January 4 Tokyo Dome Show

The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is a professional wrestling event produced annually on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), a Japan-based professional wrestling promotion. NJPW has promoted events in the venue every January 4 since Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome in 1992.

January 4 Tokyo Dome Show
PromotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling
First event1992

The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show became NJPW's premier annual event and the biggest event in Japanese wrestling, similar to what WrestleMania is for WWE and American professional wrestling. It has been described as "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".[1][2] The show expanded to two nights, with the 2020 edition being the first one to include matches on January 5, and further expanded to include a third night (January 8) in 2022. The event would go back to one night in 2023.

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). 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 2019 show, which featured eight title matches, was the first in which all contested titles changed hands.

Some of the earlier January 4 show attendance numbers have been disputed. Officially, the 1993 Tokyo Dome show set the attendance record with 63,500 fans packing the Tokyo Dome, while according to Dave Meltzer, the 1998 show holds the record with an attendance of 55,000.[3] The lowest attendances for any Dome Shows were for the 2021 event, held under attendance restrictions due to COVID-19; NJPW announced an attendance of 12,689 for the first night and 7,801 for the second.[4] Prior to COVID-19, the 2007 and 2011 Dome shows drew the lowest unofficial gates, with only 18,000 in attendance.[3]

As of 2021, the January 4 shows (including matches held on January 5 as part of two-night events) have hosted 328 matches (not including dark or pre-show matches), 126 of which were title matches leading to 69 title changes in total.[lower-alpha 1] The 2005 Tokyo Dome show had a 16-match card, the largest of any single-night show, while 2001, 2002, 2007, 2013, 2016, 2018 and 2019 featured 9 matches, the lowest number of matches on a single-night show (again, not counting dark or pre-show matches). The first two-night show in 2020 featured a total of 16 matches, tying the 2005 show for the most in a single event, but each night featured only eight matches, fewer than any previous Dome Show card. The second two-night show in 2021, affected by COVID-19, had only 6 matches scheduled for each night.

Events
# Event Date City Venue Main Event Ref
1 Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome January 4, 1992 Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Dome Riki Choshu (Greatest 18) vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (IWGP Heavyweight) for the Greatest 18 Championship and IWGP Heavyweight Championship [5]
2 Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome January 4, 1993 Genichiro Tenryu vs. Riki Choshu [6]
3 Battlefield January 4, 1994 Antonio Inoki vs. Genichiro Tenryu [7]
4 Battle 7 January 4, 1995 Shinya Hashimoto (c) vs. Kensuke Sasaki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [8]
Wrestling World/Final Power Hall
5 Wrestling World 1996 January 4, 1996 Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Dome Keiji Mutoh (c) vs. Nobuhiko Takada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [9]
6 Wrestling World 1997 January 4, 1997 Shinya Hashimoto (c) vs. Riki Choshu for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [10][11]
7 Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome January 4, 1998 Kensuke Sasaki (c) vs. Keiji Mutoh for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [12]
8 Wrestling World 1999 January 4, 1999 Scott Norton (c) vs. Keiji Mutoh for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [13]
9 Wrestling World 2000 January 4, 2000 Genichiro Tenryu (c) vs. Kensuke Sasaki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [14]
10 Wrestling World 2001 January 4, 2001 Kensuke Sasaki vs. Toshiaki Kawada in the IWGP Heavyweight Championship tournament final [15]
11 Wrestling World 2002 January 4, 2002 Jun Akiyama (c) vs. Yuji Nagata for the GHC Heavyweight Championship [16]
12 Wrestling World 2003 January 4, 2003 Yuji Nagata (c) vs. Josh Barnett for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [17]
13 Wrestling World 2004 January 4, 2004 Shinsuke Nakamura (IWGP) vs. Yoshihiro Takayama (NWF) for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and NWF Heavyweight Championship [18]
14 Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005 January 4, 2005 Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship [19]
Toukon Shidou
15 Toukon Shidou Chapter 1 January 4, 2006 Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Dome Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [20]
Wrestle Kingdom
16 Wrestle Kingdom I January 4, 2007 Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Dome Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono vs. Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) [21][22][23]
17 Wrestle Kingdom II January 4, 2008 Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [24][25][26][27]
18 Wrestle Kingdom III January 4, 2009 Keiji Mutoh (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [28][29][30][31][32]
19 Wrestle Kingdom IV January 4, 2010 Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Yoshihiro Takayama for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [33][34][35][36]
20 Wrestle Kingdom V January 4, 2011 Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [37][38][39][40]
21 Wrestle Kingdom VI January 4, 2012 Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [41][42][43][44][45]
22 Wrestle Kingdom 7 January 4, 2013 Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [46][47][39][48]
23 Wrestle Kingdom 8 January 4, 2014 Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship [49][50][51][39][52]
24 Wrestle Kingdom 9 January 4, 2015 Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [53][54][55][56]
25 Wrestle Kingdom 10 January 4, 2016 Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [57][58][59][60]
26 Wrestle Kingdom 11 January 4, 2017 Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kenny Omega for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [61][62][63]
27 Wrestle Kingdom 12 January 4, 2018 Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [64][65]
28 Wrestle Kingdom 13 January 4, 2019 Kenny Omega (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [66]
29 Wrestle Kingdom 14 January 4, 2020 Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship [67]
30 Wrestle Kingdom 15 January 4, 2021 Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship [68]
31 Wrestle Kingdom 16 January 4, 2022 Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship [69]
32 Wrestle Kingdom 17 January 4, 2023 Jay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship [70]
33 Wrestle Kingdom 18 January 4, 2024 Sanada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship [71][72]
(c) - refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

See also

Footnotes
  1. The count of title changes includes one match during Wrestle Kingdom 15 in 2021 in which two titles changed hands. During the first night, Kota Ibushi defeated Tetsuya Naito for both the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

References
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