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.
Honor Takes Center Stage
The second featured championship match saw Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) finally have a match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship having entered Ring of Honor the previous September. Their Glory By Honor IX debut against reigning champions The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) and lose in a non-title match. They returned to ROH as regulars from December onwards and defeated the Kings of Wrestling in another non-title match at "SoCal Showdown II", then went on to win a contendership match against the Briscoe Brothers at 9th Anniversary Show earning them a rubber match with the Kings, this time for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. On 7 March, Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team issued a video challenge to the only major tag team in ROH they had not yet faced, the American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards), for a match on the second day of the event, which they soon accepted.