So with the announcent of the Super Junior finals closing out Dominion (as much as they want to call it a 'double main event', they ain't fooling us, we know who the real main event is), it got me racking my brain as to if the Juniors ever closed out a major show before. I've been watching since around 2016, I can't remember any from there on, and the only Junior wrestler I would think had the draw power to bring in a crowd would be Liger but I'm not super knowledgable about 80s or 90s NJPW. Can anyone historians fill me in on this question?
by DespyHasNiceCans
5 comments
I guess it depends on your definition of “major show”?
If we are talking about have the juniors ever main evented over the heavyweight title, I can say for certain not from 2010 to present. Maybe there was some instance before that but definitely not the major shows.
Juniors do occasionally get the main event in some smaller show as part of the tour but typically, if the main event is the heavyweight, that easily main events over juniors.
They have technically main evented Nippon Budokan and Sumo Hall for BOSJ finals. Big venues although none had World titles on. Desperado also main evented Budokan opposite Okada for the 50th Anniversary Show in 2022
I’m pretty sure not in the Bushiroad era. I’m guessing you’re excluding junior v. heavyweight main events or shows where two juniors always main event (BOSJ finals).
After extensively studying Cagematch, I didn’t see any major shows main evented by Liger and another junior. The only other person who could have done it would have been Sayama Tiger Mask, but I didn’t find any major shows that he main evented with another junior. I did find one from 1982 where he was second from the top vs. Dynamite Kid, but Inoki was in the main event.
The closest I could find was a [show from 1980](https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=43574) that was main evented by Fujinami and Dynamite Kid. It drew 8200 fans, which was by far the highest drawing show on the New Year Golden Series tour, although it was not the “big” show on the tour.
The 1994 Super J Cup is one of the most important events in pro history, imo
A quick scan through my notes brings up a few times the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title has main evented a show higher than a road to or tour show:
* Destruction in Tokyo 2016 – KUSHIDA (c) vs BUSHI
* This is the first of three major shows on this Destruction Tour. The 2nd was Destruction in Hiroshima, main evented by Kenny Omega (c) vs YOSHI-HASHI for the Tokyo Dome title challenge certificate, and the last was Destruction in Kobe, main evented by Tetsuya Naito (c) vs Michael Elgin for the IWGP Intercontinental Title
* Wrestling Dontaku 2019, Night 1 – Dragon Lee (c) vs Taiji Ishimori
* Night 2 was main evented by Kazuchika Okada (c) vs SANADA for the IWGP Heavyweight Title
* The New Beginning in Hiroshima 2019, Night 1 – Hiromu Takahashi (c) vs SHO
* This was the second of three main New Beginning Shows on the Japanese side of this tour. The first was The New Beginning in Nagoya, which saw Shingo Takagi (c) vs Hiroshi Tanahashi for the NEVER Openweight Title in the main event, while the last was the second night of The New Beginning in Hiroshima, which had a main event of Kota Ibushi (c) vs SANADA for the double gold titles.
* Summer Struggle in Sapporo, Night 1 – El Desperado (c) vs Taiji Ishimori
* This was the first show of a long Summer Struggle tour that included another significant Summer Struggle show in Osaka as well as both Wrestle Grand Slams.
The biggest show here I would say is Dontaku Night 1, but even that is night 1 of a 2-night B-level show. This coming Dominion show will almost certainly be the biggest show they’ve ever main evented.