Wrestle Kingdom 9
On August 10, 2014, NJPW made two announcements. Firstly, Wrestle Kingdom 9 would be held at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2015. Secondly, NJPW revealed a partnership with Jeff Jarrett's Global Force Wrestling, which it approached about bringing the event to a new market. On November 4, GFW announced that it would present the event live on American pay-per-view television and that it had a PPV market of 125 million homes.
Wrestle Kingdom II
In the main event of the show, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time in four years. In the semi-main event, TNA representative Kurt Angle successfully defended the "IWGP 3rd Belt Championship" against Yuji Nagata. Following the main event, Angle confronted Nakamura, setting up a championship unification match between the two.