Kensuke Sasaki is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and founder of the now-defunct wrestling promotion Diamond Ring.
Shinya Hashimoto was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and actor. Along with Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, Hashimoto was dubbed one of the "Three Musketeers" that began competing in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in the mid-1980s and dominated the promotion in the 1990s.
Tatsumi Fujinami is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to WWE on a legend's contract. Fujinami is most well known for his long tenure with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a six-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He was famously nicknamed "The Dragon", and is credited for inventing the dragon sleeper and the dragon suplex.
Mitsuo Yoshida, better known by his ring name Riki Choshu, is a Korean Japanese retired professional wrestler who is best known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as both a wrestler and a booker. He is considered one of Japan’s most influential wrestlers for his work in the 1980s and 1990s and is known as the first wrestler to popularize the Sasori-Gatame, better known in English as the Scorpion Deathlock or Sharpshooter. After leaving NJPW in 2002, he formed Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling (WJ), but eventually returned to New Japan in October 2005 as a site foreman, booker and part-time wrestler. Choshu once again left NJPW in 2010 and primarily worked in Tatsumi Fujinami’s Dradition, as well as his own self-produced Power Hall events as a freelancer.
Toukon Shidou Chapter 1 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Toukon Shidou Chapter 1 was the fifteenth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 31,000 spectators. The main focus of the 11 match show was the IWGP championship defenses in the semi-main event and the main event. In the semi-main event Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan successfully defended the IWGP Tag Team Championship against Shiro Koshinaka and Takao Omori; while the main event featured Brock Lesnar retaining the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. For only the second time in the history of the January 4 Tokyo Dome Shows, no title changed hands.
Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) promotions. The show took place on January 4, 1993 in Tokyo's Tokyo Dome. Officially, the show drew 63,500 spectators and $3,200,000 in ticket sales. This was the second year that the show was co-promoted by the American WCW promotion. The show featured 10 matches, including four matches that featured WCW wrestlers. Fantastic Story featured three title matches, including Jushin Thunder Liger defeating Último Dragón to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta defeating Masahiro Chono to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a match where the IWGP title was also on the line. Finally the show featured an IWGP Tag Team Championship match between The Hell Raisers and The Steiner Brothers that ended without a definitive winner. The show was later shown on pay-per-view (PPV) in North America as WCW/New Japan Supershow III.
Wrestling World 1996 was a professional wrestling event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and UWF International (UWFi) promotions. The event took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 1996 was the fifth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 54,000 spectators and $5,400,000 in ticket sales. The driving storyline behind the show was an "inter-promotional" rivalry between NJPW and UWFi, which saw wrestlers from the promotions face off in a series of three matches. Hiroshi Hase's retirement match against his former tag team partner Kensuke Sasaki was also part of the card. The main event of the show was IWGP Heavyweight Champion Keiji Mutoh losing the championship to UWFi representative Nobuhiko Takada. The undercard featured an additional title change as Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Koji Kanemoto to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. In total the show consisted of 10 matches.
Wrestling World 1997 was a professional wrestling event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) promotions. It took place on January 4, 1997 in the Tokyo Dome. Officially, the show drew 62,500 spectators and $5,000,000 in ticket sales. The show featured 12 matches, including four matches that were promoted jointly with the BJW promotion and presented as a rivalry between the two promotions. The show featured 12 matches in total, including three title matches, two of which saw new champions crowned.
Wrestling World 2000 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4, 2000 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2000 was the ninth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 53,500 spectators and $5,900,000 in ticket sales. The event saw the return of World Championship Wrestling's Chris Benoit under the ring name Wild Pegasus, reprising the character he played for NJPW in the early to mid-1990s. The show also featured Rick Steiner and Randy Savage, both working as freelancers brought in specifically for the show. The twelve match card saw a successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship as well as Kensuke Sasaki defeating Genichiro Tenryu to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The undercard featured a match between Masahiro Chono defeated Keiji Mutoh bearing a stipulation that the losing wrestler's faction would have to disband. Chono represented Team 2000, while Mutoh represented nWo Japan. Through Mutoh's loss nWo Japan ceased to be. It also featured the retirement match of Kazuo Yamazaki, as he wrestled his student, Yuji Nagata.
Wrestling World 2003 was a professional wrestling event held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2003 was the twelfth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show promoted by NJPW. The show drew 30,000 spectators. The show featured the semi-finals and the finals of the "Young Generation Cup", an NJPW tournament for relative newcomers who have yet to establish themselves as top level wrestlers, which saw Ryushi Yanagisawa defeat Yutaka Yoshie to win the cup. The show featured a total of eleven matches, including a match for the vacant NWF Heavyweight Championship that Yoshihiro Takayama won by defeating Tsuyoshi Kosaka in the finals of a four-man tournament. The main event was a successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship as champion Yuji Nagata defeated Josh Barnett.
Wrestling World 2004 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2004 was the thirteenth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 40,000 spectators. Main event of the 15 match show was a unification match between IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama. Nakamura won the match, retiring the NWF Championship after only being active for one year. The undercard saw NJPW mainstay Jushin Thunder Liger defeat Pro Wrestling Noah's Takashi Sugiura to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, marking the first time a Noah championship changed hands at a January 4 Tokyo Dome Show. Additionally Gedo and Jado successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Heat and Tiger Mask and Hiroshi Tanahashi retained the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship against Yutaka Yoshie.
Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. It took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Toukon Festival: Wrestling World 2005 was the fourteenth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. Officially, the show drew 46,000 spectators. The undercard of the show featured an eight-man "submissions only" tournament which Ron Waterman won when he forced Yuji Nagata to submit in the finals. The show also saw Tiger Mask defeat Heat to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and in the main event Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship. The show also featured a unique "Dog Fight" match between Masahiro Chono, Riki Choshu and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Chono defeated Chosu in the first match and as a result had to wrestle Tenzan in the next match.
Wrestle Kingdom III 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, 2009. It was the 18th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the third held under the "Wrestle Kingdom" name. The event featured eleven 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.
Wrestle Kingdom IV 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, 2010. It was the 19th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the fourth held under the "Wrestle Kingdom" name. The event featured ten 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.
WCW/New Japan Supershow II took place on January 4, 1992, from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. The show was the first NJPW January 4 Dome Show, something that would become an annual tradition in NJPW and would become their biggest show of the year. The show was also the second under the name WCW/New Japan Supershow. The show was broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV) months later in America. The US PPV broadcast did not include several of the matches of the 12-match show, with only six being broadcast in America out of a total of twelve matches.
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.
Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome was a two-night professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4 and 5, 2020, at the Tokyo Dome, in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 29th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the 14th promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom name; it was also the first time the event was held over two days, instead of taking place solely on January 4.
Do Judge!! was a major professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on October 9, 2000 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It marked the first major cross promotional matches between New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) after the two had entered into a working relationship in August.
Ultimate Crush was a major professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on May 2, 2003, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. The card contained a mixture of pro wrestling matches and mixed-martial arts fights, and the show was headlined by Yoshihiro Takayama defending the NWF Heavyweight Championship against Yuji Nagata, who also defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in a unification match.
The Wrestling Summit was a major professional wrestling supercard show that was produced and scripted collaboratively between the US-based World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and the Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotions. The joint venture show took place on April 13, 1990 in the Tokyo Dome, in Tokyo, Japan and reportedly drew 53,742 spectators. The event was the only time the three promotions produced a joint show, although NJPW and WWF had previously worked together in the 1970s and '80s. Highlights from the show aired on Japanese television, but due to various ownership issues the full event has never been shown in its entirety.
