Wrestle Kingdom V

Promotional poster for the event, featuring various NJPW wrestlers

### Tagline(s)

"Let's go this road! 20 times on January 4" (Japanese: こいつちで行くぜ！２０回目の”イッテンヨン”, Hepburn: *Koitsu Chi Ikuze! 20-Kai-me no "Ittenyon"*)

## Information

### Attendance

42,000 (official)
18,000 (claimed)

### City

Tokyo, Japan

**Wrestle Kingdom V 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, 2011. It was the 20th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the fifth held under the "Wrestle Kingdom" name. The event featured thirteen matches (including two dark matches), four of which were contested for championships. Wrestle Kingdom is traditionally NJPW's biggest event of the year and has been described as their equivalent to WWE's WrestleMania.

The show included wrestlers from the American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotions for the fourth and third year in a row, respectively. During the show, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was defended for the first time in Japan. The three matches involving TNA wrestlers were aired by the American company as part of *Global Impact 3*. Wrestlers from DDT Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah and Pro Wrestling Zero1 also took part in the show.

While NJPW announced an attendance number of 42,000, which would have been the largest audience at a January 4 Tokyo Dome Show in six years, Dave Meltzer claimed that the actual attendance number was 18,000, tied with the 2007 Tokyo Dome show for the smallest audience in the event's history.

## Production

### Storylines

Wrestle Kingdom V featured thirteen 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 V was headlined by Satoshi Kojima defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi in what was described as a "typical" NJPW storyline, where the company had put their top title on an outsider, leading to their biggest star getting it back at the Tokyo Dome. Kojima had started his career in NJPW, but jumped to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 2002 and was now working as a freelancer.

## Event

In the main event of the show, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Satoshi Kojima to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, bringing the title back to NJPW. The semi-main event was a grudge match, where Togi Makabe defeated Masato Tanaka.

The event featured several wrestlers from the American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion as part of a relationship between NJPW and TNA. In the highest-profile of the matches involving TNA, Jeff Hardy successfully defended the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against NJPW's Tetsuya Naito, who had previously worked for TNA as part of the No Limit tag team. In another interpromotional match, TNA's Rob Van Dam defeated NJPW's Toru Yano in a hardcore match. In the first match involving TNA wrestlers, Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) unsuccessfully challenged Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man).

In addition, the event included two interpromotional matches between NJPW and Pro Wrestling Noah. In the first, Noah's Takashi Sugiura and Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada. This match was a one night NJPW return for Okada, who afterwards returned to TNA to continue his overseas learning excursion. In the second match, NJPW's Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Noah's Go Shiozaki.

The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship was also defended during the event with Prince Devitt defeating Kota Ibushi for his fourth successful defense.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1/4 NJPW results in Tokyo: Detailed report on TNA at Tokyo Dome Show – Jeff Hardy's performance, reactions to TNA wrestlers, Borash ring intros . *Pro Wrestling Torch* (2011-01-04). Retrieved on 2017-08-25.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `WKV`
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Meltzer, Dave (January 10, 2011). "Jan 10 Observer Newsletter: Sonnen legal issues, UFC booking, Dynamite!!, Tough Enough, Tokyo Dome". *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Campbell, California: 19–20. ISSN 1083-9593.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Nemer, Paul 2011-01-04. 1/4 TNA and NJPW Results: Tokyo, Japan . *Wrestleview*. Retrieved on 2017-08-25.
5. ↑ Martin, Garrett 2015-01-16. Japanese Wrestling's Golden Age Comes to America . *Paste*. Retrieved on 2017-08-25.
6. ↑ Martin, Adam 2011-02-22. TNA Global Impact 3 to be on demand this week . *Wrestleview*. Retrieved on 2017-08-26.
7. ↑ Boutwell, Josh 2011-01-07. Viva La Raza! Lucha Weekly . *Wrestleview*. Archived from the original on 2012-05-11. Retrieved on 2017-08-25.
8. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. How Pro Wrestling Works . *HowStuffWorks, Inc.*. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on 2013-11-18. Retrieved on 2017-08-25.
9. ↑ *ja:「仙台で選手権ができる喜びを感じてる」2・20 棚橋の初防衛戦は真壁vs小島の勝者!!* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro-Wrestling* (2011-01-05). Retrieved on 2017-08-25.
10. ↑ Hoops, Brian 2017-01-04. Daily Pro Wrestling History (01/04): NJPW Tokyo Dome cards . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2017-08-25.