NJPW News: Wrestle Kingdom 13 ticket sales surpass Wrestle Kingdom 12
What's the Story?
Wrestle Kingdom 13's ticket sales are on track to make the show one of the biggest in the history of the event.
The show has sold approximately 40,000 tickets, surpassing the sales of Wrestle Kingdom 12 last year.
In Case You Didn't Know
Wrestle Kingdom 12's ticket sales were nearly 35,000 and made the event one of the biggest shows since Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 2015, which had an attendance of 36,000.
NJPW's largest gates for Wrestle Kingdom shows occurred from 2009 to 2012, where there were more than 40,000 people at the Tokyo Dome.
The Heart of the Matter
Some fans have said the excitement for this year's Wrestle Kingdom doesn't compare to last year's show, but NJPW's home base is highly anticipating Hiroshi Tanahashi's first Wrestle Kingdom main event in three years.
Tanahashi has been in the main event of three out of the four Wrestle Kingdom shows that had 40,000 or more in attendance, including the all-time highest record at Wrestle Kingdom 6 in 2012 which drew a crowd of 43,000.
With his upcoming match against Kenny Omega for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Tanahashi will compete in his ninth main event at the Tokyo Dome.
The Tokyo Dome has been the home of Wrestle Kingdom since its inception and has a maximum capacity of 57,000.
What's Next?
Wrestle Kingdom 13 will take place Friday, January 4 and will be streaming live on NJPW World and will air the co-main event on AXS TV.
The following is the full card for Wrestle Kingdom 13:
Pre Show: Most Violent Players and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Yuji Nagata, Jeff Cobb and David Finlay vs. Chaos vs. Suzuki-gun (MInoru Suzuki, Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr.) vs.The Elite (Hangman Page, Yujiro Takahashi and Marty Scrull) - Gauntlet match to determine the #1 contender for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships
Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Will Ospreay - NEVER Openweight Championship
Suzuki-gun (c) vs. Roppongi 3K vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon - IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championships
Tomohiro Ishii (c) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - British Heavyweight Championship
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Juice Robinson - IWGP United States Championships
Kushida (c) vs. Taiji Ishimori - IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship
Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White
Chris Jericho (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito - IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Kenny Omega (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - IWGP World Heavyweight Championship