“Farewell Ace” NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 Review

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 brings the closing night of the Ace of the Universe’s career, Hiroshi Tanahashi. With a sold out Tokyo Dome, Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi headline the historic venue one last time. A night of double championship matches, with Konosuke Takeshita defending against the Global Champion Yota Tsuji. Syuri and Saya Kamitani also set for winner take all with the IWGP Women’s Championship and the NJPW Strong women’s championship. The Junior Heavyweight’s collide for a chance to face Douki at New Years’ Dash. A Six man tag Rambo, A Ten Man Tag based on Faction Warfare and Aaron Wolf’s Pro Wrestling Debut against EVIL. 

(This show has been Co-Reviewed by Coby Galenzoski and David Sheldon) 

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 Highs: 

Wrestle Kingdom was almost solely built on the shoulders of the final match of Hiroshi Tanahashi and it did not disappoint. Tanahashi and Okada have a history of incredible matches and this was no exception, weaving a beautiful story of the cocky Okada being forced to come away from his AEW heelish tendencies and pushed instead into the old Rainmaker. The acting on display was exceptional, and Tanahashi being the ultimate babyface, refusing to quit despite his body breaking was remarkably compelling. Tanahashi cycled through all his old opponents signature offence, from Shibata’s sleeper and PK to Nakamura’s Bombaye, with even a seeming accidental Destino for good measure. He was even taken back to the young lion test by being placed in a Boston Crab. Wrestling wise it broadly played familiar beats, particularly in the first half, which keeps it from the full 5 stars. Rest assured however, we adored it as a send off to one of the greatest to ever do it, and emotionally it was everything you could hope for and more. The retirement ceremony to close the show was also beautifully put together and a fitting farewell to a true icon. 

A match that did receive our highest score however was Konosuke Takeshita vs Yota Tsuji in the IWGP/Global Heavyweight Champion double title match. Not only was the third act in particular of this match absolutely superb, but it contained the most incredible finish to match the story going in. Challenging the old spirit of New Japan, the former young lion locked in the Boston Crab on Takeshita after a Gene Blaster, a move taught as the first finisher of new recruits to the dojo. Humiliating and submitting a man that never went through that system to get to the top of the mountain was impeccable and put a cap on an excellent affair. It may have built slowly and taken its time, but once the fireworks hit it was completely riveting to watch.

The biggest surprise on the card certainly came from Aaron Wolf’s debut match against Evil. With a rabid crowd fully behind Wolf, it was a very simple but effective matchup. Much of it was basic sequences and formulas elevated by both men’s performances. Evil in particular deserves much praise here for being the perfect foil to Wolf’s babyface fire, going full supervillain and taking his perfect comeuppance. Every so often the House of Torture formula can really work, and this was a prime example, resulting in a shock title change and really demonstrating Wolf is being pushed as their next big thing in New Japan.

Undercard highlights included an entertaining, if short match between Syuri and Saya Kamitani in which both women built an exciting match with simple heel/face psychology in just 12 minutes. While they deserve more and have a MOTY contender in them, this did well for what they had with some very stiff sequences of kicks and suplexes. Also fun was the 10 man tag in which all men involved got the chance to show their skills. In particular Henare and Shingo Takagi who carried the large bulk of the ring work and the very entertaining Finlay/Hiromu dynamic throughout.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 Lows:

The biggest weak spot on this card was by far the New Japan Rambo that opened the show. A complete mess of bodies with no real logic to speak of, it was very difficult to see who was eliminated and who was merely resting outside the ring. Stars like The Knockout Brothers were dumped out unceremoniously, the entrants came in way too fast to be memorable and it was all just a big clunky mess. There was some good action as is typical of stars of the immense talent in the ring, and once the field has thinned to TMDK and Bishamon the work did pick up drastically, but it was comfortably the worst match of the show.

Also disappointing was the only 7 minutes given to the Junior Heavyweight 4 way, alongside its already strange construction. I began to wonder given the baffling choice to not have Douki defend the gold whether he would unsuccessfully try and cash in on the winner immediately, to further the story that Wrestle Kingdom is cursed for Douki, but that didn’t happen. Instead, after an entertaining but brief matchup El Desperado got the win (planting Sho’s head dangerously in the process) and challenged Douki, not giving a date or any reason to get excited, leaving the post-match very flat.

With Tanahashi’s retirement, it was understandable that some matches took a hit on the undercard, but the stuffing of as many people into multi man matches did hurt the shows prestige. Top stars thrown aimlessly in matches without enough story and not befitting their status made it sometimes feel like a tour show. Even as fun as the 10 man tag was, it still was something I’d expect in Nagoya or at New Years Smash, not on the biggest show of the year.

Finally, it was a mistake to undermine Tsuji’s big win by immediately having Jake Lee attack him. It received no crowd reaction, Lee wasn’t built up enough in the tag to be perceived as a threat and it frankly was just an unnecessary bummer to end a brilliant match.

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 Overall Summary

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 was all about its final two matches, which delivered in a huge way. Both Tsuji/Takeshita and Tanahashi/Okada were superb making the final hour of action truly breathtaking. Tanahashi’s retirement was equisitely done and a beautiful and powerful send off, featuring friends and foes from his past and a lot of happy tears. There were a number of highlights elsewhere with the surprisingly enjoyable debut of Aaron Wolf, an entertaining 10 man tag and Syuri and Saya Kamitani putting on a great show with limited time. It did however suffer from an overstuffed and incomprehensible Rambo, oddly booked 4 way and a deeply uninspired and deflating attack angle to built Yota Tsuji and Jake Lee as a future title program. Much to enjoy with two exceptional closing bouts, but certainly on the weaker end of overall Wrestle Kingdom events!

Matches: 0.75/1 Stars 

Show Structure: 0.75/1 Stars 

Atmosphere: 1/1 Stars  

Storytelling: 0.75/1 Stars 

Production/Theme: 1/1 Stars  

Overall Rating. 4.25/5 Stars   

Photo Credit: New Japan Pro Wrestling – January 4th 2026

For inquiries about the rating criteria check out the article detailing the rating system here: