New Japan Pro Wrestling 1/4/2026 Wrestle Kingdom 20 In Tokyo Dome

New Japan Pro Wrestling 1/4/2026 Wrestle Kingdom 20 In Tokyo Dome

It's the annual 1/4 Dome show. This is all about Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement and not much else. The line-up is very weak with no big foreign stars or legends in action. If you took away the main event, I don't even know that this sells out Sumo Hall. Some of it is NJPW's fault for not producing enough rookies and relying on old names too long. A lot of it is AEW's fault for decimating their roster with Vince McMahon AWA style raids where they took NJPW's top stars, trainers and even commentators just to get lower attendances and ratings. WWE helped as well, but most of their raids were of midcard guys. It has easily been one of the worst years of NJPW dating back to 2004 (when they had MMA guys and Bob Sapp winning the title) and they are absolutely going to have a rough road ahead.

Shoma Kato & Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Katsuya Murashima & Masatora Yasuda

Tat and KM go at it. They mat wrestle and get up. Kato and Masa get in. They lock up. They chop each other. Masa side headlock takeovers him and is put in a headscissors. Kato armdrags him and shoulders him over. Masa suplexes him twice. KM slams Kato for 2.

Tat comes in and shoulders over KM. Tat dropkicks KM and slams him. KM back body drops him for 2. KM powerslams him. KM crabs him. KM then submits him with a crab.

Thoughts: It was a shorter young lions match and not much of note here.  

NJPW World Television Title Match - El Phantasmo (c) vs. Chris Brookes

CB has DDT wrestlers with him and Honda has a hand puppet on his hand.

ELP trips him out of a wristlock then bow and arrows him. ELP flips out of a wristlock and upkicks him. CB shoulders him over. CB chops him. ELP flips over his back and flying headscissors him. ELP then headflips up. CB dropkicks ELP outside.

CB bridging magic screws him outside. ELP has a rubber band snapped in his face. CB chops him down. ELP hits forearms. CB superkicks him. CB chinlocks him. CB 2nd rope sentons his back for 2. They trade shots. ELP goes up and over, 2nd rope twisting crossbodies him and asai moonsaults him for 2. 

ELP slams him then 2nd rope elbow drops him. CB does an octopus. ELP spinning UFO neckbreakers him for 2. CB top rope double underhook suplexes him. CB corner dropkicks ELP for 2.

CB goes up top, gets enzugiri'd then takes a top rope hurricanrana. ELP tries a top rope splash but CB gets his knees up. CB slaps him and is superkicked. CB step up enzugiri's him. ELP superkicks him. CB lariats him for 2. CB hits a jay driller for 2. 

ELP backslides him for 2. ELP hits a CR2 for 2. ELP springboard crossbodies him then springboard splashes him to win.

Thoughts: This was a failure. The crowd did not care a single bit for this and barely reacted at all throughout. It didn't help that it went longer and wasn't particularly a special match. I didn't like this at all.

A music group called The Rampage performs with Kasei Takechi. 

NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Title Rambo Match - Master Wato, Toru Yano & YOH (c) vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask & Togi Makabe vs. Kaisei Takechi, Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura vs. Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) & Oleg Boltin vs. Team 100 (Satoshi Kojima & Taichi) & Tomohiro Ishii vs. House Of Torture (Ren Narita, SANADA & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. TMDK (Hartley Jackson, Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr.) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (Clark Connors, OSKAR & Yuto-Ice)

This came down to Bishamon vs TMDK. Zack ended up pinning Oleg to win this. It was a mess with teams constantly coming in and people doing silly battle royal eliminations. Most of the wrestlers were outside watching people fight during this. Due to how many people were involved, it was hard to get anything going. I thought people like Zack, Goto, Shota and Yuya were buried just by being in this because they are supposed to be main eventers and are curtain jerking. The other big news here was YOH coming out dressed up like Yano with blonde hair.

IWGP Women's Title / NJPW STRONG Women's Title Match - Syuri (c) vs. Saya Kamitani (c)

Syu snapmares her and chinlocks her. Saya hammerlocks her. Syu wristlocks her and Saya reverses it. Syu side headlocks her. Saya bridges out of a kick and they stand off. Syu underhook suplexes her then armbars her. Syu kicks Saya in the back then running knees her for 2. 

Saya puts the ref in the way of Syu and dropkicks her. Syu is tripped by HATE outside and dropicked. Saya springboard plancha's Syu and HATE outside. They trade forearms. Saya hits a flurry of them and Saya spinning heel kicks her. 

Syu pumping knees Saya. Saya 2nd rope hurricanrana's her then northern lights suplexes her for 2. Saya corkscrew kicks her. Syu hits a nasty top rope kimura suplex on her. Syu ties Saya's arms up. Saya then ropebreaks to escape.

Syu bridging ddt's her for 2. Saya high kicks her. Saya flips out of a german and rolls up Syu into a blue thunder for 2. Saya ki krushers her for 2. Syu armbars her. Syu running knees her for 2 then emerald flowsion's her for 2. 

Saya poisonrana's her for 2. Saya pump kicks Syu then Syu high kicks her. Saya hurricanrana's her for 2. Syu germans her and high kicks her. Syu buzzsaw kicks her for 2. Syu hit another buzzsaw kick. Syu AA's her out of the electric chair and pins her.

Thoughts: The match was fine but it would have gotten over and been better on a Stardom show where the fans really cared and were invested. I know why they do these, but it's mostly a waste of time and took away a spot on the card that a lot of people here really could have used. This was more of a way to help out Stardom than to really help NJPW. 

United Empire (Jake Lee, Andrade El Idolo, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan & HENARE) vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Drilla Moloney & Gabe Kidd), Hiromu Takahashi & Shingo Takagi

Henare makes his return here. Jake Lee was a surprise partner here for UE. He used to be with War Dogs, so I'm not sure how this came about. Everyone fights to start.

Andrade chops Gabe and Gabe kicks him. Gabe is sent out then Andrade springboard triangle tornillo's him outside. Andrade top rope crossbodies Gabe for 2. Gabe straight punches him then lariats him over the top. Gabe asai moonsaults Andrade outside.

Gabe straight punches Andrade. Andrade spinning back elbows him. Henare and Shingo shoulder battle then butt heads. Shingo corner lariats him then henare does it back to him. Shingo ddt's him. Shingo suplexes him for 2.

Khan hits punches on Shingo then throws him into a Henare sitout powerbomb. Henare hedbutts Shingo then step up knees him in the corner. Henare PK's him then is lariated. Drilla comes in. He dropkicks Henare. Drilla dropkicks him through the ropes. Shingo slams Henare then top rope diving elbow drops him. Drilla top rope elbow drops him for 2.

Henare fights off Shingo and Drilla then takes shots from both. Drilla spears Henare for 2. Henare headbutts Shingo down then Drilla step up enzugiri's Henare. Henare berzerker bombs him. Finlay and Newman trade forearms. Newman runs the ropes fast and running facekicks him. Finlay backbreakers Newman then hits mounted shots. 

Newman hits Finlay in the gut. He superkicks him then leg lariats him. Jake elbows Finlay over then slams him. Jake goes for a chokeslam and Finlay stunners him. Hiromu sends Finlay into Jake. Jake gets corner cannonball'd off of this. Finlay dominators Jake for 2. Jake knees Hiromu in the gut.

Jake misses a corner facekick. Gabe corner lariats Jake. Gabe takes a double facekick. Drilla spinebusters Andrade. Drilla spits at Newman and dropkicks him out. Newman is caught with an over the shoulder piledriver. Khan fallaway slams Drilla. Khan claws Shingo and pump kicks him. Shingo running lariats him. Henare spinning high kicks Shingo. Shingo lariat him over the top. 

Finlay powerbomb throws Hiromu out onto everyone. Finlay is superplexed onto everyone outside. Jake running facekicks Hiromu outside then corner facekicks him inside. Jake then pins Hiromu.

Thoughts: It's good that Jake won in his return but I didn't love Hiromu being pinned. It got a decent bit of time and was fine as a tag match but like the battle royal, I don't think this did a lot to help anyone out. I think there were too many people involved doing too much to really stick out here. 

Francesco Akira appears in a mask after, superkicks Hiromu and shakes his hands UE. 

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Four Way Match - Taiji Ishimori vs. El Desperado vs. SHO vs. Kosei Fujita

Douki talks before the match and watches at ringside.

TI top rope moonsaults outside on Sho and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to start things. Sho takes running corner attacks. TI eye pokes Kosei. Sho gets triple teamed. Kosei step up enzugiri's TI and flying headscissors Despy. Kosei chops Sho. Sho jumping knees him. Kosei spinning high kicks him. Kosei trips Sho then does a surfboard variation on him. TI and Despy then help Sho get stretched. 

TI tilt-a-whirl backbreakers Kosei. Despy and TI trade forearms. TI eye rakes him and pump kicks him. TI handspring corkscrew kicks him. Despy does a spinning sitout bomb on TI for 2. TI la mistica drops Despy then standing moonsault double knees him. 

Sho slams Kosei on the ref to stop a pin attempt. Douki and Kanemaru then interfere. Douki hits TI with a pipe. Robbie Eagles helps out then Robbie X also helps out. Kuukai then comes in and helps out. Robie then tope con hilos through the ropes. Kuukai tornillos through the ropes. X then top rope corkscrew dives outside.

Sho hits a shock arrow on Kosei for 2. Despy jay drillers Sho  then angel's wings him to win.

Thoughts: I don't know how this didn't get stopped to DQ's as multiple people interfered. It didn't get a ton of time and had tons of run-in's. It was pretty much a mess and not much of a match at all. 

NEVER Openweight Title Match - EVIL (c) vs. Aaron Wolf

This is Aaron Wolf's debut. 

Wolf has an absolutely awful look. He's just plain chubby without much muscle mass and he looks like an IT worker. This guy would not have even been let in the dojo without his judo accomplishments. Evil has a guitar player for his entrance. House of Torture comes out with him.

Evil kicks him to start and they trade forearms. Evil eye rakes him. They shoulder battle and AW knocks him over. AW corner lariats him then suplexes him. AW elbow drops him for 2. AW chases him outside and is knocked off the apron. House of Torture stomps AW outside. Evil puts a chair around AW's neck and chairs it.

AW is thrown into the exposed buckles. Evil tries pins and gets 2 counts. AW fires up. Evil eye rakes him and AW shoulder throws him. AW then does throws on HoT members in the ring. Evil throws powder in AW's eyes and fisherman suplexes him. Evil sharpshooters him. AW ropebreaks.

Evil hits forearms and spinning lariats him down. AW powerslams him for 2. AW olympic slams him for 2. AW slams him. AW top rope splashes him and HoT pulls the ref out on the count. HoT then interferes. Togo chokes AW with a weapon. Ren kicks AW in the nuts. NJPW wrestlers try to help and get knocked over by Fale.

Fale throws a table at AW's face. AW is put on a table and Fale 2nd rope splashes him through it. Evil running lariats him for 2. Evil goes for an STO but AW flips him. AW does a reverse triangle then hooks the other arm. Evil then taps out.

Thoughts: Wolf actually did well here. He hit his spots clean, he fired up and absolutely had a good debut. This couldn't have gone much better than it did. This had the usual HoT shenanigans with stupid refs. I don't love him winning here though as it's too soon, he needs to be doing young lions matches and his look is easily one of the worst in wrestling. I also do have to question how much he's really dedicated to this when he can't even bother to eat right.

IWGP World Heavyweight Title / IWGP Global Heavyweight Title Match - Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Yota Tsuji (c)

They are absolutely nuts if they have Yota lose here. 

Yota rolls out of a wristlock and side headlocks him. KT backs him up on the ropes and Yota challenges him to do a dirty break.  KT gets on his back with a chinlock. Yota slaps him and hits him in the gut. 

Yota flying headscissors him out. They shoulder battle. KT facekicks him then flying lariats him. KT chops him. Yota knees him in the gut. Yota corner splashes him, shoulders him over and does a regular splash. Yota gutbusters him. KT suplexes him. KT ddt's him on the apron.

Yota is thrown into the rails and KT facekicks him. KT forearms him over inside and twists the neck. KT 2nd rope sentons him for 2. KT camel clutches him. KT misses a corner flying knee and goes over the top. KT comes back in and hurricanrana's him. KT tope con hilos him. Yota does a curbstomp combo in the ring.

KT pumping knees him and Yota armdrags him out. Yota fosbury flops him outside. Yota top rope double stomps him off the buckles. They collide with lariats. Yota flying pumping knees him. KT pumpng knees him. KT goes for the tombstone but Yota package tombstones him instead. Yota wheelbarrow germans him. KT no sells it and spears him.

Yota forearms him in the gut. They trade shots and Yota canadian destroyers him. KT release germans him and Yot spears him into the buckles. Yota runs at him into a knee. KT blue thunders him. KT falcon arrows him for 2.

Yota chops him and is forearmed down. Yota powerbombs him then alley oops him. Yota hits a 2nd rope reverse suplex for 2. KT poisonrana's him. Yota no sells it and flying pumping knees him. Yota is crotched up top. KT blue thunders him off the top and Yota bounces high on the landing. KT pumping knees him for 2. 

They butt heads. They run at each other and Yota spears him. Yota crabs him. KT then taps out.

Thoughts: The match was what I thought it would be and I didn't like it. They do the big moves and come up with the big spots, but neither of these two have any grasps of selling or the smaller things to make the big moves and spots really stick out. The finish was also weak with them kicking out of top rope blue thunders yet KT was unable to survive a simple boston crab. 

Yota talks on the mic after. Yota said he found a rival. He says he grew up in this ring and the crowd supported him. Yota says he's the champ after. Jake Lee then jumps him from behind mid-speech and facekicks him.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada

This is Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement match.

Tana waistlocks him and wristlocks him. KO takes him down and Tana goes for the armbar. Tana rolling kimura's him. They lock up and KO boots him on the break. KO side headlocks him. KO shoulders him over. Tana's head is banged off the buckles. Tana 2nd rope twisting crossbodies him. Tana flipping sentons him for 2.

Tana slams him. Tana is hit on the 2nd rope and dropkicked out. Tana is sent into the rails and KO facekicks him over them. KO bridging ddt's him outside. Tana is pushed into the rails. KO hits shots in the corner then ddt's him for 2.

KO misses a corner charge. Tana hits some strikes and flying forearms him. Tana slams him. Tana 2nd rope flipping sentons him for 2. Tana is thrown over the top but skins the cat in. Tana dragon screws him. Tana dragon screws him. Tana dropkicks him in the knee. Tana top rope plancha's him outside.

KO takes a dragon screw over the 2nd rope. KO flapjacks him. KO over the back neckbreakers him on the knee. KO slams him then hits a top rope elbow drop. KO teases the rainmaker pose but gives the finger instead. Tana hits three twist and shouts. KO tombstones him. 

KO shotgun dropkicks him. They go up the ramp and fight there. KO tombstones him on the ramp and Tana has to beat the count in. KO spinning tombstones him in the ring for 2. KO spinning lariats him for 2. Tana slaps him. KO short arm lariats him. Tana then hits his own rainmaker. KO rainmakers him for 2.

KO crabs him and Tana rope breaks. KO dropkicks him. KO facekicks him then Tana slingblades him. Tana sleepers him then PK's him. Tana then does Nakamura's taunt and does a running knee. Tana hits a high fly flow for 2. Tana slingblades him then dragon suplexes him for 2. Tana high fly flow's Okada back. He tries it again and KO gets his knees up.

They trade forearms. Tana slaps him then KO hits a big dropkick. KO emerald flowsion's him then rainmakers him for 2. KO slams him and hits a top rope elbow drop. KO does the rainmaker pose and rainmaker's him to win.

Thoughts: It was a good match. It had a lot of drama as expected with a good crowd. It was what you would want and expect and a great way to send Tana out. Tana had a good night here with no botches. Okada got the win almost assuredly due to being an AEW talent, though Tana has been dropping a lot of falls lately. The big problem with having Okada as Tana's final opponent is there is no way to capitalize on it. Okada's not coming back full-time anytime soon. Had they chose Yuya, Shota or Yota instead, they maybe wouldn't have drawn as much but the story would have continued.

Okada thanks him after. Shibata, Kenny Omega, Ibushi, Jay White, Will Ospreay, Mutoh, Fujinami, BUSHI and Naito come out and give Tana flowers. Naito says Mutoh inspired him to become a wrestler and says Tana inspired him to join NJPW. He says he left NJPW last year and says Tana let him walk down the ramp. He says he probably won't wrestle in an NJPW ring again but he wants to see him again in NJPW one day. Naito does the fist pose and Tana does it with him. 

Tana thanks everyone on the mic. He says the NJPW wrestlers will fight with their hearts and says to keep supporting them. Tana plays air guitar and asks the crowd to do the wave. They then do the 10 count.

Tana goes to the stage and gets on some kind of moving cart. They ride him around the arena and he waves to everyone. Tana thanks everyone on the stage and says he loves them. He then gets some fireworks then heads to the back. We get a great video on Tana's career where they show his accomplishments each year with a remixed theme.

Overall thoughts: I thought the show was really poorly put together. The big message I got from this is that people like Okada, Tanahashi, Kamitani and Takeshita are the true stars while all of the regular roster members are nobodies who you shouldn't care about. And that would be fine if those people are going to be around going forward, but the nobodies are going to have to be the ones to carry things going forward. People like Zack, Goto, Yuya, Shota, Gabe, Finlay, Shingo and others were all put in meaningless matches here that did nothing to elevate them on a show that will be the biggest show NJPW has for some time. That's a problem. I also thought it looked bad that Omega, Naito and Shibata didn't wrestle here when they are clearly healthy enough to. That makes NJPW look second rate.

Only the main was really worth watching here. Tana/Okada had the best match Tana really could have in 2026 and Tana's send-off ceremony was very nice. Aaron Wolf also had a good debut but he has one of the worst looks in wrestling and that is going to take a long time to fix. Yota Tsuji finally got the title but he and Takeshita had an indy style match as expected that I didn't care for. The rumble was not serious and didn't help anyone. The 10-man was fine but it didn't elevate anyone. The juniors really got screwed in the 4-way as well.

I wouldn't recommend this show and would only give it a 4 out of 10. This show was so distant from what a normal NJPW show looks like that it might as well have been a different company doing this show. This company is in some serious trouble going forward.