The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is a major professional wrestling show, held by Japanese professional wrestling promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), held annually on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome.. NJPW often invites other promotions, Japanese and international, to participate in their January 4 Tokyo Dome Shows as well including several companies that have been involved in scripted inter-promotional rivalries such as UWF International (UWFi), Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Pro Wrestling Zero1 and Pro Wrestling Noah, as well as representatives from the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion. The shows have regularly featured wrestlers from American promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and has on these occasions been shown either partially or in full in the American market.
It has become an annual event that starts the new year in NJPW since its inception in 1992. NJPW have held shows at the Tokyo Dome as far back as April 24, 1989, but their January 4 show has become the most anticipated show on NJPW calendar. It is Japan's biggest wrestling event and NJPW's premier show, similar to what the WWE WrestleMania is for the WWE. The first two January 4 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 2016 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 1993 Dome show set the attendance record with 63,500 fans packing the Tokyo Dome, while the 2007 Dome show drew the lowest gates with only 18,000 in attendance. As of 2016, the January 4 shows have hosted 272 matches (not including dark matches), 86 of which were title matches leading to 38 title changes in total. The 2005 Dome show 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.
Results[]
Wrestle Kingdom 1[]
- Masanobu Fuchi, Ryusuke Taguchi and El Samurai defeated Akira Raijin, Kikutaro and Nobutaka Araya
- Gedo and Jado defeated Tokyo Gurentai (Mazada and Nosawa Rongai)
- G.B.H. (Togi Makabe, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) defeated Buchanan, D'Lo Brown and Travis Tomko
- Voodoo Murders (Giant Bernard, Ro'z, Suwama and Taru) defeated Manabu Nakanishi, Naofumi Yamamoto, Riki Choshu and Takashi Iizuka
- Kaz Hayashi, Koji Kanemoto, Taka Michinoku, Tiger Mask and Wataru Inoue defeated C.T.U (Jyushin Thunder Liger, Milano Collection A.T. and Minoru) and Voodoo Murders ("brother" Yasshi and Shuji Kondo)
- Toshiaki Kawada defeated Shinsuke Nakamura
- Minoru Suzuki (c) defeated Yuji Nagata via referee stoppage for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship
- Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Taiyō Kea for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
- Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono defeated Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima)
Wrestle Kingdom 2[]
As part of a new working relationship, the show featured wrestlers from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. The matches involving TNA wrestlers were shown as a special Global Impact! broadcast in the United States.
- A.J. Styles, Christian Cage and Petey Williams defeated RISE (Milano Collection A.T., Minoru and Prince Devitt)
- Wataru Inoue (c) defeated Christopher Daniels for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Manabu Nakanishi defeated Abyss
- Katsushi Takemura, Masato Tanaka, Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Yutaka Yoshie defeated Koji Kanemoto, Ryusuke Taguchi, Takashi Iizuka and Tiger Mask
- Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray) defeated GBH (Togi Makabe and Toru Yano) (with Tomoaki Honma and Tomohiro Ishii)
- Legend (Akira, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Masahiro Chono, Riki Choshu and Tatsumi Fujinami) defeated V.B.H. ("brother" Yasshi, Gedo, Jado, Shuji Kondo and Taru)
- The Great Muta defeated Hirooki Goto
- Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko (c) defeated The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Kurt Angle (c) defeated Yuji Nagata for the IWGP 3rd Belt Championship
- Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Wrestle Kingdom 3[]
- Dark Mmatch - Milano Collection A.T., Minoru and Taichi Ishikari defeated Kazuchika Okada, Mitsuhide Hirasawa and Nobuo Yoshihashi
- Místico, Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Averno, Gedo and Jado
- Jyushin Thunder Liger and Takuma Sano defeated Koji Kanemoto and Wataru Inoue
- The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) defeated No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro) (c) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
- Tiger Mask defeated Low Ki (c) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Legend (Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle, Masahiro Chono and Riki Choshu) defeated G.B.H. (Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson, Takashi Iizuka and Tomohiro Ishii)
- Yuji Nagata (c) defeated Masato Tanaka Pro Wrestling Zero1 World Heavyweight Championship
- Jun Akiyama defeated Manabu Nakanishi
- Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray) defeated The Most Violent Players (Togi Makabe and Toru Yano) (c) - Hardcore match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto defeated Mitsuharu Misawa and Takashi Sugiura
- Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Keiji Mutoh (c) for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Wrestle Kingdom 4[]
- Seigigun (Mitsuhide Hirasawa, Super Strong Machine and Wataru Inoue) defeated Jyushin Thunder Liger, Kazuchika Okada and Koji Kanemoto
- Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) (c) defeated Averno and Último Guerrero for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
- No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro) defeated Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray) (c) and Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) - Three-way hardcore match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Masato Tanaka and Tajiri defeated Seigigun (Akebono and Yuji Nagata)
- Manabu Nakanishi, Masahiro Chono, Riki Choshu and Terry Funk defeated Abdullah the Butcher and Chaos (Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano)
- Togi Makabe defeated Muhammad Yone
- Naomichi Marufuji defeated Tiger Mask (c) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Go Shiozaki
- Takashi Sugiura (c) defeated Hirooki Goto for the Global Honored Crown Heavyweight Championship
- Shinsuke Nakamura (c) defeated Yoshihiro Takayama for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Wrestle Kingdom 5[]
- Dark Match: Tama Tonga, Tiger Mask, Tomoaki Honma and Wataru Inoue defeated Chaos (Gedo, Jado, Tomohiro Ishii and Yujiro Takahashi)
- Dark Match: Koji Kanemoto and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Kenny Omega and Taichi
- Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) (c) defeated Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) and Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Máscara Dorada and La Sombra defeated Héctor Garza and Jyushin Thunder Liger
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Takashi Iizuka - Deep Sleep to Lose match; the match could only be won by choking the opponent unconscious
- Rob Van Dam defeated Toru Yano - Hardcore match
- Yuji Nagata defeated Minoru Suzuki
- Prince Devitt (c) defeated Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Takashi Sugiura and Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada
- Jeff Hardy (c) defeated Tetsuya Naito for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship
- Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Go Shiozaki
- Togi Makabe defeated Masato Tanaka
- Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Satoshi Kojima (c) for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Wrestle Kingdom 6[]
- Dark - Captain New Japan and Tama Tonga defeated Kyosuke Mikami and Tomoaki Honma
- Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) defeated No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards and Rocky Romero) (c) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
- Jyushin Thunder Liger, Kushida, Máscara Dorada and Tiger Mask defeated Atlantis, Taichi, Taka Michinoku and Valiente - Eight-man tag team match
- Kazuchika Okada defeated Yoshi-Hashi
- Stack of Arms (Masakatsu Funaki and Masayuki Kono) defeated Seigigun (Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata)
- MVP and Shelton Benjamin defeated Complete Players (Masato Tanaka and Yujiro Takahashi) (with Gedo and Jado)
- Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) defeated Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) (c) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Hirooki Goto defeated Takashi Sugiura
- Togi Makabe defeated Yoshihiro Takayama
- Go Shiozaki and Naomichi Marufuji defeated Chaos Top Team (Shinsuke Nakamura and Toru Yano)
- Keiji Mutoh defeated Tetsuya Naito
- Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Minoru Suzuki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Wrestle Kingdom 7[]
- Dark - Captain New Japan, Tama Tonga and Wataru Inoue defeated Chaos (Jado, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi)
- Dark - Bushi, Kushida and Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Hiromu Takahashi, Jyushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask
- Akebono, Manabu Nakanishi, MVP and Strong Man defeated Chaos (Bob Sapp, Takashi Iizuka, Toru Yano and Yujiro Takahashi)
- Masato Tanaka (c) defeated Shelton Benjamin for the NEVER Openweight Championship
- K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) (c) defeated Sword & Guns (Hirooki Goto and Karl Anderson) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Yuji Nagata defeated Minoru Suzuki
- Prince Devitt (c) defeated Kota Ibushi and Low Ki - Three-way match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) defeated Keiji Mutoh and Shinjiro Otani (with Daichi Hashimoto)
- Togi Makabe defeated Katsuyori Shibata
- Shinsuke Nakamura (c) defeated Kazushi Sakuraba for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
- Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Wrestle Kingdom 8[]
- Dark - Bushi, Captain New Japan, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Tomoaki Honma defeated Jyushin Thunder Liger, Manabu Nakanishi, Super Strong Machine and Yohei Komatsu
- The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) defeated Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero), Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) and Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida) - Four-way tag team match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
- Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (with Tama Tonga) defeated K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) (c) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Satoshi Kojima (with Hiroyoshi Tenzan) defeated Rob Conway (c) (with Bruce Tharpe and Jax Dane) for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship
- Kazushi Sakuraba and Yuji Nagata defeated Daniel Gracie and Rolles Gracie by disqualification
- The Great Muta and Toru Yano defeated Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki and Shelton X Benjamin) (with Taichi and Taka Michinoku)
- Togi Makabe defeated Bad Luck Fale - King of Destroyer match
- Hirooki Goto defeated Katsuyori Shibata
- Kota Ibushi defeated Prince Devitt (c) (with Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Matt Jackson, Nick Jackson and Tama Tonga) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Kazuchika Okada (c) (with Gedo) defeated Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
- Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Shinsuke Nakamura (c) for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
Wrestle Kingdom 9[]
- Pre-Show - Yuji Nagata won the New Japan Rumble by last eliminating Yoshi-Hashi
- reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) (c) defeated Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero), Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida), and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) - Four-way tag team match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
- Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, and Tomoaki Honma defeated Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Jeff Jarrett, and Yujiro Takahashi) (with Karen Jarrett and Scott D'Amore)
- Naomichi Marufuji, TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste), and Toru Yano defeated Suzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, Shelton X Benjamin, and Takashi Iizuka)
- Minoru Suzuki defeated Kazushi Sakuraba - Could only end by knockout, submission, or referee stoppage
- Togi Makabe defeated Tomohiro Ishii (c) for the NEVER Openweight Championship
- Kenny Omega (with The Young Bucks) defeated Ryusuke Taguchi (c) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata) defeated Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (c) (with Amber O'Neal and Tama Tonga) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship 09:00
- A.J. Styles defeated Tetsuya Naito
- Shinsuke Nakamura (c) defeated Kota Ibushi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
- Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Wrestle Kingdom 10[]
- PreShow - Jado (with Momoka Ariyasu) won the New Japan Rumble by last eliminating Ryusuke Taguchi
- The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (with Cody Hall) defeated reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) (c), Matt Sydal and Ricochet and Roppongi Vice (Baretta and Rocky Romero) - Four-way tag team match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
- Chaos (Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe and Toru Yano) defeated Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi) (with Shiori) - Six-man tag team match to determine the first NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions
- Jay Lethal (c) (with Truth Martini) defeated Michael Elgin for the Ring Of Honor World Championship
- Kushida (with Ryusuke Taguchi) defeated Kenny Omega (c) (with Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- G.B.H. (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) defeated Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) (c) (with Amber Gallows) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Hirooki Goto defeated Tetsuya Naito (with Bushi and Evil)
- Katsuyori Shibata defeated Tomohiro Ishii (c) for the NEVER Openweight Championship
- Shinsuke Nakamura (c) defeated A.J. Styles for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
- Kazuchika Okada (c) (with Gedo) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Wrestle Kingdom 11[]
- PreShow - Michael Elgin won the New Japan Rumble by last eliminating Cheeseburger.
- Tiger Mask W (with Suzuko Mimori) defeated Tiger the Dark
- Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero) defeated The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) - for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
- Los Ingobernables de Japon (Bushi, Evil and Sanada) defeated David Finlay, Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima (c), Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi) and Chaos (Jado, Will Ospreay and Yoshi-Hashi) - Gauntlet match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
- Cody defeated Juice Robinson
- Adam Cole defeated Kyle O'Reilly (c) for the Ring Of Honor World Championship
- Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) (c) and G.B.H. (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) - Three-way tag team match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Hiromu Takahashi defeated Kushida (c) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Hirooki Goto defeated Katsuyori Shibata (c) for the NEVER Openweight Championship
- Tetsuya Naito (c) defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
- Kazuchika Okada (c) (with Gedo) defeated Kenny Omega (with Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
Wrestle Kingdom 12[]
- Preshow - Masahito Kakihara defeated Bushi, Chase Owens, Cheeseburger, David Finlay, Delirious, El Desperado, Gino Gambino, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jyushin Thunder Liger, Katsuya Kitamura, Leo Tonga, Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima, Taka Michinoku, Tiger Mask, Toa Henare, Yoshi-Hashi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yuji Nagata and Yujiro Takahashi (with Pieter) - New Japan Rumble
- The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defeated Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) (c) (with Rocky Romero) by submission - IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
- Chaos (Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) defeated Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) (c), [Michael Elgin]] and War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe), Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Takashi Iizuka and Zack Sabre Jr.) (with El Desperado, Taka Michinoku and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) and Taguchi Japan (Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi and Togi Makabe) - Gauntlet match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
- Kota Ibushi defeated Cody (with Brandi Rhodes)
- Los Ingobernables de Japon (Evil and Sanada) defeated Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) (c) - IWGP Tag Team Championship
- Hirooki Goto defeated Minoru Suzuki (c) - Hair vs. hair and no seconds deathmatch for the NEVER Openweight Championship
- Will Ospreay defeated Marty Scurll (c), Hiromu Takahashi and Kushida - Four-way match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- Hiroshi Tanahashi (c) defeated Jay White - for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
- Kenny Omega (c) defeated Chris Jericho - No disqualification match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship
- Kazuchika Okada (c) (with Gedo) defeated Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship