Invasion Attack 2015

The event sold out in advance, making it the fastest non-G1 Climax or non-special show to sell out Ryōgoku Kokugikan in more than a decade. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that this spoke volumes as the card was in his mind "not all that loaded" and that none of the "big three" (Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura) were in the main event.[5] During the event, NJPW experienced technical difficulties with its NJPW World streaming site, leading to many paying viewers worldwide unable to view the event live. NJPW issued an apology for the problems.[6][7] It was later reported that the problem was caused by an "outside hacker".[8]

Invasion Attack 2015 featured nine professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[9]

Kota Ibushi, who entered Invasion Attack 2015 as the number one contender to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship after winning the 2015 New Japan Cup

Invasion Attack 2015 was main evented by A.J. Styles defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi.[10][11][12] This marked Ibushi's first ever shot at the title and the first singles match between him and Styles.[10][13] Ibushi, at that point a former IWGP Junior Heavyweight and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, first ventured out of the junior heavyweight division in the summer of 2013, when he took part in the G1 Climax tournament.[14] After signing a contract extension with NJPW in October 2014, it was announced that Ibushi had permanently switched to the heavyweight division.[15] His first big match as a heavyweight wrestler took place on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, where he unsuccessfully challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.[16] Between March 5 and 15, Ibushi took part in the 2015 New Japan Cup and, after victories over heavyweight wrestlers Doc Gallows,[17] Toru Yano,[18] Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto, won the tournament for the first time to earn the right to challenge either for the IWGP Heavyweight, IWGP Intercontinental or NEVER Openweight Championship. Following his win, Ibushi announced his decision to challenge Bullet Club's A.J. Styles for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.[19] The match was made official the following day.[10]

Another match at Invasion Attack 2015 continued the storyline rivalry between Bad Luck Fale and Kazuchika Okada,[11] which had started at the beginning of the year.[10] After suffering yet another loss against Fale in the opening round of the 2015 New Japan Cup, Okada finally managed to pin his rival in a tag team match on March 15, resulting in a singles rematch at Invasion Attack 2015.[10] New Japan Cup also re-ignited the rivalry between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Toru Yano, with Yano upsetting Tanahashi in the opening round.[10] At Invasion Attack 2015, the two faced off in a tag team match with Yano teaming with his regular tag team partner Kazushi Sakuraba, while Tanahashi formed a new team with Sakuraba's former partner Katsuyori Shibata.[10][11] The event would also feature a six-man tag team match, where Chaos' Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi take on Hirooki Goto, Tetsuya Naito and Togi Makabe, which built up two more future title matches between Nakamura and Goto for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and between Ishii and Makabe for the NEVER Openweight Championship.[20]

In addition to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match, the other three title matches at Invasion Attack 2015 also involved the villainous Bullet Club stable.[10] First, Bullet Club's The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) were set to defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero).[10][11][12] Following Romero's Forever Hooligans partner Alex Koslov stepping away from professional wrestling,[21] Romero announced on March 1 that he was forming a new tag team with Beretta.[22][23] The team wrestled their first match together for Ring of Honor (ROH) on March 13,[24] which was followed by their NJPW debut on March 22 during the "Road to Invasion Attack 2015" tour.[25] This marked Beretta's return to NJPW, having debuted for the promotion during the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors tournament.[10] The second title match would see Bullet Club's Kenny Omega defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Máscara Dorada.[10][11][12] After signing a NJPW contract at the beginning of the year, Dorada quickly entered the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship picture by challenging Omega on February 11 and then pinning him in a six-man tag team match three days later.[26][27] This marked Dorada's first ever shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.[10] The third title match would see Bullet Club's Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson defend the IWGP Tag Team Championship against the ROH tag team The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett).[10][11][12] On March 1 at ROH's 13th Anniversary Show, Anderson and Gallows were scheduled to wrestle in a three-way non-title tag team match with The Kingdom and The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian), however, when Gallows was unable to make the event due to travel issues, Anderson was left to wrestle alone and was in the end pinned for the win by The Kingdom.[22] Upon his return to NJPW, Anderson publicly offered The Kingdom a shot at his and Gallows' IWGP Tag Team Championship anytime, anywhere,[28] while also stating that Bullet Club was going to steal Bennett's valet and real-life wife Maria Kanellis away from him.[10] This marked Bennett, Taven and Kanellis' return to NJPW, having worked their first tour with the promotion in late 2014, during the 2014 World Tag League.[29]