Wrestle Kingdom 10: Okada-Tanahashi Closes an Era with One of the Series' Strongest Cards

Jado emerged as the winner of the 31:51 New Japan Rumble at Wrestle Kingdom 10. The Tokyo Dome pre-show contest gave the wider roster a place on the card and relied on staggered participation rather than a continuous singles match. Its recorded result identifies Jado as the winner, but the opposition was a battle-royal field, not an individual wrestler who can be assigned to one losing side. The C grade and 6.4 score reflect the extended opening-match function without equating the rumble with the title bouts later on the show.

Matt and Nick Jackson defeated three rival teams to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in 16:42 at Wrestle Kingdom 10. Defending champions Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly faced the Young Bucks, Matt Sydal and Ricochet, and Roppongi Vice, making the contest a four-way of distinct partnerships rather than a standard tag match. The Young Bucks' victory took the belts from reDRagon and immediately reordered the division's champions.

Its early position on the Tokyo Dome card provided a major championship decision before the heavyweight contests. The presence of four teams meant the challengers could create openings without the defending champions controlling every exchange, but the formal record has a single winning duo. The event's match finder should preserve all eight participants and the correct title transfer. This is also separate from the heavyweight tag championship change later on the same night.

Toru Yano teamed with Jay and Mark Briscoe to defeat Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi and Tama Tonga in 11:34 at Wrestle Kingdom 10, crowning the first NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Champions. The combination was unconventional: Yano's New Japan experience alongside the Briscoes met a Bullet Club trio from several different heavyweight backgrounds. Unlike a routine multi-man exhibition, the title had real first-champion implications.

The result created a new championship lineage rather than ending a previous reign. That distinction is important because no defending champions entered the match; the winners became inaugural titleholders. The match also gave the Briscoes a New Japan accomplishment on the Tokyo Dome stage without pretending they had won the IWGP heavyweight or junior tag belts contested elsewhere. The six participants and inaugural stakes make this more than a filler tag bout.

Jay Lethal defeated Michael Elgin in 12:00 at Wrestle Kingdom 10 to retain the ROH World Championship. This wasn't an IWGP championship decision: the belt belonged to Ring of Honor and was defended on New Japan's biggest annual stage. Elgin posed a powerful challenger, but Lethal emerged as the continuing champion, giving an American promotion's title an identifiable place in the Tokyo Dome record.

The cross-promotional context distinguishes this bout from another New Japan singles attraction. Lethal and Elgin were competing for a championship whose lineage continued outside NJPW, even though the Japanese audience watched the defense at Wrestle Kingdom. A concise review should capture the promotion and the winner rather than treating this as a generic non-title match. Lethal's retention left the ROH championship with the same holder while New Japan's own major titles were decided in separate contests.

KUSHIDA defeated Kenny Omega in 12:48 to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 10. Omega entered as champion, and KUSHIDA's victory established a new holder of the belt during the first half of a card full of championship consequences. Their styles offered different strengths: KUSHIDA leaned on technique and submissions, while Omega brought physical explosiveness and opportunistic offense. Whatever either competitor achieved later, the official result of this bout was a straightforward title change in the junior division.

That change also reflected the increasingly prominent place of both men within New Japan's singles ranks. It wasn't a rematch of the heavyweight title main event or a tournament final; it was a junior championship contest decided on the Tokyo Dome stage. KUSHIDA left as champion, and Omega's reign ended. The result gave the promotion a fresh titleholder with immediate championship responsibilities and a clear next phase for the division.

Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma defeated Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows in 12:49 to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 10. The Bullet Club pairing entered with the belts, while Makabe and Honma challenged as Great Bash Heel partners with a credible tournament route to the title opportunity. The winning team brought the heavyweight tag lineage under new control; this was not merely an exhibition win for two popular wrestlers.

The title transfer was independent of the junior tag match earlier in the evening, which had crowned the Young Bucks. Wrestle Kingdom 10 therefore included changes in two separate tag divisions, with different wrestlers and championship histories. Makabe and Honma departed as the new heavyweight champions, while Anderson and Gallows lost their existing reign. The physical contest gave the card another consequential championship outcome ahead of the leading singles attractions.

Hirooki Goto defeated Tetsuya Naito in 12:16 at Wrestle Kingdom 10, giving the Tokyo Dome card a high-profile singles result without a title on the line. Goto had already established himself as a persistent challenger to New Japan's top level, while Naito's growing Los Ingobernables de Japón identity had altered the direction of his career. The match put their contrasting paths in direct competition, ending with Goto as the official winner.

Naito's later achievements, including major championship reigns and Tokyo Dome main events, should not be used to reverse this result. His defeat happened before the evening's Intercontinental and heavyweight title bouts, where separate wrestlers held the championship stakes. Goto's victory supplied an identifiable moment in their rivalry rather than delivering a belt or tournament honor. It is worth a full watch for readers following the singles hierarchy during the promotion's changing 2016 landscape.

Katsuyori Shibata defeated Tomohiro Ishii in 17:19 to win the NEVER Openweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 10. The match put two hard-hitting wrestlers opposite each other in a division known for direct physical confrontations. Ishii entered with the championship, and Shibata earned the title through the official fall rather than through a disqualification or outside administrative decision. That gave him a concrete singles championship accomplishment on the Tokyo Dome stage.

Its placement just ahead of Nakamura versus AJ Styles and the Okada-Tanahashi main event meant that the NEVER title got a prominent part of the closing stretch. The bout didn't change either of those other belts, but it added another meaningful result to a show with several championship narratives. Ishii's loss and Shibata's win should both be reflected in the match record, especially because the performers' reputations can sometimes distract from which title actually changed hands.

Shinsuke Nakamura retained the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against AJ Styles in 24:18 at Wrestle Kingdom 10. Both wrestlers entered with international acclaim and sharply different offensive signatures: Nakamura relied on striking and sudden changes of pace, while Styles could attack from multiple positions and create chances for high-impact counters. The champion ultimately secured the fall following Boma Ye, making this a completed title defense rather than a non-title meeting between prominent names.

Its placement immediately before Okada and Tanahashi gave the Tokyo Dome another major singles championship attraction. The contest also became an important final chapter in both wrestlers' New Japan runs, though later career destinations are separate from the result being reviewed. Styles did not win the Intercontinental belt that night, and Nakamura's defense should be understood as a substantial match on the 2016 card instead of being valued solely for what either wrestler achieved afterward.

Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi in the 36:01 Wrestle Kingdom 10 main event. The result reversed the central heartbreak from the prior Tokyo Dome meeting, when Tanahashi had beaten Okada and left him visibly frustrated. Here Okada survived another extended confrontation and finished with the Rainmaker, giving him a decisive victory over the rival who had been such an obstacle at the stadium. He was already champion on entry and successfully defended the belt rather than winning it from Tanahashi.

That distinction helps explain the match's historical role. It wasn't merely another installment of a long series or a title change created by changing who held the belt. It gave Okada a defining Tokyo Dome result and established a new stage of his rivalry with Tanahashi. The championship remained with Okada, but the symbolic significance of beating the veteran in that setting was substantial.