matches and one pre-show match. It saw professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The event was headlined by Hiroshi Tanahashi defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada. Tanahashi won the title by defeating A.J. Styles on October 13, 2014, at the NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling event. Okada became the number one contender at Wrestle Kingdom 9 by winning the G1 Climax on August 10, 2014. Over the following months, he defended his position against Karl Anderson and Tetsuya Naito. The Wrestle Kingdom 9 main event was the seventh match between Okada and Tanahashi since February 2012 and their second January 4 Tokyo Dome Show main event after Wrestle Kingdom 7 on January 4, 2013. Wrestle Kingdom 9's other main event was determined at the November 8, 2014, NJPW Power Struggle show. After Shinsuke Nakamura defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Katsuyori Shibata, Kota Ibushi entered the ring, assaulted Nakamura, and issued a title challenge; Nakamura accepted. This was a turning point in Ibushi's career, since he had recently joined the heavyweight division after gaining weight. A previous singles match between Nakamura and Ibushi during the 2013 G1 Climax was ranked "Best Bout of the Year" by the Tokyo Sports newspaper. Previous IWGP Heavyweight Champion A.J. Styles (of the Bullet Club group) and fellow top contender Tetsuya Naito were slated to wrestle each other at Wrestle Kingdom 9. During the 2014 G1 Climax (when Styles was IWGP Heavyweight Champion), Naito pinned him in a non-title tournament match but did not have a title shot before Styles lost to Tanahashi. Since Styles did not receive a rematch with Tanahashi, it was theorized by the American media that the Wrestle Kingdom 9 winner would be the top contender. Another title that was contested at Wrestle Kingdom 9 was the IWGP Tag Team Championship, with Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson defending against Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata. Goto and Shibata teamed up after a match against each other at the January 4, 2014, NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8, and the two former high-school classmates named their team "Meiyu Tag" (meiyu means "sworn brothers" in Japanese). In March 2014, they entered the IWGP Tag Team Championship picture by defeating the Bullet Club's IWGP Tag Team Champions Anderson and Gallows in a non-title match at NJPW's 42nd-anniversary event. This led to a title match at the