棚橋弘至
On December 14, "Tokyo Sports" named Naito the 2016 MVP in all of Japanese professional wrestling, marking the first time since 2010 that the award was not won by either Hiroshi Tanahashi or Kazuchika Okada. Naito won the award decidedly in the first round of voting, garnering 18 of 21 votes to beat Okada and Kenny Omega. On January 4, 2017, at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, Naito successfully defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi, which he followed up with another successful title defense against Michael Elgin on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka. On April 29 at Wrestling Toyonokuni 2017, Naito retained the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Juice Robinson, after which he was challenged by Hiroshi Tanahashi. Naito's reign ended on June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall, where he was defeated by Hiroshi Tanahashi. On July 1 at G1 Special in USA, Naito took part in a tournament to determine the inaugural IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion, but was eliminated in his first round match by Tomohiro Ishii.