January 4 Dome Show

January 4 Dome Show

The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is a professional wrestling major show, held by Japanese professional wrestling promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). The shows often feature wrestlers from North 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 United States. NJPW often invites other promotions to participate in their January 4 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 (NOAH), as well as representatives from the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion.

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 shows on NJPW calendar, similar to what the Super Bowl is to the NFL or WrestleMania to the WWE. 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 2010 all the Dome shows have featured championship matches, including several titles not owned by NJPW. On two occasions (in 1998 and 2006), 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 2012, the January 4 shows have hosted 234 matches, 61 of which were title matches leading to 26 title changes in total. The 2005 Dome show had a 16 match card, the largest of any of the shows while 2001, 2002 and 2007 featured 9 matches, the lowest number of matches on a show.

Read more about January 4 Dome Show:  Starrcade 1992 in Tokyo Dome, Fantastic Story in Tokyo Dome, Battlefield, Battle 7, Wrestling World 1996, Wrestling World 1997, Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome, Wrestling World 1999, Wrestling World 2000, Wrestling World 2001, Wrestling World 2002, Wrestling World 2003, Wrestling World 2004, Toukon Festival ~ Wrestling World 2005, Toukon Shidou Chapter 1, Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome, Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome, Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome, Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome, Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome

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