Wrestle Kingdom 20 in Tokyo Dome: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

Katsuya Murashima & Masatora Yasuda defeats Shoma Kato & Tatsuya Matsumoto in 06:19 as match 1. The pre placement is part of the grade because this event identity was explicitly adjudicated before authoring. A 6.4 score reflects the bout's time, consequence and position rather than the Wrestle Kingdom name alone. Championship changes receive credit when the match also feels complete, while pre-show or connective bouts remain in proportion to the main-card attractions. The review therefore follows the locked running order and treats the finish as one step in the event's larger progression toward its final matches.

El Phantasmo (c) defeats Chris Brookes in 11:48 as match 2. The NJPW World Television Championship is at stake. The pre placement is part of the grade because this event identity was explicitly adjudicated before authoring. A 6.7 score reflects the bout's time, consequence and position rather than the Wrestle Kingdom name alone. Championship changes receive credit when the match also feels complete, while pre-show or connective bouts remain in proportion to the main-card attractions. The review therefore follows the locked running order and treats the finish as one step in the event's larger progression toward its final matches.

Wrestle Kingdom 20's NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship changed hands in an eight-team Tornado Ranbo at the Tokyo Dome. Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa and Zack Sabre Jr. represented TMDK against seven other distinct three-person units, including defending champions Master Wato, Toru Yano and YOH. The field also contained Bishamon with Oleg Boltin, BULLET CLUB War Dogs, House of Torture, the Umino-Uemura-Takechi trio, the Taguchi-Tiger Mask-Makabe veterans and Team 150. Eliminating a member removed their entire team, so the match cannot be represented as a 24-way singles Rumble or flattened into two opposing trios.

The finishes built toward the last surviving squads, with TMDK eventually defeating Bishamon and Boltin Oleg to capture the titles. The belt change matters because it places an established wrestler in Sabre Jr. alongside Oiwa and Jackson as a new championship unit. The eight groups create numerous tactical matchups, while the elimination stipulation keeps the twenty-minute bout focused on surviving as a team. The match analysis records all 24 individual wrestlers in eight separate sides while preserving TMDK as the actual winner.

Syuri [IWGP c] defeats Saya Kamitani [STRONG c] in 12:09 as match 4. The IWGP Women's + NJPW STRONG Women's Championships is at stake. The main placement is part of the grade because this event identity was explicitly adjudicated before authoring. A 7.7 score reflects the bout's time, consequence and position rather than the Wrestle Kingdom name alone. Championship changes receive credit when the match also feels complete, while pre-show or connective bouts remain in proportion to the main-card attractions. The review therefore follows the locked running order and treats the finish as one step in the event's larger progression toward its final matches.

United Empire (Andrade El Idolo, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Jake Lee) defeats Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay, Drilla Moloney & Gabe Kidd), Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi in 13:17 as match 5. The main placement is part of the grade because this event identity was explicitly adjudicated before authoring. A 7.1 score reflects the bout's time, consequence and position rather than the Wrestle Kingdom name alone. Championship changes receive credit when the match also feels complete, while pre-show or connective bouts remain in proportion to the main-card attractions. The review therefore follows the locked running order and treats the finish as one step in the event's larger progression toward its final matches.

El Desperado defeats Kosei Fujita, SHO & Taiji Ishimori in 07:35 as match 6. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship #1 contendership is at stake. The main placement is part of the grade because this event identity was explicitly adjudicated before authoring. A 7.3 score reflects the bout's time, consequence and position rather than the Wrestle Kingdom name alone. Championship changes receive credit when the match also feels complete, while pre-show or connective bouts remain in proportion to the main-card attractions. The review therefore follows the locked running order and treats the finish as one step in the event's larger progression toward its final matches.

Aaron Wolf defeats EVIL (c) in 12:53 as match 7. The NEVER Openweight Championship is at stake. The main placement is part of the grade because this event identity was explicitly adjudicated before authoring. A 8.0 score reflects the bout's time, consequence and position rather than the Wrestle Kingdom name alone. Championship changes receive credit when the match also feels complete, while pre-show or connective bouts remain in proportion to the main-card attractions. The review therefore follows the locked running order and treats the finish as one step in the event's larger progression toward its final matches.

Yota Tsuji entered the Tokyo Dome as IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion, while Konosuke Takeshita carried the IWGP World Heavyweight title and the momentum of a G1 Climax victory. NJPW's pre-event account notes that the rivals had split their two previous singles meetings. Tsuji framed his challenge around who would lead New Japan after Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement; Takeshita's position as a champion working across promotions gave their clash a different vision of the future.

The winner-take-all contest lasted 29:20, ending when Tsuji forced Takeshita to submit to a Boston crab. NJPW's official result identifies Tsuji as the winner, so he left with his existing Global championship and Takeshita's World Heavyweight championship. The 8.4 assessment reflects an unusually consequential dual-title change directly before the retirement farewell, rather than treating the bout as important merely because it ran nearly half an hour. WATCH for the championship succession and clear submission finish.

The last singles match of Wrestle Kingdom 20 was Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement against Kazuchika Okada. NJPW's January 3 preview traced their rivalry to the 2012 Rainmaker Shock and their later Wrestle Kingdom championship meetings. Okada led the overall singles history nine wins to five, with three draws, but Tanahashi had taken two of their previous three Tokyo Dome contests. The result would finish a 26-year career, not determine a championship.

Okada pinned Tanahashi with a Rainmaker at 33:03, according to the promoter's official January 4 result, before the Tokyo Dome retirement ceremony. The historical interest is not a belt changing hands: the last chapter belongs to the Okada-Tanahashi rivalry, Tanahashi's farewell and the distinction between a final defeat and the meaning of a long career. The 8.3 rating recognizes the ceremony-sized emotional weight of that final singles match. WATCH as the event's closing chapter, following Tsuji's separate double-title victory.