Callum Newman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Callum Newman
- Dark Britannico (II)
- Tomar Vuelo
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Callum Joseph Newman 31 August 2002 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring names |
|
| Billed height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) |
| Billed weight | 102 kg (225 lb; 16 st 1 lb) |
| Billed from | Romford, Essex, England |
| Trained by |
|
| Debut | 2018 |
Callum Joseph Newman (born 31 August 2002) is an English professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW),[a] where he is the current IWGP Heavyweight Champion in his first reign. He is the third and current leader of the United Empire.
Newman began his professional wrestling career in 2018 under the mentorship of Will Ospreay. He would mainly perform in the British independent scene for promotions such as London Lucha League (LLL), Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), and Progress Wrestling. In 2023, Newman signed with NJPW and joined the United Empire. He would become the leader of the stable in 2025 after incumbent leaders Ospreay and TJP left NJPW. As leader, he would become a two-time IWGP Tag Team Champion. In 2026, he would win the 2026 New Japan Cup, which led to him winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, becoming the youngest wrestler to win both the tournament and the championship.
Newman began training to become a professional wrestler at the age of seven under his grandfather, Toni Granzi, one of the UK's most renowned heel wrestlers of the 1950s and 1960s. He had an unofficial debut match at age 13 but later took a hiatus from wrestling to focus on football.[1][2] As a footballer, Newman played for Tottenham Hotspur's youth academy and was also scouted by Arsenal and West Ham United, but ultimately quit the sport due to a lack of passion and chose return to professional wrestling.[1][3] At the age of 15, Newman was also planning to quit professional wrestling altogether but attended a two-day professional wrestling seminar near his home as a surprise from his parents, where he met Will Ospreay, who was able to convince Newman and his parents to continue his training at the London School of Lucha Libre as his protege.[3][4]
Professional wrestling career
Early career (2018–2023)
Newman made his official in-ring debut in 2018 as Tomar Vuelo,[5] and briefly wrestled under a mask as Dark Britannico (the second wrestler to portray this character after Will Ospreay),[6] before switching to using his real name soon after.[1] Newman proceeded to mainly wrestle on the British independent scene for promotions such as London Lucha League (LLL), Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), and Progress Wrestling.[citation needed]
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2023–present)
Early beginnings (2023–2025)
On 8 September 2023, at Road to Destruction, Newman made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a member of the United Empire, facing Los Ingobernables de Japon in an eight-man tag team match in a losing effort.[7] He would spend the rest of the year mainly competing in tag matches with United Empire.
He participated in the 2024 New Japan Cup, where he lost to Gabe Kidd in the first round.[8] On July 5, Newman defeated Yoshi-Hashi in a six-man tournament final to win one of two qualification spots for the 2024 G1 Climax. From July to August, he took part in the G1 Climax finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and seven losses, failing to advance to the play-off match of the tournament.[9][10] He teamed with Jeff Cobb in the 2024 World Tag League, where they were placed in A-Block and scored 6 points, but on December 5, Newman would suffer a knee injury during their block match against TMDK (Ryohei Oiwa and Zack Sabre Jr.) and would be forced to withdraw from the tournament. The injury was later diagnosed to be a dislocated knee cap and a bone bruise.[11]
In March 2025, Newman participated in the 2025 New Japan Cup, where he lost to Tetsuya Naito in the first round.[12]
Leader of the United Empire (2025–present)
On April 4 at Sakura Genesis, Newman and Cobb defeated Naito and Hiromu Takahashi to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. This would be Newman's first ever championship in a major promotion.[13] However, their reign would only last 9 days as the duo were forced to vacate the titles due to Cobb leaving NJPW.[14] After vacating the titles, Newman declared leadership of United Empire and challenged Hirooki Goto to match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, which was later made official for Wrestling Dontaku 2025.[15] On April 26, at Wrestling Redzone in Hiroshima, Newman and Great-O-Khan defeated Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) to win the vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship.[16] On 4 May at Wrestling Dontaku, Newman failed to defeat Goto for the world heavyweight title.[17][18] At Dominion 6.15 in Osaka-jo Hall, Newman and O-Khan lost their titles to Taichi and Tomohiro Ishii, ending their reign at 50 days.[19] Newman then entered the 2025 G1 Climax after defeating Taichi in the play-in, where he was placed in A-Block and finished the tournament with 8 points, but failed to advance to the finals.[20][21]
On January 4, 2026 at Wrestle Kingdom 20, Newman teamed with stablemate O-Khan and Henare along with new recruits Andrade El Idolo and Jake Lee to defeat Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, and Drilla Moloney) and Unaffiliated (Shingo Takagi and Hiromu Takahashi) in a ten-man tag team match.[22] The following day at New Year Dash!!, Newman was confronted by his mentor and former United Empire leader Will Ospreay, stating that he will return to NJPW after he is cleared from his neck inury to help Newman lead the United Empire. Newman would then tease attacking Ospreay but would be stopped by Henare and Great O-Khan.[23] In the same month, Newman announced that he had signed a multi-year deal with NJPW.[24] On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, Newman defeated David Finlay.[25]
In March 2026, Newman competed and won the New Japan Cup, defeating Oskar in the first round,[26] Hartley Jackson in the second round,[27] Hirooki Goto in the quarterfinals, [28] Shota Umino in the semifinals,[29] and finally Yuya Uemura in the grand finals to becoming the youngest wrestler ever to win the tournament and earning an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against Yota Tsuji at Sakura Genesis.[30] At Sakura Genesis on 4 April, Newman defeated Tsuji to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the youngest wrestler to win the title.[31]
All Elite Wrestling (2026)
Newman made his All Elite Wrestling (AEW) debut on the April 8, 2026 episode of Dynamite, along with United Empire stablemates Francesco Akira and Henare to assist Will Ospreay against the Death Riders, defeating them in a Chaos in Canada match.[32]
Championships and accomplishments
- London Lucha League
- LLL Championship (2 times)
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)
- IWGP Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Jeff Cobb (1) and Great-O-Khan (1)
- New Japan Cup (2026)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Reloaded Championship Wrestling Alliance
- RCWA British Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Maverick Mayhew
