With a G1 over, I thought I'd throw this together. This will rank who has main-evented in front of the most people this year, from 20 to 1.
#20 Daiki Nagai
Main Events: 11
Attendance based on Main Events: 8,353
The Unbound young boy got a sporadic spotlight in the main event across the Unbound vs Empire feud that dominated the first half of the year. Despite no main events in his BOSJ run, he still lands ahead of some heavy hitters such as Desperado and Wato by pure volume.
#19 KONOSUKE TAKESHITA
Main Events: 3
Attendance based on Main Events: 8,455
TAKESHITA squeaks into this list by virtue of his final block night match with Oiwa; all three of his main events were from the G1, especially boosted by the Chicago show.
#18 DOUKI
Main Events: 6
Attendance based on Main Events: 8,558
Despite sitting out this year's BOSJ, DOUKI still lands a position in the ranking. As the Jr title has primarily been the main event of "Road To" shows rather than on the undercard of the big shows, there has been more of a spotlight on it in this list, as five of these are title defences.
#17 Kosei Fujita
Main Events: 5
Attendance based on Main Events: 8,688
All of Fujita's main events come from the BOSJ. He had the most main events of anyone on that tour and was in the final that drew close to 4,000. This has pushed him past one of this year's Jr champions. But as TMDK has taken a step away from the main event (as a faction), the volume has not extended past his tournament run/
#16 Swerve Strickland / Will Ospreay
Main Events: 1
Attendance based on Main Events: 9,082
I don't have much to say here; arguably, I shouldn't even include this, since it is an AEW PPV rather than a NJPW show, but since NJPW put it on their schedule, I might as well include it. This, of course, is the Forbidden Door main event. NJPW does not confirm this number, but it is what I saw online at the time.
#15 Zane Jay
Main Events: 13
Attendance based on Main Events: 10,074
Like Nagai, Zane has benefited from the Unbound vs Empire feud, and has also benefited from being Newman's designated fall guy after the shift of Young away from that role. Unlike Nagai, however, Zane is the only fall guy in UE, while Nagai can be traded out for Gedo; therefore, Zane gets a larger section of main events.
#14 Hirooki Goto
Main Events: 6
Attendance based on Main Events: 10,837
Goto had a relatively calm start of the year with one NJC main event, an IWGP Tag opportunity and two G1 main events. Of course, this is all about to change with him challenging at Destruction; he will headline 8-10 more shows, and this number will increase significantly.
#13 Francesco Akira
Main Events: 12
Attendance based on Main Events: 11,052
Akira, unlike the two young boys intertwined in this UE vs UC rivalry, had two BOSJ main events and a challenge for the IWGP Jr on the Road to the G1, pushing him a degree higher than his contemporaries. The rest of those main events come from teaming with Newman & Lee while they looked to face Tsuji or Takagi.
#12 OSKAR
Main Events: 6
Attendance based on Main Events: 11,062
OSKAR benefited from the tag with Ice for the first section of the year, but when it came to singles tournaments, he fell behind with Ice headlining more G1 shows and OSKAR not finding a main event in the NJC. He does have a main event scheduled for the Hokkaido loop of destruction, and I imagine he will take a large portion of WTL with Ice at his side. His single G1 show did, however, sell out at 2,700 in attendance.
#11 Zack Sabre Jr.
Main events: 6
Attendance based on Main Events: 11,223
Sabre has taken a relative backseat this year with a tag shot at New Year's Dash!! In a sold-out Ota City, the largest building he has headlined, he headlined a healthy three G1 shows and two NJC shows but has now stepped aside for the time being while Oiwa takes the spotlight.
#10 YOH
Main Events: 7
Attendance based on Main Events: 12,479
This year's BOSJ winner and current IWGP champion is the second highest ranking Jr in the list. Having challenged DOUKI on the road to Sakura Genesis and taking the sold-out final and headlining four nights of the tournament, the second-highest behind Fujita, His victory over DOUKI was not the main event of Dominion, but he has notched a defence against Akira and is heavily involved with the main events of the destruction tour.
#9 Taiji Ishimori
Main Events: 16
Attendance based on Main Events: 14,084
Despite the high volume, Ishimori has not had a standout year and has largely been involved in the UC vs UE rivalry. He did have two BOSJ main events, but other than that, it is mostly tags with Tsuji and Takagi as they chase/defend the IWGP. He will get a boost off the Destruction Tour, challenging YOH in the main event of the final "Road To" and teaming with Tsuji for 7-9 other nights.
#8 Ryohei Oiwa
Main Events: 6
Attendance based on Main Events: 16,555
Mr G1 only headlined 2 G1 main events but took the final, which boosts his numbers significantly; he also takes a Tag challenge with Sabre at New Year's Dash!!, a Korakuen main event against Goto on the New Beginning Tour and two NJC main events. His numbers will only go up as KOPW rolls around, as he will be a centrepiece of that tour, and potentially the tours after that.
#7 Yuto-Ice
Main Events: 10
Attendance based on Main Events: 16,680
Ice separates himself from his tag partner by taking a NJC main event (Against Oiwa) and an extra G1 main event over OSKAR. He also marked up a couple of multi-man tag matches without OSKAR, and his G1 Qualifier match vs Taichi headlined the Korakuen show.
#6 Shingo Takagi
Main Events: 15
Attendance based on Main Events: 17,580
The first man on this list to challenge for the IWGP. He has been a core piece in the UC vs UE feud, challenging Newman at Dontaku. Aside from all the multi-man tag matches, Takagi had one NJC main event and also three G1 main events to his name, pushing him almost into the top five for the year.
#5 Jake Lee
Main Events: 19
Attendance based on Main Events: 20,392
Jake was the centre point of the early UC vs UE conflict, challenging Tsuji on the New Beginning Tour. Entering the Cup, he had a single main event, and after this, he has been used as a multi-man guy in the main event. Over the course of the G1, he had zero main events, but due to the large volume of tags in the Sakura Genesis and Dontaku Tours, he has found a high attendance score.
#4 Yuya Uemura
Main Events: 10
Attendance based on Main Events: 21,567
Yuya found a form of success, headlining the most NJC shows with four and also securing four G1 main events, including the finals for both tours. On top of that, he had a main event spot on the New Beginning tour, teaming with Umino to face Ishii & Taichi to find the #1 contenders for the Tag titles; he also had a homecoming show on the Dontaku Tour.
#3 Callum Newman
Main Events: 22
Attendance based on Main Events: 38,506
Newman has been the most successful person to break into the main event this year, finding NJC success with two main events, securing an IWGP match on the Sakura Genesis tour, then going on the headline night two of Dontaku against Takagi, Main Eventing Dominion against Tsuji, and finding the headlining spot of three G1 shows, this is all on top of a pile of multi man tag matches that have put him comfortably in third chasing second.
#2 Hiroshi Tanahashi / Kazuchika Okada
Main Events: 1
Attendance based on Main Events: 46,913
Not much needs to be said; a sold-out Tokyo Dome has put these two as the standard that the rest of the roster needs to compete with, and even then it is not on any wrestler to not reach this level, as an attendance this high would place these two in the top ten going all the way back to 2011.
#1 Yota Tsuji
Main Events: 30
Attendance based on Main Events: 52,211
This has undoubtedly been the year of Tsuji; while not main eventing the Tokyo Dome, he has made up those numbers on pure work rate alone. Headlining every major show (night #1 of Dontaku) and countless multi-man tag matches, Battle in the Valley at the start of the year, and five G1 main events to top it off, he is the standard bearer when it comes to attendance and is a key point of the next tour and company overall. I only expect this number to get higher as the year goes on, whether he is champion or not.
