Wrestle Kingdom is a professional wrestling event produced annually by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), a Japan-based professional wrestling promotion.
Since 1992, NJPW has held their January 4 Tokyo Dome Show. 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". From 1992 to 2006, the event was promoted under different names. In 2007, the event was rebranded as Wrestle Kingdom which has been the event name ever since.
From 2007 until 2019, Wrestle Kingdom was held on January 4 on Tokyo Dome, but the show expanded to two nights in 2020. Wrestle Kingdom 14 was the first one to include matches on January 5, and further expanded to include a third night (January 8) in 2022.
Wrestle Kingdom VI drew the highest single-day attendance since the annual event was branded as Wrestle Kingdom, at 43,000. Counting events held over two nights, Wrestle Kingdom 14 had the highest overall attendance, with 40,008 announced for night one and 30,063 for night two, a total of 70,071 attendees.
The lowest attendance was for Wrestle Kingdom 15, 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. Prior to COVID-19, the Wrestle Kingdom I and Wrestle Kingdom V events drew the lowest unofficial gates, with only 18,000 in attendance.
Events #EventDateCityVenueMain EventRef1Wrestle Kingdom IJanuary 4, 2007Tokyo, JapanTokyo DomeKeiji Muto and Masahiro Chono vs. Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima)2Wrestle Kingdom IIJanuary 4, 2008Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship3Wrestle Kingdom IIIJanuary 4, 2009Keiji Muto (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship4Wrestle Kingdom IVJanuary 4, 2010Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Yoshihiro Takayama for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship5Wrestle Kingdom VJanuary 4, 2011Satoshi Kojima (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship6Wrestle Kingdom VIJanuary 4, 2012Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Minoru Suzuki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship7Wrestle Kingdom 7January 4, 2013Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship8Wrestle Kingdom 8January 4, 2014Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship9Wrestle Kingdom 9January 4, 2015Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship10Wrestle Kingdom 10January 4, 2016Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship11Wrestle Kingdom 11January 4, 2017Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kenny Omega for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship12Wrestle Kingdom 12January 4, 2018Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship13Wrestle Kingdom 13January 4, 2019Kenny Omega (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship14Wrestle Kingdom 14January 4, 2020Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight ChampionshipJanuary 5, 2020Kazuchika Okada (Heavyweight) vs. Tetsuya Naito (Intercontinental) in a Double Gold Dash match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship15Wrestle Kingdom 15January 4, 2021Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental ChampionshipJanuary 5, 2021Kota Ibushi (c) vs. Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship16Wrestle Kingdom 16January 4, 2022Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight ChampionshipJanuary 5, 2022Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Will Ospreay for the IWGP World Heavyweight ChampionshipJanuary 8, 2022Yokohama, JapanYokohama ArenaKazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Keiji Muto and Kaito Kiyomiya17Wrestle Kingdom 17January 4, 2023Tokyo, JapanTokyo DomeJay White (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight ChampionshipJanuary 21, 2023Yokohama, JapanYokohama ArenaTetsuya Naito vs. Kenoh18Wrestle Kingdom 18January 4, 2024Tokyo, JapanTokyo DomeSanada (c) vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship19Wrestle Kingdom 19January 4, 2025 Zack Sabre Jr. (c) vs. Shota Umino for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship20Wrestle Kingdom 20January 4, 2026 Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada21Wrestle Kingdom 21January 4, 2027 TBA
See also
List of New Japan Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view events Professional wrestling at the Tokyo Dome
References
External links The official New Japan website