Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4, 2017, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 26th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show.
The show was main evented by Kazuchika Okada successfully defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the 2016 G1 Climax winner Kenny Omega. The match went into history as the then-longest ever held as part of the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show (later surpassed by the main event of night Two of Wrestle Kingdom 15). Other featured matches saw Tetsuya Naito successfully defend the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto defeat Katsuyori Shibata to become the new NEVER Openweight Champion and Hiromu Takahashi defeat Kushida to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. As part of a partnership between NJPW and the American Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion, the ROH World Championship was also defended at the event with Adam Cole defeating Kyle O'Reilly to become the new champion. All in all, the event featured eleven matches (one on the pre-show), eight of which were contested for championships, leading to six title changes.
The main event was widely praised by both journalists and other wrestlers. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, who normally rates matches on a scale of zero to five stars, gave the match a six-star rating, stating that "Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada may have put on the greatest match in pro wrestling history". Both Pro Wrestling Illustrated and Tokyo Sports named the main event Match of the Year.
Production + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:CommentatorsKevin Kelly (English-language announcer)Steve Corino (English-language announcer)Ring announcersMakoto AbeRefereesKenta SatoMarty AsamiRed Shoes UnnoTiger Hattori
Background The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".
Wrestle Kingdom 11 aired worldwide through NJPW's internet streaming site, NJPW World, with both Japanese and English language commentaries. The English commentary was provided by Kevin Kelly and Steve Corino. The event would also air in four parts on the American AXS TV network, starting January 13, 2017, with commentary provided by Jim Ross and Josh Barnett. A shortened version of the event would also air on tape delay after midnight on January 5 on the Japanese TV Asahi network with special guests Ken Yasuda, Masahiro Chono, Suzuko Mimori and Yasutaro Matsuki.
Storylines Wrestle Kingdom 11 featured eleven professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
Wrestle Kingdom 11 was main evented by Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kenny Omega. Okada won the title on June 19, 2016, by defeating Tetsuya Naito at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall. Meanwhile, Omega became the number one contender at the Tokyo Dome by winning the 2016 G1 Climax the following August, defeating Hirooki Goto in the final to become the first foreign winner of NJPW's premier tournament. Afterwards, Okada retained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Pro Wrestling Noah representative Naomichi Marufuji, avenging a loss suffered during the 2016 G1 Climax, while Omega defended his status as the number one contender against Yoshi-Hashi and Hirooki Goto, leading to the match between Okada and Omega being made official for the Tokyo Dome in a press conference on October 11. Omega stated that his goal as champion was to take the IWGP Heavyweight Championship abroad and defend it in countries like the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand in direct opposition to WWE and their global strategy. Okada and Omega were the heads of the Chaos and Bullet Club stables, respectively, and the match at Wrestle Kingdom 11 marked the first singles match between the two. The match also marked Omega's first ever shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Wrestle Kingdom 11 would also feature Tetsuya Naito defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, against Hiroshi Tanahashi. In January 2016, Shinsuke Nakamura was stripped of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship after he announced that he was leaving NJPW for WWE, which led to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kenny Omega being put up in a match to determine the new champion. Omega went on to win the match on February 14 at The New Beginning in Niigata, which led to a rematch being booked in ladder match on June 19 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall. However, before the match, Tanahashi suffered a legitimate shoulder injury and was forced to pull out, being replaced by Michael Elgin, who went on to defeat Omega to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion. Elgin then entered a storyline rivalry with Tetsuya Naito, during which Naito was backed by his Los Ingobernables de Japón (L.I.J.) stable, while Elgin had the backing of Hiroshi Tanahashi, who had started his own rivalry with L.I.J. member Sanada, after losing to him during the 2016 G1 Climax. On September 25 at Destruction in Kobe, Naito defeated Elgin for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in a match that featured outside interference from the entire L.I.J. as well as Tanahashi. A rematch was booked between the two for the November 5 Power Struggle event, but Elgin was forced to pull out of the match after suffering an eye injury. Naito instead went on to defeat Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestler Jay Lethal to retain the title. Following the match, Tanahashi, who had defeated Sanada earlier in the event, confronted Naito, challenging him to a title match at the Tokyo Dome, which Naito accepted. The match broke Tanahashi's seven-year streak of Tokyo Dome main events, although Tanahashi did bring up the possibility of NJPW setting up a fan vote to decide whether the Intercontinental or Heavyweight Championship match would main event the show. This harked back to the 2014 Wrestle Kingdom 8 event, where Naito and Kazuchika Okada's IWGP Heavyweight Championship match lost the main event spot to Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura's IWGP Intercontinental Championship match, following a fan vote. Naito, however, claimed that he was against a fan vote, stating that he had always felt that the Heavyweight Championship should main event the Tokyo Dome and him being the Intercontinental Champion had not changed his mind. Naito had yet to win a singles match in the Tokyo Dome, having lost all five of his previous matches.
Another title match would see Kushida defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Hiromu Takahashi. This match was set up at Power Struggle on November 5, when, after Kushida had defeated Bushi to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, he was confronted by the returning Takahashi, who challenged him to a title match. Takahashi was revealed as the surprise "time bomb", NJPW had promoted for the past months. Takahashi made his debut in August 2010 and wrestled on NJPW undercards until June 2013, when he was sent on an indefinite overseas learning excursion, originally to the United Kingdom and eventually to Mexico and the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion, where he adopted a mask and the ring name "Kamaitachi". Takahashi, as Kamaitachi, returned to Japan on January 24, 2016, wrestling Dragon Lee for the CMLL World Super Lightweight Championship at the NJPW and CMLL co-produced Fantastica Mania 2016 event. Following the event, Takahashi returned to CMLL, where he remained until the following April, after which he began wrestling in the United States. During his Power Struggle return, Takahashi was once again promoted under his real name and not as Kamaitachi. On December 10, Takahashi attacked Kushida during a tag team match and afterwards joined Los Ingobernables de Japón. Six days later, Takahashi wrestled his official return match, where he and Tetsuya Naito defeated Kushida and Hiroshi Tanahashi with him pinning Kushida for the win.
The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship would also be defended at Wrestle Kingdom 11 with The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) defending against Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero). Roppongi Vice earned the shot at the title by winning the 2016 Super Jr. Tag Tournament on November 5 at Power Struggle. Despite entering the tournament in the midst of a storyline, where Beretta and Romero had begun showing signs of dissension, the two went on to defeat A. C. H. and Taiji Ishimori in the final to win the tournament and immediately afterwards challenged The Young Bucks to a title match at the Tokyo Dome, which was made official two days later.
The rest of the matches for Wrestle Kingdom 11 were announced on December 12, after the conclusion of the 2016 World Tag League. On December 10, G.B.H. (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) defeated reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) in the final to win their second consecutive World Tag League. This marked the first time in 22 years that NJPW's top tag team tournament had been won by the same team in two consecutive years. Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh had won the tournament in 1993 and 1994, when it was known as the Super Grade Tag League. After the win, G.B.H. challenged Guerrillas of Destiny to a rematch for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, which was made official two days later. Earlier in 2016, both teams had met in two matches for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, which were both won by Guerrillas of Destiny; first on April 10 at Invasion Attack 2016, where they won the IWGP Tag Team Championship and again on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016, where they successfully defended the title. On December 16, Toru Yano returned to NJPW from a stay in Pro Wrestling Noah, requesting to be added to the IWGP Tag Team Championship match with Tomohiro Ishii as his partner, despite the fact that Ishii had already been booked for another match at Wrestle Kingdom 11. The next day, Yano and Ishii attacked both G.B.H. and the Guerrillas of Destiny, stealing the latter's IWGP Tag Team Championship belts. On December 19, Yano and Ishii were officially added to the IWGP Tag Team Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 11, making it a three-way.
The NEVER Openweight Championship would also be defended at Wrestle Kingdom 11 with defending champion Katsuyori Shibata taking on Hirooki Goto. Shibata and Goto were high school classmates, who started a storyline rivalry against each other following Shibata's September 2012 return to NJPW. The rivalry lasted until January 2014, when the two came together to form a tag team, eventually winning both the 2014 World Tag League and the IWGP Tag Team Championship. The team disbanded in March 2016, when Goto joined the Chaos stable. Shibata and Goto did not face each other until the 2016 World Tag League, where, on December 5, Shibata and his tag team partner Yuji Nagata defeated Goto and Tomohiro Ishii with Shibata pinning Goto for the win. Five days later, Goto avenged the loss by pinning Shibata in a non-tournament tag team match and afterwards made a challenge for Shibata's NEVER Openweight Championship. The match was made official two days later. Prior to the match at Wrestle Kingdom 11, Shibata brought up the possibility of retiring the NEVER Openweight Championship.