10 Reasons Why January 2018 Was The Best Month In Wrestling History

10. Wrestle Kingdom 12

The legacy of Wrestle Kingdom ahead of this year's edition was one of immense quality and prestige. In recent years, the annual January 4th show has routinely and confidently proffered a Match Of The Year candidate despite the 361 days of the year still remaining, with the Tokyo Dome setting (and gradually increasing crowds) perpetuating the inconvenient truth that the real 'SuperBowl of Wrestling' happens a few months before the 'Show Of Shows'.

2018's iteration spilled over with much of the same. Contests pitting The Young Bucks against Roppongi 3K, Kota Ibushi against Cody and Hirooki Goto against Minoru Suzuki were the type of battles that would steal a WWE show with space to spare. Luckily, NJPW had exactly that with Wrestle Kingdom's hefty run-time.

Will Ospreay, Marty Scurll, Hiromu Takahashi and Kushida assembled a futuristic four-way ahead of a double main event that engaged new audiences with one half and super-served them with the other. Kenny Omega's United States Title clash with Chris Jericho was credited with increasing New Japan World subscriber numbers by 35%, with casual interest in their match at a palpable high. That they delivered on such enormous expectations was equally astonishing.

The main event between Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito fell marginally below 'The Rainmaker's incredible efforts against Kenny Omega, but without enough space to see daylight. Naito's heartbreaking loss after 34:26 ripped out hearts, but most emotionally exhausted viewers were probably glad of the mercy-kill.