When was Wrestle Kingdom 9?
Wrestle Kingdom 9
Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2015. It was the 24th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the first event on the 2015 NJPW schedule. The event featured ten professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match, six of which were for championships.
WrestleMania IX
One of the feuds heading into the event was between Tatanka and Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels. Tatanka was in the midst of an undefeated streak and had wrestled Michaels twice in the months leading up to WrestleMania IX. Tatanka pinned Michaels in a singles match on the February 13, 1993, episode of "WWF Superstars of Wrestling" and later teamed with The Nasty Boys in a six-man match against Michaels and the Beverly Brothers; Tatanka pinned Michaels to win this match as well. Michaels was also feuding with Sensational Sherri, who stood in Tatanka's corner during the match. Sherri had been Michaels' valet. When Marty Jannetty tried to hit Michaels with a mirror, however, Michaels pulled Sherri in front of him to protect himself. Sherri's anger at getting hit over the head with a mirror caused her to turn on him at Royal Rumble 1993.
The match between The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) and The Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu) had little background, although Afa, who managed The Headshrinkers, claimed that his team would "tear [the Steiners'] heads off". Doink the Clown and Crush had been feuding since the January 2, 1993, episode of "WWF Superstars of Wrestling". After Crush's match on that show, he confronted Doink, who had thrown a ball at a child in the audience. Crush grabbed Doink by the arm and warned him not to play any more pranks on children. Doink, wearing a cast on the arm that Crush had supposedly injured by grabbing, came to ringside during Crush's match on the January 18 episode of "WWF Monday Night Raw". He apologized to Crush and gave him a flower; when Crush walked away, Doink removed a prosthetic arm from his cast and attacked Crush, who was later taken away in an ambulance due to kayfabe (storyline) injuries. For storyline purposes, Crush was said to be too injured to compete in the 1993 Royal Rumble match. Doink continued his pranks by squirting Crush with a water pistol and recording video messages to Crush, which showed two Doinks on the screen.