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.
Wrestle Kingdom 10
The rest of the matches for Wrestle Kingdom 10 were announced on December 10, including the seventh title match of the event, with Tomohiro Ishii defending the NEVER Openweight Championship against Katsuyori Shibata. This match stemmed from the World Tag League, where Shibata pinned Ishii on both the opening and final day. This would mark Shibata's first ever NEVER Openweight Championship match. Another match stemming from the World Tag League saw Tetsuya Naito face Hirooki Goto, whom he pinned during the tournament. The feud between them had been going on since late 2015, though Naito had been more involved with Goto's tag team partner Katsuyori Shibata, while his "Los Ingobernables de Japon" stablemate Evil had been paired off with Goto. However, Shibata was abruptly taken out of the feud to challenge for the NEVER Openweight Championship, leaving Goto to face off with Naito. NJPW implied that the winner of the match could be in line for a title shot. Also announced was the Bullet Club trio of Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi taking on Toru Yano and two mystery partners and the second annual New Japan Rumble, occurring on the pre-show. On December 19, Yano's partners were revealed as the ROH tag team The Briscoes (Jay and Mark). Two days later, NJPW announced that the match would be contested for the newly created NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.