably disappointed:

From Yota Tsuji:

“A match, as the word implies, has a winner and a loser. Today, I lost—that’s all there is to it. I let two titles slip away. But you know, my mission remains the same. As long as I’m a New Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestler, my only goal is to reclaim the IWGP.” (Translated via Deepl.com)

Yota Tsuji has suffered a major setback but he did not make any excuses for his two heartbreaking losses. The mark of a true champion is how they persevere when misfortune occurs.

Tsuji will now have to work hard if he wants to get back on top of NJPW in the future. He will be out to prove to everyone that he is an exceptional pro-wrestler that has all the tools to become the face of NJPW.