Wrestling Dontaku

Wrestling Dontaku (レスリングどんたく, Resuringu Dontaku) is an annual professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). It was originally held from 1993 to 1995 and again from 2000 to 2001 in Fukuoka at the Fukuoka Dome. The event was revived in 2009 and has since been held at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center and aired as a pay-per-view (PPV). Since 2013, viewers outside of Japan have also been able to view the event as an internet pay-per-view (iPPV). "Dontaku" is a Japanese word for holiday, derived from the Dutch word for Sunday, "Zondag".

1993

The first Wrestling Dontaku was held on May 3, 1993, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Dome. The event featured ten matches.^[1] As part of a working relationship between NJPW and American promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Brutus Beefcake, Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Hart, Scott Norton and Sting took part in the event.^[1]

1994

The second Wrestling Dontaku was held on May 1, 1994, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Dome. The event featured thirteen matches; three of which were contested for championships.^[2] Much like the previous year, the event featured wrestlers from World Championship Wrestling (WCW), with Rick Rude defeating Sting for the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship.^[2] The decision was, however, later reversed due to Rude cheating to win the match.^[3] The semi-main event saw Shinya Hashimoto defeat Tatsumi Fujinami to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the second time.^[2]

1995

The third Wrestling Dontaku was held on May 3, 1995, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Dome. The event featured eleven matches, two of which were contested for championships.^[4] For the third year in a row, wrestlers from World Championship Wrestling (WCW) took part in the event.^[4] The event saw Sabu capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from Koji Kanemoto and Keiji Mutoh capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Shinya Hashimoto, ending his reign which had started at the previous year's Wrestling Dontaku.^[4]

2000

The fourth Wrestling Dontaku, first in five years, was held on May 5, 2000, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Dome. The event featured eight matches, two of which were contested for championships.^[5] The event opened with the finals of the 2000 Young Lion Cup, where Kenzo Suzuki defeated Shinya Makabe,^[5] who later became better known as Togi Makabe, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.^[6] In the semi-main event, Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata successfully defended the IWGP Tag Team Championship against Kazunari Murakami and Naoya Ogawa, while in the main event, Kensuke Sasaki, using his Power Warrior persona, defeated The Great Muta to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.^[5]

2001

The fifth Wrestling Dontaku was held on May 5, 2001, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Dome. The event featured nine matches, one of which was contested for a championship.^[7] In the title match, El Samurai and Jushin Liger defeated the Mexican brother tag team of Dr. Wagner, Jr. and Silver King to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.^[7] The event also featured appearances by mixed martial artists Don Frye and Rainy Martinez.^[7]

2009

The sixth Wrestling Dontaku, the first in eight years, was held on May 3, 2009, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center. The event featured nine matches (including one dark match), one of which was contested for a championship.^[8] Cima from Dragon Gate worked the event as an outsider.^[8] In the main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the winner of the 2009 New Japan Cup, Hirooki Goto, and afterwards nominated Manabu Nakanishi as his next challenger.^[8]

2010

The seventh Wrestling Dontaku was held on May 3, 2010, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center. The event featured nine matches (including one dark match), four of which were contested for championships.^[9] In the third match, NJPW veteran Jushin Liger defeated Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) representative Negro Casas to win the CMLL World Middleweight Championship.^[9] The event also featured the continuation of a three-way tag team rivalry between Bad Intentions, No Limit and Seigigun, with Seigigun capturing the IWGP Tag Team Championship from No Limit.^[9] Pro Wrestling Noah's Naomichi Marufuji successfully defended his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Ryusuke Taguchi during the event.^[9] In the main event, Togi Makabe, a decade after his first Wrestling Dontaku appearance, defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time.^[9]

2011

The eighth Wrestling Dontaku was held on May 3, 2011, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center. The event featured ten matches, four of which were contested for championships.^[10] Jushin Liger continued his reign as the CMLL World Middleweight Champion, which had started at the previous year's Wrestling Dontaku, by defeating Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) wrestler Máscara Dorada.^[10] Both IWGP tag team titles were successfully defended during the event, with Junior Heavyweight Champion Apollo 55 defeating the No Remorse Corps and Heavyweight Champions Bad Intentions defeating No Limit.^[10] The event also featured two major storyline developments. In the first, following No Limit's failure to recapture the IWGP Tag Team Championship, Yujiro Takahashi walked out on Tetsuya Naito, which later led to a bitter feud between the two.^[10] In the second, Taichi and Taka Michinoku turned on Satoshi Kojima, after his loss against Togi Makabe, and formed Suzukigun under the leadership of Minoru Suzuki, who made his surprise return to confront Makabe.^[10] The event also marked the return of Hirooki Goto, who had spent the past two months in CMLL.^[10] In the main event, Hiroshi Tanahashi successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura, after which he was attacked by Goto, who was now displaying a new mean streak.^[10]

2012

The ninth Wrestling Dontaku was held on May 3, 2012, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center. The event featured nine matches, three of which were contested for championships.^[11][12] No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards and Rocky Romero) were originally scheduled to defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Jushin Liger and Tiger Mask during the event, however, Richards was unable to make his flight to Japan due to a car accident. As a result, NJPW stripped Richards and Romero of the title and stopped working with Richards.^[13][14] The event featured two titles changing hands, with Low Ki defeating Prince Devitt for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano defeating Ten-Koji for the IWGP Tag Team Championship.^[11] In the main event, IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada successfully defended his title against the winner of the 2012 New Japan Cup, Hirooki Goto.^[11]

2013

The tenth Wrestling Dontaku was held on May 3, 2013, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center. The event featured ten matches (including one dark match), four of which were contested for championships.^[15][16][17] Two titles changed hands during the event, first the Forever Hooligans defeated Time Splitters for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and then Ten-Koji defeated K.E.S. for the IWGP Tag Team Championship in a four-way match.^[15] The event featured two matches in the storyline rivalry between the Complete Players and G.B.H. In the first Complete Player Masato Tanaka successfully defended the NEVER Openweight Championship against freelancer Tomoaki Honma, while in the second G.B.H. leader Togi Makabe defeated Yujiro Takahashi to end their three-month long rivalry.^[15] Other successful title defenses saw IWGP Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defeat Shelton X Benjamin and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada defeat Minoru Suzuki.^[15] Post-match, Okada was challenged by Makabe, setting up the main event for Dominion 6.22.^[15] The event also saw a surprise appearance from Tetsuya Naito, who announced he was going to be returning from his knee surgery and wrestling his first match on June 22 at Dominion 6.22.^[15] In a major storyline development, Karl Anderson turned on Hiroshi Tanahashi after their match against each other and came together with Prince Devitt, Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga to form Bullet Club.^[15]

2014

The eleventh Wrestling Dontaku is scheduled to take place on May 3, 2014, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center.^[18]

References

External links

• The official New Japan Pro Wrestling website