Wrestle Kingdom 9 was a professional wrestling event at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2015, produced by the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. The first event on the 2015 NJPW schedule, it featured ten professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match, six of which were for championships. In the double main event, Shinsuke Nakamura successfully defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship (belt pictured) against Kota Ibushi, and Hiroshi Tanahashi successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada. The appearance of Pro Wrestling Noah wrestlers led to a storyline in which NJPW's Suzuki-gun group began wrestling at Noah events. Wrestle Kingdom 9 was attended by 36,000 people and was broadcast as a pay-per-view event with English commentary in the United States and Canada. Critics issued universally positive reviews; Paste magazine said it presented "some of the most passionate and poignant performance art today". Readers of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted Wrestle Kingdom 9 the Best Major Wrestling Show of 2015, and named its Ibushi–Nakamura match as the 2015 Pro Wrestling Match of the Year. ( Full article...)

Ashurbanipal kills a lion

• ... that the Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal reliefs (pictured) from c. 640 BC show the king killing lions with swords, spears, and arrows?
• ... that Zorobabela Kaʻauwai accompanied his patron Hoapili into battle in the suppression of Humehume's rebellion?
• ... that although only a single example of the Eriksen M/25 machine gun was built, it saw service in the 1940 Norwegian Campaign?
• ... that the United States Senate rejected Caleb Cushing's nomination to be Secretary of the Treasury three times in one day?
• ... that the 1936 Korean novel Sangnoksu has been made into two films?
• ... that the 10-gun sloop-of-war HMS Stork was originally designed to resemble King George II's yacht Royal Caroline?
• ... that rapper Liv released the song " Sorry Mrs. Carter" as an "open letter" to Beyoncé?
• ... that almost nothing is quite certain about the "multifaceted" and "very productive" Master of the Drapery Studies?

Reina nightclub

• An attack on a nightclub (pictured) in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year's celebrations, kills at least 39 people and injures more than 70 others.
• American actress, screenwriter, and author Carrie Fisher dies at the age of 60, and her mother, actress and singer Debbie Reynolds, dies one day later at the age of 84.
• English singer, songwriter, and record producer George Michael dies at the age of 53.
• A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes near Sochi, Russia, killing all 92 people on board, including 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble.
• The United Nations Security Council adopts a resolution condemning Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

January 4: World Braille Day

Samuel Colt

• 1642 – King Charles I of England sent soldiers to arrest members of Parliament, beginning England's slide into civil war.
• 1798 – After having been invested as Prince of Wallachia, Constantine Hangerli arrived in Bucharest to assume the throne.
• 1847 – American gun inventor Samuel Colt (pictured) made his first large sale of his revolvers to the Texas Rangers.
• 1912 – The Boy Scout Association was incorporated throughout the then British Empire by royal charter.
• 1936 – Billboard magazine published its first music hit parade.
• 1973 – Last of the Summer Wine, the longest-running sitcom in the world, premiered as an episode of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse.