Wrestling World 1997 was a professional wrestling event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) promotions. It took place on January 4, 1997 in the Tokyo Dome. Officially, the show drew 62,500 spectators and $5,000,000 in ticket sales. The show featured 12 matches, including four matches that were promoted jointly with the BJW promotion and presented as a rivalry between the two promotions. The show featured 12 matches in total, including three title matches, two of which saw new champions crowned. Production Background The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl". Storylines Wrestling World 1997 featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Event Preliminary matches The first match of the show was an eight-man tag team match which on one side featured Junji Hirata, Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi and Osamu Nishimura going against Takashi Iizuka, Osamu Kido, Yuji Nagata and Kazuo Yamazaki. The contest lasted for 11:21 before Junji Hirata pinned Yuji Nagata after striking him with a lariat. This was the last match Nagata wrestled in Japan before travelling to the United States to work for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as part of an "educational tour" that a lot of young Japanese wrestlers undertake to learn various styles of wrestling. The second match of the night featured the debut of a character called "Super Liger", a silver and white version of Jushin Thunder Liger played by Chris Jericho. Super Liger wrestled Koji Kanemoto in what Power Slam Magazine correspondent Rob Butcher called "A super aerial battle". Super Liger won after 11 minutes and 11 seconds of action by using a bridging tiger suplex to pin Kanemoto. NJPW intended to use "Super Liger" character as a storyline enemy of Jushin Thunder Liger, hoping to create a rivalry similar to the Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger rivalry. However, the character was so poorly received that it was never used again. In the third match freelancer Jinsei Shinzaki defeated longtime NJPW midcarder Michiyoshi Ohara after using the Nenbutsu powerbomb. Matches four, five, six and seven featured a