Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Tomohiro Ishii defended their Never Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship against Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste, and Kosei Fujita today at NJPW Road to the New Beginning. Okada delivered a Rainmaker on Fujita to retain the titles.
After the bout, Kazuchika Okada announced that he was vacating the title. The 36-year-old is scheduled to leave NJPW later this month. However, he has agreed to compete in a couple of matches next month.
The Rainmaker said the following:
“I don’t want to cry. I’ve cried enough already. But thank you for all your support for 17 years. [Tomohiro ] Ishii put this belt on me, but today I vacate it. But this is the only team belt I’ve ever held in my career and I’m so thankful to [Hiroshi] Tanahashi and Ishii. This is the last match of my contract but I have three matches to go in Osaka and Sapporo. This isn’t the end, this isn’t goodbye and you still have the main event. Enjoy it. Thank you to NJPW wrestlers, staff, and fans. I promise we will meet again, and I hope you’ll support the Rainmaker.”