Wrestle Kingdom 9
Wrestle Kingdom 9 drew 36,000 fans to the Tokyo Dome, reportedly (accordingly to "Wrestleview.com" and the "Wrestling Observer Newsletter") the best attendance for a NJPW January 4 Tokyo Dome Show in 13 years. The event reportedly had 12,000 to 15,000 purchases in North America.
Wrestle Kingdom 9
Jason Powell of "Pro Wrestling Dot Net" predicted that even first-time viewers of New Japan would be "thrilled" watching this event. Although the "first half of the night felt rushed and had too many tag matches", the show still held his "interest from start to finish" and its final three matches were "amazing". Powell described several matches as overtaking each other as the night's best as the event progressed: the "very physical" Ishii–Makabe, then Naito–Styles, then Ibushi–Nakamura. English-language commentators Ross and Striker were endorsed as an overall positive. Lastly, Powell thought the "pay-per-view broadcast is fantastic", but he also said some "Pro Wrestling Dot Net" readers "reported issues with the Flipps app [broadcast] feed for the show.