KING OF PRO WRESTLING 2024, New Japan’s latest massive blowout event, is now in the books. And it was massive.
Today’s event was held at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo and can be watched on demand OUTSIDE JAPAN ONLY on New Japan World. This event aired live in Japan as part of WORLD PRO WRESTLING LIVE 2024 on TV Asahi.
The announced paid attendance was 6211.
Before the event began, Yoh made an appearance and, although a specific date wasn’t mentioned, announced he would be returning soon from injuries.
Match 1: Hiromu Takahashi beat Mistico.
Match 2: Kevin Knight & KUSHIDA beat IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors to win the titles. Knight & KUSHIDA become the 76th IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Knight pinned Moloney.
Match 3: IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Shane Haste & Mikey Nicholls beat Caveman Ugg & Bad Luck Fale to retain the titles.. Nicholls pinned Ugg after Thunder Valley. V1 for the champs. Next up: Possibly HENARE & Great-O-Khan.
Match 4: NEVER Openweight Champion Shingo Takagi beat Ryohei Oiwa to retain the title. V1 for Takagi.
Match 5: Ren narita beat NJPW WORLD TV Champion Jeff Cobb & Yota Tsuji in a 3-way by pinning Cobb to win the title. Narita becomes the 6th NJPW WORLD TV Champion.
Match 6: Hiroshi Tanahashi 25th Anniversary Match: El Phantasmo, Shota Umino & Hiroshi Tanahashi beat Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Yujiro Takahashi & EVIL. Tanahashi pinned Takahashi after High Fly Flow. Then, the news that made my heart skip a beat…the end is near. Tanahashi announced he will retire at Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2026. Naturally EVIL & House Of Torture ruined the moment with a beatdown and more.
Match 7: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion DOUKI beat Sho to retain the title.V3 for DOUKI. In 14 SECONDS. DOUKI was unmasked before the match officially began, revealing…face paint around his mouth. Next up: Possibly Yoshinobu Kanemaru…until the post-match beatdown was broken up by…Master Wato! The former champion returned from a long injury absence and made the save and his challenge. The Junior Heavyweight division is reviving!
Match 8: IWGP Global Champion David Finlay beat Hirooki Goto to retain the title. V3 for Finlay. Next up: Finlay wanted the injured Yuya Uemura, but instead it may be Taichi, who laid out Finlay.
Main Event: Zack Sabre Jr. beat IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Tetsuya Naito to win the title. Sabre becomes the 11th IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. As the Englanders like to say, IT’S COMING HOME. Sabre chose to gamble to try and go home as champion rather than wait for Tokyo Dome for his title shot, and it paid off. Next up: Almost certainly SANADA, his scheduled next opponent, but Umino & Takagi also made challenges. We’ll see what happens over the next couple days.
The next event is ROYAL QUEST 4 Sunday at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London, England. Live streaming worldwide on New Japan World (for all paying subscribers, no PPV) in Japanese will begin at 9:30 AM PT/12:30 PM ET. Live results will be posted. No English commentary (that will be on demand later on).
UPDATE: In the first bit of post-event news, the first US event of 2025, Battle In The Valley, was announced for 1/11 at San Jose Civic Center in San Jose, CA. Tickets go on sale Thursday.
UPDATE 2: It’s now official. The previously announced Sabre-SANADA match for Sunday is now for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.
