NJPW Reaches Ticket Sales Milestone For Wrestle Kingdom 20
While 2025 is nearing its end, 2026 is rapidly approaching and with it comes the biggest event of New Japan Pro Wrestling's year, Wrestle Kingdom 20. NJPW will once again host their annual supershow from the Tokyo Dome with a card that features the pro wrestling debut of Olympic Gold Medalist Aaron Wolf, Konosuke Takeshita defending the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in a Winner Takes All match against the IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion Yota Tsuji, and of course, the final match of Hiroshi Tanahashi's career as he runs it back one more time with his greatest rival, current AEW Unified Champion Kazuchika Okada.
NJPW has suffered over the past few years financially, leading to attendance figures dropping since the COVID-19 pandemic began to subside, but Wrestle Kingdom 20 is set to be a large exception to the current trend as it is shaping up to be the biggest NJPW event in several years. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has already confirmed that the show is set to be the biggest Tokyo Dome event for NJPW in nearly 25 years, but in this week's edition of the Newsletter, Meltzer has confirmed that NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 20 has completely sold out.
With the sell out, Wrestle Kingdom 20 is guaranteed to set a new record for money grossed at the gate for a New Japan event, and from a legitimate attendance standpoint it is on course to be the biggest NJPW show since Antonio Inoki's retirement show in April 1998. On top of this, Meltzer claimed that from a Japanese fan point of view, the event is one of the three most in-demand tickets in NJPW history, with the other two shows being the aforementioned Inoki retirement show that drew approximately 70,000 people to the Tokyo Dome, and the NJPW vs. UWFI crossover event in October 1995 that was headlined by Keiji Muto vs. Nobuhiko Takada which drew close to 67,000 people. However, both of those figures are estimates and the actual attendance figures are said to be closer to the 50,000 mark that Wrestle Kingdom 20 is said to have hit already.