Callum Joseph Newman (born 31 August 2002) is an English professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the third and current leader of United Empire, and a former one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He also makes sporadic appearances on the British independent circuit.

Newman began his professional wrestling career in 2017 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 New Japan Cup, which led to him winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, becoming the youngest wrestler to win both the tournament and the championship.

Early life

Callum Joseph Newman was born in Havering, London on 31 August 2002. He initially 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. As a footballer, he 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. At the age of 15, he 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 him and his parents to continue his training at the London School of Lucha Libre as his protege.

Professional wrestling career

British independent circuit (2017–present)

Newman made his official in-ring debut in December 2017 on the British independent scene. Newman initially wrestled under the name Tomar Vuelo and briefly wrestled under a mask as Dark Britannico (the second wrestler to portray this character after Will Ospreay) before switching to using his real name soon after. In May 2019, Newman was awarded the inaugural WrestleTalk Scholarship, which included coaching from Rampage Brown, a personal graphic designer for his social media branding, merchandise, and wrestling gear, brand-new wrestling attire funded by WrestleTalk, £2,000 in cash, and the services of an accountant from the London-based firm Streets Accountants. Newman continued wrestle on the British independent scene for promotions such as London Lucha League (LLL), Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), and Progress Wrestling until 2023, where he was recruited by Ospreay to join him in Japan.[citation needed]

Newman made his return to RevPro at RevPro Live in London 81 on January 7, 2024, where he was defeated by JJ Gale. Newman would continue to sproadic appearances for RevPro in 2024, 2025 and 2026.

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 and their leader Will Ospreay's protégé, facing Los Ingobernables de Japon in an eight-man tag team match in a losing effort. Newman would spend the majority of the year competing in tag matches with the United Empire before wrestling and winning his first singles match in NJPW on 3 December against Shoma Kato.

He participated in the 2024 New Japan Cup, where he lost to Gabe Kidd in the first round. 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. 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.

In March 2025, Newman returned from injury and participated in the 2025 New Japan Cup, where he lost to Tetsuya Naito in the first round.

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, marking Newman's first ever championship in a major promotion. However, their reign would only last 9 days as the duo were forced to vacate the titles due to Cobb leaving NJPW. 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. 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. On 4 May at Wrestling Dontaku, Newman failed to defeat Goto for the world heavyweight title. 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. 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. After the end of the tournament, Newman began a rivalry with Bullet Club War Dogs leader David Finlay, blaming him for the United Empire's downfall after the events of The New Beginning in Osaka 2024 which led to the departure of Ospreay; in this period Newman started developing a more ruthless, aggressive and cocky attitude.

On January 4, 2026 at Wrestle Kingdom 20, Newman teamed with stablemate O-Khan, Henare, and new recruits Andrade El Idolo and Jake Lee to defeat the alliance of War Dogs (Finlay, Gabe Kidd, and Drilla Moloney) and Unaffiliated (Shingo Takagi and Hiromu Takahashi) in a ten-man tag team match. After the match, Newman and the rest of the members of the United Empire cemented their heel turns by attacking their defeated opponents. Following Wrestle Kingdom, Newman entered a storyline with his mentor and former United Empire leader Will Ospreay, who had returned to NJPW and promised to help Newman lead the United Empire. Newman would tease attacking Ospreay but would be stopped by Henare and Great O-Khan. In the same month, Newman announced that he had signed a multi-year deal with NJPW. On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, Newman defeated Finlay to end their feud.

In March 2026, Newman competed and won the New Japan Cup, defeating Oskar in the first round, Hartley Jackson in the second round, Hirooki Goto in the quarterfinals, Shota Umino in the semifinals, and finally Yuya Uemura in the grand finals to becoming the youngest wrestler ever to win the tournament. At Sakura Genesis on 4 April, Newman defeated Yota Tsuji to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the youngest wrestler to win the title. On Night 2 of Wrestling Dontaku on 4 May, Newman successfully defended his title against Shingo Takagi. Following the match, tensions between Newman and Ospreay continued to escalate after Newman forced Ospreay to attack Takagi and confronted him over his alliance with the Death Riders in All Elite Wrestling. On June 14 at Dominion 6.14 in Osaka-jo Hall, Newman lost the title back to Yota Tsuji, ending his reign at 71 days and only one successful title defense.

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.

Championships and accomplishments

Notes

External links

  • Callum Newman's profile at , ,