Knockout Brothers Recapture IWGP Tag Team Titles, Jeff Cobb Revealed as Mystery Partner for NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling 2026

By: Ian McCord 

On October 6th, NJPW’s first night of Road to King of Pro-Wrestling 2026 took place at the legendary Korakuen Hall, with 1,041 fans in attendance to see the Knockout Brothers challenge the United Empire tandem of Great-O-Khan and HENARE for the IWGP Tag Team Titles.

The Knockout Brothers, OSKAR and Yuto-Ice, lost the IWGP Tag Team Titles back in June to HENARE and O-Khan, and earned another shot at the championship by defeating Togi Makabe and Toru Yano last month in a very violent No. 1 contenders match.

The title match between UE and the Knockout Brothers took place here in the show’s main event, with the champions coming into the bout with a strict game plan: take out the knee of the giant OSKAR and try to keep Yuto-Ice down long enough to continue their reign with the titles.

The match was exciting, and all was going to plan for O-Khan and HENARE, until the Knockout Brothers once again affirmed the strength of their Pro-Wrestling High and turned the tide in their favor. It would be Yuto-Ice using his body as a shield to protect OSKAR’s knee from chair shots brought on by O-Khan that would be the momentum shifter for challengers.

After fighting off a kneebar from O-Khan with another assist from Ice, OSKAR was able to recover, and he and Ice were able to find an opening to hit O-Khan with the K.O.B to secure the victory and start their second reign as champions.

Image Credit: New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Since business between the Knockout Brothers and United Empire is far from finished, Yuto-Ice took time during his post-match comments to reveal that former United Empire member and current Unbound Juggernaut Jeff Cobb would be fighting alongside them in challenging O-Khan, HENARE, and AEW Men’s World Champion Will Ospreay for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Titles at King of Pro-Wrestling on October 12th.

The Unbound Co. trio will get the chance to show off their teamwork alongside Shingo Takagi, taking on the United Empire quartet of Great-O-Khan, HENARE, Callum Newman, and Zane Jay at the next Road to King of Pro-Wrestling event on October 7th back at Korakuen Hall.

Here are the full results from NJPW’s Road to King of Pro-Wrestling on October 6th courtesy of purolove.com:

• SANADA, Yujiro Takahashi, DOUKI, SHO, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeat Yuya Uemura, Oleg Boltin, Taichi, El Desperado, and Taisei Nakahara (11:45)
• Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori defeat YOH & Tatsuya Matsumoto (6:09)
• Ren Narita, Shun Skywalker, and Dick Togo defeated Shota Umino, Toru Yano, and Master Wato (9:17)
• Jeff Cobb and Daiki Nagai defeated Callum Newman and Zane Jay (6:39)
• Kosei Fujita, Zack Sabre Jr., and Robbie Eagles defeat Aaron Wolf, Hechicero, and Masatora Yasuda (11:30)
• Yota Tsuji and Shingo Takagi defeat Ryohei Oiwa and Hartley Jackson (13:14)
• IWGP Tag Team Title: Yuto-Ice & OSKAR defeat HENARE & Great-O-Khan (c) (34:21)