Wrestle Kingdom 12
Behind the scenes, Jericho became part of a group of people that started pushing for the show to air on American pay-per-view (PPV) for the first time since Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 2015. Some in NJPW felt that airing the show through NJPW World would be enough, hoping that the Jericho signing would increase subscriber numbers. While NJPW was now considered more popular than in 2015, when Wrestle Kingdom 9 did 14,000 buys on American PPV, it was noted that the 2018 show would take place early Thursday morning in the United States as opposed to a weekend like it did in 2015, which was seen as a major negative in terms of getting buys from the country. In late November, it was reported that NJPW had turned down Fite TV's offer for PPV rights outside of Japan and would not be allowing the event to air on American PPV, wanting their streaming service to be the only way to see the event live. On December 3, it was announced that the top matches from the show would air on AXS TV on January 6, 2018, as part of an 11-hour block of NJPW programming with additional matches airing between January 12 and February 9. Five matches, including the top three matches, will air on TV Asahi as part of a special episode of "World Pro Wrestling" on the night of January 4.
Wrestle Kingdom 11
Wrestle Kingdom 11 featured eleven professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
Wrestle Kingdom 11 was main evented by Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kenny Omega. Okada won the title on June 19, 2016, by defeating Tetsuya Naito at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall. Meanwhile, Omega became the number one contender at the Tokyo Dome by winning the 2016 G1 Climax the following August, defeating Hirooki Goto in the finals to become the first foreign winner of NJPW's premier tournament. Afterwards, Okada reatined the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Pro Wrestling Noah representative Naomichi Marufuji, avenging a loss suffered during the 2016 G1 Climax, while Omega defended his status as the number one contender against Yoshi-Hashi and Hirooki Goto, leading to the match between Okada and Omega being made official for the Tokyo Dome in a press conference on October 11. Omega stated that his goal as champion was to take the IWGP Heavyweight Championship abroad and defend it in countries like the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand in direct opposition to WWE and their global strategy. Okada and Omega were the heads of the Chaos and Bullet Club stables, respectively, and the match at Wrestle Kingdom 11 marked the first singles match between the two. The match also marked Omega's first ever shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.