The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is a major show, held by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), held annually on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. NJPW often invites other promotions, Japanese and international, to participate in their January 4 Tokyo Dome Shows as well including several companies that have been involved in scripted inter-promotional rivalries such as UWF International (UWFi), Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Pro Wrestling ZERO1 and Pro Wrestling NOAH, as well as representatives from the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion. The shows have regularly featured wrestlers from American promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and has on these occasions been shown either partially or in full in the American market.
It has become an annual event that starts the new year in NJPW since its inception in 1992. NJPW have held shows at the Tokyo Dome as far back as April 24, 1989, but their January 4 show has become the most anticipated show on NJPW calendar. It is Japan's biggest wrestling event and NJPW's premier show, similar to what the WrestleMania is for the WWE. The first two January 4 Tokyo Dome Shows were also the last two WCW/New Japan Supershows. Since 2007, when the event was renamed "Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome", the Dome shows have been broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV). As of 2019 all the Dome shows have featured championship matches, including several titles not owned by NJPW. On three occasions (1998, 2006 and 2013), no titles changed hands during the show. The 1993 Tokyo Dome show set the attendance record with 63,500 fans packing the Tokyo Dome, while the 2007 Dome show drew the lowest gates with only 18,000 in attendance.
Events[edit | edit source]
| # | Event | Date | City | Venue | Attendance | Main Event |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome | January 4, 1992 | Tokyo, Japan | Tokyo Dome | 50,000 | Riki Choshu (c) vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (c) for the The Greatest 18 Club Championship and IWGP Heavyweight Championship |
| 2 | Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome | January 4, 1993 | 63,500 (official) 53,500 (claimed) |
Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu | ||
| 3 | Battlefield | January 4, 1994 | 48,000 | Antonio Inoki vs. Genichiro Tenryu | ||
| 4 | Battle 7 | January 4, 1995 | 52,500 | Shinya Hashimoto (c) vs. Kensuke Sasaki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 5 | Wrestling World 1996 | January 4, 1996 | 54,000 | Keiji Mutoh (c) vs. Nobuhiko Takada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 6 | Wrestling World 1997 | January 4, 1997 | 62,500 (official) 52,500 (claimed) |
Shinya Hashimoto (c) vs. Riki Choshu for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 7 | Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome | January 4, 1998 | 55,000 | Kensuke Sasaki (c) vs. Keiji Mutoh for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 8 | Wrestling World 1999 | January 4, 1999 | 52,500 | Scott Norton (c) vs. Keiji Mutoh for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 9 | Wrestling World 2000 | January 4, 2000 | 53,500 | Genichiro Tenryu (c) vs. Kensuke Sasaki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 10 | Wrestling World 2001 | January 4, 2001 | 52,000 | Kensuke Sasaki vs. Toshiaki Kawada in the IWGP Heavyweight Championship tournament final | ||
| 11 | Wrestling World 2002 | January 4, 2002 | Jun Akiyama (c) vs. Yuji Nagata for the GHC Heavyweight Championship | |||
| 12 | Wrestling World 2003 | January 4, 2003 | 30,000 | Yuji Nagata (c) vs. Josh Barnett for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 13 | Wrestling World 2004 | January 4, 2004 | 40,000 | Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (c) for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and NWF Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 14 | Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005 | January 4, 2005 | 46,000 (official) 36,000 (claimed) |
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship | ||
| 15 | Toukon Shidou Chapter 1 | January 4, 2006 | 31,000 | Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 16 | Wrestle Kingdom I | January 4, 2007 | 28,000 (official) 18,000 (claimed) |
Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono vs. Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) | ||
| 17 | Wrestle Kingdom II | January 4, 2008 | 27,000 (official) 20,000 (claimed) |
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 18 | Wrestle Kingdom III | January 4, 2009 | 40,000 (official) 27,500 (claimed) |
Keiji Mutoh (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 19 | Wrestle Kingdom IV | January 4, 2010 | 41,500 (official) 20,000 (claimed) |
Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Yoshihiro Takayama for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 20 | Wrestle Kingdom V | January 4, 2011 | 42,000 (official) 18,000 (claimed) |
Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 21 | Wrestle Kingdom VI | January 4, 2012 | 43,000 (official) 23,000 (claimed) |
Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 22 | Wrestle Kingdom 7 | January 4, 2013 | 29,000 | Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 23 | Wrestle Kingdom 8 | January 4, 2014 | 35,000 | Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship | ||
| 24 | Wrestle Kingdom 9 | January 4, 2015 | 36,000 | Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 25 | Wrestle Kingdom 10 | January 4, 2016 | 25,204 | Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 26 | Wrestle Kingdom 11 | January 4, 2017 | 26,192 | Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kenny Omega for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| 27 | Wrestle Kingdom 12 | January 4, 2018 | 43,000 (total) 34,995 (paid) |
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| Kenny Omega (c) vs. Chris Jericho for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship | ||||||
| 28 | Wrestle Kingdom 13 | January 4, 2019 | 38,162 | Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Chris Jericho for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship | ||
| Kenny Omega (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||||||
| 29 | Wrestle Kingdom 14 | January 4, 2020 | 40,008 | Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship | ||
| January 5, 2020 | 30,063 | Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito (c) for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship | ||||
| 30 | Wrestle Kingdom 15 | January 4, 2021 | 12,689 | Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship | ||
| January 5, 2021 | 7,801 | Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship | ||||
(c) - refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
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