New Japan Pro-Wrestling held its biggest show of the year on January 4th with Wrestle Kingdom 19 taking place in the Tokyo Dome.
One night later, NJPW and AEW held Wrestle Dynasty in the Tokyo Dome, which featured the return of Kenny Omega.
Speaking to Tokyo Sports, NJPW owner Takaaki Kidani commented on the weekend.
"I'd like to have more than 40,000 people attend [Wrestle Kingdom] next year. I think that's the bare minimum. I'd like to have a lot of other events besides Tanahashi (Hiroshi)'s retirement match. I'll spend a year on that. In the sports world, basketball and volleyball are doing really well, aren't they? I think pro wrestling is losing out to them. There are still many issues to be addressed, including the fact that we haven't been able to attract customers from overseas, but I'm okay with this being a growing pain as we move to the next stage," he said.
Wrestle Kingdom drew 24,107, down from 27,422 last year. Wrestle Dynasty drew 16,300 fans.
Speaking about the co-promotion with AEW, Kidani said, “Perhaps it would be better to do it at the place where we separated them at January 4th. As a point of reflection, we couldn't show the colors of the joint event, and we couldn't show the colors of the rivalry, and I think we ended up halfway through. That's something to reflect on."
Fans can find Fightful's coverage of NJPW x AEW Wrestle Dynasty by clicking here. Check out the post-show podcast for a full review by clicking here.
