Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: How many people watched Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome?
The event was attended by 36,000 people. Through NJPW's partnership with Global Force Wrestling (GFW), the event was broadcast with English commentary as a GFW event. It was available on PPV television in the United States and Canada, and broadcast worldwide on the Internet via Flipps and New Japan Pro Wrestling World. Critics issued positive reviews; Philly.com said it featured "good, quality wrestling", while Paste magazine said it presented "some of the most passionate and poignant performance art today". Readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted Wrestle Kingdom 9 the Best Major Wrestling Show of 2015; they also named the Ibushi–Nakamura match as the 2015 Pro Wrestling Match of the Year.
Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January4, 2015. It was the 24th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the first event on the 2015 NJPW schedule. The event featured ten professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match, six of which were for championships.
Kobe Shimbun's "Daily Sports Online" called Tanahashi "Mr. Tokyo Dome" for winning his fifth consecutive Wrestle Kingdom main event in the arena.[54] Jason Namako of Wrestleview.com, who watched the Japanese version of the show via New Japan World, said that the event "proved one thing, puroresu is, beyond a shadow of doubt, indeed ichiban!!"[Note 1][55] Meanwhile, Aaron Oster of The Baltimore Sun wrote that "Wrestle Kingdom 9 has to be considered a success".[56]
Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotions. The event was held on January 4, 1992 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It was the first ever January 4 Tokyo Dome Show how held by NJPW, a show that would later become the promotion's Super Bowl or WrestleMania event. The show drew 50,000 spectators for a gate of the equivalent of $3,700,000 at the exchange rate at the time. The show featured 12 matches, including two dark matches, matches held before the event's broadcast began. Six of the twelve bouts featured wrestlers from WCW. On the show Lex Luger successfully defended his WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Masahiro Chono, while the main event saw Riki Choshu defeated Tatsumi Fujinami. The match unified the Greatest 18 Championship and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Japanese heavy metal band Show-Ya performed live music between matches and performed theme music for a match where The Great Muta and Sting wrestled The Steiner Brothers. The show was later shown in North America as a pay-per-view (PPV) event under the name WCW/New Japan Supershow II.
When New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) held the 2006 January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, Toukon Shidou Chapter 1, some saw it as a possible "end of an era". In recent years, the January 4 show, held annually since 1992, had been suffering from a drop in both interest and attendance and while the 2006 show drew 31,000 fans to the Tokyo Dome, only around 10,000 of them paid for their ticket. The show, however, was still considered a success due to high merchandise sales, allowing NJPW to keep the tradition alive for another year. NJPW had previously had success promoting interpromotional shows with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and decided to partner with them again for the 2007 Tokyo Dome show in an effort to boost attendance numbers. The partnership was officially announced in a press conference on November 15, 2006. AJPW had recently partnered with Yuke's, the owners of NJPW, for the video game "Wrestle Kingdom". As a result, the 2007 January 4 Tokyo Dome show was dubbed "Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome". The name stuck and the annual January 4 Tokyo Dome show has been known as Wrestle Kingdom ever since.
The main event of the show was booked as a tribute to Shinya Hashimoto, who had died from cerebral hemorrhage on July 11, 2005. In the match, Hashimoto's Three Musketeers partners Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono would take on Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima. Both teams had actually disbanded years earlier due to Mutoh and Kojima having jumped from NJPW to AJPW at the start of 2002, but Kojima and Tenzan had recently reunited for AJPW's 2006 Real World Tag League. Mutoh was said to have been negative towards the idea of turning the match into a Hashimoto tribute, but was convinced to go along with it on the day of the show.
On January 4, 2015, Ross and Matt Striker served as the English language commentators for Global Force Wrestling's presentation of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome pay-per-view.
The event would also feature several rematches from Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome. Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata), who won the IWGP Tag Team Championship at the Tokyo Dome, would defend their newly won title against the previous champions, Bullet Club's Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson. Meanwhile, Gallows and Anderson's Bullet Club stablemate Kenny Omega, who won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at the Tokyo Dome, would defend his title in a rematch with Ryusuke Taguchi. The fourth match announced on January 6 would see reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) make their second defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in a three-way match against Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida) and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson). At Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, reDRagon made their first defense in a four-way match against Time Splitters, The Young Bucks and Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero). Due to being the team pinned by reDRagon at the Tokyo Dome, Forever Hooligans were removed from the title match at The New Beginning in Osaka.
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 2017, 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. 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. Unofficially, the 2007 and 2011 Dome shows drew the lowest gates with only 18,000 in attendance. As of 2017, the January 4 shows have hosted 282 matches (not including dark or pre-show matches), 94 of which were title matches leading to 44 title changes in total. The had a 16-match card, the largest of any of the shows, while 2001, 2002, 2007, 2013, and 2016 featured 9 matches, the lowest number of matches on a show.
The first matches for the event were announced on January 6, 2015, two days after NJPW's biggest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome. The main event was scheduled to feature Hiroshi Tanahashi defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against A.J. Styles. This would be a rematch from King of Pro-Wrestling on October 13, 2014, where Styles lost the title to Tanahashi. At Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, Tanahashi successfully defended the title against Kazuchika Okada, while Styles earned a big win over Tetsuya Naito. The following day, Styles pinned Tanahashi in an eight-man tag team match, before requesting his title rematch. In the build-up to the title match, Tanahashi stated that he was not only looking to avenge his friend Yoshitatsu, who legitimately broke his neck in a match with Styles the previous November, but also give thanks to him for helping him overcome Styles' Bullet Club stable to capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
On August10, 2014, NJPW made two announcements. Firstly, Wrestle Kingdom 9 would be held at the Tokyo Dome on January4, 2015.[6] Secondly, NJPW revealed a partnership with Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling, which it approached about bringing the event to a new market.[6][7] On November4, GFW announced that it would present the event live on American pay-per-view television and that it had a PPV market of 125million homes.[8][9]
In the semi-main event, Kazuchika Okada was booked to defend his certificate for an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, which he had obtained by winning the 2014 G1 Climax, against Tetsuya Naito. During G1 Climax, Okada had been defeated by Naito, which resulted in him nominating Naito as his next challenger for the certificate. In the main event, Bullet Club's A.J. Styles would make his third defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi. After failing to capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Okada at the 2013 King of Pro-Wrestling, Tanahashi announced that he was leaving the title picture. However, after defeating Katsuyori Shibata at Destruction in Kobe, Tanahashi announced he was back and looking for a shot at A.J. Styles. Tanahashi and Styles previously faced off in Ryōgoku Kokugikan on February 17, 2008, and more recently met in a special non-tournament singles match during the final day of the 2014 G1 Climax. Tanahashi won the match, but was afterwards attacked by Bullet Club's newest member, Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett did not make another appearance for NJPW for two months, but was working behind the scenes on getting Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome broadcast on the American PPV market. On September 29, Jarrett announced he was returning to NJPW at King of Pro-Wrestling.
2004 winner Naomichi Marufuji defeated Prince Devitt in the final round to win the 2009 Super J-Cup, thus winning his second consecutive Super J-Cup tournament. The winner of the tournament would receive an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship opportunity at Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2010.
Jushin Thunder Liger announced at the 2009 G1 Tag League Finals on November 1, 2009, that the originator of the Super J-Cup, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, would revive the concept at "Christmas! New Japan presents "Super J-Cup: 5th Stage"" at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo over two nights on December 22 and 23. The tournament winner would challenge Tiger Mask for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2010.
Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2013. It was the 22nd January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the seventh held under the "Wrestle Kingdom" name. The event featured eleven matches (including two dark matches), five of which were contested for championships. Wrestle Kingdom is traditionally NJPW's biggest event of the year and has been described as their equivalent to WWE's WrestleMania.
Dave Meltzer of the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" called Wrestle Kingdom 7 "the best Tokyo Dome show the promotion has ever put on", praising the main event as a "classic world title match". Meltzer also noted that if NJPW were being truthful about the attendance number being the actual number of paid attendees, the show would have to be considered a "huge success" as the last time the company drew a larger attendance number of paid fans to the Tokyo Dome was in 2003.
The event also featured former rivals Kazushi Sakuraba and Yuji Nagata teaming up for the first time to defeat Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano en route to a match against Daniel and Rolles Gracie at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeating Tomohiro Ishii in a rematch from the 2013 G1 Climax and Shinsuke Nakamura making his third successful defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Minoru Suzuki in a match, which had the added stipulation that Nakamura would have had to join Suzuki-gun had he lost the title. Post-match, Nakamura nominated Tanahashi as his next challenger, setting up the first main event match for Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome. Two of the top matches of the event saw Tetsuya Naito successfully defend the NEVER Openweight Championship and his certificate for an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against previous champion Masato Tanaka and Kazuchika Okada successfully defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Karl Anderson in a rematch of the finals of the 2012 G1 Climax, setting up the second of a double main event for Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome between Okada and Naito.
Wrestle Kingdom has been described as "New Japan's major annual show" and the "equivalent" of WWE's WrestleMania pay-per-view (PPV) event.[1] Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome was promoted as the "largest wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and was the 24th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, although previous events were held under different names.[2][4][5]
Wrestle Kingdom 9 drew 36,000 fans to the Tokyo Dome, reportedly (accordingly to Wrestleview.com and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter) the best attendance for a NJPW January 4 Tokyo Dome Show in 13 years.[3][52] The event reportedly had 12,000 to 15,000 purchases in North America.[53]
On January 4, 2012, Mutoh made a return to New Japan at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, where he defeated Tetsuya Naito in a singles match. A year later at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, Mutoh teamed with Shinjiro Otani, a replacement for an injured Daichi Hashimoto, in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima. Mutoh returned to New Japan again a year later at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, now working as The Great Muta in a tag team match, where he and Toru Yano defeated "Suzuki-gun" (Minoru Suzuki and Shelton X Benjamin). As the only face in the match, Muta turned on Yano towards the end of the match, but his green mist accidentally hit Suzuki instead, leading to Yano pinning him for the win.
King of Pro-Wrestling (2017) was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), which took place on October 9, 2017, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan. It was NJPW's biggest show between August's G1 Climax and January's Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome. The top two matches featured Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Evil and Tetsuya Naito defending his status as the number one contender to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 12 against Tomohiro Ishii. This was the sixth event under the King of Pro-Wrestling branding.
In professional wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling has run the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, currently promoted as Wrestle Kingdom, every year since 1992. The event is the biggest in puroresu, and roughly analogous to WrestleMania in the United States.[42]
Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4, 2017, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 26th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, which is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".
The first matches for the event were announced on January 6, 2015, two days after NJPW's biggest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome. The main event was scheduled to feature Shinsuke Nakamura defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Yuji Nagata. At Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, Nakamura made the second defense of his fourth Intercontinental title reign against Kota Ibushi, while Nagata won the New Japan Rumble on the pre-show before the event. The following day, Nagata led his team to a six-man tag team match win over Nakamura and his Chaos stable, before asserting himself as the next challenger for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. In the build-up to the title match, Nagata pinned Nakamura in a tag team match on February 1. The match marked Nagata's return to the IWGP title picture; recently Nagata had been more active in the title picture of the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion, where he held the GHC Heavyweight Championship in 2014. Last time Nagata wrestled for a title owned by NJPW was on June 19, 2010, when he and Wataru Inoue lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4, 2016, in Tokyo, Japan, at the Tokyo Dome. It was the 25th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, which is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl". The event featured ten matches and was main evented by Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2014. It was the 23rd January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the eighth held under the "Wrestle Kingdom" name. Like the previous year, the event aired worldwide on internet pay-per-view (iPPV). Wrestle Kingdom is traditionally NJPW's biggest event of the year and has been described as their equivalent to WWE's WrestleMania.
Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4, 2019 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It was the twenty-eighth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the thirteenth promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom name. The event was streamed live on NJPW World and Fite TV and was aired on tape delay on AXS TV. Wrestle Kingdom is traditionally NJPW's biggest event of the year and has been described as their equivalent to WWE's WrestleMania.