Update On Total Attendance For NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17

The first night of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's biggest show of the year – Wrestle Kingdom 17 – drew its largest in-person audience since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the numbers did fall short of what the event had been drawing prior to the pandemic.

Today's event attracted 26,085 attendees to the Tokyo Dome, according to figures provided by NJPW statistician Chris Samsa via Twitter. Wrestle Kingdom 17 is broken up into two nights, with the second evening set for January 21 at the Yokohama Arena.

Wrestle Kingdom being staged across two nights is a relatively new phenomenon that only began with Wrestle Kingdom 14. However, since being adopted as a new tradition, the show has typically fallen across consecutive nights. Last year's Wrestle Kingdom 16 — which actually went to three nights — reached a combined attendance of over 25,000. Of course, Japan was still emerging from the shadow of the pandemic and had established policies that controlled attendance levels at sporting events. In comparison, Wrestle Kingdom 15 had a combined turnout of just over 20,000.

The last Wrestle Kingdom held prior to the pandemic –- 2020's Wrestle Kingdom 14 — saw a tick over 40,000 people show up for its opening night with just over 30,000 following up for Night 2, resulting in a combined total of 70,071 wrestling fans in the Tokyo Dome.

That doesn't take into account the viewership of Wrestle Kingdom 17 by those at home. Streaming numbers from the broadcast of the event on NJPW World have not been made available as of yet, and it'll be a while before we see the cable ratings from AXS TV, which will be broadcasting matches from this year's Wrestle Kingdom over a five-week period starting on January 12 directly after episodes of "Impact."