On April 19, the day after the Wrestling Hinokuni 2016 show had been canceled due to the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes, two matches previously announced for the show were moved to Wrestling Dontaku 2016. The first was a rematch from Invasion Attack 2016, where the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero), defend the title against previous champions, Matt Sydal and Ricochet. The second continued a storyline, where Katsuyori Shibata defended the NEVER Openweight Championship against NJPW veterans, known as the "third generation". Having already defended the title against Satoshi Kojima, at Invasion Attack 2016, Shibata successfully defended the title against Hiroyoshi Tenzan and afterwards kicked Yuji Nagata to set him up as his next challenger. The two had previously faced off in August 2014 during the 2014 G1 Climax tournament, where Nagata defeated Shibata. Shibata vowed that the match at Wrestling Dontaku 2016 would be the end of his rivalry with the third generation.