NJPW's Aaron Wolf Beats Six Challengers In Legitimate 10 Million Yen Challenge

By Max Everett
Aaron Wolf on the judo mat in Paris Victor Velter/Shutterstock

NJPW's Aaron Wolf held a legitimate grappling challenge during "ABEMA's" 10th anniversary special program, beating six challengers to deny each of them an opportunity at 10 Million Japanese Yen. 

The rules of the challenge stipulated each match as a one-fall, four-minute contest with the challenger winning by pinning the opponent to the mat or throwing them. Wolf defeated the first three challengers, Kakaroni Kuriya, Fujimoto Ryuki, and Knockon Terada before the rules shifted to allow joint locks up to the arm. 

Yachi Yasuke attempted such a lock, but wound up pinned by Wolf to make four wins in a row heading into a contest with Baruto, a former sumo wrestler, throwing him to make it five. Opponent number six was 60kg judo gold medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, Naohisa Takato, and Wolf beat him with a leg sweep. 

"There's never been such a big difference in physique between my previous opponent and my next opponent, so I almost got sick," Wolf said after the challenge (via Tokyo Sports). He spoke further of his bout with Takato, "It's been a while since I've used my judo brain. I want to put this to good use in pro wrestling."

Wolf made his professional wrestling debut for NJPW at Wrestle Kingdom in January, defeating EVIL on his first night to become NEVER Openweight Champion. He had previously won judo gold in Tokyo at 100kg. But he has since lost the title to Ren Narita and further defeated by Don Fale in the opening round of the New Japan Cup to wind up 1-2 in singles competition. 

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