NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome
Date: July 25, 2021
City: Tokyo, Japan
Venue: Tokyo Dome
Time: 4:00pm JST
Watch: NJPWWorld.com (With Live English Commentary)

International Start Times

Event Preview

New Japan Pro Wrestling returns to The Tokyo Dome in a card not branded as Wrestle Kingdom for the first time since 2006 with Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome. In the main event, Shingo Takagi will defend his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi after Kota Ibushi was determined unable to compete due to aspiration pneumonia. In the semi-main event, SANADA and Tetsuya Naito will defend their IWGP Tag Team Championships against Taichi and Zack Sabre Jr. Third from the top, Kazuchika Okada will finally face Jeff Cobb in a special singles match. The juniors will open up the card, first with an IWGP Tag Team Championship match between champions Taiji Ishimori & El Phantasmo and The Mega Coaches (Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi), then with an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match between El Desperado and Robbie Eagles.

Below are my statistics and info for the event, including detailed Tokyo Dome history for all of the wrestlers on tonight’s card.

Main Event
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship
Shingo Takagi [c] vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Recent History – 2021 Singles

  • Shingo Takagi’s 10 singles victories are good for the most in NJPW in 2021.
  • Shingo Takagi’s 5 hours, 10 minutes, and 21 seconds of total singles match length is the longest in NJPW this year.
  • Shingo’s 16 minute and 55 second Fall Differential (average loss length – average win length) is over 5 minutes longer than the next highest in NJPW this year.
  • Shingo Takagi has been the toughest competitor to defeat in NJPW this year. His 36 minute and 53 second average losing match length is the longest in NJPW this year. Each of Shingo’s three losses has taken longer than 30 minutes, maxing out with the second longest singles match in NJPW this year, his 44 minute and 53 minute loss to Will Ospreay at Wrestling Dontaku. Of course, the longest singles match in NJPW this year was Kota Ibushi’s victory over Jay White here at the Tokyo Dome on January 5.

 

Recent History – Last 365 Days Singles

  • Only Shingo Takagi, Kota Ibushi, and KENTA have 16 singles victories over the last 365 days.
  • Only Yuya Uemura, Yota Tsuji, and Gabriel Kidd have competed in more singles matches than Shingo Takagi over the last 365 days.
  • Takagi has amassed the most ring time in singles matches over the last 365 days, though Shingo’s 8 hours, 52 minutes and 41 seconds is almost 100 minutes longer than Ibushi’s.

Recent History – 2021 Overall

  • Shingo Takagi has the second most winning falls in NJPW this year with 35.
  • Only Jeff Cobb (+36) has a better Fall Differential than Shingo Takagi’s +33 this year.

Head To Head History

  • The last (and only) time Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shingo Takagi met in a singles match, they competed in the longest NEVER Openweight Championship match of all time, a grueling 35 minute and 40 second battle at New Beginning in Nagoya

History In Tokyo Dome – Singles Matches

  • Nobody has spent more time in singles matches in The Tokyo Dome than Hiroshi Tanahashi, his 7 hours, 54 minutes, and 37 seconds are over two hours longer than Keiji Mutoh’s second longest time of 5 hours, 36 minutes, and 23 seconds.
  • This will be Hiroshi Tanahashi’s 22nd singles match in the Tokyo Dome. Only Yuji Nagata (23) has participated in more singles matches in the Tokyo Dome than The Ace

History in Tokyo Dome — All Match Types

  • Shingo Takagi has been the winning fall participant in all there of his Tokyo Dome victories.

Hiroshi Tanahashi In The Tokyo Dome

  • Hiroshi Tanahashi has had a singles match at every single NJPW Tokyo Dome card dating back to January 4th, 2006.

Fourth Match
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
SANADA & Tetsuya Naito [C] vs. Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr

Recent History – 2021 — Straight Tags

Recent History – Last 365 Days — Straight Tags

  • Over the last 365 Days, only the tag team of Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb have more victories in two-on-two tag team matches than SANADA and Tetsuya Naito.
  • SANADA and Naito’s .941 winning percentage in two on two tag matches is the best in NJPW in the last 365 days.

Recent History – 2021 Individual Overall

  • SANADA’s 87 matches are the most in NJPW this year. His 23 hours, 10 minutes, and 6 seconds of total match length are also the most in NJPW.

Head To Head History

  • At 36 minutes and 57 seconds, these two teams participated in the second longest IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match to render a decision at Summer Struggle in Sapporo.

History In Tokyo Dome – Individual Overall

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships

  • The IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships have been decided in 262 matches over the course of over 35 years. The title has changed hands in 35.50% of those matches..
  • Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr have wrestled seven times with the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on the line. They are 3-4 in those matches.
  • SANADA has wrestled 11 times with the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on the line. He is 6-5 in those matches and his victory with Tetsuya Naito snapped a three match losing streak in title matches.
  • Tetsuya Naito has wrestled seven times with the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on the line. He is 3-4 in those matches and his victory with SANADA snapped a four match losing streak in Tag Title matches.
  • SANADA and Tetsuya Naito are a combined 9-9 in IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Matches.
  • The IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships have changed hands in eight straight Tokyo Dome events and 11 of the last 13.
  • The IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships have been defended 29 times in the Tokyo Dome and they have changed hands in 16 (55%) of those matches.

Third Match
Special Singles Match
Kazuchika Okada vs. Jeff Cobb

Recent History – 2021 Singles

  • Despite Jeff Cobb’s success and dominance in tag matches, he has struggled in singles action in Japan since joining The United Empire. He is currently riding a two match losing streak, and he has lost four of his last five singles matches in Japan.

Recent History – Last 365 Days Singles

Recent History – 2021 Overall

  • Jeff Cobb has the most winning falls in NJPW this year with 41.
  • Jeff Cobb’s +36 fall differential is the best in NJPW this year. Cobb has been the winning fall participant in his last 7 victories.

Head To Head History

  • Kazuchika Okada’s 11 minute and 3 second victory over Jeff Cobb in last year’s G1 Climax tournament was his fastest victory of the tournament and it was Okada’s eighth fastest G1 Climax victory ever.

History In Tokyo Dome – Singles Matches

  • Kazuchika Okada has participated in three singles matches in the Tokyo Dome that did not involve the IWGP Heavyweight Title. He is 3-0 in those matches.
  • Kazuchika Okada’s 32 minute and 32 second average winning match length in Tokyo Dome singles matches is the longest all-time.

Second Match
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match
El Desperado [C] vs. Robbie Eagles

Recent History – 2021 Singles

  • This will be Robbie Eagles’ first NJPW singles match since December 6, 2020.
Recent History – Last 365 Days Singles

  • El Desperado’s 12 singles victories over the last 365 days is the most amongst any junior heavyweight on the NJPW roster.

Recent History – 2021 Overall

  • El Desperado’s +22 Fall Differential is the third best in NJPW this year.

Head To Head History

History In Tokyo Dome – Singles Matches

  • This will be both Robbie Eagles and El Desperado’s first singles match in the Tokyo Dome.

History in Tokyo Dome — All Match Types

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

  • The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship has been decided in 311 matches over the course of over 35 years. The title has changed hands in just 29.26% of title deciding matches.
  • This will be El Desperado’s eighth career IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match. He is 3-4 in his previous matches with the title on the line.
  • This will be Robbie Eagles’ second IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match. He lost his previous championship opportunity against Will Ospreay in 34 minutes and 4 seconds at Southern Showdown in Melbourne, Australia.
  • The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship has been decided 37 times in the Tokyo Dome and it has changed hands 19 times, including the last eight times it has been defended here.

First Match
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Match
El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori [C] vs. Rocky Romero & Ryusuke Taguchi

Recent History – 2021 — Straight Tags

Recent History – 2021 Individual Overall

Head To Head History

History In Tokyo Dome – Individual Overall

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships

  • The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles have been decided in 176 matches since their introduction in 1998. The titles have changed hands in 38.07% of matches with the titles on the line.
  • The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships have been decided in the Tokyo Dome 20 times and they have changed hands here 11 times. That is 55% of the times that the titles were on the line.
  • El Phantasmo & Taiji Ishimori have wrestled for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships 6 times. They are 4-2 in title matches.
  • Rocky Romero has wrestled for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships 32 times. He is 15-17 in those 32 matches.
  • Ryusuke Taguchi has wrestled for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships 34 times. He is 22-13 in those 34 matches.
  • The Mega Coaches are a combined 37-30 in IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Matches.

Pre Show: KOPW 2021 – New Japan Ranbo