Wrestle Kingdom 14
Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome was a two-night professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The event took place on January 4 and 5, 2020, at the Tokyo Dome, in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 29th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the 14th promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom name; it was also the first time the event was held over two days, instead of taking place solely on January 4.
The main event of night one saw Kazuchika Okada defeat Kota Ibushi to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. In other prominent matches during night one, Tetsuya Naito defeated Jay White to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, the returning Hiromu Takahashi defeated Will Ospreay to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, Jon Moxley defeated Lance Archer in a Texas Death match to regain the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship and FinJuice defeated the Guerrillas of Destiny to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
In night two's main event, Naito defeated Okada in a winner takes all match; which was promoted as a Double Gold Dash, for both the IWGP Heavyweight and the IWGP Intercontinental championships. In other notable matches, Chris Jericho defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jay White defeated Kota Ibushi, Hirooki Goto won the NEVER Openweight Championship from Kenta, Jon Moxley successfully defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Juice Robinson, Zack Sabre Jr. retained the British Heavyweight Championship against Sanada and Roppongi 3K defeated Bullet Club to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The event also saw the retirement match of Japanese wrestling legend Jyushin Thunder Liger.
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". The show has been promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom name since 2007.Wrestle Kingdom 14 was officially announced at Wrestle Kingdom 13 on January 4, 2019. It was the first January 4 Tokyo Dome Show to be held over two days.
On December 24, 2019, NJPW's sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom announced that they would have a match on the January 4 event. This marked the first women's match in Wrestle Kingdom history.
Storylines
Wrestle Kingdom 14 featured professional wrestling matches that will involve 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.On March 7, 2019, it was announced that Wrestle Kingdom 14 would feature the retirement match of NJPW's junior heavyweight legend Jyushin Thunder Liger, who wrestled in the opening televised match at the first January 4 Tokyo Dome Show in 1992.
On August 12, 2019, Kota Ibushi won the G1 Climax 29 by defeating Jay White in the tournament final, entitling him to a match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom. On night eighteen of the G1 Climax, White defeated Tetsuya Naito to advanced to the finals. On September 22 at Destruction in Kobe, White defeated Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. During the year; Ibushi, Naito and White all stated their intentions to become double champion at Wrestle Kingdom. On November 3 at Power Struggle, after White's Intercontinental Championship match; Okada, Ibushi, White and Naito came to the ring where Okada suggested to have a fan vote to check if the NJPW fans wanted to see a double title match for both the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental championships as the main event of night two at Wrestle Kingdom. NJPW held a public poll the next day, where the fans voted in favor for a double title match. On November 5, an IWGP Intercontinental Championship match between White and Naito for night 1 and the double title match for night 2 was scheduled. With the losers of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Intercontinental Championship matches on night 1, facing off in a match on the night 2.
On July 7, 2018, Hiromu Takahashi suffered a neck injury during his title defense for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Dragon Lee at the G1 Special in San Francisco. On August 20, NJPW stripped Takahashi of the title as he would not be able to defend the title and would have been out of action for 9–12 months. On June 5, 2019, Will Ospreay won the Best of the Super Juniors by defeating Shingo Takagi in the finals, and later captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall on June 9. At Power Struggle, after Ospreay defended the title against Bushi, Ospreay issued an invitation to anyone in the Junior Heavyweight division to a match at Wrestle Kingdom for the title which was answered by a returning Takahashi. The match was officially scheduled by NJPW on November 5.
At Dominion, Chris Jericho faced Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which Jericho lost. After the match, Jericho attacked Okada, which led Hiroshi Tanahashi to come to Okada's aide; when Jericho left the ring he insulted Tanahashi. At Power Struggle, after Tanahashi and Ibushi defeated Chaos' Okada and Yoshi-Hashi in a tag team match, a video of Jericho was played to Tanahashi, where Jericho challenged Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom on January 5, which Tanahashi accepted. At the final night World Tag League tournament, another video of Jericho was played to Tanahashi. In a later interview with Tokyo Sports, Tanahashi expressed interest in challenging for Jericho's AEW World Championship if he happened to beat him. On December 28, 2019, via Jericho's Instagram, it was announced that Jericho conferred with All Elite Wrestling founder, president, and CEO Tony Khan, and Khan granted a future title shot, should Tanahashi win.
On December 8, 2019, after the final match in the World Tag League tournament fought by Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki, Jon Moxley appeared, to challenge Archer, demanding a Texas Death match for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. The match rules were later clarified by NJPW: no disqualification rules, and the victory would come only by knockout or submission. The winner of the Texas Death match would then go on to face Juice Robinson for the title on night two.
Event
Night 1
Dark match
, World Wonder Ring Stardom wrestlers Mayu Iwatani and Arisa Hoshiki defeated Hana Kimura and Giulia in a Stardom Special tag team match.Pre-show
Before the official start of the event, two matches occurred on the pre-show, the first of which pitted Alex Coughlin, Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks, and Toa Henare against Great Bash Heel, Yota Tsuji and Yuya Uemura in an eight-man tag team match. In the end, Henare slammed Tsuji with the "TOA Bottom" to win the match for his team.In the second and last match on the pre-show, Tencozy faced Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi. In the match's climax, Kojima pinned Nakanishi after a lariat.
Preliminary matches
The actual pay-per-view opened with an eight-man tag team match with Naoki Sano, Shinjiro Otani, Tatsuhito Takaiwa, and Ryusuke Taguchi facing Jushin Thunder Liger, Tatsumi Fujinami, The Great Sasuke, and Tiger Mask IV. Norio Honaga served as the special guest referee. In the end, Taguchi hit Liger with a "Dodon" to win the match.Next, Suzuki-gun took on Los Ingobernables de Japon in another eight-man tag team match. Sabre Jr. forced Bushi to submit to the "Jim Breaks Armbar" to gain the victory for Suzuki-gun.
Afterwards, Chaos faced Bullet Club. In the end, Goto performed the "GTR" on Takahashi to win.
In the following match, the Guerrillas of Destiny defended the IWGP Tag Team Championship against FinJuice. Despite interference from Jado, Finlay and Robinson managed to recover. Finlay performed a "Acid Drop" on Tonga to win the titles for the first time.
Following this, Lance Archer defended the IWGP United States Championship against Jon Moxley in a Texas Deathmatch. After the use of multiple weapons, including steel chairs, kendo sticks and trash cans, Moxley performed a "Death Rider" from the ring apron through multiple tables, allowing Moxley to win by knockout, capturing the title for the second time in the process.
The next match was for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, with champion Will Ospreay defending the title against challenger Hiromu Takahashi. In the match's climax, Takahashi performed a "Canadian Destroyer" for a near fall. Takahashi then performed a "Time Bomb" for another near fall. Takahashi then hit a "Time Bomb II", the debut of his new finishing move, on Ospreay for the victory.
Next, Jay White defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Tetsuya Naito. In the end, Naito performed a modified "Brainbuster" and a "Destino" for the pinfall victory. With this win, Naito became a record-tying five time IWGP Intercontinental Champion.
Main event
The main event saw Kazuchika Okada defend the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against G1 Climax winner Kota Ibushi. In the match's closing moments, Okada avoided a "Phoenix Splash" before hitting Ibushi with a "Rainmaker" for a near-fall. Ibushi came back with a running knee strike to Okada's face, but Okada quickly recovered and performed a sit-out "Tombstone Piledriver" and another "Rainmaker" to win and retain the championship.Night 2
Pre-show
On the pre-show, The Most Violent Players and Ryusuke Taguchi defended the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship against Los Ingobernables de Japon, Chaos, Suzuki-gun and Bullet Club in a five-team gauntlet match. Bullet Club was eliminated when Ishii pinned Owens after slamming him with a "Brainbuster". Suzuki-gun was eliminated when Eagles pinned Kanemaru with a roll-up. Chaos was eliminated after Evil performed the "Darkness Falls" on Ishii. Makabe, Yano and Taguchi were eliminated when Takagi performed "Made in Japan" on Taguchi, therefore winning the match and the titles for Los Ingobernables de Japon.Preliminary matches
The show started with Jushin Thunder Liger and Naoki Sano taking on Hiromu Takahashi and Ryu Lee. This was Liger's retirement match. The match ended when Takahashi performed the "Time Bomb" on Liger for the victory. After the match, Liger thanked the crowd for their years of support and bowed to them while leaving.Next, Bullet Club defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Roppongi 3K. Roppongi 3K won when Sho pinned El Phantasmo after a "Strong X", in the process capturing the tag team titles for the fourth time.
Following this, the British Heavyweight Championship was on the line as champion Zack Sabre Jr. defended the championship against Sanada. The match ended when Sabre Jr. countered a "O'Connor Roll" into a European Clutch, scoring the win and retaining the title.
After that match, Jon Moxley defended the IWGP United States Championship against Juice Robinson. In the match's climax, Moxley countered a "Pulp Friction facebuster" from Robinson into a "Death Rider DDT", before picking Robinson up again and performing another of the same DDT for the victory. After the match, Moxley was attacked by Minoru Suzuki.
After this, Kenta defended the NEVER Openweight Championship against Hirooki Goto. Goto performed the "GTR" on Kenta for the victory and the championship.
The next match pitted Jay White against Kota Ibushi. After heavy interference from Gedo, White eventually performed the "Blade Runner" on Ibushi to win the match via pinfall. Following the match, White and Gedo continued to attack Ibushi before leaving.
In the penultimate match, Chris Jericho took on Hiroshi Tanahashi. If Tanahashi were to defeat Jericho, he would receive a match for Jericho's AEW World Championship at a later date. The match ended when Tanahashi attempted a diving crossbody, but Jericho countered it into a "Codebreaker". Jericho then applied the "Liontamer" and forced Tanahashi to submit to win the match.