SANADA Debuts New Look, Loses Return Match At NJPW Dominion 2026
SANADA’s comeback bout.
The opening match of New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Dominion 2026 event saw Konosuke Takeshita defend the NJPW World Television Championship against the returning SANADA.
It was SANADA’s first match since January 2026, when he took his hiatus from wrestling. SANADA’s entrance featured previous incarnations of his on-screen presentation. That came with these different presentations having the respective titles that SANADA held during his career, such as the IWGP U.S. Heavyweight and the IWGP World Heavyweight Title belt.
SANADA showed up with red hair, red trunks, and red boots, and in his hand, he held Takeshita’s World TV Title, which he had stolen.
Towards the backend of the bout, the referee was down, so SANADA sprayed something into Takeshita’s eyes. He proceeded to pull out a guitar and hit Takeshita over the head with it, but Takeshita kicked out at two.
Takeshita went on to put SANADA away with the Raging Fire to retain the World Television Championship. It was his fifth defense of the belt.
Going into Dominion, NJPW released a mini-documentary about SANADA, and he revealed that he had been dealing with scalneus syndrome since January 2024. Before his hiatus, he had to incorporate a guitar into his matches because he did not have full range of his arm.
