Yuya Aoki Set To Return To AJPW For First Time in Over 8 Years, Aoki Expresses Excitement on Social Media

By: Lewis Carlan

Former BJW superstar and now freelancer Yuya Aoki is set to make his return to All Japan Pro-Wrestling for the first time since Oct. 2017.

AJPW confirmed Aoki’s return to the promotion today on it’s official website. Aoki’s return to AJPW is scheduled for the April 23rd Champion Carnival 2026 event at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo.

Aoki will compete in an eight man tag team bout as he teams with Shotaro Ashino, Kuma Arashi & MUSASHI and they take on Yuma Aoyagi, Astuki Aoyagi, Rising HAYATO & Ryo Inoue.

Yuya Aoki took to X and expressed excitement about his return to AJPW.

From Yuya Aoki:

“I’ll be competing at the All Japan Pro Wrestling event at Shinjuku FACE on April 23! It’s been a while since I’ve been to an All Japan Pro Wrestling event!! My heart’s racing! I’m gonna give it my all!” (English translation via Deepl.com)

In addition, Aoki is set for a second appearance for AJPW on May 5th as he competes in a 10 man tag team bout at the Champion Carnival 2026 event at Korakuen Hall.

Aoki holds the record for the longest reigning BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion at 529 days. He left Big Japan Pro-Wrestling at the end of Feb 2026 after competing with the company for 10 years to become a freelancer.

Yuya Aoki’s last match for AJPW occurred back on Oct. 2, 2017 as he defeated Yusuke Okada at AJPW Raising An Army Memorial Series 2017.