Death Vegas Invitational
2026 New Japan Pro-Wrestling professional wrestling event
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Death Vegas Invitational, also referred to as Death Vegas Invitacional, is an upcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. It is scheduled to take place on April 16, 2026 at Horseshoe Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada and is scheduled to air live on Triller TV and is also scheduled to be simulcasted on NJPW World in conjunction with Game Changer Wrestling's (GCW) Collective.
| Death Vegas Invitational | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||
| Date | April 16, 2026 | ||
| City | Paradise, Nevada, United States | ||
| Venue | Horseshoe Las Vegas | ||
| Event chronology | |||
| |||
Production
Background
On June 24, 2025, NJPW held the Death Pain Invitational at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan and was NJPW's first show which primarily focused on death match wrestling.[1] Prior to this show, NJPW had rarely sanctioned death matches except for one-off occasions like on October 4, 1987 when NJPW owner Antonio Inoki fought Masa Saito in a Ganryujima island death match for 1 hour with the match ending with Inoki getting the win with a TKO.[2] Another death match would be sanctioned on December 18, 1991 on Ganryujima island between Hiroshi Hase and Tiger Jeet Singh which ended with Hase getting the victory. Death matches would continue to be held on occasion including on the Riki Choshu Revival pay-per-view at Yokohama Arena on July 30, 2000 between Atsushi Onita and Riki Choshu, Destruction '09 at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo between Togi Makabe and Takashi Iizuka,[3] on July 30, 2022 during Music City Mayhem at the Nashville Fairgrounds between Jon Moxley and El Desperado,[4][5] and on July 5, 2023 during Independence Day at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo between Jon Moxley and El Desperado.[6] On January 4, 2026, it was announced that NJPW would hold its first event at the Collective at Horseshoe Las Vegas in Paradise, Nevada on April 16, 2026.[7] On April 5, 2026, NJPW announced that the show would be simulcasted live on NJPW World.[8][9]
Storylines
Death Vegas Invitational featured professional wrestling matches that involves different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[10] Storylines were produced on Game Changer Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling's various shows.
Matches
| No. | Matches*[11][12] | Stipulations | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Masashi Takeda and Rina Yamashita vs. El Desperado and Jun Kasai vs. Matt Tremont and Nick Gage | Love and Pieces three way tag team Deathmatch | ||
| 2 | Dragon Kid and Starlight Kid vs. El Phantasmo and Maki Itoh | Tag team match | ||
| 3 | Effy vs. Jimmy Lloyd vs. Ishin | Three way match | ||
| 4 | Daisuke Sasaki and Gedo vs. Gringo Loco and Joey Janela | House Rules Hardcore tag team match | ||
| 5 | Kushida and Yamato vs. MxM Collection (Mansoor and Mason Madden) vs. Bustah and The Brain (Alec Price and Jordan Oliver) | Runway Rush and Crash A Drop Dead Gorgeous three-way tag team match | ||
| ||||