NJPW Set To Begin 50th Anniversary Celebration With “Golden Series”

New Japan Pro-Wrestling is marking a major milestone for the company in 2022. It will be celebrating its 50th anniversary with a series of shows starting later this month.

The bulk of the celebration will take place during the New Year's Golden Series. It will consist of nineteen shows during January and February. The tour begins at Korakuen Hall on Thursday, January 20.

The live broadcast of the January 20 show will be free to watch on New Japan World. Only Japanese commentary will be available during the live feed. English language commentary will be available at a later date.

New Japan will take its Golden Series to larger arenas next month. Shows will be held at Sendai's Xebio Hall on February 11 and at EDION Arena Osaka on February 13. The Golden Series will conclude at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center in Sapporo on February 19 and 20.

New Japan has yet to release the cards for the Golden Series shows. An announcement is expected after Saturday's Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 3 show at Yokohama Arena.

The official celebration of the 50th anniversary of New Japan Pro-Wrestling will happen at its annual Anniversary Event on March 1 at the Nippon Budokan. The 2022 New Japan Cup tournament will begin the following day at the same venue.

This year's New Japan Cup runs through the end of March. The final two nights of the tournament will be held at Osaka Jo Hall on March 26 and 27.

New Japan also has the date and venue set for its annual Wrestling Dontaku show. The PayPay Dome in Fukuoka will host the show on May 1. This will be the first time New Japan has held a show at the former Fukuoka Dome since 2000. The domed baseball stadium has a capacity of more than 38,000 seats.

New Japan also says it will hold a major show in Ryogoku on April 9. It also announced it will return to Osaka Jo Hall for a show on June 12.

A video featuring the upcoming dates and venues was presented during Night 2 of Wrestle Kingdom 16 on Wednesday. Most of the shows were first announced last November.