Declaration of Power 2022: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

Ren Narita's homecoming was marked by a 7:28 six-person win alongside David Finlay and Robbie Eagles over Suzuki-gun's El Desperado, DOUKI and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. WrestleFile graded Declaration of Power 2022's opener C / 6.3. Although the event advertised Narita's return, the victory was shared by the whole three-man team; the recorded result does not support claiming an individual singles title or tournament victory for him. This early Ryōgoku matchup contrasts with the late world championship stakes, where Jay White retained against Tama Tonga. Preserving the actual returning wrestler, his two partners and the three opposing Suzuki-gun members makes the match-specific record useful.

Dangerous Tekkers' Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi defeated Shane Haste and Bad Dude Tito of TMDK in 9:58 in the second match of Declaration of Power 2022. WrestleFile gave the tag encounter C+ / 6.5 and recorded it as a standard team victory, not the night's IWGP World Heavyweight title defense. The exact factions and partner pairings distinguish this bout from United Empire versus Bishamon in the fourth match and the eight-person LIJ-United Empire contest in the fifth. No championship change is listed here, while Jay White's world title retention and Shingo Takagi's separate provisional KOPW defense belonged to the final stretch.

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hikuleo and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated the House of Torture trio of EVIL, SHO and Yujiro Takahashi in 7:14. This was Declaration of Power's third contest on October 10, 2022, graded C / 6.3 by WrestleFile. Each side comprised three participants, not a tag duo or a title bout. Tanahashi was on the winning team alongside Hikuleo and Taguchi, and the losing three belonged to House of Torture. The result supplies a specific faction clash in the Ryōgoku opening half; it does not alter the separate provisional KOPW championship or IWGP World Heavyweight title held by Takagi and White later that evening.

United Empire's Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan defeated Bishamon, Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI, in 10:09 at Declaration of Power on October 10, 2022. WrestleFile scored this fourth-match tag C+ / 6.5. The winners were Cobb and Great-O-Khan, not the Bishamon pair, and the result itself is not listed as an IWGP Tag Team Championship transfer. United Empire appeared again in a different eight-person lineup against Los Ingobernables de Japón in the following match, but that later result went against Ospreay's team. Recording the two distinct United Empire sides and their opposing winners avoids collapsing adjacent bouts into one misleading faction outcome.

Los Ingobernables de Japón's Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi defeated United Empire's Will Ospreay, Aaron Henare, TJP and Francesco Akira in 8:07. That fifth Declaration of Power contest was an eight-person faction meeting, unlike the preceding Cobb-Great-O-Khan tag win for United Empire against Bishamon. WrestleFile assigned C+ / 6.5 to the LIJ victory. The two adjacent results therefore split by lineup: United Empire won the two-on-two match, and LIJ won the four-on-four match. Neither was the Jay White-Tama Tonga IWGP World Heavyweight main event or the KOPW stipulation defense; the card's separate team combinations deserve precise recording.

Master Wato defeated IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori in a non-title singles match at Ryogoku Kokugikan on October 10, 2022. The sixth contest lasted 14:40 and earned C+ / 6.8 in WrestleFile's event review. The original imported event listing reversed the winner, but NJPW's official November Battle Autumn preview expressly recalls Wato defeating Ishimori at Ryogoku; contemporary match reports independently describe the same result. Wato did not acquire Ishimori's belt by winning this non-title contest. Correctly recording the challenger's result is essential for a historical reader and the Match Finder: Wato belongs on the winner side, with Ishimori on the losing side. The following KOPW stipulation and heavyweight championship matches carried separate title stakes.

Shingo Takagi defeated El Phantasmo in 16:01 to retain the provisional KOPW 2022 title in the unusual Who's Your Daddy stipulation. The advertised condition required the loser to call the winner his 'daddy,' making this a rules-specific novelty title defense rather than an ordinary IWGP World Heavyweight championship match. WrestleFile's B- / 7.4 distinguishes the match from the stronger B+ / 8.4 world-title main event. Takagi entered as provisional KOPW holder and left with that same distinction; no new holder was crowned by this result. Keeping Takagi's correct name, the opponent, the condition and the separate title category resolves the source's stakes without inventing an unlisted finish.

Kazuchika Okada defeated JONAH in 19:53 in the special singles match immediately before the Declaration of Power 2022 main event. WrestleFile graded the penultimate encounter B- / 7.4, the same numeric score as the preceding Shingo Takagi-El Phantasmo provisional KOPW defense. Okada was the winner, but this result did not award the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship; Jay White still held that title and retained it against Tama Tonga in the final contest. The distinction among a special singles result, a novelty KOPW title defense and a world championship defense is important for the 2022 event's historical hierarchy.

Jay White defeated Tama Tonga in 31:07 to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in the final match of Declaration of Power on October 10, 2022. White entered Ryōgoku Kokugikan as champion and left as champion, making this a successful defense, not a new title coronation. WrestleFile's B+ / 8.4 is the strongest individual grade of the nine-match card and the leading full-watch recommendation. The two preceding matches carried different stakes: Shingo Takagi retained provisional KOPW against El Phantasmo under an unusual condition, and Kazuchika Okada defeated JONAH in a non-title special singles match. White-Tonga alone decided the world championship's continued ownership here.