Awesome / New Japan Pro-Wrestling

• The 1995 Collision in Korea, a joint show with WCW, a peace festival and the highest attended pro wrestling event on record. And it was preceded by Inoki taking both Japanese and Korean officials to the grave site of Rikidozan to pay tribute. But, to add perspective, this event took place in North Korea, which given its reputation and almost zero background or fanbase for professional wrestling, almost certainly had compulsory attendance.
• The wars fought between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada from 2012 to present date. The two have had multiple battles and matches against one another with each match being a classic. Okada came out of nowhere in Febuary 2012 to beat Tanahashi ending his four hundred plus day reign to win the IWGP Heavyweight title shocking the world as he was last seen as a Curtain Jerker in TNA who only worked Xplosion. Took a Level in Badass? Yes! However Tanahashi would bounce back and regain the title in June. Okada would attempt to regain it at the January 4th 2013 annual show (New Japan's Wrestlemania held in the Tokyo Dome) but came up short but bounced back and won it in April for a second time. The two met again but this time the match ended in a draw. The fifth and final time they met with the IWGP title on the line, Okada would successfully defend the belt against his rival and afterwards was dubbed The Ace of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Each match is highly regarded and well worth viewing as the lowest ranked match of the series is Four and a half Stars as they have two Five Star matches between them!
• Okada continued being Awesome when he at 24 years of age won the G1 Climax Tournament in 2012. A yearly tournament that has been won by André the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Vader, Keiji Mutoh, and others.
• Hiroshi Tanahashi and Minoru Suzuki's match at Kings of Pro Wrestling 2012 for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
• Low Ki enters Wrestle Kingdom 2013 show dressed up as Agent 47 and goes out and competes in a triple threat match despite wearing the suit and performs many of his signature moves with zero difficulty.
• Minoru Suzuki's entrance to Wrestle Kingdom 7, with Ayumi Nakahara performing a live rendition of his theme song. KAZE Ni Nare!
• Tetsuya Naito winning the 2013 G1 Climax.
• At Wrestle Kingdom 8:
  • The Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and KUSHIDA) arrive in a DeLorean... with KUSHIDA wearing a Marty McFly jacket!
  • Satoshi Kojima winning the NWA Heavyweight Championship at the event defeating Rob Conway and sending Bruce Tharpe into a temper tantrum.
• Tomohiro Ishii throughout his career has never really achieved much, often working opening matches and with no significant feuds or achievments aside from losing his hair against Tiger Mask. But he became a cult favorite amongst the crowd and Dave Meltzer claimed he was the most underrated guy in Japanese wrestling. That all changes in 2013 when he starts picking up wins, and not just against regular guys, but against guys who were former world champions, including Tanahashi and Nakamura, and trained MMA professional Katsuyori Shibata with their match on August 4th in the 2013 G1 Climax being given 5 Stars! He then follows up this momentum by challenging Tetsuya Naito for the NEVER Openweight Championship and wins his first major championship in his career.
  • Ishii would still never become a top guy but as of 2019 you can almost guarantee any singles match Ishii is in will be extremely good and every tournament he is in he will likely be the MVP.
• Hiroshi Tanahashi's career is made of Awesome. He started in 1999 but it looked like his career was going to be cut short when he was stabbed by his former girlfriend. After recovering from it and with tremendous fan support he goes on to become New Japan's most popular superstar dubbed "The Ace of New Japan" going on to win numerous awards, tournaments, and titles including a four hundred day plus reign where he set the record for most title defenses in a reign with eleven successful title defenses
• Okada's entrance at The New Beginning. Which must be seen to believe
• On April 6's Invasion Attack 2014:
  • Prince Devitt is in a Loser Must Leave match against his former best friend and long time tag partner Ryusuke Taguchi. Devitt refuses the help of The Young Bucks, turning away from Bullet Club and rejecting the villainous ways he had embraced the past year, and when the Bucks try to attack him he dives out onto them making sure no one interferes. The two put on a great match and in the end Taguchi gets the win against him and the two embrace and shake hands afterwards rebuilding their friendship they once had as Devitt leaves New Japan.
  • At the same event Bullet Club lost their founder and leader, but they gained someone else who made his intentions known when he attacks Okada after his match. They may have lost the Real Rock 'n' Rolla but they have gained...The Phenomenal One.
• At Wrestling Dontaku 2014 Bullet Club celebrates its one year anniversary with AJ Styles winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
• On the Back to the Yokohama Arena show:
  • Bullet Club's newest member Yujiro looks to take out Okada during his rematch against Styles (Yujiro's Face–Heel Turn resulted in AJ winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship a month prior) when Tomohiro Ishii who Yujiro attacked earlier in the night appears out of nowhere and lays him out with a LARIAT making sure no shenanigans happen and the match was just between Okada and Styles. AJ retained in the end but he had to earn that one all by himself.
  • Speaking of Ishii, he had another outstanding MOTYC against Kota Ibushi successfully defending the NEVER title against him.
• Ricochet and KUSHIDA's match in the finals of the Best of the Super Juniors.
• At Dominion 2014:
  • The Time Splitters becoming two time IWGP Jr Tag Champs by defeating The Young Bucks.
  • Kota Ibushi and Ricochet's match for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship at the same event.
• The 2014 G1 Climax:
  • Togi Makabe fighting through the whole tournament with a fractured jaw that he suffered on the first night.
  • Yuji Nagata showing why he's called "The Anti Aging Hero" when as the oldest at 47 he shows time hasn't effected him at all.
  • Tomoaki Honma, despite losing every match he had, had the crowd behind him all the way and put on spectacular performances in his matches, never giving up even when he was eliminated from contention. What become known as Honmamania was born.
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan, after a poor showing the year before due to injuries, shows he's some got some left in the tank.
  • Katsuyori Shibata and Hiroshi Tanahashi's match on Day 4
  • The match between AJ Styles and Minoru Suzuki at Day 7 of The G1 Tournament. The two Aces Tanahashi and Okada have the night off for it, so what does reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champ AJ and one of the founders of Pancrase Minoru do? Go out and have a fantastic match against one another from start to finish. Many pundits naming it not only The Top match of The Tournament (So Far) But as a Match of The Year.
  • Tomohiro Ishii hitting Bad Luck Fale with a brainbuster. For those curious, Ishii is five foot seven 220 pounds. Fale is six fight four inches and is much larger than him. Yet Ishii gets him up in the air and plants him with his signature move.
  • Okada winning the 2014 G1 Climax. The whole tournament in fact was awesome with at least one four star match on every show including the Styles/Minoru classic above. In the end, the Rainmaker won the G1 for the second time in three years.
• At Destruction 2014:
  • After Seven long years after having lost it, Ryusuke Taguchi finally becomes IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion again.
  • Also a CMOH but Tanahashi and Shibata's match at the event. It's well known and documented that the two have history and grudges agaisnt one another dating back when both began their careers. After the match they have Tanahashi pulls Shibata up and they stare face to face at one another until Tanahashi holds out his hand and Shibata shakes it and they have themselves a Man Hug to a big reaction from the crowd.
• The announcement that Jim Ross will be announcing for Wrestle Kingdom 2015.
• At King of Pro Wrestling 2014:
  • Tomohiro Ishii wins the NEVER Openweight Championship for a second time after defeating Yujiro Takahashi.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi is facing AJ Styles in the main event when Jeff Jarrett goes to interfere and nail him with his guitar. Only for out of nowhere, Naofumi Yamamoto (or who you might better know in WWE as Yoshi Tatsu!) appears and attacks Jarrett with kicks and blows preventing him from intefering. With this unexpected rescue by him, Hiroshi Tanahashi manages to beat AJ and become a record breaking seven time IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
• Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto's match for the NEVER Openweight title at Power Struggle 2014.
• Meiyu Tag (Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata) winning the 2014 G1 Tag League. The duo struggled at first as they lost their first three matches and with the odds heavily stacked against them. But they didn't give up at all and won their last four remaining matches and with a little bit of luck and help from guys in other matches won their block advancing to the finals. There, they faced off against Bullet Club's Gallows and Anderson who won last year and were looking to repeat. But in the end Shibata and Goto's hands were raised as they won and also earned themselves a title shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championships at Wrestle Kingdom.
• All of Wrestle Kingdom 9. Four days into 2015 and NJPW may have put out a show that can't be topped. Highlights include:
  • reDRagon retaining the IWGP Jr. tag Belts over The Forever Hooligans, Young Bucks, and Time Splitters
  • Tomoaki Honma scoring a big win and finally hitting his Kokeshi headbutt
  • Minoru Suzuki defeating Kazushi Sakuraba in a UWFI rules match
  • Togi Makabe and Tomohiro Ishii's war for the NEVER Openweight Championship
  • Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto finally winning the IWGP Tag Team Championships
  • AJ Styles performing a Styles Clash from the turnbuckle to beat Tetsuya Naito.
  • Shinsuke Nakamura and Kota Ibushi's classic battle for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi retaining the IWGP Heavyweight Championship over his old enemy Kazuchika Okada in the main event of the show in a tremendous matchup that has already been named as Match of The Year.
• From The New Beginning in Sendai:
  • Tomohiro Ishii and Tomoaki Honma's match for the vacated NEVER Openweight Championship. The crowd was so involved in it as both men did everything they could short of murdering the other, in the end the Stone Pitbull hoisted the title overhead in this tremendous match that many are saying Match of the Year.
  • Hiroyoshi Tenzan winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.
• A number at Invasion Attack 2015.
  • Okada, since losing to Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 9 had been broken both physically and mentally and found himself facing a roadblock in the form of Bad Luck Fale. Fale would beat Okada on numerous occassions in single and tag action. But at the event at Sumo Hall, Okada would have a rebirth as he battled the behemoth of Bullet Club. Okada would not only get Fale up into a Tombstone Piledriver but would then follow it with the Rainmaker to finally beat him.
  • AJ Styles defends the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi in the main event, the two exchanged counters after counter with each escaping the other's move as they had scouted one another. Ibushi at the end goes for the Phoenix Splash but AJ CATCHES him in midair to the shock of those in attendance and transitions it to the Styles Clash and hits move to retain the belt. But then, while he is celebrating, Okada runs in and lays him out with his own finisher and stands over the champ hoisting the title over his shoulder, letting everyone know that the Rainmaker has returned and he's coming for the belt.
• Togi Makabe regaining the NEVER Openweight Championship, the belt he never lost at Hino Kuni.
• Hirooki Goto defeating Shinsuke Nakamura to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Wrestling Dontaku 2015. Goto for years as been labeled as a guy who can't win the big one when it counts and may have finally proven them wrong.
• KUSHIDA winning the 2015 Best of The Super Juniors and his match with Kyle O'Reilly in the finals.
• From Dominion 2015:
  • Katsuyori Shibata and Kazushi Sakuraba's match. Two mixed martial artists going at it using kicks, blows, and submissions.
  • KUSHIDA defeating Kenny Omega to win the IWGP Jr. Championship. Countering the One Winged Angel into his Kimura Lock to win it.
  • Hirooki Goto successfully defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura.
  • In the main event for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Kazuchika Okada, after his heartbreaking loss six months ago, reaches the top of the mountain once again as he captures the belt.
  • One for Red Shoes, the referee of the event, in the match above. Fed up with Bullet Club's inteference, he throws them out and orders them to leave and while doing so gives them a "Suck It!" crotch chop.
• From the 2015 G1 Climax:
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kota Ibushi's match on the first day.
  • Michael Elgin, much like Styles last year, winning the crowd over with his performances in his first appearances with NJPW.
  • The match between Yuji Nagata and Okada
  • Tomoaki Honma finally breaking his G1 losing streak and winning his first match defeating Tomohiro Ishii, the crowd at Korakuen Hall erupted when he landed his Kokeshi and picked up the win.
  • The finals of Block A between Tanahashi and Styles
  • The finals of Block B between Nakamura and Okada
  • Michael Elgin and Tomohiro Ishii's match. Two guys who just went in there and pummeled one another
  • Hiroshi Tanhashi winning the 2015 G1 Climax, in a classic bout against arch-rival Shinsuke Nakamura.
• Matt Sydal and Ricochet teaming up to win the Super Junior Tag Tournament. Their finisher? Dual Shooting Star Presses!
• Great Bash Heel, Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma winning the 2015 G1 Tag League. Especially for Honma who had come up so close in several matches and events before over the years only to lose and can finally add an accomplishment to his career.
• From Wrestle Kingdom 10
  • Katsuyori Shibata defeating Tomohiro Ishii to win the NEVER Openweight Championship, capturing the first singles title of his career.
  • Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma becoming the new IWGP Tag Team Champions.
  • The bout between Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles for the Intercontinental Championship.
  • The main event featuring Okada and Tanahashi, perhaps the final page being writting in their amazing rivarly.
• Máscara Dorada, with an assist from Atlantis to get rid of Tetsuya Naito and Los Ingobernables, defeats Bushi to win back the CMLL Welterweight Championship.
• The match between Kamaitachi and Dragon Lee for the CMLL Lightweight Championship from Fantasticamania 2016.
• At The New Beginning in Osaka 2016:
  • Katsuyori Shibata's successful defense of the NEVER Openweight Championship, defeating Tomohiro Ishii in a hard hitting rematch to cement his claim as champion.
  • Ricochet and Matt Sydal winning the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championships.
• At Invasion Attack 2016:
  • The IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship match between Kushida and the debuting Will Ospreay.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin and the returning (after nearly a year and a half from a neck injury) Yoshi Tatsu winning the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Titles.
  • How about Tetsuya Naito, two years after arguably his greatest humiliation, defeating Kazuchika Okada once and for all and finally claiming the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and in the process becoming the most over man in all of NJPW. All he had to do was to become the most uncaring asshole in the company, but Japan loves him for it.
• Yuji Nagata winning the NEVER Openweight Championship at Wrestling Dontaku 2016. Especially since Katsuyori Shibata had been dismissive of him and other members of the Third Generation of New Japan. Nagata showing that The Dads of New Japan still have some left in the tank and aren't done yet.
• At the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors:
  • Kushida vs Kyle O'Reilly from Day 1, a rematch from last years finals that lived up to its expectations.
  • The match between Will Ospreay and Ricochet, a case of who can top who when it comes to high flying, which received widespread attention in the professional wrestling world. To illustrate: Ospreay and Ricochet got "Holy Shit" and "This is Awesome" chants. IN JAPAN. IN KORAUKEN HALL.
  • The finals of the tournament between Ospreay and Ryusuke Taguchi.
• Michael Elgin capturing the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in the first ever Ladder Match held in New Japan at Dominion 2016.
  • Katsuyori Shibata and Yuji Nagata's rematch from the same event, leading to the fans in attendance and the announcers getting emotional.
• From The 2016 G1 Climax
  • Day 1
    • Hiroyoshi Tenzan, who had been lobbying for weeks to be inserted into the tournament after being left out and being granted the spot of his long time partner Satoshi Kojima, defeats Tomohiro Ishii in a hard hitting match with the crowd fully behind him.
    • The match between Sanada and Hiroshi Tanahashi.
    • The two aces of their respective companies, Kazuchika Okada and Naomichi Marufiji fighting one another and Marufuji scoring a big win and possible title shot down the line.
  • Day 2
    • Tomoaki Honma scoring a major upset defeating Katsuyori Shibata and winning his first match.
  • Day 4
    • Katsuyori Shibata vs Katsuhiko Nakajima, culminating in Nakajima trying to beat Shibata using his own finisher The PK, only for it to be blocked by Shibata and lays out him with a sleeper and knocks him out with The PK to win the match.
    • The Main event betwen Tetsuya Naito vs Michael Elgin
  • Day 5
    • Tomohiro Ishii will never have a height advantage against an opponent, but he was dwarfed in his match against Bad Luck Fale. Ishii despite his opponent having a foot on him and over a hundred pounds weight advantage, fought on and hit Fale with everything he had, despite taking twice the damage from Fale that he dished out to him. But, gradually he manages to wear Fale down as the match goes on and in a feat of great strength, manages to get him up and deliver his finisher to him and win the match
  • Day 7
    • The brawl between Tomohiro Ishii and Naomichi Marufuji. The Stone Pitbull told Marufuji when the bell rang to bring it and Marufuji did.
    • To say Hiroshi Tanahashi had a less than stellar beginning was an understatement. He lost his first three matches in the tournament and faced a mountain of a task and was up against a nemesis in Bad Luck Fale, who for the past two years in the tournament had beaten him. Tanahashi takes it to the big man but it looks like he's going to go 0-4 as Fale has him up for The Bad Luck Fall. But Tanahashi fights out of it and catches Fale by surprise with a backslide and holds him down for the three count winning his first match. Tanahashi celebrates with the crowd and busts out the Air Guitar.
  • Day 8
    • The match between Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Yuji Nagata
    • The Main event of the show between Katsuyori Shibata and Tetsuya Naito, ending in Shibata having the sleeper locked in on Naito and despite Naito's best efforts passes out giving Shibata the win.
  • Day 11
    • The match between Tanahashi and Ishii, with the once in a century talent pulling off two High Fly Flows to even out his record.
  • Day 12
    • Shibata escaping The One Winged Angel of Kenny Omega and locking in the sleeper and following it up with The PK to win.
    • Tetsuya Naito countering Katsuhiko Nakajima's finisher in mid move into his own finisher
    • Michael Elgin vs Yoshi Hashi
  • Day 13
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs Kazuchika Okada, The Stone Pitbull vs The Rainmaker in a Match of The Year candidate.
  • Day 17
    • Okaka vs Tanahashi Part VIII
  • Day 18
    • Tetsuya Naito vs Kenny Omega. The Leaders of Los Ingobernales de Japan and Bullet Club
    • There's a spot where Naito is on the outside behind the guardrail. Omega is in the ring and does an insane springboard plancha over the guardrail. The spot before it? Omega powerbombing Naito through one of the ringside tables.
  • Day 19
    • Hirooki Goto vs Kenny Omega: G1 Climax 26 Finals. Omega wins, becoming the first ever gaijin to win the G1 Climax and punches his ticket to the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 11 at the Tokyo Dome.
• Kushida winning The 2016 Super J Cup, with help from Jushin Thunder Liger and Ryusuke Taguchi to counter Suzukigun's attempts to cheat.
• Katsuyori Shibata successfully defending The NEVER Openwight Title against Bobby Fish at Destruction in Tokyo
• Tetsuya Naito vs Michael Elgin for The IWGP Intercontinental Title from Destruction in Kobe
  • Also from the same event, Ricochet Satoshi Kojima and David Finlay winning The 6-man tag titles.
• From King of Pro Wrestling 2016
  • Katsuyori Shibata vs Kyle O'Reilly.
  • Kenny Omega defending The Tokyo Dome shot against Hirooki Goto
  • The IWGP Heavyweight Championship match between Kazuchika Okada and Naomichi Marufuji, highlights include Marufuji performing a piledriver on the ring apron and Okada looking like he's going for a tombstone only to instead hit Marufuji's own finisher on him.
• Power Struggle 2016
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi gaining a measure of revenge against Sanada defeating him and later challenging Tetsuya Naito for Wrestle Kingdom 11
  • Roppongi Vice managing to overcome months of tension between them to win the Super Junior Tag Tournament
  • Hiromu Takahashi, aka Kamaitachi, making his return to New Japan after a three year excursion.
• Great Bash Heel going back to back in The World Tag League and defeating The Guerillas of Destiny in the 2016 finals.
• Bullet Club has a new member. His name? Cody Rhodes!
• A big blockbuster announcement for fans of Tekken. Kazuchika Okada is the new King in Tekken 7!
• December 17th at Korakuen Hall, Yuji Nagata vs Manabu Nakanishi, two men pushing 50 years of age go out and turn back Father Time, especially Nakanishi.
• From Wrestle Kingdom 11
  • The announcement that in July, New Japan would be hosting its first shows for the first time ever in the U.S.
  • Roppongi Vice capturing the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships from the Young Bucks, making Rocky Romero a record seven time Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champion.
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs Kushida.
  • Hirooki Goto vs Katsuyori Shibata.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tetsuya Naito.
  • Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada, at the time, only the third match in pro wrestling history to be rated six stars by Dave Meltzer.
• January 5th New Year's Dash 2017, after two years of absence, Suzukigun returns.
• From The New Beginning in Osaka 2017
  • Katusyori Shibata vs Will Ospreay
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs Dragon Lee, two men who have hated it each other for years in Mexico facing each other once again and pulling out all the stops
  • Tetsuya Naito vs Michael Elgin
• The 45th Anniversary Show
  • Tencozy, Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan becoming a record setting 6 time IWGP Tag Champions
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs Ryusuke Taguchi
  • Kazuchika Okada vs Tiger Mask W
• Katsuyori Shibata winning the 2017 New Japan Cup.
• From Sakura Genesis
  • Juice Robinson scoring a major upset when he pins Tetsuya Naito in a match and issues a challenge for The Intercontinental Title
  • The Main Event of Katsuyori Shibata vs Kazuchika Okada, an incredible (if slightly tragic) match that had the crowd's attention from beginning to end.
• Hiromu Takahashi vs Ricochet, special mention to the opening when Ricochet dives out onto Takahashi as he's making his entrance and then after throwing him inside hits a Springboard 450 Splash to nearly win the IWGP Jr belt in under a minute!
• Juice Robinson vs Tetsuya Naito for The Intercontinental Title, Juice having his breakout match and cementing being accepted by the fans.
• Kenny Omega vs Tomohiro Ishii from Wrestling Dontaku 2017. Both men busting out numerous moves, including both Omega and Ishii pulling off reverse hurricaranas
• Will Ospreay and Jay White stealing the show at War of The Worlds 2017
• Ospreay/Ricochet II from BOSJ 2017, many saying its just as good if not better than the one from the year before
• In the final match of his last Tournament of his legendary career, Jushin Thunder Liger faces Taichi of Suzukigun, and true to form his stablemates comes out and attack him and try to humiliate him and rip off his mask when Kushida and Ryusuke Taguchi hit the ring to even out the odds and drive them away, with his mask and outfit torn, the 53 year old legend rallies one final time and hits his Shotei palm strike, the Liger Bomb which he invented and a Brainbuster to put Taichi away and win his final Best of The Super Juniors match but also his 100th tournament match victory
• Kushida vs Will Ospreay in the 2017 Best of The Super Juniors finals. Outstanding match from start to finish, highlights include.
  • Kushida countering Ospreay's Os Cutter finisher into an Armbar in midair
  • Ospreay delivering a reverse hurricarana on the outside ring apron.
  • Ospreay takes Kushida up top preparing to finish it but Kushida fights back and delivers his new finisher, Back to The Future from the top rope onto the mat. He then still having hold of Ospreay lifts him back up and delivers it again and this time puts him down for the count
• Dominion 2017
  • Kushida since losing at Wrestle Kingdom 11 and getting destroyed in under two minutes at Sakura Genesis by Hiromu Takahashi fought his way back into title contention by winnning the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors as mentioned above. There at Dominion he faces Hiromu once more for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight title. But this time, things turn out different for Kushida and using his new finisher and his favorite move the Hoverboard Lock, regains the Championship
  • Tetsuya Naito has vowed that if he is not defeated, he will forcefully retire the Intercontinental Title and over the months his shabby treatment of it has left the belt broken and battered. Standing in his way is Hiroshi Tanahashi who has sworn to save the belt. The two go at it in another classic and despite everything Naito does, Tanahashi fights back and channeling his former tag partner and rival Shinsuke Nakamura for his finisher, forces Naito to submit and win the Intercontinental Championship.
  • Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada, The Cleaner and The Rainmaker, in a match that is as good if not greater than their historic Wrestle Kingdom 11 match.
• Kota Ibushi returns for the 2017 G1 Climax
• The G1 Special in the US had an amazing first night and was a definite success for New Japan's first show stateside, selling out the arena in less than two hours, and trending on Twitter worldwide. And some of the matches were incredible:
  • The opener, a ten man tag between Bullet Club and Chaos is nonstop action from the start with everyone showing their skills. Highlights include a Springboard Shooting Star Press from Will Ospreay to the outside. Moments later, Bad Luck Fale grabs Beretta and delivers his finisher, The Bad Luck Fall tossing him over the top rope onto everyone outside. In the end, Rocky Romero manages to counter the finisher of the Young Bucks and swipe the win.
  • Juice Robinson and Zack Sabre Jr. in their first round match in the IWGP US Heavyweight Title tournament showcased why Juice has earned the respect of the Japanese crowd. And ZSJ's technical prowess is highlighted with some very nasty submissions that leave Robinson no choice but to submit.
  • War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe) taking on the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa) in a no disqualification match. G.O.D hit an assisted powerbomb onto a pair of set up chairs. Then, Hanson has Lao up in a backbreaker position over a table and Rowe leaps off the top rope with a diving leg drop, putting Lao threw the table and scoring War Machine the win.
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs Tetsuya Naito in the US Title tournament. Ishii shows why he's a threat with dangerous headbutts and hard strikes. It takes a stalling brainbuster, but Naito is put down for the 3.
  • Kenny Omega vs Michael Elgin in the tournament. Kenny comes out to a massive ovation from the crowd. Elgin shows his strength early on, proving why he's Unbreakable. He even hits a top rope sitout crucifix powerbomb on Kenny! Omega fights back with some brutal V-Triggers and puts Big Mike away with the One Winged Angel.
  • Main Event time: Newly crowned Ring of Honor World Champion Cody taking on Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Okada is able to take down the challenger, even hitting Cody's own finishing move against him. The end comes after a counter from the Crossrhodes into a spinning Tombstone piledriver followed up with a hard Rainmaker to give Okada another successful defense.
• Night 2 of The G1 Special turned out to be just as good.
  • The opener is fun with all getting a chance to shine. The finish concludes with David Finlay, Kushida and Jushin Liger each applying a submission and getting a triple tapout.
  • Semi Final: Jay Lethal vs Kenny Omega. At first glance it looks like a cakewalk for Omega as Lethal is hurt with taped ribs but Lethal refuses to go down and fights and crawls his way and coming close several times before being put down.
  • Semi Final: Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr. A contrast of styles of brawling vs technical, Sabre targets the arm of Ishii using kicks and submissions to wear him down and traps him in a full body submission and despite Ishii screaming in pain crawls his way to the ropes to be able to break the hold and Sabre shortly afterwards delivers a Penalty Kick to Ishii only for him to absorb the blow and deliver a Lariat to Sabre and then follow it up with his Brainbuster finisher to win.
  • IWGP US Final: Kenny Omega vs Tomohiro Ishii to crown the first Champion. The two have had two matches before in the year against one another and they waste little time in topping them. Despite having wrestled earlier neither man refuses to back down from the other. Ishii even uses Omega's own finisher The One Winged Angel on him to try and win with Omega barely getting out. After half an hour, The Cleaner manages to put The Stone Pitbull's shoulders down to the mat for three and become the first ever IWGP United States Champion and during his victory promo, promises that New Japan will return to the States next year
• The 2017 G1 Climax
  • Night 1
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs Hirooki Goto, current stablemates but former enemies going at it setting the tone for the tournament.
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr
    • Kota Ibushi's return in two years to New Japan facing Tetsuya Naito and Ibushi shows he hasn't lost a step during his absence, even in defeat.
  • Night 2
    • Juice Robinson's stock continues to raise in 2017 when taking part in his first G1 Climax scores a win over Satoshi Kojima
    • Tama Tonga countering Michael Elgin's attempted super Death Valley Driver into his former stablemate Karl Anderson finisher the Gun Stun for the win.
    • Kenny Omega vs. Minoru Suzuki saw a lot of Bullet Club vs. Suzuki-gun antics when TAKA Michinoku, Taichi and El Desperado came out to assault Kenny while down. Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale come out to even the odds, kicking the match into high gear and ending with a victory for the Biz Cliz's leader.
  • Night 3
    • Yuji Nagata is entering his last tournament of his great career and although he's started 0-2, he's pulling back father time to remind everyone why's called the Anti Aging Hero
    • Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr. A often hailed dream match by many finally happens as the two meet. It appears that Zack has an answer for everything as the submission specialist would always find a counter to Ibushi's assault. But Ibushi fights on and looks to go for his finisher only for Sabre to lock in a guillotine choke on him but for Ibushi to counter it and this time hit his sit out powerbomb and score the win.
  • Night 4
    • Unbreakable Michael Elgin vs The Rainmaker Kazuchika Okada
  • Night 5
    • Kota Ibushi vs Tomohiro Ishii. In his previous match Ibushi showed he could grapple and apply, that he wasn't a one dimensional flyer. This time he shows he can go all out and brawl and trade blows with anyone, even The Stone Pitbull.
  • Night 7
    • Zack Sabre Jr using his technical expertise to apply holds and wear down Bad Luck Fale and use his body against him to score the win.
  • Night 8
    • Michael Elgin vs Kenny Omega, fantastic matchup culminating in Elgin pulling off the Burning Hammer to get the win.
    • During the matchup betweeen Evil and Minoru Suzuki, Suzukigun comes out to attack Evil, only for Hiromu and Bushi to appear and fight off Suzuki-gun and Evil gets a major upset when he hits his finisher and pins the NEVER Openweight Champion.
    • Okada had been dismissive of Satoshi Kojima, wanting to know why he was allowed in the tournament and someone else should have been instead. When they face each other, Okada is being a major Jerkass mocking him and the fans who are fully behind Kojima. But his arrogance comes back to bite him when Kojima reminds him and the audience just how good he was and still is.
  • Night 11
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs Yuji Nagata
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kota Ibushi
  • Night 14: A crazy night of unexpected shocks.
    • Satoshi Kojima ending his drought by defeating Sanada, and in the process eliminating him from advancing.
    • In previous Minoru Suzuki matches it was a given that his henchmen would get involved and the only way to counter that was if you also were in a stable and had guys come out. Not so with Michael Elgin, he disposes of El Desperado and Taichi himself when they try to and goes on to beat Suzuki.
    • Juice Robinson shocks everyone when he counters Kenny Omega's One Winged Angel into a rollup and pins him, causing the crowd and commentators to completely lose their minds. That would have been the upset of the night...until...
    • Evil vs Kazuchika Okada: For the first time in a year, Okada is defeated in singles action. Osaka exploded when Evil survived two Rainmakers and countered a third into his eponymous STO finisher and pinned the IWGP Heavyweight Champion. And he did it cleanly, with no interference or help, something even his stablemates Naito and Sanada couldn't do.
  • Night 15
    • Blue Justice rallies as Nagata battles Zack Sabre Jr and scores his much sought after first win, eliminating Sabre from advancing.
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii
  • Night 16
    • Minoru Suzuki vs Kazuchika Okada: Suzuki takes Okada to the limit and fights the IWGP Heavyweight Champion to a draw.
  • Night 17
    • Yuji Nagata's emotionally filled final G1 Climax match against his former pupil Bad Luck Fale. Fale even breaks character at the end and gives Nagata a Too Sweet and a bow, which Nagata returns with a salute.
    • Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii
    • Tetsuya Naito defeats Hiroshi Tanahashi, winning The A Block and advancing to the finals of the tournament.
  • Night 18
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega meet once again, this time, Kenny does what he hasn't been able to do before: pin Okada's shoulders to the mat, and in doing so wins The B Block and heads to the finals.
  • Night 19
    • Katsuyori Shibata returns from what was thought to be a career ending injury to a huge pop, and conveys a flood of emotion with only six words: "I am alive! That is all!"
    • Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi capturing the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team titles from the Young Bucks.
    • Killer Elite Squad returns, wiping out War Machine and the Guerrillas of Destiny, and challenging for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships.
    • The return of Daryl, Hiromu Takahashi's pet stuffed cat, who was seemingly destroyed by Bad Luck Fale. He also received a massive pop and put a big smile on Takahashi's face during an LIJ vs. Chaos tag match.
    • The main event: Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega, in a rematch of last year's G1 B block finals. Things get ugly real quick after a botched pile driver attempt on the announce table by Naito seemed to kill Omega. Both men went for every brutal and dangerous move they could devise, showed they knew each other well by countering each other's finishing moves in the craftiest of ways, and even pulling some older tricks out of their arsenals (like Naito using his Stardust Press as a Call-Back to the 2013 G1). In the end, after two consecutive Destinos, Tetsuya Naito captured his second G1 Climax victory, in a vastly different place and standing from where he was after winning the G1 in 2013.
    • Naito even gets a big show of respect after winning by exchanging a fist bump with Masahiro Chono, and unlike his previous interactions with New Japan's titles, he raises the flag of the G1 and treats the trophy with decency (though he did jokingly make like he was going to throw it out of the ring, because Naito), as well as thanking the fans in his post match promo.
• Hiroshi Tanahashi avenging his G1 losses to Zack Sabre Jr and afterwards calling out Kota Ibushi to face him
• Kenny Omega vs Juice Robinson for The IWGP US Title at Destruction in Kobe. Culminating with Omega performing the One Winged Angel off the top rope
• King of Pro Wrestling 2017
  • Tetsuya Naito defeating Tomohiro Ishii to retain his Wrestle Kingdom title shot, and punches his ticket to the main event of Wrestle Kingdom for certain this time.
  • Will Ospreay, at long last captures the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title.
  • Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu (the former Tempura Boyz) returning from their excursions as Roppongi 3K, instantly winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships.
• Will Ospreay vs Flip Gordon from Global Wars 2017
• Hiromu Takahashi and Bushi vs Dragon Lee and Titan. Hiromu and Bushi reveal their team finisher, a doomsday codebreaker named the Insurgentes.
• Super Junior Tag Semi Finals: Roppongi 3K vs Hiromu Takahashi and Bushi.
• During Power Struggle 2017, who else would challenge Kenny Omega for Wrestle Kingdom 12 but the first ever WWF Undisputed Champion, the Ayatollah of Rock-And-Rolla, the Man of 1004 Holds, Y 2 J Chris Jericho!
• Also from Power Struggle 2017:
  • Marty Scurll captures the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title from Will Ospreay. Afterwards, Scurll accepts the challenge of a fatal four-way match at Wrestle Kingdom against Ospreay, KUSHIDA and Hiromu Takahashi.
  • Despite losing, Beretta had a hell of a coming out party in his US title match against Kenny Omega, proving that he can hang in that sort of company.
  • Tanahashi vs Ibushi for the Intercontinental Title, followed by the return of "The Switchblade" Jay White from excursion. White challenges Tanahashi for the IC strap at Wrestle Kingdom and lays the Ace out to close the show.
  • Roppongi 3K winning The Super Junior Tag Tournament, the first team to do so as champions
  • New Japan announces its return to the US on March 25th
• At the 2017 World Tag League Finals, Chris Jericho appears inside a New Japan Ring for the first time in decades and attacks and lays out Omega, hitting the Codebreaker and busting him open.
  • The next day at a press conference, Kenny Omega his head bandaged up appears and returns the favor attacking Jericho, leading to a wild brawl with the two who are filled with nothing but hate for one another being pulled apart.
• Katsuya Kitamura winning The Young Lion Cup, going undefeated throughout it.
• Wrestle Kingdom 12
  • Masahito Kakihara, a legned of the UWF, and a cancer survivor, makes a special appearance and wins The New Japan Rumble
  • The Young Bucks becoming 7 time IWGP Jr Tag Champs
  • Evil and Sanada fighting their way back from an ambush of Killer Elite Squad who looked to take them out early and win The IWGP Tag Titles
  • Kota Ibushi and Cody put on a very good match with Ibushi surviving Cody hitting his Cross Rhodes from the apron onto the floor and ascending the top rope and pulling out the Phoenix Splash to get the win.
  • Hirooki Goto reclaiming the NEVER Openweight title from Minoru Suzuki in a stiff brutal match where the loser would have to shave their hair. After the match, Suzuki-gun attempted to escort their leader out of the ring only for Suzuki to walk back to honor the stipulation and insist on shaving his hair himself.
  • Will Ospreay finally manages to beat Marty Scurll, his long time nemesis who's always had the better of him everywhere but at Wrestle Kingdom history did not repeat itself.
  • Alpha vs Omega, Chris Jericho vs Kenny Omega wasn't about The United States Title, nor was it about who's the Best in the World. It was about two men who hated and wanted to rip each other limb from limb. A wild and chaotic battle between them was held as it was a million miles per hour from the opening bell until the ref's hand hit the mat for the three count.
  • Finally, the match fans have waited four years for: Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight title at the Dome and it does not disappoint with both men managing to kick or counter out of their finishers several times. In the end, Okada is able to counter a final Destino attempt by Naito to first plant him with the Tombstone Piledriver and then a final Rainmaker that finally brings Naito down for the three count, and continues his legendary title reign, but not before in his post-match promo, hinting at the possibility of a third match with Naito next year.
• The New Beginning 2018
  • Minoru Suzuki vs Hiroshi Tanahashi for The IWGP Intercontinental Championship
  • Roppongi 3K regaining The Jr Tag Titles from The Young Bucks
  • Jay White reversing the One-Winged Angel into the Blade Runner and beating Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Championship.
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs Will Ospreay
  • The announcement that Lucha Libre legend Rey Mysterio and Puroresu legend Jushin Thunder Liger will face each other at Strong Style Evolved
• The Golden Lovers vs Marty Scurll and Cody at Honor Rising 2018
• From The 46th Anniversary
  • Taichi vs Tetsuya Naito
  • Minoru Suzuki vs Togi Makabe
  • IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay
• New Japan Cup 2018
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs Michael Elgin
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi returning from the injury he suffered at New Beginning and defeating Taichi
  • Zack Sabre Jr vs Tetsuya Naito
  • Lance Archer in his Match with Bad Luck Fale channels The Undertaker Old School and walks the top ropes during it.
  • Zack Sabre Jr vs Kota Ibushi
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Juice Robinson
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr. After going through the "Murderers Row" of Naito, Ibushi and Sanada in order to face Tanahashi in the final, Sabre becomes the first gaijin since Giant Bernard in 2006 to win the New Japan Cup by doing what his mentor Minoru Suzuki couldn't at New Beginning: Making the Ace of New Japan tap out.
• Strong Style Evolved
  • Young Bucks vs Golden Lovers
• Sakura Genesis 2018
  • Will Ospreay vs Marty Scrull. Despite cutting himself open near the end of the match Ospreay finally manages to beat Scrull in a one-on-one match.
  • Kazuchika Okada vs Zack Sabre Jr.
• Wrestling Dontaku 2018
  • Toa Henare vs Tomohiro Ishii and Jay White vs David Finlay on April 24th
  • Juice Robinson vs Hirooki Goto on April 27th
  • Evil and Sanada vs Killer Elite Squad at Wrestling Hino Kuni
  • Kushida vs Will Ospreay, followed by the reveal of Bone Soldier to be Taiji Ishimori
• Best of the Super Juniors 2018
  • Night 1
    • Will Ospreay vs Taiji Ishimori
  • Night 2
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Marty Scurll
    • Sho vs Dragon Lee
  • Night 3
    • ACH vs Will Ospreay
  • Night 4
    • El Desperado vs Hiromu Takahashi
  • Night 6
    • Hiromu and Dragon Lee continue their never ending rivalry
  • Night 8
    • Sho vs Kushida
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Ryusuke Taguchi
  • Night 12
    • Kushida vs Dragon Lee
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Sho
  • Night 13
    • After being absent for a year and a half after a neck injury, Tomoaki Honma makes a surprise return and announced his in ring return
    • Flip Gordon vs Will Ospreay
    • Taiji Ishimori submits Yoh and in doing so wins The A Block
    • Sho scores the biggest win of his career when he fights his way out of Marty Scurll's Chicken Wing and hits his Finishing Move The Shock Arrow and wins and doing so eliminated Scurll from the Tournament
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Kushida, The Time Splitter and The Time Bomb go at it again and Hiromu manages to make Kushida tap out and win the B Block advancing to the finals
  • Finals
    • After a match, Bullet Club is beating down Hiroshi Tanahashi and Marty Scurll is assaulting him using his Umbrella as a weapon. Jushin Thunder Liger having been on commentary for the event finally decides enough is enough and getting up from the announce table charges the ring and attacks running them off. He then gets the microphone and challenges Bullet Club to face him and Tanahashi in a six man tag at Dominion. Their partner? Rey Mysterio Jr!
    • The finals of Best of Super Juniors between Hiromu Takahashi and Taiji Ishimori.
• Even before the show has happened, 6.9 Dominion at Osaka-Jo Hall is shaping up to be this. With the return of Chris Jericho taking on Tetsuya Naito for the Intercontinental Championship and the main event: Kazuchika Okada versus Kenny Omega IV, two out of three falls, no time limit.
  • And the event turns out to live up to the hype
• G1 Special in San Francisco
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs Dragon Lee for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title
  • Juice Robinson's arc that has been built for years finally comes to a conclusion as he defeats Jay White to win The IWGP United States Title
• G1 Climax 2018
  • Day 1
    • Michael Elgin vs Evil
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi avenges his loss back at the New Beginning against Minoru Suzuki
    • Switchblade Jay White scores the biggest win of his career when he defeats Kazuchika Okada in The Main Event
  • Day 2
    • Zack Sabre Jr vs Kota Ibushi
    • The 2016 winner Kenny Omega vs the 2017 winner Tetsuya Naito.
  • Day 4
    • Kota Ibushi vs Juice Robinson
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs Tetsuya Naito, two men who know how to bring out the best of one another
    • Hirooki Goto vs Kenny Omega with afterwards Omega stating he wants to challenge Goto for the NEVER Title so he can have won every single singles title in New Japan
  • Day 5
    • Jay White vs Michael Elgin
    • Okada snaps out of his funk and wins for the first time since losing the IWGP Heavyweight Title defeating a more than game Hangman Page.
  • Day 6
    • Sanada outwrestling Zack Sabre Jr and scoring a pinfall on him
    • Juice Robinson vs Tetsuya Naito
    • The Fierce Warrior Goto vs The Stone Pitbull Ishii
  • Day 8
    • Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii
    • Juice Robinson vs Kenny Omega
    • Sanada in his hometown defeats Kota Ibushi for a big win.
  • Day 9
    • Yoshi Hashi vs Kazuchika Okada has Yoshi Hashi manage to take Okada to the limit in a match where he looked like he might actually win.
  • Day 10
    • The hard hitting brawl and fight between Kota Ibushi and Tomohiro Ishii
    • Juice Robinson the day before delivered an impassioned promo, stating that if he loses and goes winless, he'll give up the United States Title. Rallying he defeats Toru Yano to score his first points.
    • Kenny Omega vs Sanada
  • Day 12
    • Kenny Omega goes 6-0 in the tournament defeating Zack Sabre Jr
    • Kota Ibushi scoring a win in his hometown as he declared he will win the rest of the tournament.
  • Day 14
    • Tomohiro Ishii ends Kenny Omega's winning streak, dealing the first loss to him.
    • Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito
  • Day 15
    • Michael Elgin vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Evil
    • Hangman Page scores one of the biggest wins of his career when he defeats Minoru Suzuki. Someone in Bullet Club who's usually a fall guy upsets and pins the leader of Suzukigun.
  • Day 16
    • LIJ stablemates battle as Naito faces Sanada
  • Day 17
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi advances to the finals via outlasting his old nemesis Okada.
  • Day 18
    • Sanada vs Tomohiro Ishii
    • Zack Sabre Jr vs Tetsuya Naito, ending with Sabre countering the Destino into his own finisher to score the win
    • The Golden Lovers clash in the Main Event and Kota Ibushi scores the pinfall to win the B block
  • Finals
    • Hiroshi Tanashashi vs Kota Ibushi: The Ace wins The G1 Climax and earns the shot at Wrestle Kingdom 13 for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
• Road To Destruction September 7th 2018:The Golden Lovers vs Tomohiro Ishii and Will Ospreay
• Kenny Omega defending The IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Tomohiro Ishii at Destruction in Hiroshima
• Hirsohi Tanahashi finally defeats Kazuchika Okada for the first time in four years to retain his Wrestle Kingdom title shot at Destruction in Kobe.
• Fighting Spirit Unleashed
  • Old enemies Marty Scurll and Will Ospreay going at it once more.
  • The Guerillas of Destiny becoming 4 time IWGP Tag Champs
  • The Main event of the show with The Golden Lovers prevailing over Kazuchika Okada and Tomohiro Ishii
• King Of Pro Wrestling 2018
  • Kushida becoming a six time IWGP Jr Champion (making him tied for second most reigns) defeating The Villain Marty Scurll
  • Shingo Takagi revealed as the newest member of Los Ingobernables de Japon
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi securing his Wrestle Kingdom Main Event over the only man who defeated him in the G1 Switchblade Jay White
  • Kenny Omega retaining his championship by pinning Kota Ibushi in a triple threat with Cody Rhodes.
• Power Struggle 2018
  • Roppongi 3k beating both the IWGP junior tag champs and Shingo Takagi and Bushi to win back to back Super Junior Tag Tournaments
  • Tomohiro Ishii and Minoru Suzuki two of the toughest roughest brawlers going at it.
  • After being defeated by him twice, Tetsuya Naito finally defeats Zack Sabre Jr
• Juice Robinson vs Trent Beretta at Global Wars 2018
• World Tag League Final 2018
  • Kota Ibushi defeating Hirooki Goto at the World Tag League Finals to win the Never Openweight Championship
  • Sanada and Evil go back to back and win the tournament twice in a role
• December 15th 2018 at Korkuen Hall, to close out the year The Golden Lovers take on the Dream Team of Hiroshi Tanahashi and Will Ospreay
• Wrestle Kingdom 13
  • The opener of Will Ospreay vs Kota Ibushi setting the stage for the show
  • Zack Sabre Jr vs Tomohiro Ishii for the RPW British Heavyweight Title
  • Taiji Ishimori winning The IWGP Jr Heavyweight Title
  • Switchblade Jay White shocks everyone when he pins Kazuchika Okada cleanly one two three.
  • Los Ingobernables de Japon dominates the show winning every match their in as Bushi and Shingo Takagi win the IWGP Jr Tag, Evil and Sanada won the IWGP Tag Titles and Tetsuya Naito faces new nemesis Chris Jericho for the IWGP Intercontinental title.
  • Main Event In front of over 38,000 people, Hiroshi Tanahashi faces and defeats Kenny Omega to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for an 8th time. Additionally, he also becomes the first G1 Climax winner to win his match at Wrestle Kingdom.
• Barbaro Cavenario vs Soberano Jr from Fantastica Mania 2019
• January 29th 2019, Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kushida
• New Beginning in Sapporo 2019
  • Bushi and Shingo Takagi retaining the IWGP Jr Tag Titles against El Desperado and Kanemaru, with Bushi using a chair not as a weapon but to block Kanemaru's whiskey attack.
  • Evil and Sanada defeated Zack Sabre Jr and Minoru Suzuki keep the IWGP Tag Titles
  • Tetsuya Naito against Taichi in the Main Event, with the crowd hot and invested throughout the whole match pushing for Naito to win.
• New Beginning in Osaka 2019
  • Taiji Ishimori versus Ryusuke Taguchi and afterwards Taiji challenges Jushin Thunder Liger who's on commentary to face him and Liger stands up and accepts
  • The Cutthroat era begins as Jay White wins the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
• 47th Anniversary Show
  • Bushi and Shingo Takagi vs Roppongi 3K
  • Taiji Ishimori vs Jushin Thunder Liger
  • Jay White vs Will Ospreay
• New Japan Cup
  • 1st Round
    • Chase Owens shocks everyone in his match against Juice Robinson
    • Since New Year's Dash, Tomohiro Ishii and Yuji Nagata have been butting heads and it all comes to a head when they face each other in the 1st round holding nothing back.
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Michael Elgin
    • Bitter enemies Evil and Zack Sabre Jr go at it again
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shota Umino
    • Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito
  • 2nd Round
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs Taichi
    • Will Ospreay continues to slay the giants as he defeats Lance Archer
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Ryusuke Taguchi
    • Zack Sabre Jr vs Kota Ibushi
    • Sanada vs Minoru Suzuku
  • Quarter Finals
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Will Ospreay
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr
  • Semi Finals
    • Rainmaker Kazuchika Okada vs Stone Pitbull Tomohiro Ishii
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs LIJ's Sanada
  • Final
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Sanada
• G1 Supercard
  • In the preshow opener, Madison Square Garden erupts as No.30 in the Honor Rumble turns out to be none other than The Great Muta
  • Jeff Cobb becoming both the Ring of Honor Television Champion and Never Openweight Champion after defeating Will Ospreay in the opener
  • Triple Threat for IWGP Jr Title between Dragon Lee, Bandido and Taiji Ishimori
  • PCO's entrance
  • RPW British Heavyweight Title Zack Sabre Jr vs Hiroshi Tanahashi with Taka Michinoku providing introductions
  • Kota Ibushi finally captures The IWGP Intercontiental Title defeating Tetsuya Naito
  • Rainmaker Kazuchika Okada exits the most famous venue in the World for the 5th time as IWGP Heavyweight Champion defeating Switchblade Jay White
• Kota Ibushi making his first defense of the Intercontiental Title against Zack Sabre Jr at Sengoku Lord
• Roppongi 3K securing their first defense of the IWGP Jr Tag Titles against Bushi and Shingo Takagi at Aki No Kuni
• Wrestling Dontaku 2019
  • Dragon Lee retaining the IWGP Jr Championship over former champion Taiji Ishimori
  • Tomohiro Ishii and Evil's war.
  • After defeating Sanada, Okada does a post match promo for his victory, only to be interrupted by a video as his next opponent makes the challenge, the opponent? Chris Jericho!
• Best of The Super Juniors 2019
  • Day 1
    • Sho vs Shingo Takagi, with many claiming it as a breakout match for Sho
    • Dragon Lee vs Taiji Ishimori
  • Day 2
    • Ryusuke Taguchi vs Yoh
  • Day 3
    • Dragon Lee vs Sho
  • Day 4
    • Will Ospreay vs Rocky Romero in a battle of Chaos
  • Day 5
    • The Young Lions retaliate after all the abuse they received from Suzukigun and hold Taichi back preventing him from interfering in Shingo Takagi vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru
  • Day 6
    • Will Ospreay vs Yoh
  • Day 7
    • El Phantasmo vs Will Ospreay
  • Day 8
    • Will Ospreay and Bandido tear Korakuen Hall down as the two go at it, matching each other move for move.
    • Shingo Takagi proves he's the stronger Dragon when he defeats Dragon Lee in the Main Event
  • Day 9
    • Dragon Lee vs Titan
    • Rocky Romero scores a big win when he defeats El Phantasmo in the Main Event
• The identity of the mysterious man who's been seen in hype videos is finally revealed, who is he? Jon Moxley!
  • Day 13
    • Shingo Takagi completes the sweep of the A Block as he defeats Taiji Ishimori to advance to the finals.
  • Day 14
    • In a rematch from the 2016 finals, Will Ospreay defeats Ryusuke Taguchi to win the B block
  • Finals
    • Jon Moxley makes one unforgettable debut when he defeats Juice Robinson to win the IWGP US Championship
    • Best of The Super Juniors: B Block winner Will Ospreay vs A Block winner Shingo Takagi. Will manages to do what no one's been able to do since Shingo came to New Japan and slays the dragon and wins the tournament for the 2nd time.
• Dominion 2019
  • Will Ospreay vs Dragon Lee
  • Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito
• Will Ospreay vs Robbie Eagles at Southern Showdown
  • Post match, Eagles finally has enough of El Phantasmo's antics and lays him out.
• G1 Climax 2019
  • Day 1 in the first ever G1 show held in The US from Dallas Texas
    • Lance Archer vs Will Ospreay
    • Sanada vs Zack Sabre Jr
    • KENTA making his G1 debut against Kota Ibushi
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada. Before they locked up, the crowd gave both competitors a standing ovation to show their respect towards them and their rivalry.
  • Day 2
    • Shingo Takagi vs Juice Robinson
    • Jeff Cobb vs Tomohiro Ishii in a hard hitting affair with clothslines, suplexes and more dished out
  • Day 3
    • Will Ospreay vs Sanada
    • The Main event of KENTA vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Day 4
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs Jay White
    • Taichi scoring his first G1 points in the Main Event taking place in his hometown
  • Day 5
    • LIJ collides as Evil faces Sanada
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr
    • Kota Ibushi vs Will Ospreay in the Main Event
  • Day 6
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs Jon Moxley, in a hard hitting brutal brawl that went all over Korakuen with the two unleashing everything they had against one another.
  • Day 7
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Will Ospreay.
  • Day 8
    • Jon Moxley remains undefeated with his victory over Shingo Takagi
    • Naito defeats his old enemy Tomohiro Ishii in the Main Event
  • Day 9
    • Kota Ibushi vs Lance Archer
    • The first ever matchup between KENTA and Kazuchika Okada
  • Day 10
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs Juice Robinson
    • Jon Moxley improves to 5-0 against Tetsuya Naito
  • Day 11
    • Zack Sabre Jr vs Will Ospreay, two of Britain's finest.
  • Day 12
    • Shingo Takagi vs Jeff Cobb
    • Hirooki Goto vs Tomohiro Ishii
  • Day 13
    • Evil vs Will Ospreay
    • In a rematch from last year's finals, Kota Ibushi defeats Hiroshi Tanahashi
    • Main event: After trying numerous times and coming up short against him, Sanada finally manages to defeat Kazuchika Okada
  • Day 14
    • LIJ's Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi battle in the Main Event
  • Day 15
    • Will Ospreay vs Kenta
    • Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr
    • Okada vs Evil
  • Day 16
    • Shingo Takagi and Tomohiro Ishii go at it, throwing everything they have until the end, where The Dragon puts down The Stone Pitbull
  • Day 17
    • The Dream matchup of Kenta vs Zack Sabre Jr
    • Will Ospreay scores the biggest win of his career since moving to Heavyweight defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi
    • To determine the A Block, Kota Ibushi defeats IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada to advance to The Finals.
  • Day 18
    • Taichi vs Tomohiro Ishii
    • Shingo Takagi vs Hirooki Goto
  • Finals
    • When Kenta in his match betrays his team and joins Bullet Club, for the first time in over two years, Katsuyori Shibata hits the ring and attacks Kenta. Laying in strikes and blows, including hitting his hesitation dropkick in the corner.
    • G1 Climax 29 Finals: Kota Ibushi defeats Switchblade Jay White to win the Tournament.
• Royal Quest
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi has had many rivals and adversaries over the years, and his newest one, Zack Sabre Jr has managed to go head to head against him in confrontations with the two 3-3 in singles action. Tanahashi challenges for Sabre's British Heavyweight Title at the event with Sabre having a homefield advantage and in the end, The Ace hits the High Fly Flow and captures the gold.
  • The Guerillas of Destiny vs Aussie Open for the IWGP Tag Titles
  • Kazuchika Okada vs Minoru Suzuki for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
• The Dream Match from The Super J Cup of Will Ospreay vs The Amazing Red
• 2019 has been stated to be Jushin Thunder Liger's last year he will be competing as a wrestler. During most of it he's been dealing with Minoru Suzuki with tensions rising between the two with them having brawls and fights. At Destruction in Kobe Suzukigun attacks and Suzuki looks to unmask Liger only for Liger to hit a low blow and rip off his own mask to reveal Kishin Liger! Suzuki is stunned and for the first time shows absolute fear and retreats.
• October 28th, 2019. The Birds of Prey (Will Ospreay and Robbie Eagles) vs Ryusuke Taguchi and Rocky Romero
• Power Struggle 2019
  • Kenta and Tomohiro Ishii go at it for the Never Openweight Championship in a hard hitting brawl
  • Tetsuya Naito finally puts his feud he had in 2019 with Taichi behind him defeating him.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi celebrates after a match when a video appears on the screen, revealing to be none other than Y 2 J, The Man of 1004 Holds, Chris Jericho who challenges him for Wrestle Kingdom which Tanahashi gladly accepts
  • Will Ospreay vs Bushi for the IWGP Jr Championship
    • As great as the match was, what everyone talking about it was afterwards. Ospreay gets a mic and says he's beaten everyone and will remain champion forever. But then, a video starts to play and someone who's been gone over a year due to injury returns to challenge him for Wrestle Kingdom. The Ticking Time Bomb, Hiromu Takahashi!
• Juice Robinson and David Finlay winning the 2019 World Tag League
  • At the end of Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer's match, Jon Moxley makes a surprise return and gives both Suzuki and Archer a DDT in the ring before challenging Archer to a Texas Deathmatch for the IWGP U.S. title at Wrestle Kingdom. He and Archer then proceed to brawl all the way to the back of the arena.
• Wrestle Kingdom 14
  • Night 1
    • The show starts out with a festival of Legends as the retiring Jushin Thunder Liger teams with and faces many old friends and rivals throughout his unbelievable career
    • Fin Juice winning the IWGP Tag Titles
    • Jon Moxley and Lance Archer's Texas Deathmatch. Archer at one point tries to suffocate Moxley with a plastic bag wrapped around his head but Moxley fights out and hits the Death Rider on Archer through a series of tables to put him down for the 10 count
    • Hiromu Takahashi making his singles return and facing Will Ospreay. The two waste little time against one another with moves galore. In the end, The Ticking Time Bomb wins back the IWGP Jr Championship reclaiming Belt-san.
    • Main Event for The IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Kazuchika Okada vs Kota Ibushi
  • Night 2
    • Jushin Thunder Liger's final match, teaming with Naoki Sano and with his trainer Yoshiaki Fujiwara against Hiromu Takahashi and Ryu Lee
    • After retaining the US Championship, Moxley is then confronted and challenged by Minoru Suzuki, a dream match that fans have been wanting
    • Chris Jericho vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
    • After all the setbacks and defeats, including twice before at The Tokyo Dome, Tetsuya Naito finally defeats Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
• New Year's Dash 2020
  • Retirement Ceremony held for Jushin Thunder Liger, the legend says farewell as he exits the ring one final time as the roster pays tribute to him.
  • Jon Moxley appearing and attacking Minoru Suzuki getting revenge for the night before
• The New Beginning in Sapporo
  • Shingo Takagi winning The Never Openweight Championship.
  • Zach Sabre Jr vs Will Ospreay for the British Heavyweight Championship.
• The New Beginning in Osaka
  • Hated enemies Hiromu Takahashi and Ryu Lee had not faced one another in nearly two years and they pick up right where they left off.
  • Jon Moxley vs Minoru Suzuki
  • Tetsuya Naito defending the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship against Kenta
• Shingo Takagi vs Tomohiro Ishii February 20th, 2020
• Manabu Nakanishi's retirement match. An All Star affair of legends past and present
• New Japan Cup 2020
  • 1st Round
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs El Desperado
    • Yuji Nagata vs Minoru Suzuki
    • Sho vs Shingo Takagi
    • Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr
  • 2nd Round
    • Togi Makabe vs Tomohiro Ishii
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Yuji Nagata
  • Quarterfinals
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii
  • Semifinals
    • Evil vs Sanada
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Kazuchika Okada
  • Finals
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Evil, ending with The King of Darkness winning The Tournament
• Dominion 2020
  • Shingo Takagi vs Sho for The Never Openweight Championship
  • Golden Ace vs Dangerous Tekkers
  • Evil stunning and shocking Osaka with his betrayal of Tetsuya Naito and Los Ingobernables as he joins up with Bullet Club and becomes the coholder of the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinal championships
• Sengoku Lord
  • Shingo reclaiming the stolen Never Openweight Championship defeating El Desperado
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs Evil for the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships
• July 31st 2020: Old enemies Minoru Suzuki and Yuji Nagata square off once more
• Summer Struggle in Jingu
  • Minoru Suzuki vs Shingo Takagi
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs Taiji Ishimori
  • Dangerous Tekkers vs Golden Ace
  • Tetsuya Naito vs Evil, Naito avenges his Dominion Loss against The LIJ traitor and recaptures The IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships.
• The 2020 G1 Climax
  • Day 1
    • Minoru Suzuki vs Tomohiro Ishii
    • Kota Ibushi stands tall at the end of Night 1 over Kazuchika Okada defeating him after hitting him with a Kamigoye
  • Day 2
    • Tetsuya Naito and Hiroshi Tanahashi go at it again in the Main Event of Night 2.
  • Day 3
    • Suzukigun collides as Taichi faces Minoru Suzuki
    • Chaos also goes at it between Will Ospreay and Tomohiro Ishii
    • Rematch of last year's G1 Finals, Switchblade Jay White vs Kota Ibushi.
  • Day 4
    • Tetsuya Naito vs Zack Sabre Jr in The Main Event.
  • Day 5
    • Kota Ibushi vs Tomohiro Ishii
    • Rematch from the 2019 BOSJ Finals, Shingo Takagi vs Will Ospreay. This time, The Dragon triumphs over The Aerial Assassain
  • Day 6
    • Kenta vs Zack Sabre Jr
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi after an 0-2 start manages to get on board after defeating Juice Robinson
  • Day 7
    • Jay White vs Will Ospreay
    • The Main Event of The Stone Pitbull Tomohiro Ishii vs The Dragon Shingo Takagi
  • Day 9
    • Taichi vs Tomohiro Ishii
    • Kota Ibushi vs Will Ospreay
  • Day 10
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kenta
  • Day 11
    • Jay White vs Taichi
    • The Main Event of Kota Ibushi vs Shingo Takagi, a banger of a match which saw Takagi victorious.
  • Day 13
    • Jeff Cobb vs Tomohiro Ishii, a match that can be summed up as two bulls ramming into each other
    • Will Ospreay vs Taichi, The Aerial Assassin nets himself another victory and gets 10 points
    • Kota Ibushi vs Minoru Suzuki, The Golden Star unloads everything he has onto the Leader of Suzukigun to finally put him down in a way.
    • The Main Event of Kazuchika Okada vs Shingo Takagi
  • Day 15
    • Shingo Takagi vs Taichi
    • Jay White vs Minoru Suzuku
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii
  • Day 16
    • Sanada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Day 17
    • Shingo Takagi vs Minoru Suzuki
    • Will Ospreay vs Kazuchika Okada
    • Taichi vs Kota Ibushi
    • Jay White vs Tomohiro Ishii
  • Day 18
    • Sanada defeats his former tag partner Evil to win The B Block and advance to the finals
    • Hiromu Takahashi on commentary comes to his stablemate's aid when Dick Togo starts to get involved
  • G1 Climax 30 Finals: Kota Ibushi defeats Sanada to repeat as the winner of the G1 Climax.
    • In addition, Ibushi joins Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan as only the third person to win the G1 Climax in back-to-back years.
• Shingo Takagi regains the Never Openweight Championship defeating Minoru Suzuki at Power Struggle.
• Best of The Super Juniors 2020
  • Day 1
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Taiji Ishimori a rematch of the 2018 Finals
  • Day 2
    • El Desperado vs Hiromu Takahashi
  • Day 3
    • Robbie Eagles vs Sho
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Bushi
  • Day 4
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Douki
    • Master Wato vs El Desperado
  • Day 6
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Robbie Eagles
  • Day 7
    • El Desperado vs Taiji Ishimori
    • Sho vs Hiromu Takahashi
  • Day 9
    • Taiji Ishimori vs Sho
    • El Desperado vs Bushi
  • Finals
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs El Desperado, in the end The Time Bomb becomes a two time Best of Super Juniors winner
• Wrestle Kingdom 15
  • Night 1
    • The Best of Super Juniors Hiromu Takahashi vs The Super J Cup El Phantasmo
    • Kenta vs Satoshi Kojima, preceded by an unexpected video of Jon Moxley saying he'll face the winner.
    • Kazuchika Okada taking on Will Ospreay, the man who he brought into New Japan and had betrayed him.
    • Main Event with The Double Gold on The Line. Tetsuya Naito vs Kota Ibushi. At long last Ibushi wins The IWGP Heavyweight Championship
  • Night 2
    • Shingo Takagi vs Jeff Cobb for The Never Openweight Championship
    • Sanada and Evil, former multi time tag champs now bitter enemies after Evil's betrayal of Los Ingobernables go at it
    • Hiromu Takahashi becoming a four time IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion, defeating Taiji Ishimori to capture the gold once again.
    • Less than 24 hours after becoming champion, Kota Ibushi puts the Double Gold on the line against Jay White. The Golden Star emerged victorious over Switchblade keeping both titles and exits The Tokyo Dome hoisting them high.
• Hiroshi Tanahashi defeats Shingo Takagi at The New Beginning in Naogoya to become The new Never Openweight Champion
• Hiromu Takahashi avenging his Best of the Super Juniors loss to Sho at The New Beginning in Hiroshima and retaining The IWGP Jr Championship.
• After seven years, El Desperado finally wins the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight championship at Castle Attack in Osaka, beating both Bushi and El Phantasmo in a triple threat match after Hiromu Takahashi was forced to vacate the title due to injury a few days prior.
• Jon Moxley vs Kenta for the IWGP United States Championship. Moxley since the Covid Pandemic has been unable to defend the belt leaving it in obscurity for over a year. Kenta earned the right to face him for it and even went to All Elite Wrestling to issue his challenge for him and at last on the February 26th Episode of New Japan Strong, the two go at it with Moxley showing everyone why he is the Champ.
• Kota Ibushi vs El Despeardo for The Double Gold at the 49th Anniversary Show. Ibushi retains the belts and in the process unifies The Heavyweight and Intercontinetal Championships into The IWGP World Championship.
• New Japan Cup 2021
  • First Round
    • The Great O-Khan in an upset defeats Tetsuya Naito.
    • Shingo Takagi vs Kazuchika Okada, ending with The Dragon defeating The Rainmaker
    • Gabriel Kidd vs Zack Sabre Jr
    • Sanada vs Tomohiro Ishii
  • Second Round
    • Shingo Takagi vs Hirooki Goto
    • Old enemies Will Ospreay and Zack Sabre Jr tear the house down with The Aerial Assassin getting the win in the end to advance to the Quarter Finals.
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jay White
  • Quarter Finals
    • Shingo Takagi vs Kenta
    • Will Ospreay vs Sanada
    • Tournaments are always known for upsets and Cinderella stories and one happens when David Finlay faces Jay White and manages to beat the Switchblade to advance to the Semi Finals.
  • Semi Finals
    • David Finlay vs Will Ospreay
  • Finals
    • Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi
• New Japan US Cup
  • Ren Narita vs Tom Lawlor
  • Tom Lawlor vs Brody King in the finals to determine the first ever Strong Openweight Champion
• Wrestling Dontaku 2021
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Jay White for the Never Openweight Championship
  • IWGP World Champion Will Ospreay vs Shingo Takagi
• Hikuleo vs Fred Rosser in a No Disqualification Match on the May 21st Edition of Strong.
• Tom Lawlor vs Chris Dickinson for The Strong Openweight Championship on May 28th Strong
• Dangerous Tekkers become two time IWGP Tag Champions defeating Guerillas of Destiny on June 1st 2021
• Dominion 2021
  • El Desperado retaining The IWGP Jr Championship against Yoh
  • Kota Ibushi vs Jeff Cobb
  • Will Ospreay was forced to relinquish the IWGP World Championship due to suffering a neck injury, at Dominion, The Two men who would face each other to decide the new Champion were Kazuchika Okada and Shingo Takagi. After thirty six minutes of action, The Dragon, Shingo Takagi defeated Okada to win The Title and hoist it overhead.
• Tom Lawlor vs Karl Fredericks for The Strong Openweight Championship on The June 25th Episode of Strong
• Tomohiro Ishii vs Yuji Nagata on July 1st 2021 at Korakuen Hall
• Rocky Romero makes his return to New Japan Pro Wrestling after being unable to due to the Pandemic and shows he hasn't been taking it easy during that time as he faces El Phantasmo on July 17th at Korakuen Hall
• Sanada vs Zack Sabre Jr at the Summer Struggle in Osaka
• Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome
  • El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori vs Ryusuke Taguchi and Rocky Romero for The Jr Tag Titles
  • Robbie Eagles defeats El Desperado to become the new IWGP Jr Champion as well as the first Austrailian ever to win a Championship in New Japan
  • Shingo Takagi vs Hiroshi Tanahashi for The IWGP World Championship
• New Japan Pro Wrestling Resurgence
  • In a crossover bout, Tomohiro Ishii takes on Impact Wrestling's Moose
  • Will Ospreay returns in his first appearance since his neck injury and reveals that he is medically cleared to compete.
  • Jay White vs David Finlay for the Never Openweight Championship
  • Main Event: Hiroshi Tanahashi challenges Lance Archer for the IWGP United States Championship and defeats The Murderhawk Monster in order to capture it and become the new Champion.
• Hiromu Takahashi makes his return from an arm injury on August 27th at Korakuen Hall facing Douki
• Wrestle Grand Slam
  • Kazuchika Okada vs Jeff Cobb. Culminating in Okada attempting a Tombstone off the top rope only for Cobb to escape it and do an Avalanche Tour of The Islands to beat The Rainmaker
  • IWGP United States Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kota Ibushi
  • Dangerous Tekkers retain The IWGP Tag Titles in a triple threat tag
  • The Sniper of The Skies Robbie Eagles vs The Timebomb Hiromu Takahashi for the IWGP Jr Championship
• G1 Climax 2021
  • Night 1
    • Zack Sabre Jr vs Tetsuya Naito
    • Shingo Takagi takes on Tomohiro Ishii in a hard hitting bout that we've come to expect from them.
  • Night 2
    • Taichi vs Hirooki Goto
    • Once again, eternal foes Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi go at it.
  • Night 3
    • Zack Sabre Jr vs The IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi. Sabre makes his intentions known to all after forcing Naito to withdraw from the rest of the tournament due to knee injuries and then makes Shingo tap.
  • Night 4
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Evil
  • Night 5
    • In a non tournament bout due to Naito's injury forcing him to withdraw, Shingo Takagi takes on Yuji Nagata which doesn't disappoint.
    • Zack Sabre Jr makes it three for three in victories, this time submitting Kota Ibushi to make himself known as a front runner in the A Block
  • Night 6
    • Jeff Cobb continues his undefeated streak in The G1 defeating Hirooki Goto
  • Night 7
    • Zack Sabre Jr makes The Great O-Khan his next victim, placing himself at the top of the A Block with his win over him
    • IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi vs Kenta
  • Night 9
    • Tomohiro Ishii ends Zack Sabre's undefeated streak, pinning him after hitting the Vertical Brainbuster
    • Kota Ibushi vs Shingo Takagi finally happens after an illness back in July forced Ibushi to withdraw from their bout. The Golden Star slays The Dragon and wins the Main Event
  • Night 10
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Sanada
  • Night 11
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs The Great O-Khan
  • Night 13
    • Non tournament match, Tomohiro Ishii vs Hiromu Takahashi
    • Kenta vs Zack Sabre Jr
  • Night 15
    • Shingo Takagi vs The Great O-Khan
  • Night 16
    • Tama Tonga scores the biggest upset in G1 Climax history when he defeats Kazuchika Okada, breaking the Rainmaker's undefeated record
  • Night 17
    • Tanga Loa vs Zack Sabre Jr
    • Kota Ibushi defeats Kenta to advance to his fourth straight G1 Final
  • Night 18
    • Okada defeats Jeff Cobb to win The B Block and advance to the finals
  • Finals
    • It's been four years since Katsuyori Shibata had been forced to retire due to a brutal brain injury, but on the finals of The 2021 G1 Climax, he makes his shocking return to the ring and competes in an UWF rules match with Zack Sabre Jr and afterwards declares that the next time he is in the ring, he'll be in his ring gear
• Autumn Attack Ocotber 9th
  • Tom Lawlor vs Ren Narita for The Strong Openweight Championship
  • Switchblade Jay White vs The Sniper of The Skies Robbie Eagles
• Will Ospreay's in ring return to New Japan Pro Wrestling since his injury facing Karl Fredericks on the October 16th edition of Strong
• Taiji Ishimori vs Lio Rush on the October 30th Edition of Strong
• Power Struggle 2021
  • El Desperado regains The IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship, defeating Robbie Eagles to become a two time holder of it.
  • Shingo Takagi retains the IWGP World Championship over Zack Sabre Jr.
• Minoru Suzuki vs Chris Dickinson on the November 13th edition of Strong
• Battle of The Valley
  • Will Ospreay vs Ren Narita
  • In a crossover battle, Juice Robinson represents New Japan as he faces Impact Wrestling's Moose
    • After the match ended, Jonah, the former Bronson Reed would make his New Japan debut.
  • Kazuchika Okada battles the debuting Buddy Matthews who more than held his own against The Rainmaker and earned Okada's respect post match offering a handshake.
  • The Main Event is for The Never Openweight Championship with a stipulation on it. If Jay White managed to retain it, Tomohiro Ishii would not be able to ever challenge for it again, which over the years he had become symonmous with. The Stone Pitbull would not be denied as he would defeat White to become a 6 time Never Champion.
• Best of The Super Juniors 2021
  • Night 1
    • Wato scores a big upset when he defeats El Phantasmo on the opening night, escaping his attempts at a One Winged Angel and then rolling him up for the win.
  • Night 2
    • Robbie Eagles vs Wato
  • Night 4
    • El Phantasmo vs Robbie Eagles
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs El Desperado, two fierce rivals going at it again
  • Night 5
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Bushi
  • Night 6
    • In a rematch from Power Struggle, IWGP Jr Champion El Desperado takes on the former Champ Robbie Eagles
    • Taiji Ishimori vs Hiromu Takahashi
  • Night 7
    • El Desperado vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru
    • El Phantasmo vs Hiromu Takahashi
  • Night 9
    • Robbie Eagles vs Sho
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Wato
    • Bushi vs El Desperado
  • Night 10
    • El Desperado vs Ryusuke Taguchi
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Douki
  • Night 11
    • Yoh defeats his former tag partner and the one who stabbed him in the back breaking up Roppongi 3k, Sho, and earns his spot in the finals.
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Robbie Eagles, Hiromu wins in the end and goes on to the finals
  • Finals
    • Hiromu defeats Yoh in the Finals to win and joins Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto as the only three time winners of it
• NJPW Strong December 11th, 2021
  • Gabriel Kidd returns to New Japan Pro Wrestling and faces Jonathan Gresham in a technical battle
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs Brody King
• Wrestle Kingdom 16
  • Night 1
    • The Dragon, The Legendary Tatsunami Fujinami returns to New Japan Pro Wrestling taking part in The Ranbo
    • Katsuyori Shibata's return to pro wrestling vs Ren Narita in a full on wrestling match
    • Bitter Rivals El Desperado and Hiromu Takahashi clash once more for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Championship
    • G1 Climax Winner Kazuchika Okada vs IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi. The Rainmaker truimphs over The Dragon this time and wins The Championship
  • Night 2
    • Tetsuya Naito vs Jeff Cobb
    • Stardom is represented at Wrestle Kingdom as Mayu Iwatani and Starlight Kid face Saya Kamitani and Tam Nakano
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kenta in a No Disqualification Match for The United States Championship. In the end, Hiroshi scales a twenty foot ladder and hits a High Fly Flow onto Kenta through a table to regain The Belt
    • Kazuchika Okada puts his newly won IWGP World Championship against the self proclaimed "Real Champion" Will Ospreay who had never lost the title due to having to vacate it because of injury. Okada settle the issues once and for all, defeating Ospreay and cementing himself as The True Champion. But then post match, his old enemy Tetsuya Naito comes out to setup a staredown between the two.
• In an Interpromotion Match at Yokohama Arena, Los Ingobernables de Japon take on Kongo of Pro Wrestling Noah.
  • From the same show, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada taking on Keiji Mutoh and Kaito Kiyomiya
• Eddie Kingston vs Gabriel Kidd on the January 8th 2022 edition of Strong.
• NJPW Strong January 29th 2022
  • Alex Coughlin graduates from The Young Lion class proving he is no longer one defeating JR Kratos
  • Switchblade Jay White vs The Fallen Angel Christoper Daniels
• NJPW Strong February 5th 2022
  • The opener of this episode features Yuya Uemura taking on Brody King. Uemura is outmatched in both size and power from the start but refuses to stay down fighting with all he has against the behemoth. Although he falls in defeat to Brody, Uemura refuses help and walks under his own power to the back with the crowd chanting his name.
  • Main Event, LA Dojo Graduate Clark Connors taking on his former Mentor and the one who betrayed The New Japan Dojo aligning with The United Empire, TJP. During at one part of the match when TJP gets to the outside to avoid him, Connors gets out and charges at TJP and hits him with a tackle that knocks TJP over the guard railing and into the stands. Later on, TJP snaps Connors arm injuring it but Connors refuses to give up, kicking out of TJP's Mamba Splash. He then rallies and hits one of his own before telling his former teacher to go to hell and hits his own Finisher to beat him as The Student surpasses The Teacher.
• MMA Legend Josh Barnett vs Ren Narita on the February 12th episode of New Japan Strong
• Golden Series
  • Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato win The IWGP Junior Tag Titles in a four way tag match, fulfilling Taguchi's dream and Wato winning his first Championship in New Japan.
  • After countless attempts and falling short everytime, Sanada finally wins Singles Gold as he defeats Hiroshi Tanahashi to become The new IWGP United States Champion
  • Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito clash once again for The IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
• NJPW Strong February 19th 2022
  • Gabriel Kidd vs Fred Rosser put on a clinic
  • Jay White in his open challenge has challenged anyone from AEW to face him, when the time has come for the match, Jay Lethal answers the challenge.
• The New Japan Strong Edition of March 5th had many surprises.
  • First off, after winning a match, TJP takes the mic and claims he is the best Junior Heavyweight and there is no one who can match him. To the announcers and the crowd's shock, music hits and emerging from the back is Mascara Dorada, appearing in a New Japan ring for the first time in six years making his return and has history with TJP. Mascara hits the ring and when TJP tries to attack he sends him out of the ring and fleeing.
  • In The Main Event, Finjuice takes on the tag team of Jonah and Bad Dude Tito. Jonah and Tito use their power to their advantage and Finjuice use classic tag teaming to counter them including busting out the finishing move of Demolition. Just when it looks like they are about to defeat them, someone hits the ring and takes out Juice to enable Jonah and Tito to win and its revealed to be Shane Haste, Jonah's former stablemate as TMDK, The Mighty Don't Kneel have reunited.
• Fresh off of signing with AEW, Shane "Swerve" Strickland on the 3/12/22 edition of Strong accepts Jay White's open challenge to the crowds shock.
• New Japan Cup 2022
  • First Round
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yoh
    • Kazuchika Okada vs El Desperado
    • Shingo Takagi and Tomohiro Ishii got at it in another hard hitting war between them.
  • 2nd Round
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Master Wato
    • Aaron Henare vs Sanada
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Minoru Suzuki. The two engage in a chest slap off and Suzuki's chest is so red, it's bleeding from the blows exchanged.
  • 3rd Round
    • Cima vs Hirooki Goto
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Taichi
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tetsuya Naito
    • Great O-Khan vs Zack Sabre Jr
  • Quarterfinals
    • Tetsuya Naito vs Jeff Cobb
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Cima
    • Zack Sabre Jr vs Will Ospreay
    • In a battle of Los Ingobernables, Shingo Takagi takes on Hiromu Takahashi
  • Semifinals
    • Shingo Takagi vs Zack Sabre Jr
    • Old enemies Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito clash once again a month after Okada defended The IWGP World Title against Naito. Naito this time, pins his nemesis and advances to the Finals.
  • Finals
    • Tetsuya Naito vs Zack Sabre Jr. Sabre would defeat Naito to win The Tournament and The New Japan Cup for the second time
• Lonestar Shootout
  • Jay White vs Speedball Mike Bailey
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs The returning from injury Chris Dickinson
• Hyper Battle 2022
  • Jeff Cobb and Great O-Khan win and become the new IWGP Tag Champions
  • Jado and Guerillas of Destiny get revenge against Bullet Club, teaming with Hiroshi Tanahashi to defeat them in the opener
  • The newest member of The United Empire is revealed, after the IWGP Jr Championship match, Francesco Akira appears and reveals himself having aligned with the group.
  • Main Event for The IWGP World Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs The New Japan Cup Winner Zack Sabre Jr.
• Windy City Riot
  • In a Ten Man Tag match, JR Kratos of Team Filthy hits an over the top rope dive to the floor. What makes it awesome is that Kratos is over the three hundred pound mark and yet pulls off the move.
  • For Jay White's open challenge, Shota Umino answers the call.
  • Strong Openweight Championship: Tom Lawlor vs Yuji Nagata
  • Minoru Suzuki and Tomohiro Ishii got at it once more.
    • Post match, Eddie Kingston hits the ring and gets in Ishii's face, setting up a potential match between them.
  • Main Event: for the first time ever, Jon Moxley vs Will Ospreay
• Taichi vs Shingo Takagi for The King of Pro Wrestling Trophy on April 25th 2022
• Wrestling Dontaku 2022
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs Hiroshi Tanahashi to crown the New IWGP United States Champion
  • In The Main Event for The IWGP World Championshio, Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito clash for the thirtenth time in singles action in their historic rivarly.
• Jay White vs Hikuleo on The May 13th edition of Strong
• Capital Collision
  • The show opens up with with Karl Fredericks taking on Ren Narita
  • At Windy City Riot, Eddie Kingston confronted Tomohiro Ishii and here they go at it with a fired up crowd
  • Lio Rush makes his return and announces his intention to go for The Jr Heavyweight Championship
  • Fatal Fourway for The IWGP United States Championship: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Will Ospreay, Juice Robinson and Jon Moxley.
• Best of The Super Juniors 2022
  • Night 1
    • Francesco Akira makes his in ring debut in a New Japan ring, defeating Sho.
  • Night 2
    • El Desperado vs Titan
    • Robbie Eagles vs Wheeler Yuta
  • Night 3
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Francesco Akira
  • Night 4
    • El Desperado vs TJP
    • Titan vs El Lindaman
  • Night 5
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Ace Austin
  • Night 6
    • Wheeler Yuta vs El Desperado
    • El Phantasmo vs Titan
  • Night 7
    • Titan vs TJP
    • Francesco Akira vs Alex Zayne
    • El Desperado vs El Lindaman
  • Night 8
    • Ace Austin vs Alex Zayne
    • Yoh vs Hiromu Takahashi
  • Night 9
    • Ace Austin vs Taiji Ishimori
    • Robbie Eagles vs El Phantasmo
  • Night 10
    • El Desperado vs Douki
  • Night 11
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Alex Zayne
    • Robbie Eagles vs El Desperado
  • Night 12
    • El Desperado defeats El Phantasmo to win The B Block and advance to the Finals.
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs Taiji Ishimori with Hiromu winning The A Block.
  • Finals
    • Hiromu Takahashi vs El Desperado: The two rivals face each other once again. In the end, Hiromu would defeat Desperado and win his third Best of Super Juniors in a row and his fourth overall, breaking the record for most wins.
• Dominion 2022
  • With Juice Robinson having to forfeit The US Championship due to appendicitis, Will Ospreay and Sanada face one another to decide the new Champion. Ospreay would win and become a Grand Slam Champion in New Japan.
  • The Era of The Switchblade begins anew as Jay White defeats Kazuchika Okada to become IWGP World Champion.
• From June 20th 2022 at Korakuen Hall, Tomohiro Ishii vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru
• TJP and Francesco Akira of The United Empire vs Six or Nine for The IWGP Jr Tag Championship
• IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori vs 2022 Best of The Super Juniors Winner Hiromu Takahashi on June 21st 2022.
  • Post match after retaining his Title, Taiji declares that there is no Junior who can beat him, but then to The Crowd and Announcers shock, Kushida returns after three years and makes the challenge
  • From the same show, Clark Connors vs Tomohiro Ishii
• On The June 25th Edition of Strong, Fred Rosser puts it all on the line as he challenges Tom Lawlor for The Strong Openweight Championship. Should he lose, his career would end as it was Title vs Career. Despite being cut open and bleeding and Team Filthy's attempts which are thwarted by The LA Dojo, Rosser would not be denied as he ends the year long reign of Lawlor and becomes the new Strong Openweight Champion.
• Music City Mayhem
  • Hiromu Takahashi vs Blake Christian
  • Long time partners and friends Alex Shelley and Kushida who formed The Time Splitters face each other for the first time
  • Jon Moxley vs El Desperado in a No Disqualification match
• On The August 13th Edition of Strong, Aussie Open faces Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura to decide the first ever Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions
• G1 Climax 2022
  • Night 1
    • Will Ospreay vs El Phantasmo in ELP's debut as a Heavyweight.
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Jeff Cobb
  • Night 2
    • Tomohiro Ishii vs Taichi
    • Kenta vs Zack Sabre Jr
  • Night 4
    • Shingo Takagi vs Yoshi Hashi
    • Jay White vs Tomohiro Ishii
  • Night 5
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tetsuya Naito
  • Night 6
    • Former tag partners face one another as Juice Robinson faces David Finlay. When Juice tried to use the stolen United States title as a weapon, Finlay responds by using his Father's infamous Shillelagh to counter and win
  • Night 7
    • With his back against the wall at 0-2, Tomohiro Ishii rally's from his deficit to defeat Tama Tonga
    • Hirooki Goto vs Aaron Henare
  • Night 8
    • David Finlay scores a big upset win when he defeats Shingo Takagi.
    • Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Zack Sabre Jr
  • Night 10
    • David Finlay gets another upset win in The G1, defeating Will Ospreay and become the leader for his block
  • Night 11
    • Jonah vs Jeff Cobb, two big hosses going at it. Culminating with Jonah hitting a superplex off the top rope and then going up and hitting his Torpedo finisher to win the match
  • Night 12
    • Hirooki Goto vs Zack Sabre Jr
    • Jay White vs Great O-Khan
    • Shingo Takagi vs Will Ospreay
  • Night 13
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Jonah
  • Night 15
    • El Phantasmo vs David Finlay
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Tom Lawlor
    • Hirooki Goto vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Night 16
    • Jay White vs Taichi
  • Night 17
    • Kenta vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
  • Night 18
    • Will Ospreay vs Juice Robinson, a feud that has become bitter and personal since Robinson stole The US Title
    • Shingo Takagi vs El Phantasmo
    • Tetsuya Naito vs Zack Sabre Jr. Sabre had been Naito's weakness in tournaments, defeating him multiple times including in the last year when he injured him and forced Naito to withdraw after the first match so Sabre is full of confidence. But Naito shocks everyone when he counters an early attempt at The Sabre Driver and gets a quick pin and wins The C Block to advance
    • Jay White vs Tama Tonga. Tama and his Brother had been ousted from Bullet Club months ago and he had been looking for revenge. He ends White's undefeated streak in The G1 and in doing so wins The B Block
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Lance Archer to decide who wins The A Block.
  • Semifinals
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Tama Tonga
    • Will Ospreay vs Tetsuya Naito
  • Finals
    • Kazuchika Okada vs Will Ospreay, The Leaders of Chaos and United Empire and bitter enemies face one another. After over an half hour and enduring finishers Ospreay used on him of different foes in the past, Okada wins the match and his Fourth G1 Climax.
• On The September 5th 2022 show in Korakuen Hall, fans are finally allowed to cheer once more after two and a half years
• Aussie Open vs The West Coast Wrecking Crew for The Strong Tag Titles on the September 10th Edition of Strong.
• Burning Spirit
  • Hikuleo finally makes his decision after months and chooses to stand with his Brothers, leaving Bullet Club to join his family.
  • Will Ospreay vs David Finlay for the IWGP United States Championship
• Ren Narita vs Juice Robinson is set to happen on The October 8th, edition of Strong, but as Ren makes his entrance, he gets ambushed by Juice who attacks him and using the ring bell as the weapon slams it against his head on the outside making Narita bleed heavily. The match appears to be called off but Narita refuses to let it end and demands the match be continued, now under No Disqualification rules. Narita would take it to Juice as they would brawl and use weapons and Narita would catch Juice in a submission hold and force him to submit and win the match.
• Declaration of Power
  • Ren Narita makes his return to Japan from his excursion.
  • In an 8 man tag between The United Empire and Los Ingobnerables de Japon, a masked man appears and aids Los Ingobernables in getting the win. The man then unmasks and reveals himself to be Titan, from CMLL who then joins Los Ingobernables as the newest member.
  • Kazuchika Okada vs Jonah
  • IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jay White vs Tama Tonga
• Royal Quest 2022
  • FTR vs Aussie Open for The IWGP Tag Championship
  • Tomohiro Ishii vs Yota Tsuji
• The Night Before Rumble Show was a mystery card filled with surprises all night long.
  • Rocky Romero reunited with Alex Koslov, his longtime former partner as The Forever Hooligans reunite
  • Jonathan Gresham, one of the best technical wrestlers on the planet appears and announces he will be Fred Rosser's challenger.
  • Speedball Mike Bailey, one of the top Junior Heavyweights in the world makes his New Japan debut winning a fatal fourway
  • In The Main event it's a Twelve Man Tag match featuring Bullet Club and Team Filthy teaming up in one corner. Their opponents turn out to be an All Star Dream Team. First, it's The Amazing Red, next out Homicide and Eddie Kingston ready for war, then to the shock of New York, Jon Moxley's music hits as he hits the ring. To round it out The Rainmaker's music hits as Yoh and Kazuchika Okada round out the team.
• Rumble on 44th Street
  • The Motorcity Machine Guns, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley make their return to New Japan Pro Wrestling and become the new Strong Tag Champions.
  • Clark Connors vs Minoru Suzuki. Connors as he makes his way to the ring reveals a surprise as he is accompanied by former MMA Legend one of Suzuki's oldest rivals, Ken Shamrock.
  • Shingo Takagi vs El Phantasmo in a New York Street Fight for The King of Pro Wrestling Trophy.
• Battle Autumn
  • Ren Narita vs Sanada
  • FTR make their debuts in Japan as they defend The IWGP Tag Titles against United Empire's Jeff Cobb and Great O-Khan
  • Will Ospreay vs Tetsuya Naito for The IWGP United States Championship
    • Post match in his promo, Ospreay challenges anyone to face him in an open challenge. It seems that no one is going to answer it when the lights go out and music hits as returning from his excursion, Shota Umino comes back to New Japan and lays out Ospreay with Death Rider, the move he learned from Jon Moxley as he accepts the challenge.
• Historic X-Over, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Stardom hold their first ever joint show.
  • Hiroshi Tanahashi and Utami Hayashishita vs Hirooki Goto and Maika
  • Will Ospreay vs Shota Umino for The IWGP United States Championship
    • Post match a big surprise occurs as after three years since leaving New Japan and taking part in the formation of All Elite Wrestling, Kenny Omega appears on the video screen and announces that he will be back for New Japan as he will be wrestling at The Tokyo Dome facing Will Ospreay.
  • The Main Event of the show is to crown the first ever IWGP Women's Champion, set between Mayu Iwatani and Kairi, old rivals and competitors who have faced each other multiple times before as they were the pillars of Stardom. The two would compete to see who would become the first ever Champion. In the end, Kairi would go to the top rope and hit her flying elbow drop to score the pin and become the inaugural Women's Champion.
• December 23rd 2022: Suzukigun's farewell match as the faction has one last match together.
• Wrestle Kingdom 17
  • Mercedes Mone, the former Sasha Banks arrives in New Japan Pro Wrestling after Kairi defended The IWGP Women's Championship against Tam Nakano.
  • For the New Japan Television Championship, Zack Sabre Jr vs Ren Narita
  • IWGP Tag Titles: FTR vs Bishamon
  • Hiromu Takahashi becomes a five time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion winning The Fatal Fourway.
  • The long anticipated match between Kenny Omega and Will Ospreay as the two face for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.
  • IWGP World Heavyweight Championship: Bitter enemies Jay White vs Kazuchika Okada face once more.