Wrestle Kingdom 17

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Wrestle Kingdom 17
File:Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Tokyo Dome poster.jpg
Promotional poster for night 1 featuring various NJPW wrestlers and Antonio Inoki
Promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Pro Wrestling Noah
(January 21)
Date January 4, 2023
January 21, 2023
City
Venue
Attendance Night 1: 26,085[1]
Night 2: 5,533[2]
Combined: 31,618
Tagline(s) Antonio Inoki Memorial Spectacular
Fighting Spirit Forever
Event chronology
← Previous
Road to Tokyo Dome		 Next →
New Year Dash!!
Wrestle Kingdom chronology
← Previous
16		 Next →
—

Wrestle Kingdom 17 was a two-day professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) promotions. The first day of the event took place on January 4, 2023, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan and the second day of the event took place on January 21, 2023, at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. It is the 32nd January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the 17th promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom name. The event was held in honor of the NJPW founder Antonio Inoki, who died on October 1, 2022.

In the main event of night 1, Kazuchika Okada defeated Jay White to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. In other prominent matches, Kenny Omega defeated Will Ospreay to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, Keiji Muto teamed with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino to defeat Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Sanada and Bushi) in Muto's final NJPW match, and Kairi defeated Tam Nakano to retain the IWGP Women's Championship – following the match, Mercedes Moné, formerly known as Sasha Banks in WWE, made her NJPW debut. The event's first night also notably featured appearances from wrestlers signed to All Elite Wrestling, WWE, NJPW's sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, and Noah. In the main event of the second night, which was co-promoted by Noah, Tetsuya Naito defeated Kenoh – after the match, Naito was announced as Keiji Muto's last ever opponent at Keiji Muto Grand Final Pro-Wrestling "Last-Love". In other prominent matches, Shingo Takagi defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kazuchika Okada and Togi Makabe wrestled Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura to a no contest, and Hiroshi Tanahashi teamed with Takashi Sugiura, Toru Yano and Satoshi Kojima to defeat Bullet Club (El Phantasmo, Kenta and Gedo) and Naomichi Marufuji.

Night 1 of the event set an all-time viewership record for the NJPW World streaming service.[3]

Production

Other on-screen personnel
Role: Name:
English Commentators Kevin Kelly
Chris Charlton
Gino Gambino
Rocky Romero
Japanese Commentators Shinpei Nogami
Milano Collection A.T.
Katsuhiko Kanazawa
Kazuyoshi Sakai
Togi Makabe (Guest)
Masahiro Chono (Guest)
Ring announcers Hidekazu Tanaka
Kimihiko Ozaki
Makoto Abe
Referees Norio Honaga
Kenta Sato
Yuya Sakamoto
Marty Asami
Red Shoes Unno
Tiger Hattori

Background

The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".[4][5] The show has been promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom name since 2007.[6]

Wrestle Kingdom 17 was officially announced on August 18, 2022, during the finals of the G1 Climax.[7][8] On November 24, NJPW announced a second night for the event, taking place on January 21 at the Yokohama Arena.[9]

The January 4 event featured wrestlers from All Elite Wrestling (AEW), World Wonder Ring Stardom, and WWE. The January 21 event will see involvement from Pro Wrestling Noah.

The event honors the company's founder Antonio Inoki, who died on October 1, 2022.[10]

Storylines

Night 1

Wrestle Kingdom 17 will feature professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches.[11]

At Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, Bullet Club leader Jay White defeated Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.[12] Okada would later win the G1 Climax for a fourth time (and becoming a back-to-back winner), earning himself another title shot and the main event of Wrestle Kingdom. White defended the title against former Bullet Club original Tama Tonga at Declaration of Power, setting up his and Okada's rematch for the main event of Wrestle Kingdom.[13]

Also at Declaration of Power, New Japan Pro-Wrestling president & CEO Takami Ohbari and TV Asahi representative Hiroyoki Mihira announced the creation of the NJPW World Television Championship.[14] The title's first champion will be determined in a sixteen-man single-elimination tournament, which began on October 14, 2022, at night 1 of Battle Autumn, and will conclude at Wrestle Kingdom.[15][16] Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Alex Zayne, David Finlay, and EVIL to reach the finals, and Ren Narita defeated Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, and Sanada for his finals spot.[17]

After Will Ospreay defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at Historic X-Over, his celebration was interrupted by a video from AEW's Kenny Omega. Omega blamed Ospreay for not being a suitable replacement for him in NJPW and, after receiving a call from management, decided to return to the company after four years and challenged Ospreay for the title at Wrestle Kingdom, which Ospreay accepted.[18]

On November 20, at Historic X-Over, Kairi defeated Mayu Iwatani in the finals of a seven-woman single-elimination tournament to become the inaugural IWGP Women's Champion.[19] After the match, Tam Nakano challenged Kairi for the title at Wrestle Kingdom.[19]

After Taiji Ishimori lost a non-title match to Master Wato at Declaration of Power, he was confronted by Hiromu Takahashi and previous champion El Desperado, who both wanted a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship after accusing Ishimori of not being a fighting champion. Ishimori, who wanted to establish himself as the "big one" in the junior heavyweight division, decided to defend his title against both competitors and Wato at Wrestle Kingdom in a four-way match.[20]

On December 22, 2022, NJPW revealed a championship belt to represent the KOPW Championship, replacing the trophy which had been destroyed and vandalized many times since its inception. The belt will be presented to the first provisional champion of 2023, to be determined in the New Japan Rumble, with the last four competitors competing in a four-way match at New Year Dash!! on the following night.

Night 2

On night three of Wrestle Kingdom 16, Los Ingobernables de Japon defeated Kongo at the NJPW and Pro Wrestling Noah joint event on January 8, 2022 at Yokohama Arena.[21] On night one of Wrestle Kingdom 17, Kongo confronted Los Ingobernables de Japon backstage after Los Ingobernables de Japon's lost their match against Keiji Muto, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino.[22] It was announced that Los Ingobernables de Japon and Kongo would take apart in a best of five singles matches on night two with Bushi facing Tadasuke, Takahashi facing Hajime Ohara, Sanada facing Manabu Soya, Shingo Takagi facing Katsuhiko Nakajima and Tetsuya Naito will face Kenoh in the main event.[23]

Results

Night 1 (January 4)
No. Results[1] Stipulations Times
1P Ryohei Oiwa vs. Oleg Boltin ended in a time limit draw Exhibition match 3:00
2P Great-O-Khan, Shingo Takagi, Sho and Toru Yano advanced to the four-way match[lower-alpha 1] New Japan Ranbo to determine who will challenge for the Provisional KOPW 2023 Championship at New Year Dash!![24] 30:37
3P Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima and Togi Makabe defeated Tatsumi Fujinami, Minoru Suzuki and Tiger Mask by pinfall Antonio Inoki Memorial six-man tag team match 9:10
4 Catch 2/2 (TJP and Francesco Akira) (c) (with Gideon Grey) defeated LiYoh (Lio Rush and Yoh) by pinfall Tag team match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship 10:29
5 Kairi (c) defeated Tam Nakano by pinfall Singles match for the IWGP Women's Championship[25][26] 5:56
6 Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) defeated FTR (Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler) (c) by pinfall Tag team match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship[27] 10:10
7 Zack Sabre Jr. defeated Ren Narita by submission Tournament final for the inaugural NJPW World Television Championship[28] 10:32
8 Tama Tonga (with Jado) defeated Karl Anderson (c) by pinfall Singles match for the NEVER Openweight Championship[29] 9:35
9 Keiji Muto, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Sanada and Bushi) by pinfall Six-man tag team match
This was Muto's last NJPW match.[30]		 9:20
10 Hiromu Takahashi defeated Taiji Ishimori (c), El Desperado, and Master Wato by pinfall Four-way match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship[31] 16:43
11 Kenny Omega (with Don Callis) defeated Will Ospreay (c) (with United Empire (Aaron Henare, Catch 2/2 (TJP & Francesco Akira), Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb)) by pinfall Singles match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship[32] 34:38
12 Kazuchika Okada defeated Jay White (c) (with Gedo) by pinfall Singles match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship[33] 33:03
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
  • P – indicates the match took place on the pre-show
Night 2 (January 21)
No. Results[2] Stipulations Times
1P Kosei Fujita and Ryohei Oiwa defeated Taishi Ozawa and Yasutaka Yano by submission Tag team match 12:12
2P Masa Kitamiya and Daiki Inaba defeated Tomohiro Ishii and Oskar Leube by submission Tag team match 10:28
3 Hiroshi Tanahashi, Takashi Sugiura, Toru Yano and Satoshi Kojima defeated Bullet Club (El Phantasmo, Kenta and Gedo) and Naomichi Marufuji by pinfall Eight-man tag team match 12:20
4 El Desperado defeated Yo-Hey by submission Singles match 10:57
5 Alejandro, Junta Miyawaki and Amakusa defeated Master Wato, Ryusuke Taguchi and Tiger Mask by pinfall Six-man tag team match 9:37
6 Kazuchika Okada and Togi Makabe vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura ended in a no contest Tag team match 6:35
7 Tadasuke defeated Bushi by pinfall Singles match 11:09
8 Hiromu Takahashi defeated Hajime Ohara by pinfall Singles match 13:05
9 Manabu Soya defeated Sanada by pinfall Singles match 13:57
10 Shingo Takagi defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima by pinfall Singles match 18:28
11 Tetsuya Naito defeated Kenoh by pinfall Singles match 26:57
<templatestyles src="Plainlist/styles.css"/>
  • P – indicates the match took place on the pre-show

NJPW World Television Championship Inaugural Tournament bracket

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Notes

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See also

References

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External links

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ https://www.thesportster.com/jay-white-defeats-kazuchika-okada-to-become-iwgp-world-heavyweight-champion/
  13. ↑ https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/main-event-official-njpw-wrestle-kingdom-17
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ https://www.njpw1972.com/136015
  18. ↑ https://www.f4wonline.com/news/new-japan/kenny-omega-vs-will-ospreay-set-for-njpw-wrestle-kingdom-17
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/iwgp-junior-heavyweight-title-bout-official-njpw-wrestle-kingdom-17
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.


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