Wrestle Kingdom 12
Behind the scenes, Jericho became part of a group of people that started pushing for the show to air on American pay-per-view (PPV) for the first time since Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 2015. Some in NJPW felt that airing the show through NJPW World would be enough, hoping that the Jericho signing would increase subscriber numbers. While NJPW was now considered more popular than in 2015, when Wrestle Kingdom 9 did 14,000 buys on American PPV, it was noted that the 2018 show would take place early Thursday morning in the United States as opposed to a weekend like it did in 2015, which was seen as a major negative in terms of getting buys from the country. In late November, it was reported that NJPW had turned down Fite TV's offer for PPV rights outside of Japan and would not be allowing the event to air on American PPV, wanting their streaming service to be the only way to see the event live. On December 3, it was announced that the top matches from the show would air on AXS TV on January 6, 2018, as part of an 11-hour block of NJPW programming with additional matches airing between January 12 and February 9. Five matches, including the top three matches, will air on TV Asahi as part of a special episode of "World Pro Wrestling" on the night of January 4.
Wrestle Kingdom 10
Hours after the event had concluded, it was reported by multiple sources that A.J. Styles, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson and Shinsuke Nakamura had all given their notice to NJPW on the morning of January 4, announcing that they were leaving the promotion and joining WWE. The notices reportedly led to no finishes of matches being changed by booker Gedo. The following day, the rest of Bullet Club turned on Styles, kicking him out of the stable with Kenny Omega assuming leadership of the stable. Omega was also set up as the next challenger for Shinsuke Nakamura's IWGP Intercontinental Championship. This marked Styles' final appearance for NJPW. Meanwhile, the other three were involved in angles setting up future title matches. Anderson and Nakamura remained under NJPW contracts and were expected to finish off their contracted dates with the promotion before leaving. On January 5, WWE released an article on its official website, discussing the rumors of Styles, Nakamura, Anderson and Gallows joining the promotion. The following day, Nakamura confirmed in an interview with "Tokyo Sports" that he would be leaving NJPW at the end of the month and signing with WWE. Styles officially made his WWE debut on January 24, 2016, at the Royal Rumble. Nakamura wrestled his final NJPW match on January 30, making his NXT debut two months later on April 1. The departures led to NJPW scrapping its one-year contract system and starting to offer their wrestlers multi-year contracts. In 2018, at WWE's Royal Rumble, Nakamura won the 2018 Men's Royal Rumble match to earn a World title match at WrestleMania, he chose a WWE Championship match against the champion at that time, AJ Styles (who had retained the title againest Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn earlier in the night). At WrestleMania, Styles defeated Nakamura to retain the championship. After the match, Nakamura turned heel and attacked Styles. After WrestleMania, the two continued to feud through Greatest Royal Rumble and Backlash with their matches ending in draws. At Money in the Bank, Styles retained the WWE Championship by defeating Nakamura in a Last Man Standing match, ending their feud.