King of Pro-Wrestling (2016)

**King of Pro-Wrestling (2016)** was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), which took place on October 10, 2016, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan. It was NJPW's biggest show between August's G1 Climax and January's Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome and featured nine matches with four of them contested for championships, main evented by Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Pro Wrestling Noah representative Naomichi Marufuji. This was the fifth event under the King of Pro-Wrestling name.

## Production

### Background

The event aired in Japan on TV Asahi and worldwide through NJPW's internet streaming site New Japan Pro Wrestling World with English commentary provided by Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino.

### Storylines

King of Pro-Wrestling featured nine professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

King of Pro-Wrestling was main evented by Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Pro Wrestling Noah representative Naomichi Marufuji. The match stemmed from the previous summer's G1 Climax tournament, where the two wrestled in the same block. While both failed to advance from the block, Okada with a record of five wins, three losses and one draw and Marufuji with a record of five wins and four losses, Marufuji was victorious over the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion in their opening match on July 18. On August 14, the final day of the tournament, Okada himself nominated Marufuji as his next title challenger. During the two months between the announcement and the match, Marufuji's GHC Tag Team Championship, which he held in his home promotion with Okada's CHAOS stablemate Toru Yano, also came into play. On September 25, after Okada and his Chaos stablemates Gedo, Jado and Yoshi-Hashi had defeated Marufuji, Yano and two other Noah representatives, Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada, in an eight-man tag team match, Okada and Yoshi-Hashi challenged Marufuji and Yano to a tag team title match at Noah's October 8 event. Marufuji and Yano went on to retain their title with Marufuji pinning Yoshi-Hashi for the win. The King of Pro-Wrestling main event marked Marufuji's second shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, having unsuccessfully challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi for the title in September 2012.

The semi-main event of the show featured a rematch from the finals of the 2016 G1 Climax as Kenny Omega took on Hirooki Goto. On August 14, Omega defeated Goto to win the G1 Climax and earn a contract for a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on January 4, 2017, at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome. The holder of the contract would have to defend it until the end of the year in order to get his title shot. Omega made his first defense on September 22 at Destruction in Hiroshima, defeating Chaos member Yoshi-Hashi, who had defeated him during the G1 Climax. Following the match, Yoshi-Hashi's stablemate Hirooki Goto entered the ring and challenged Omega to a rematch from their final match. Omega first asked the audience if they wanted to see the match, but when the audience responded with a loud cheer, told Goto to "go to hell". NJPW, however, officially announced the rematch on September 26.

The NEVER Openweight Championship would also be defended at King of Pro-Wrestling as reigning champion Katsuyori Shibata defends against Kyle O'Reilly. This match stemmed from the September 19 Destruction in Tokyo event, where Shibata successfully defended the title against O'Reilly's reDRagon tag team partner Bobby Fish. Following the match, O'Reilly confronted Shibata, challenging him to a title match, which was accepted by Shibata and officially announced on September 26. O'Reilly, much like Fish, held a victory over Shibata from a Ring of Honor (ROH) event the previous August.

Both of NJPW's tag team titles would also be defended at the event. The IWGP Tag Team Championship match was set to feature a rematch from the previous June's Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, where The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) would defend against the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa). After capturing the title at Dominion 6.19, The Briscoe Brothers went on to make their second successful title defense against The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) on September 22, but were afterwards attacked by the Guerrillas of Destiny, who demanded a rematch. In the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match, The Young Bucks were set to defend the title against David Finlay and Ricochet. On September 25 at Destruction in Kobe, Finlay, who had recently graduated from his "young lion" status, replaced Ricochet's regular tag team partner Matt Sydal in a match, where the two teamed with Satoshi Kojima to defeat The Young Bucks and Adam Cole for the vacant NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Following the win, Finlay proceeded to challenge The Young Bucks to a match for their junior heavyweight tag team title. Sydal had missed the Hiroshima and Kobe shows officially due to "travel issues". Heading into King of Pro-Wrestling, Finlay essentially took over his spot as Ricochet's regular tag team partner.

Other featured matches included an eight-man tag team match, where the *Los Ingobernables de Japón* (L.I.J.) stable of BUSHI, EVIL, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito take on Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jay Lethal, KUSHIDA and Michael Elgin. Over September's Destruction tour, BUSHI captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from KUSHIDA, while Naito, the leader of L.I.J., defeated Elgin for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in a match, which featured outside interference from not only BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA, but also KUSHIDA and Tanahashi, with the latter two coming to Elgin's aid. ROH wrestler Jay Lethal had been a part of L.I.J., before having a falling out with the group during an ROH show in August. Another eight-man tag team match will feature four wrestlers from the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion; Go Shiozaki, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Masa Kitamiya and Maybach Taniguchi taking on the NJPW quartet of Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima and Yuji Nagata.

Prior to King of Pro-Wrestling, NJPW was set to present a special match celebrating the October 1 launch of the new *Tiger Mask W* anime on TV Asahi. In the match, Tiger Mask W would take on Red Death Mask.

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 *ja:【10.10両国大会・全カード!!】メインはオカダvs丸藤！ケニーvs後藤！柴田vsオライリー！2大タッグ選手権！ノア軍団が再び来襲！【KP16】* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling* (2016-09-26). Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `KingofProWrestling2016`
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Meltzer, Dave 2016-09-26. NJPW announces full King of Pro Wrestling show lineup . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
4. ↑ ja:ワールドプロレスリングLive2016 (in Japanese). *TV Asahi*. Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved on 2016-10-09.
5. ↑ Meltzer, Dave 2016-10-07. Daily Update: Arena Mexico, TNMT vs. WWE, Bret Hart talks HOF . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2016-10-09.
6. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. How Pro Wrestling Works . *HowStuffWorks, Inc.*. Discovery Communications. Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
7. ↑ Caldwell, James 2016-09-09. Big ROH Title match added to upcoming New Japan show . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
8. ↑ 2016 New Japan G1 Climax Results . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *ja:【10月10 日（月・祝）両国大会、チケット絶賛発売中！】IWGPヘビー級選手権、オカダ・カズチカvs丸藤正道が実現！* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling* (2016-08-29). Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
10. ↑ *ja:【ノア】越境タッグ王者 丸藤＆矢野組に亀裂！？* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports* (2016-09-21). Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Rose, Bryan 2016-09-25. NJPW Destruction in Kobe results: Elgin defends his title against Naito . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
12. ↑ *ja:【新日本】オカダが丸藤との前哨戦制しＩＷＧＰ戦へ弾み* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports* (2016-09-26). Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
13. ↑ *ja:【ノア】オカダ組撃破！丸藤ＧＨＣタッグ王座Ｖ５* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports* (2016-10-09). Retrieved on 2016-10-09.
14. ↑ *ja:【新日】Ｇ１覇者ケニー　防衛戦の相手にYoshi-Hashi指名* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports* (2016-08-15). Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
15. ↑ Sempervive, Mike 2015-07-19. New Japan 2015 G1 Climax: History, Schedule, Predictions, Scouting Reports . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
16. ↑ *ja:【新日】柴田勝頼　首の痛みこらえＮＥＶＥＲ王座Ｖ２* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports* (2016-09-18). Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
17. ↑ Radican, Sean 2016-09-01. ROH vs. New Japan – Radican breaks down Win/Loss Records, head-to-head Match Results since 2014 . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
18. ↑ Rose, Bryan 2016-09-17. NJPW Destruction in Tokyo results: Shibata vs. Bobby Fish; Kushida vs. Bushi . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
19. ↑ Caldwell, James 2016-09-26. NJPW sets huge line-up for “King of Pro Wrestling” – title matches, ROH stars, faction battles . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
20. ↑ Macklin, Matthew 2016-09-26. New Japan Pro Wrestling news and notes . *Pro Wrestling Insider*. Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
21. ↑ *ja:【新日本】１０・１０両国全カード決定　タイガーマスクＷも参戦！* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports* (2016-09-26). Retrieved on 2016-09-26.
22. ↑ Rose, Bryan 2016-10-09. NJPW King of Pro Wrestling live results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Naomichi Marufuji . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2016-10-10.