NJPW Gives Tanahashi GOAT Retirement - Wrestle Kingdom 20 Results and Highlights
Wrestle Kingdom 20 (January 4, 2026, Tokyo Dome) was a massive, emotional event, sold out and centered around Hiroshi Tanahashi’s retirement match.
It delivered several title changes, historic moments, and strong in-ring action, though opinions varied on the undercard consistency. The show sold out the Tokyo Dome (around 46,913 fans — one of the biggest crowds in recent years), and the vibe was electric.
The headline was Tanahashi’s final match against longtime rival Kazuchika Okada (now with AEW), their 18th singles encounter. Okada won after a dramatic, storytelling-heavy bout (around 33 minutes), followed by an incredibly moving retirement ceremony.
Remember Cena’s final match? Yeah, it was nothing like that BS — this was a respectful, cinematic send-off.
Amazing job by NJPW, that was exactly how you honor and send out one of the greatest of all time: emotional, well-booked, and brilliantly executed.
Tanahashi received tributes from legends and rivals like Katsuyori Shibata, Jay White, Tetsuya Naito, Will Ospreay, Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and more.
It was widely called one of the best retirement send-offs ever — emotional, heartfelt, and a perfect bookend to Tanahashi’s 26-year career as “The Ace” who helped rebuild NJPW.
Other major noteworthy happenings beyond the titles:
Aaron Wolf (Olympic judo gold medalist) made his pro wrestling debut and scored a huge upset, defeating EVIL to win the NEVER Openweight Championship in a thrilling match that played up his newcomer status and House of Torture interference.
Surprise returns and reunions: Andrade El Idolo (back in NJPW after years away), Jake Lee, and others featured in a big multi-man tag. United Empire looked strong in victory.
Francesco Akira unmasked for a dramatic reveal post-match in one of the tags.
The show announced future events like “Death Vegas Invitacional” in Las Vegas (April 2026) and teased the G1 Climax 36 with some U.S. focus.
Title Changes
Yota Tsuji defeated Konosuke Takeshita in a long, hard-hitting Winner Takes All match to unify the IWGP World Heavyweight and IWGP Global Heavyweight titles, bringing the top belt back to a homegrown star.
Syuri beat Saya Kamitani in a double-title match to become the unified IWGP Women’s and NJPW Strong Women’s Champion.
TMDK won the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Titles in a chaotic Tornado Tag Ranbo (multi-team rumble-style) match.
El Phantasmo retained the World TV Title in the pre-show against Chris Brookes (DDT).
El Desperado won a four-way to earn an IWGP Junior Heavyweight title shot.
Fans and reviewers praised the emotional core (especially Tanahashi’s farewell), the top matches (Tsuji/Takeshita and the main event often called standouts), and fresh faces like Wolf.
Some felt the undercard had inconsistencies or felt long, but overall it was seen as memorable and a strong kickoff to 2026 for NJPW, especially post-Tanahashi era.
Wrestle Kingdom 20 Full Results
Pre-Show Tag Team Match: Katsuya Murashima & Masatora Yasuda defeat Shoma Kato & Tatsuya Matsumoto (6:19)
Pre-Show NJPW World Television Title Match: El Phantasmo (c) defeats Chris Brookes (11:48)
NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Title Rambo Match: TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.) defeat Master Wato, Toru Yano & YOH (c) and Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) & Oleg Boltin and BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors, OSKAR & Yuto-Ice) and House Of Torture (Ren Narita, SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) and Kaisei Takechi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura and Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe and Team 100 (Satoshi Kojima & Taichi) & Tomohiro Ishii (20:43) to become New Champions
IWGP Women's Title / NJPW STRONG Women's Title Match: Syuri (c) [IWGP] defeats Saya Kamitani (c) [STRONG] (12:09) to become New Champion!
Ten Man Tag Team Match: United Empire (Andrade El Idolo, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Jake Lee) defeat BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Drilla Moloney & Gabe Kidd), Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi (13:17)
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Four Way Match: El Desperado defeats Kosei Fujita and SHO and Taiji Ishimori (7:35)
NEVER Openweight Title Match: Aaron Wolf defeats EVIL (c) (12:53) to become New Champion!
IWGP World Heavyweight Title / IWGP Global Heavyweight Title Match: Yota Tsuji (c) [Global] defeats Konosuke Takeshita (c) [World] (29:20) to become NEW Champions!
Singles Match: Kazuchika Okada defeats Hiroshi Tanahashi (33:03)
Results are courtesy of Cagematch.
