January is always an eventful month for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Not only does the company host its biggest show of the year, Wrestle Kingdom, at the Tokyo Dome, but there is always talk of potential departures. Usually, contracts in NJPW, particularly amongst the foreign talents, would run for one year and be renewed each January, unless someone wanted to go elsewhere in which case they would be able to negotiate with other companies. However, according to a new report from Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, January 2026 could look very different on the contract front for NJPW.
According to Sapp, several overseas talents in NJPW didn't actually sign new contracts at the start of this year and were paid on a handshake agreement until they opted to sign new deals in the spring and summer. Some of the deals signed past their original expiry dates will still expire in January, as will those who still signed new contracts at the start of the year, but some talents told Fightful that there are a number of NJPW deals that will expire after January, so there will be less predictability when it comes to who might be a free agent post-Wrestle Kingdom. Two of the most high-profile names who were on these handshake agreements were Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors of the Bullet Club War Dogs, who were able to pick up some per-appearance paydays in AEW throughout 2025 due to not being under contract with NJPW.
NJPW officials have been much more particular when it comes to their hiring process this year, with Fightful hearing from a lot of free agents that they reached out to NJPW for potential work but never heard anything back. One prominent free agent also claimed to Fightful that they had offered to work for NJPW at a discounted rate and still didn't get a response from the company. This could be NJPW moving away from trying to market themselves to an international audience as the company is running less dates in the United States, the NJPW STRONG brand has been phased out, and a number of deals with US brands have quietly expired over the past year.
