The Tokyo Dome opened on March 17, 1988, replacing the famous Korakuen Stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which was known as the home of the Yomiuri Giants baseball team. The Tokyo Dome, also known as “The Big Egg”, took over as the Yomiuri Giants’ new home stadium and contributed to the growth of Japanese professional wrestling with its first event in April 1989.

This first show would be New Japanese pro wrestling‘s Battle Satellite, where Shota Chochishvili defeated Antonio Inoki for the WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship. Since that first event, other promotions such as All Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah and many others have held events at the legendary stadium. With such a tremendous history to look back on, here are some of the greatest fights to ever take place at the Tokyo Dome.

Aja Kong and Manami Toyota fight in the first round

AJW Big Egg Wrestling Universe

The first and only time AJW was allowed to use the Tokyo Dome was in 1994 for their Big Egg Wrestle Universe show. The program was insane, there were 23 matches and the show lasted about ten hours. The talk of the event was the V*TOP Five Star Tournament, which gave us fans this first round match between Aja Kong and Manami Toyota.

This was far from the first or only time the two wrestled each other, but perhaps they take top prize for their best match together. Kong claimed the victory, which lasted just over seventeen minutes, continuing their eternal rivalry that eventually saw Toyota defeat Kong to win the WWWA World Championship.

Toshiaki Kawada and Mitsuharu Misawa prove why they were the pillars

AJPW 25th Anniversary Show

Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa has happened several times in both men’s careers and this match isn’t even considered the best of their rivalries. Misawa had some great matches in the Big Egg, like his time limit draw with Masahiro Chono in 2002 or his massive babyface win over Big Van Vader at the Giant Baba Memorial Show in 1999, but nothing could compare to the action between him and Kawada in 1998.

AJPW’s 25th anniversary show is generally considered to be an average event, with this match standing out as the best on the card. Misawa and Kawada could have had much better matches, just not in the Tokyo Dome.

Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama end their long-standing feud

Pro Wrestling NOAH Departure 2004

The culmination of a feud that began four years before this match, Jun Akiyama challenged Kenta Kobashi during his record-breaking 735-day GHC Heavyweight Championship reign. The two men were partners before Akiyama turned villain and defeated Kobashi by referee stoppage in 2000. Kobashi took a break from wrestling while Akiyama became a top star and GHC Heavyweight Champion.

In 2004, Kobashi captured the title himself and began his legendary reign. This match took place at NOAH’s first show at the Tokyo Dome. This show is highly regarded and almost every match is worth watching. This main event was the perfect end to a fantastic show.

Kenta Kobashi and Kensuke Sasaki face each other for the first time.

Pro Wrestling NOAH Destiny 2005

Destiny 2005 was a historic night for the promotion, as it saw the debut of two legendary wrestlers: Toshiaki Kawada and Kensuke Sasaki. Kawada got the main event of the show, battling his long-time rival Mitsuharu Misawa, while Sasaki had the penultimate match against Kenta Kobashi.

This was also the first and only time Kobashi and Sasaki wrestled one on one, with their subsequent matches all being tag shows. The match was advertised as a “dream match” in which the two met and even exceeded expectations. Both men displayed an extreme level of physicality, with Kobashi lasting longer than Sasaki and taking a resounding victory.

Prince Devitt, Low Ki and Kota Ibushi perform a beautiful three-way dance

NJPW Wrestling Kingdom 7

These matches were a bit of a pick and choose as they could have easily been filled with Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi or Shinsuke Nakamura as these three easily had some of the best matches in the Tokyo Dome. As for this event, most would say Okada vs. Tanahashi was the best match of this show but these two would do better at another Wrestle Kingdom event. So instead an underrated classic between Prince Devitt (Finn Balor in WWE), Low Ki and Kota Ibushi takes that spot.

In a rare three-way match, Devitt put his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on the line against two men who had competed for the title over the past three years. An interesting note about this match: Low Ki wrestled in a suit, angering NJPW management so much that they said they were willing to bring anyone back, “except Low Ki.”

Shinsuke Nakamura against Kota Ibushi was a great starting point

NJPW Wrestling Kingdom 9

Wrestle Kingdom 9 was considered a huge success for NJPW as a company. It was the first show to attract a western audience, such as AJ Styles and his time with Bullet Club or Jim Ross doing commentary on the event. Shinsuke Nakamura and Kota Ibushi, while not the main fighters of the show, became the match that drew many western fans in, as new fans didn’t need to know several years of history like they did with Okada vs. Tanahashi.

It also doesn’t hurt that this match was great in every way. Nakamura was at the peak of his wrestling abilities and Kota Ibushi wasn’t suffering from years of injuries at this point. This performance, despite his loss, made Ibushi a huge star in New Japan and made him a challenger for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles say goodbye with a bang

NJPW Wrestling Kingdom 10

It is now known that both AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura would leave New Japan after this show and sign contracts with WWE. Despite signing the biggest contracts of their careers and easily being able to pull off one final appearance and earn a huge paycheck, these two instead decided to steal the show and have one of the biggest matches of their careers.

Nakamura and Styles had never fought one-on-one before, having only met in tag matches, and because of this match, their bout at WrestleMania 34 was expected to be an absolute classic.

Kazuchika Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi crown the trilogy

NJPW Wrestling Kingdom 10

As mentioned, Okada and Tanahashi would put on a much better Wrestle Kingdom match compared to their previous encounters. This would be their third match at Wrestle Kingdom, with Tanahashi earning wins at both Wrestle Kingdom 7 and Wrestle Kingdom 9. This match narrowly surpasses Nakamura vs. Styles in terms of storyline. In the final chapter of a multi-year storyline, Okada finally defeated the man he couldn’t beat.

There were flashbacks to their previous Wrestle Kingdom matches, such as Tanahashi resorting to moves that had helped him the year before and Okada being able to stop her now. You could also look at the last three matches of this Wrestle Kingdom, which are perhaps the best series of matches New Japan has ever had.

Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega are breaking the Internet

NJPW Wrestling Kingdom 11

What can be said about this match that hasn’t already been said? A nearly 47-minute match that saw Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada bring out the best in each other. This feud brought New Japan to a critical time for the promotion, as all the work that Wrestle Kingdom 9 and 10 had done to bring in new viewers was finally coming to light.

Even if you’ve never seen this match, you may know that Dave Meltzer broke his usual 0-5 rating scale by giving Omega vs. Okada a six-star rating. Omega vs. Okada continued to have great matches, with each encounter surpassing this, but it was their only Wrestle Kingdom match and was still a spectacle.

Bryan Danielson and Kazuchika Okada were a dream couple

NJPW Wrestling Kingdom 18

It would be even more shocking to hear that a match between two wrestlers who can claim to be “the best in the world” wasn’t a classic. At Forbidden Door 2023, Okada and Danielson had their first match together, but an injury to Danielson’s arm mid-fight prevented part of it from happening. So when the rematch was confirmed for Wrestle Kingdom 18, expectations were huge.

Both men gave their best in this match and it paid off as the match lived up to insanely high expectations while being considered the best match of Wrestle Kingdom 18 and perhaps even the best Wrestle Kingdom match in recent years.