NNew Japan Pro Wrestling

What is the New Japan show that made you a new japan fan?

  • August 26, 2024

I'm curious, what shows brought you to the dance and made you a fan of the promotion. For me, it was definitely WK11. That was my first full new japan show that I watched. I never saw new japan at the time. I was watching Roh in 2016 at that point.

Cody joining bullet club intrigued me. And I was a fan of bullet club watching them in Roh. But watching Wk11 really made me feel things in wrestling I didn't feel before. After that show and new years Dash. I couldn't watch wrestling the same way. I was watching TNA for years and watch wwe since 04 as a child. But it took two new japan shows to hook me in.

by DeathTriangle720

42 comments

  2. Watched Dominion 2016 with a friend and i just thought Naito was the coolest dude ever and when i came back from my vacation he was having the IWGP IC Title match against Elgin and i was just hooked and didn’t miss much besides some Road To shows.

  3. WK17 and WK18, 17 was unforgettable, and 18 is when I decided to start watching New Japan more consistently

  4. WK18. Saw it was on, and I was curious. Downloaded NJPW World and stayed up late. Was tired as hell by the end, but what an experience!

  6. In 2016, I came across a match on YouTube Nakamura Shunsuke vs AJ Styles for the IWGP IC title. WK 9, I think.

    Afterwards, I got intrigued with the product. Kept up with the backstage comments in late 2018 all the way up to 2019. Then I officially subscribed to streaming services for G1 29.

  7. A random episode in 1987 with Inokl vs Choshu as the main event. Found it while flipping channels and found it on a Japanese language channel when I was stationed in Hawaii.

  8. WK12 sealed the deal. I’d become aware of some stuff before that, but it was the big one.

  9. WK9, i couldn’t believe how they were actually kicking/elbowing/kneeing each other in the head so hard for real. the best most hard hitting wrestling i’ve ever seen. ishii vs makabe and ibushi vs nakamura especially blew me away.

  10. Wk11 , big Adam Cole fan and wanted to see if he would become the first 3 time ROH champ so I pirated a stream and watched while I was at work and loved what I saw throughout the card , thought it was cool to see Cody, I was blown away with Naito and Tanahashi and how much the story was with Naito and the ic belt , and then omega vs Okada happened and I was hooked and got njpwworld and have kept it since .

  11. Power Struggle 2016, I had to find out what the hype was all about after the G1 and I ain’t left since

  12. Wrestle Kingdom 5 in 2011. Wanted to see the show with RVD and Jeff Hardy on it and ended up loving the presentation of NJPW and preferring the Japanese wrestlers.

  16. Wrestling World 2002 (a pre-WK era New Year’s dome show). I had just recently become a big fan of NOAH and 90s AJPW, so I was a new fan of Jun Akiyama. And I was interested to see Yuji Nagata being presented as a star for the first time (my introduction to him was through his also-ran roster spot in WCW). Their GHC title match didn’t disappoint, and the entirety of the first NJPW vs. NOAH interpromotional feud had some fantastic matches and moments with a lot of heat.

  18. I had followed NJPW since 2000 through this wrestling magazine in the UK called Power Slam. In 2004 we had a cable channel here called The Wrestling Channel (TWC) that broadcasted NJPW shows. After TWC shut down, I still followed what was happening through Power Slam and this NJPW fansite (wish I could remember the name, it was pretty popular back in the day)

    But what made me a real fan was not a single show, but it was when Prince Devitt (Finn Balor) turned heel and formed The Bullet Club in 2013. I found the idea of Devitt as the IWGP Jr Champ, forming a heel stable and challenging for the Heavyweight title really intriguing

    I was hooked from there.

  19. Wasn’t exactly a specific match, but the whole of the G1 Climax 24. I was pretty desperate for some new wrestling to sink my teeth into, so I watched the first show of the tournament on a whim, basically after hearing that AJ Styles and Shelton Benjamin were there.

    Not only did I love the idea of the tournament but that’s where I first saw Shinsuke Nakamura and I was totally sold from there, he basically became my favourite wrestler overnight and I would watch any New Japan I could after that point.

  23. …. WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic which was like 2 months after Nakamura’s NXT Debut. It had both Ibushi and ZSJ. I loved that tournament. Though I was still sort of exploring the wrestling landscape and I don’t know if NJPW was ever mentioned during that tournament, so it took me another 2 years to start watching. My first show was Dominion 2018 and I loved it.

    Edit: No I was wrong, it was WK12. I don’t remember a lot from that period of time for some reason (look I’m getting old.. I’m almost 30), all I remembered was Jericho tbh even though he was 100% not the reason why I started watching.

  24. Watched WK9 highlights on Facebook (of all places). Kept tabs on it over time and like you WK11 was the first full event I watched. Hooked ever since!

  25. I watched sporadically for years, pretty much the G1 Final and WrestleKingdom and a random ppv.

    But WK 11 was so good that I became a regular viewer. I connected with so many of the wrestlers that I wanted to see what happened to them

  26. I started watching this year. Started with this year’s Anniversary and I was so lost. Then kept on going with New Japan Cup and have followed ever since. Sure I haven’t seen any classic matches but I already know the ins and outs of the company. Feels like I’ve been watching years because every wrestler/faction and all rules are familiar. Hardcore NJPW fan even if I haven’t gotten the time to watch any classic matches!

  27. I watched a lot of the crossover stuff with ROH and TNA in the 2000s and watched the AXS show fairly regularly, but the Dominion with Kenny vs Okada 2/3 falls was what finally got me to buy World and I’ve been following closely since.

  29. WK10 (specifically AJ-Shinsuke) got me back into wrestling. Omega-Okada next year made me need to become a pro wrestler. Still my favourite match ever.

  30. Somehow convinced my parents to let me order WK9 on PPV one fateful Sunday night and Ibushi/Nakamura absolutely swept me off my feet

  31. When AJ Styles came back on ROH tv with the IWGP Belt so 2014. Ive always been following ROH

  32. Their event at the cow palace in 2018. I wanted to see what all this hoopla was about Kenny Omega being the best bout machine and the best wrestler in the world. I was on the heels of not watching WWE anymore because the shows were just getting stale for me. So I checked out that NJPW event and loved it. Then they started talking about the G1 28 Climax tournament and I never heard of the tournament. Decided to watch it when it came on and loved it. It was that year I understood what Best in the World actually meant.

  34. Also WK11 for me. I had seen some stuff, a few matches, and had kinda rolled my way into it via Being the Elite. O remember, specifically, when Kenny punctured his back. And I was watching the clip shows on AXS. But the WK show was so good, and then Dash after with the Suzuki-Gun invasion? Absolutely hooked.

  35. I think it was WK 10. Loved it and thought it was amazing, but I didn’t properly get into New Japan until after WK 11 left a mark on me. Never looked back since.

  36. Kazuchika Okada vs will ospreay in the NJPW cup finals when Ospreay formed UE and turned on chaos. Been an avid fan of Ospreay since, he’s never disappointed me.

  37. I’d been wanting to watch NJPW for years, but my first show I caught live was night 1 of WK14 for the retirement of Liger and the Texas Death Match

  38. Wrestle Kingdom 12.

    I’d heard the buzz around New Japan for a long while, Chris Jericho is my all time favourite wrestler, and I was so tired of WWE.

    The show completely blew me away, as I’d only really had access to WWE and, for a little while, WCW and TNA. I literally had no idea wrestling could be that good!

  42. Also WK 11. I just remember the internet going CRAZY over some guys named Okada and Omega. But I am grateful for it really cuz it opened my eyes to NJPW. And I was fully over with main roster WWE but gawddamn that period of NXT was 🔥🔥🔥

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