In 2007, New Japan Pro Wrestling presented the first ever edition of their equivalent to WWE’s WrestleMania, entitled Wrestle Kingdom. The event followed on from their annual January 4th show, but gave it a new name and look to help better sell the event to paying audiences, after a lull in success in the years prior,
Wrestle Kingdom was the first annual event to be given that named, and was named after a NJPW video game that recently came out. The show took place on January 4th, 2007, with the main event seeing Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono defeat Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima.
The show celebrated the 35th anniversary of NJPW and AJPW, which were founded in 1972 after Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba split from the Japanese Wrestling Association. As such, it featured top stars from both companies, leading to a huge cross-promotion main event.
El Samurai, Masanobu Fuchi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs Akira Raijin, Kikutaro & Nobutaka Araya
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – Not Rated
- Cagematch Rating – Not Rated
- Atletifo Rating – 2.5 Stars
Gedo & Jado vs Tokyo Gurentai (MAZADA & NOSAWA Rongai
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – Not Rated
- Cagematch Rating – Not Rated
- Atletifo Rating – 3 Stars
Giant Bernard, RO’Z & Voodoo Murders (Suwama & TARU) vs Manabu Nakanishi, Naofumi Yamamoto, Riki Choshu & Takashi Iizuka
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – Not Rated
- Cagematch Rating – 5.71
- Atletifo Rating – 2 Stars
Kaz Hayashi, Koji Kanemoto, TAKA Michinoku, Tiger Mask & Wataru Inoue vs CTU (Jushin Thunder Liger & Minoru), Milano Collection AT & Voodoo Murders (Shuji Kondo & YASSHI)
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – Not Rated
- Cagematch Rating – Not Rated
- Atletifo Rating – 1.5 Stars
Toshiaki Kawada vs Shinsuke Nakamura
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – Not Rated
- Cagematch Rating – 7.53
- Atletifo Rating – 4 Stars
Minoru Suzuki vs Yuji Nagata
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – Not Rated
- Cagematch Rating – 8.32
- Atletifo Rating – 3.5 Stars
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Taiyo Kea
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – Not Rated
- Cagematch Rating – 7.64
- Atletifo Rating – 3 Stars
Keiji Muto & Masahiro Chono vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima
- Dave Meltzer’s Star Rating – Not Rated
- Cagematch Rating – 5.31
- Atletifo Rating – 2 Stars