| Wrestle Kingdom V | |
| Promotion: | New Japan Pro-Wrestling |
| Date: | January 4, 2011 |
| Attendance: | 42,000 (official) 18,000 (claimed) |
| Venue: | Tokyo Dome |
| City: | Tokyo, Japan |
| Lastevent: | Circuit New Japan Alive |
| Nextevent: | The New Beginning |
| Event: | Wrestle Kingdom |
| Lastevent2: | IV |
| Nextevent2: | VI |
| Event3: | New Japan Pro-Wrestling events |
| Lastevent4: | Destruction '10 |
| Nextevent4: | The New Beginning |
was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2011. It was the 20th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the fifth held under the "Wrestle Kingdom" name. The event featured thirteen matches (including two dark matches), four of which were contested for championships.
The show included wrestlers from the American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotions for the fourth and third year in a row, respectively. During the show, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was defended for the first time in Japan. The three matches involving TNA wrestlers were aired by the American company as part of Global Impact 3.[1] Wrestlers from DDT Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah and Pro Wrestling Zero1 also took part in the show.
While NJPW announced an attendance number of 42,000, which would have been the largest audience at a January 4 Tokyo Dome Show in six years,[2] Dave Meltzer claimed that the actual attendance number was 18,000, tied with the 2007 Tokyo Dome show for the smallest audience in the event's history.
Wrestle Kingdom V featured thirteen professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[3]
Wrestle Kingdom V was headlined by Satoshi Kojima defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi in what was described as a "typical" NJPW storyline, where the company had put their top title on an outsider, leading to their biggest star getting it back at the Tokyo Dome. Kojima had started his career in NJPW, but jumped to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 2002 and was now working as a freelancer.[4]
| Name: | |
| Commentators | Shinji Yoshino |
| Shinpei Nogami | |
| Ring announcers | Kimihiko Ozaki |
| Referees | Kenta Sato |
| Marty Asami | |
| Red Shoes Unno | |
| Tiger Hattori | |
The event featured several wrestlers from the American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion as part of a relationship between NJPW and TNA. In the highest-profile of the matches involving TNA, Jeff Hardy successfully defended the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against NJPW's Tetsuya Naito, who had previously worked for TNA as part of the No Limit tag team. In another interpromotional match, TNA's Rob Van Dam defeated NJPW's Toru Yano in a hardcore match. In the first match involving TNA wrestlers, Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) unsuccessfully challenged Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man).
In addition, the event included two interpromotional matches between NJPW and Pro Wrestling Noah. In the first, Noah's Takashi Sugiura and Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada. This match was a one night NJPW return for Okada, who afterwards returned to TNA to continue his overseas learning excursion.[5] In the second match, NJPW's Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Noah's Go Shiozaki.
The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship was also defended during the event with Prince Devitt defeating Kota Ibushi for his fourth successful defense.