8/6/2025

The following is a deep dive analysis of half year business for NJPW.

For the sake of comparison (and because of my completionist tendencies), tours which end in early July will be included in full for tour analysis but not in the overall numbers.

Thank you to Wrestletix, The Wrestling Observer, Wrestlenomics and the New Japan websites for providing the resources which allow us to put this together.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan business in the first half of 2025 will likely carry the total year’s figures, in the same way that it did in the 2024 calendar year. The company ran 78 shows over the first six months, the same amount as in 2024, with the most important being the running of a second Tokyo Dome show on January 5th. Its biggest house was the January 4th Tokyo Dome show, with 24,107 fans in attendance, whilst its smallest was 566 attendees for a “New Japan Soul” date in Chino on June 26th.

The half year has seen them draw 164,042 people to their shows, an increase of 6.3% on the same period last year, and 10% up on 2023. The largest component to this was “Wrestle Dynasty”, although there are other tours, such as “Wrestling Dontaku”, which had a major impact. Average attendees came in at 2,103, again up 6.3% on last year’s 1,978.

“Wrestle Kingdom” and “Wrestle Dynasty”

The year opened with a weekend at the Tokyo Dome, with “Wrestle Kingdom” on January 4th and “Wrestle Dynasty” on January 5th. It was the first time New Japan have run two Dome shows back to back since the Covid restricted capacity shows in 2022, and the first time without restrictions since 2020. These shows were a large decrease on the 2020 shows, which were the peak of New Japan business, drawing 24,107 and 16,300, as opposed to the 40,008 for “Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 1” back in 2020, and 30,063 for the following night. The total drop between the two events from 2020 to 2025 was 42.3%.

New Japan had hoped that both the 4th and the 5th being at the weekend, as well as the second day having the added attraction of AEW names (including the return to action of Kenny Omega) would make the entire weekend more of a destination. This worked more with international travelers than it did the Japanese population, but it was still noticeable that the decline for the second night was still there amongst the international contingent as well.

“Wrestle Kingdom 19” on January 4th, 2025, at 24,107 was well down on last year’s single night event at 27,422, which was headlined by Tetsuya Naito vs SANADA for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. This year, Zack Sabre Jr. and Shota Umino headlined for the same championship; it was the first time in over a decade that Tetsuya Naito, Hiroshi Tanahashi or Kazuchika Okada had not been involved in a non-Covid main event of a “Wrestle Kingdom” show. The main was put together late as well, with G1 winner Zack Sabre Jr. opting to challenge for NJPW’s main title in October, rather than the traditional path of waiting until the Tokyo Dome. It has taken the company a long time to elevate Sabre Jr. to the main event level and reactions to the Shota Umino push in Japan have been mixed at best.

The semi main event of Hiromu Takahashi and Tetsuya Naito was the strongest attraction to the local crowd but was announced even later, not being made until the finals of the World Tag League in December, long after travel is often booked for Japan during the New Year’s period. The match, whilst the chief merchandise and ticket seller for the event, did not have the appeal that it did when it was first made back in 2020 for the “Anniversary” show at the Tokyo Budokan that did not take place due to Covid, and local attention on this year’s January 4th show overall was less than in previous years.

It is highly possible that with the eradication of the second night and the addition of Gabe Kidd vs Kenny Omega to the card that “Wrestle Kingdom 19” could have beaten the 2024 number, rather then being left with a decline of 12.1% from the previous year, but this number was considered a disappointment, especially with having the advantage of running on a Saturday in this year.

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“Wrestle Dynasty” on January 5th was promoted in Japan solely as a New Japan event, despite the presence of wrestlers from CMLL, Ring of Honor and AEW, and the insistence from others that it was a joint promotional show. It received no advertisement from partners AEW in the run up to the show, with the promotion citing contracting issues in preventing them from doing so. Advertisements in Japan promoted “Wrestle Dynasty” to the same level as the night before, with Kenny Omega and Hiroshi Tanahashi presented at the centre for those advertisements. Tanahashi’s exhibition match against Katsuyori Shibata was only announced the night before, with Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi only added to the tag title match at that point as well.

“Wrestle Dynasty” drew 16,300 for an afternoon show on January 5th, with a number of local spectators arriving during the course of the show. The main event was Zack Sabre Jr. vs Ricochet, formerly a junior during his tenure with New Japan; however, the drawing match was Kenny Omega vs Gabe Kidd, which had been set up back in October. Omega was returning from a long absence caused by diverticulitis.

The Sunday number was down 32.4% on the Saturday performance, which is higher than the top in 2020 (whose number was aided by an incredibly strong on-the-day walkup for the Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada match) but is less than the difference than the double Dome shows during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This show bolstered the overall attendance numbers for New Japan significantly but was not a financial success, with BushiRoad laying a large part of the blame on it for the January-March quarter results.

The “New Beginning” Tour

This year’s “New Beginning” Tour had significant changes from the years prior, with several larger shows pulled from the calendar. “New Beginning in Sapporo”, which ran over two nights in 2023 and 2024, was completely removed with the venue being under refurbishment at that point. There was also no “New Beginning in Nagoya” show, meaning that “New Beginning in Osaka” was the only major card for this period.

The Osaka show, headlined by Hirooki Goto ending his quest for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, received strong late ticket sales after the match was announced, selling out the building with 5,502 in attendance, up from 5,327 in 2024.

The overall tour had an attendance of 17,082 for the 13 shows, averaging 1,314. This was significantly down on last year due to the omission of the larger shows in this year’s calendar, but there were also some market-to-market declines during the tour. The opening two Korakuen Hall shows were down 33% from the same dates in 2024, where Tetsuya Naito returned to Tokyo with the IWGP belt for the first time since “Wrestle Kingdom” weekend and the two days of shows in Hiroshima entitled “Strong Splash” were down from 1,850 last year to 1,650 this year. The second batch of Korakuen Hall shows were also down, meaning that the shows where we can accurately make a market-to-market comparison for the tour between the two years is a decline of 9.9%, most of which can probably be put on Tetsuya Naito holding the belt for the first time since 2021 during this period.

The 8 shows for the “Fantastica Mania” Tour at the end of February, with a number of touring talents from CMLL, consisted of 8 shows with a total attendance of 8,449, which is up in the total tour number of 8,092 from the year before, but had an additional show, with the average attendees per show down 100 on the previous year.

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53rd “Anniversary”

This year’s “Anniversary” show was once again held at Ota City Gymnasium and was headlined by Hirooki Goto vs Hiroshi Tanahashi. This number was an indication of a surprising level of draw we were seeing from Hirooki Goto as champion, as it did 3,335, up from 3,008 in 2024 with Tetsuya Naito vs SHO and 2,020 in 2023 with Kazuchika Okada as champion. It is the highest post-Covid number for the venue, finally seeing off the 2023 “Best of the Super Juniors Final” between Master Wato and Titán, which set the mark at 3,132.

New Japan Cup

The 2025 “New Japan Cup” tour had 9 stops, amassing 14,826 in tickets sold, with an average attendance per show of 1,647. This year had fewer dates than last year’s 11 date tournament, meaning that whilst the total number was narrowly down, the average number per show was up by nearly 300 people and 21.2%. One of the reasons the tour was much shorter is that the first date had to be cancelled after a ring post failed just moments before the show was due to begin on what was the originally first scheduled night at Korakuen Hall.

The number which will stick out massively from market-to-market is Nagoya, which was up 57.3% compared to last year’s number at 2,752. This was thanks to a IWGP World Title match between Hirooki Goto and Yuji Nagata being added to the card. It is a highly unusual occurrence to have a world title match in any of these shows. The New Japan Cup Finals, again this year in Nagaoka, were up 8.9% on the previous year.

“Sakura Genesis”

“Sakura Genesis” is a short turnaround from the New Japan Cup, with only four “Road To’s” in the lead up. This year, David Finlay would be the IWGP Title challenger for Hirooki Goto, having won the tournament the previous week after withdrawing from the 2024 Cup midway through due to injury (that most had expected him to win). This show at Ryogoku Kokugikan kept up Goto’s streak of headlining with year-to-year increases, with an overall attendance of 6,640, up 8 people from the 2024 total of 6,632.

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“Wrestling Dontaku”

This is the pivotal tour in New Japan’s year, as it marked the departure of leading ticket and merchandise seller over the previous decade, Tetsuya Naito, from the company. The numbers for the “Wrestling Dontaku” weekend in Fukuoka on May 3rd and 4th were not looking too promising from early advances, but the announcement of Naito’s leaving sparked ticket sales in a way that would indicate to all what the company was losing with his leaving.

The “Dontaku” tour drew 21,282 spectators across 12 shows, with 1,765 people in average attendance. It is the strongest performing tour of the year so far, up 21% on total attendance since 2024 and the highest non-G1 tour average since the “New Beginning” Tour in 2020. The final night was up from 4,238 last year to 5,407, a 27.6% increase.

The numbers look good on paper but mask what was a tumultuous month for the company, with the original main event of the also departing Jeff Cobb (to WWE) challenging Hirooki Goto in his adopted hometown having been scrapped after he was pulled early by the American promotion, meaning he actually finished up in Korakuen Hall on April 19th. The Korakuen Hall show was a sell out, with the final few hundred tickets moving quickly after Naito’s departure was also announced. The decision was made not to put him in the main event in Fukuoka, instead putting him in a multi-man match in the middle of the card, similar to what happened with Kazuchika Okada in February last year. There was also no burning of matches with Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hirooki Goto or a Hiromu Takahashi rematch, leaving them all on the table for a later date, if the two sides choose to work together again at some point. It was United Empire’s Callum Newman who instead got the spot in a show which would not require him to draw.

In comparable market-to-markets, the “Dontaku” tour was up 23.1% on the previous year, with the Hiroshima show, at 3,018, being the largest attendance in the city since winter 2019. The last night in Fukuoka was the biggest attendance in the city since the nearby baseball stadium was used to hold the show in 2022, and the biggest in an arena since night 2 in 2019, having posted a bigger figure than night 1.

It also sold what was described by those in Japan as an “insane” amount of merch, as New Japan not only closed down their most popular wrestler but also his adjacent stable in LIJ.

“Best Of The Super Juniors”

May’s “Best of the Super Juniors” Tour returned to having its own finals in 2025, after last year saw the final moved to the main event at “Dominion”. The return to Ota helped with the overall attendance for the 13-show tour, with 17,380 in attendance up from the 14,826 over 13 shows last year, with an average number per show of 1,337.

Whilst parity booking was a talking point amongst fans, and some of the venues and audiences amongst talent, the tour was up 8.6% in comparable markets from the year before and wasn’t overly as reliant on Korakuen Hall as in 2024, where the final 3 shows were held in Bunkyo City. The noteworthy increase of 77% in Himeji indicates how weekend dates can have a dramatic difference in attendance numbers in a city.

The finals drew 3,044 in Ota City Gymnasium, down from the 3,132 figure posted in 2023 in the same venue.

“Dominion”

This year’s “Dominion” show was the first test of business without Tetsuya Naito, with a main event of Shingo Takagi vs Hirooki Goto for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Attendance was announced at 6,525, 10% down on last year’s number, and also down on 2023. It could have been even lower as well, as tickets for Fan Club members went on sale just prior to the announcement of Naito’s departure, sparking some anger amongst those who had already purchased tickets on the belief that he would be there.

It is safe to say that this was the most disappointing domestic number of Hirooki Goto’s reign, and it came to an end at the end of June in Nagoya, at the last wrestling event to be held at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium (better known as Dolphins Arena) on the 29th. The loss came in the semi main event, though, as he and Zack Sabre Jr came behind a Tanahashi interpromotional tag in the main event. Tanahashi also opened the show that he produced entitled “Tanahashi Jam”. The Nagoya number rescued the overall Soul tour numbers from looking really bleak, as the 4,570 (highest in the city since the 2019 G1) brought the overall tour attendance to 14,986 based on 11 shows. This was 3 more shows than last year’s tour, which still ended up with higher average attendance overall.

Perhaps the scariest number was in Adachi, Tokyo, where a show headlined by Gabe Kidd vs Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Global belt drew 1,377 compared to last year’s 2,423 when the show was built around local man Tetsuya Naito. The loss of Naito appears to have had the biggest immediate impact in Tokyo and Osaka, which is not a giant surprise.

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Junior Korakuen Strategy

New Japan have changed their strategy again this year when it comes to the Juniors, using Korakuen Hall to host title defences for both the IWGP Tag Titles and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Title, which has now not been defended on a major domestic show since the “Anniversary” show in March, where the title match was also a downgrade from the traditional main event where the Junior Heavyweight Champion wrestles their Heavyweight counterpart.

Junior titles being defended in Korakuen is not new, there were two defences there during the same time period last year, but it feels like a significant downgrade compared to last summer, where the Best of the Super Juniors Final headlined “Dominion”, and title matches also main evented the major “Soul” Tour dates in Sapporo and Adachi, Tokyo. The Osaka and Adachi dates did strong houses with the heavyweight title holder in the semi main event, but New Japan appeared to discontinue this strategy thereafter.

The Junior branded Korakuens has led to 694 additional tickets being sold across the four shows this year, a 14% increase, but feels like a completely backwards step in regards to the presentation of the division.

International Shows

Further identifiable changes in strategy can be seen in the running of international shows, or lack thereof, in 2025. New Japan has run three non-domestic shows in 2025, and entirely in the US. NJPW Tamashii shows with New Japan talent in Australia seem to have ended, with the only show in the country this year being a local production. The spinoff is now running shows solely in New Zealand, which is more the equivalent of the LA Dojo than main brand New Japan.

Last year’s “Wrestling World In Taiwan” show in April has not been replicated. The plans to expand in Southeast Asia and to partner with several local promotions in the area have not come to fruition as of yet, with the only New Japan wrestler to work with the likes of Singapore Pro Wrestling and SETUP in Thailand being Zack Sabre Jr. TJPW has worked in that space far more than New Japan has.

There have also been no appearances by NJPW rostered talent for Revolution Pro Wrestling in the UK over the course of this year so far, and the annual “Royal Quest” feels like it will not take place this year after Hiroshi Tanahashi’s last match in the UK was announced for “Forbidden Door”, instead of being the primary draw for a sole New Japan show.

In the US, there have been three shows so far this year: “Battle In the Valley” in San Jose in January, “Windy City Riot” in Chicago in April and “Resurgence” in California in May. The Chicago show was the strongest performer of the three, drawing an audience of 4,674 for the last US match of Hiroshi Tanahashi against Konosuke Takeshita. It was well down from the 6,028 figure from last year’s event, but that saw Jon Moxley wrestle Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight belt and also managed to catch the attention of resellers in a way it did not this year. The California cards were both down on the previous year as well, with San Jose down 15.5% to 1,814, and Ontario dropping to 2,027 from 3,024 the previous year (-33%).

Since May there have been no announcements for future dates in the US, with shows in July and late August over the past two summers not replicated on this occasion. The cost/benefit of these shows do not seem in favour of running multiple shows over the second half of the year, especially with the most notable names to the US audience over the past decade either gone or retired from competition in the US. It almost feels isolationist in its current outlook.

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Talent Movements

Whilst the departure of Tetsuya Naito (and stablemate BUSHI) was covered above in regards to the “Wrestling Dontaku” Tour, it is hard not to consider how much a hit this will have on New Japan business. New Japan crowds have been dominated by LIJ merchandise for much of the last decade, and even more so after 2020. Naito was able to hold up attendance numbers, and even increase them, after the departures of Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay and Jay White, but New Japan’s failure to move talent up over recent years have left them having to deal with perhaps a greater impact than what they would have if more action had been taken prior to this summer. Could the Ungovernable one return to New Japan in the short term future? There are many in New Japan who would not rule it out.

The Jeff Cobb departure also created a small mess in regards to United Empire, as TJP went public on issues in the group. He has not been used in Japan since then, making plenty of noise about wanting to be a heavyweight, and therefore turning down the Juniors tour in May. His last usage by the company overall was at “Resurgence” in May.

Mercedes Moné dropped the NJPW Women’s Strong Title to AZM back in May as well. Being that it was during a story where she was collecting belts, it has naturally led to speculation that her contract with New Japan has come to an end (and also might be related to the dropping of dates in the US).

There have been some pickups this year, with Kevin Knight re-signing as part of a dual deal with AEW, after looking as though he had ended his time with New Japan back in January. Knight competed in the “Best of the Super Juniors” tour back in May. Also signing a triple deal is Konosuke Takeshita. Takeshita, if able to spend the time in New Japan required, is a talent who can help to fill the gap left at the very top of the promotion and is also capable of elevating talent around him who may not have experienced the pressure spots at the top of the card previously. The end of this year should tell us whether he will be given the opportunity to do so or not.

The biggest signing of the year is Aaron Wolf. The former judoka is a household name in Japan after winning gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. He is said to have not signed for a massive fee, and is fully committed to training, with some of New Japan’s biggest stars looking to lend a hand in speeding up his development.

Wolf has already had a financial and publicity impact for New Japan, with broadcaster TV Asahi agreeing to broadcast next year’s “Wrestle Kingdom 20” live in the evening, replacing the late night broadcast which has been a staple for most of the previous two decades. Wolf will debut on the show, likely against one of the biggest names on the current roster, and will have a huge amount of pressure on him from the get go. New Japan will build around him over the next couple of years and they need it to work, especially with his debut coinciding with the retirement of Hiroshi Tanahashi on the same night.

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Outlook

The second half of 2025 will be much tougher for attendance numbers than the first half, but may be more profitable if crowds turn out to see the final matches in each town before Hiroshi Tanahashi retires on January 4th, 2026. Marketing for autumn dates already reflects this, with the “Destruction in Kobe” show next month solely advertising the NJPW President.

The G1 tour will likely be made or broken depending if the final two nights at Ariake Arena can perform to a much higher level than their regular finals venue in Ryogoku, with the rest of the tour suffering from a lack of star power and some tour routing choices that are making conditions for drawing strong numbers more difficult (be it that some are enforced due to venues being unavailable).

There may be some pain in general over the second half of the year, but the hope is that New Japan look to BushiRoad partner Stardom for ideas on how to take risks and elevate talent, rather than leaving them to stagnate whilst the top spots are allocated by seniority/time with the company. This is not a company that can solely wait for Aaron Wolf to make his impact and Wolf will need drawing talent to work with if he is going to be successful.

Check out these other articles from this week!

The Unwanted Ace

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CMLL 72 Aniversario Arena Puebla

CMLL celebrated the “72nd Anniversary” of the Templo del Dolor in Puebla by putting on a surreal main event that pitted top técnicos Místico and Esfinge against one another as they teamed with the perennial rudo tandems of Los Guerreros Laguneros and Los Infernales.