Kazuchika Okada Wins IWGP Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night

Kazuchika Okada finally managed to defeat Shingo Takagi for the very first time in the main event of the NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 1.

After a lot of back and forth action, Kazuchika Okada hits the piledriver followed by the purple Rainmaker to win the hard-fought battle and became the new IWGP World Heavyweight Champion.

Kazuchika Okada earned the right to challenge Shingo Takagi for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship by winning the G1 Climax Tournament. He even defended his Right to Contract against Tama Tonga at Power Struggle in November.

Unlike other G1 Climax winners, Okada held the retired version 4 IWGP title instead of the G1 climax briefcase. After his win, Okada said in his promo that version 4 belt was at the fulcrum on NJWP’s 50 Year history, and therefore, it was necessary to give it a proper farewell.

Kazuchika Okada and Shingo Takagi had a history as well. They faced each other two times before this match and Takagi managed to win on both occasions. Takagi defeated Okada only when he won the vacant IWGP Heavyweight title at Dominion 6.7 back in July 2021. 

The burns from his previous loss were evident in this match for Okada as he hesitated in using rainmaker finisher for a while. However, Okada ended his losing streak against Takagi after a hard-fought battle. Now, Kazuchika Okada will defend his newly won IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Will Ospreay in the main event of the Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 2 on January 5.

Ospreay won the title at Wrestling Dontaku last year but he had to relinquish it due to an injury. Takagi later won the title after beating Okada. Keep tuned in for more results and updates from night 2 of Wrestling Kingdom 16.