| Wrestle Kingdom 17 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster for night 1 featuring various NJPW wrestlers and Antonio Inoki | |||
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling Pro Wrestling Noah (January 21) | ||
| Date | January 4, 2023 January 21, 2023 | ||
| City | |||
| Venue | |||
| Attendance | Night 1: 26,085[1] Night 2: 5,533[2] Combined: 31,618 | ||
| Tagline(s) | Antonio Inoki Memorial Spectacular Fighting Spirit Forever | ||
| Event chronology | |||
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| Wrestle Kingdom chronology | |||
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Wrestle Kingdom 17 was a two-day professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) promotions. The first day of the event took place on January 4, 2023, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan and the second day of the event took place on January 21, 2023, at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan. It is the 32nd January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the 17th promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom name. The event was held in honor of the NJPW founder Antonio Inoki, who died on October 1, 2022.
In the main event of night 1, Kazuchika Okada defeated Jay White to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. In other prominent matches, Kenny Omega defeated Will Ospreay to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, Keiji Muto teamed with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shota Umino to defeat Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Sanada and Bushi) in Muto's final NJPW match, and Kairi defeated Tam Nakano to retain the IWGP Women's Championship – following the match, Mercedes Moné, formerly known as Sasha Banks in WWE, made her NJPW debut. The event's first night also notably featured appearances from wrestlers signed to All Elite Wrestling, WWE, NJPW's sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom, and Noah. In the main event of the second night, which was co-promoted by Noah, Tetsuya Naito defeated Kenoh – after the match, Naito was announced as Keiji Muto's last ever opponent at Keiji Muto Grand Final Pro-Wrestling "Last-Love". In other prominent matches, Shingo Takagi defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kazuchika Okada and Togi Makabe wrestled Kaito Kiyomiya and Yoshiki Inamura to a no contest, and Hiroshi Tanahashi teamed with Takashi Sugiura, Toru Yano and Satoshi Kojima to defeat Bullet Club (El Phantasmo, Kenta and Gedo) and Naomichi Marufuji.
Night 1 of the event set an all-time viewership record for the NJPW World streaming service.[3]
- ^ "2023.01.04 Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Tokyo Dome". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
- ^ "2023.01.21 Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Yokohama Arena". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
- ^ "Record numbers watch Wrestle Kingdom 17! 【WK17】 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved January 6, 2023.