5 Surprising Facts About Wrestle Kingdom
January 4th is a date that pro wrestling fans around the world are familiar with. It’s the date of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s annual Tokyo Dome show, Wrestle Kingdom.
Attendance for the show grows every year, as does the number of foreign fans who fly into Tokyo to watch the event. Wrestle Kingdom has been gaining a reputation for amazing matches each year around, and this year should be no different.
Wrestle Kingdom 12 saw the NJPW debut of Chris Jericho, and he’ll be back again for WK13 as ‘Y2J’ defends his IWGP Intercontinental Championship against New Japan’s most popular star Tetsuya Naito. The main event is IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega battling against G1 Climax winner, Hiroshi Tanahashi.
Let’s look back at the history of this mega event. Here are five surprising facts about Japanese wrestling’s biggest show
#1 The Jan 4th Tokyo Dome tradition predates Wrestle Kingdom
While next month is Wrestle Kingdom 13, it is in fact, the 28th consecutive Tokyo Dome event NJPW has held on January 4th.
NJPW has been running shows at the Dome on Jan 4th since 1992. The show had various names until 2007 when NJPW decided on a moniker.
The Jan 4th show wasn’t as significant as it is now because back in the ’90s, NJPW would run the Tokyo Dome multiple times a year. Most famously, a sold-out Tokyo Dome witnessed Antonio Inoki’s final match on April 4th 1998.
The pre-Wrestle Kingdom shows didn’t have the worldwide appeal they do now, but many noteworthy bouts occurred on the show.
WCW wrestlers would frequently feature on these events, as NJPW had a relationship with the promotion up until 2001 when WCW was sold to WWE.
The first two Jan 4th Dome shows were broadcast to fans in the United States on PPV as WCW/New Japan Supershow.