Published: Mar 21, 2026 by Sanchez Taylor | Last Updated: Mar 21, 2026 by Sanchez Taylor
Sanchez has over six years of pro-wrestling news writing experience, covering the biggest news stories in WWE, NXT, AEW, TNA Wrestling and more. He has personally interviewed a number of top stars, producing exclusive content with the likes of AEW's Swerve Strickland and WWE's Nick Aldis.
WWE
An international star from Pro Wrestling NOAH has wrestled his first live event match for WWE, after previously confirming an excursion.
Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Ulka Sasaki announced in February that he will be reporting to the WWE Performance Center during his international excursion.
After previously competing in a dark match ahead of the February 24 NXT episode, Sasaki has now wrestled on his first WWE live event.
Sasaki was in action at the March 20 NXT house show, facing off against Niko Vance.
Ulka Sasaki is a former champion, previously holding NOAH’s GHC National Championship for 63 days in 2024.
He also reigned as a GHC Tag Team Champion alongside Kenoh for 31 days in 2025.
Sasaki also has a legitimate professional mixed martial arts record of 24-10, with his most recent fight seeing him score a unanimous decision victory over Boyd Allen at Rizin 42 in May 2023.
Sasaki isn’t the first Pro Wrestling NOAH star to wrestle for WWE during his excursion, with current GHC Heavyweight Champion Yoshiki Inamura competing for NXT from November 2024 to August 2025.
With Inamura last wrestling for WWE on the August 19, 2025 NXT episode, the champion recently called for a match against Raw star Ivar.
Inamura’s NXT run saw him appear regularly on NXT TV, and form a tag-team with Josh Briggs.
Inamura and Briggs notably challenged for the NXT Tag Team Championship twice, first losing to Fraxiom at Vengeance Day 2025, and then unsuccessfully challenging Hank Walker and Tank Ledger that April.
Sasaki wrestling on a WWE house show indicates that the company could be preparing to bring him to NXT TV soon.
We could soon see Sasaki follow in Inamura’s footsteps, becoming a mainstay in NXT and challenging for the brand’s top championships ahead of eventually returning to Japan.
The latest WWE NXT updates and news stories ahead of Stand & Deliver on April 4 can be found right here.
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