Wrestle Kingdom 14

Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome is an upcoming two-day professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The two shows will take place on January 4 and 5, 2020, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. This will be the twenty-ninth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the fourteenth promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom name, which is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl". This is the first time that Wrestle Kingdom will be held on two nights, instead of taking place solely on January 4.

The first night of the show will be headlined by Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the winner of the 2019 G1 Climax, Kota Ibushi, in a rematch from the 2019 G1 Climax, while the second night will be headlined by the winner of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the winner of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship Jay White and Tetsuya Naito. Another high-profile match scheduled for the show will feature Chris Jericho facing Hiroshi Tanahashi. The shows will feature the retirement of the junior heavyweight legend Jushin Thunder Liger.

The first night of the event will feature four other title matches with Jay White defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Tetsuya Naito, Guerrillas of Destiny (Tanga Loa and Tama Tonga) defending the IWGP Tag Team Championship against FinJuice (David Finlay and Juice Robinson), Lance Archer defending the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Jon Moxley in a Texas Deathmatch and Will Ospreay defending the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Hiromu Takahashi. The second night will feature the winner of the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships facing each other to crown the first double champion in NJPW history, Bullet Club (El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori) defending the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against the winners of the 2019 Super Jr. Tag League Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh), the winner of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship in the first night will defending the title against Juice Robinson, KENTA defending the NEVER Openweight Championship against Hirooki Goto and Zack Sabre Jr. defending the British Heavyweight Championship against SANADA as part of a partnership between NJPW and the British Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW) promotion.

Background
Since 1992, NJPW began annually producing shows on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome, becoming NJPW's premier annual event and the biggest event in Japanese wrestling, similar to what WrestleMania is for WWE and American professional wrestling. Since 2007, when the event was renamed "Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome", the Dome shows have been broadcast on pay-per-view (PPV). Wrestle Kingdom 14 was officially announced on January 4, 2019, during Wrestle Kingdom 13 and instead of traditionally taking part in one night, the event would take part on two nights on January 4 and 5 at the Tokyo Dome.

The two nights are part of a plan by Bushiroad to run larger arenas in order to increase attendance and merchandise sales, while also running promoting the event. Bushiroad announced that NJPW looked to get a 12% growth in revenue and 1% in profits overall, following their successful financial year in 2018. It was also noted that the numbers of subscribes in NJPW World were above 100,000, following NJPW's financial revenue. NJPW looked to get 80,000 fans in attendance for the both nights. On May 29, NJPW held a press conference to announce further details for the shows. Pre-sale tickets for the shows were put on sale on June 3 until June 11 for "Team NJPW" fan club, while general sale tickets for were put on sale on July 12; with individual tickets costing from ¥3,000 to ¥50,000. On September 18, NJPW announced that part of the tickets for the event were sold out. In October, Wrestling Observer Newsletter reported that ticket sales for the show were doing better than last year's show, which was the first Tokyo Dome sell-out in nearly two decades. On November 6, it was announced that TUBE’s guitarist Michiya Haruhata would provide the offfcial theme for the event.

The event will feature the retirement of junior heavyweight legend Jushin Thunder Liger. Keiichi Yamada debuted under his real name for NJPW in 1984, after being trained in the NJPW dojo. Three years later, Yamada was given the gimmick based on an extremely popular anime superhero, Jushin Liger, created by manga artist Go Nagai. Yamada was given a superhero-like full body costume and a demonic looking mask, resembling the superhero type featured in tokusatsu and anime programs. NJPW had done this previously with Tiger Mask, which had become a huge success. During the 1990s, Liger became one of the greatest junior heavyweight wrestlers of all time, winning various championship and accomplishments throughout various promotions across throughout Japan such as Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah, WAR and most notably New Japan Pro Wrestling, where Liger became the longest-tenured member of the roster and won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship a record eleven-times; setting the record for longest reign with the title during his second reign at 628 days. He also won the Best of the Super Juniors a record three-times. Liger would also revolutionize the junior heavyweight divison being the creator of the Super J-Cup, a tournament featuring junior heavyweight wrestlers from all over the world, winning it on two occasions in 1995 and 2000 and was also the creator of the Sky Diving J, a event notable for revolutionizing junior heavyweight wrestling in NJPW and Japanese wrestling history.

Storylines
Wrestle Kingdom 14 will feature professional wrestling matches that will involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The first night of the Wrestle Kingdom 14 will be main evented by Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi, while the second night of the event will be main evented by the winner of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against the winner of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship between Jay White and Tetsuya Naito. The storyline behind the match dates back to August 18, 2013, at DDT Pro-Wrestling's annual Ryōgoku Peter Pan event, when Ibushi who was representing DDT faced New Japan representative and reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada in a losing effort in a special non-title match. Later that year, Ibushi signed a dual contract with DDT and NJPW, making him the first wrestler to have two home promotions. Okada and Ibushi faced each other for a second time on March 16, 2014 at NJPW's 42nd Anniversary event, in the annual non-title match between the IWGP Junior Heavyweight and IWGP Heavyweight champions, where Ibushi who was the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion faced reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada in a losing effort.

In August 2019, Ibushi and Okada took part of the 2019 G1 Climax, where both wrestled in the A Block. Ibushi and Okada faced each other for a third time on August 10, where Ibushi defeated Okada for the first time to advance to the finals. Both wrestlers had entered the final day of the tournament with a chance advance to the finals. Two days later, Ibushi defeated Jay White in the finals to win the 2019 G1 Climax. Afterwards, Ibushi announced his intentions of challenging for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships in both nights of the Tokyo Dome. Following the tournament, Ibushi defended his status as the number one contender against KENTA and EVIL, while Okada retained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against SANADA, avenging a loss suffered during the 2019 G1 Climax, leading to the match between Ibushi and Okada being made official for the Tokyo Dome in a press conference on October 15. During the press conference, Okada criticized Ibushi's proposal to challenge for IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships in both nights of the Tokyo Dome, claiming that he didn't need to win the "silver medal" since he was holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Leading to the event, Tetsuya Naito had the desire to hold both IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships simultaneously. However his desire was derailed by Jay White, who also wanted to main event the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 and become the first ever double champion in history, leading Naito to lose the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to White on September 22 at Destruction in Kobe. Afterwards, White feuded with Hirooki Goto, while Naito feuded with Taichi over the desire hold both titles at Wrestle Kigndom 14. On November 3 at Power Struggle, Naito defeated Taichi to become the #1 contender to the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Later that night, White defeated Hirooki Goto to retain the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

Following the match, Naito confronted White and challenged him to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Afterwards, Kota Ibushi and Kazuchika Okada would come to the ring and Okada suggested a fan vote to determine whether the main event of the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14. Previously, NJPW had a fan vote to determine whether the match between Okada and Naito or an IWGP Intercontinental Championship match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi would main event Wrestle Kingdom 8. The dual championship match for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships won the vote, resulting in Naito receiving his championship rematch at the event. It was also announced that the losers of both championship matches in the first night would face each other in the second night. In the built-up to the event, the dual championship match being billed as "Double Gold Dash". Naito has also previously lost to White during the 2019 G1 Climax in their head-to-head match to determine the finalist in the B Block, which White lost the finals of the tournament to Kota Ibushi. The last double title match of this type took place on January 4, 2004 at Wrestling World 2004 between IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama in a title unification match. As part of the built-up to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Okada began berating Ibushi following their matches, sometimes Okada began kicking Ibushi's briefcase, leading him to Okada afterwards or Okada countering his attack.

On June 9, 2019 at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Chris Jericho unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Afterwards, Jerciho attacked Okada, leading to Okada's Hiroshi Tanahashi, who was on commentary, making the save. On November 3 at Power Struggle, Chris Jericho made his return to NJPW, appearing in a video, where he challenged Tanahashi to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome. The challenge was quickly accepted by Tanahashi, leading the match to be officially announced on the following day. Jericho made a second return in a pre-taped vignette at the December 8 show, warning Tanahashi that their match at Wrestle Kingdom would be the last match of his career.

In the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match, Will Ospreay will make his fourth title defense against Hiromu Takahashi. On November 3 at Power Struggle, Ospreay defeated BUSHI to make his third successful title defense. Afterwards, BUSHI's Los Ingobernables de Japón stablemate Hiromu Takahashi made his return from an injury, challenging Ospreay to a match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Takahashi had defeated Ospreay to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on June 9, 2018 at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, but he would be forced to vacate the title on August 20, due to being sidelined with a neck injury.

In the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match, Bullet Club (El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori) will make their second title defense against Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh). On June 16, 2019, Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Bullet Club (Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo). From October 16 until November 1, Bullet Club and Ropppongi 3K took part in the 2019 Super Jr. Tag League. Both teams entered the final day with a chance to reach the finals, Sho and Yoh were victorious over the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Phantasmo and Ishimori in the head-to-head match between the teams, leading Sho and Yoh to advance to the finals. On November 3 at Power Struggle, Sho and Yoh defeated Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) to win the Super Jr. Tag League, for the record setting third time. Afterwards, Phantasmo and Ishimori attacked Roppongi 3K and stole their trophies. Leading to the event, on November 9 at New Japan Showdown, Phantasmo successfully defended the British Cruiserweight Championship against Sho, after cheating to retain his title.

Since June 2019, Jon Moxley began feuding with Juice Robinson, leading Moxley to defeat Robinson on June 5 to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. Their feud continued in August during the 2019 G1 Climax, leading NJPW to schedule a title match between the two, however on October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Moxley was forced to vacate the title after to being unable to wrestle in the scheduled championship defense, due to travel issues arising from Typhoon Hagibis. Later that night, Lance Archer defeated Juice Robinson in a no disqualification match to become the new champion. After the match, Archer attacked Robinson until his partner David Finlay made the save. On November 9 at New Japan Showdown in San Jose, Archer defeated Finlay to make his first successful title defense. Afterwards, Robinson confronted Archer and made his intentions of challenging for his title. On December 8, Moxley returned to NJPW confronting Archer, before laying him out and his Suzuki-gun stablemate Minoru Suzuki with the Death Rider. Afterwards, Moxley challenged Archer to a Texas Deathmatch at Wrestle Kingdom 14. Later that night, Robinson and David Finlay defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL and SANADA) to win the 2019 World Tag League. Traditionally, the winners of the tournament have earned a shot at the IWGP Tag Team Championship at the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and following the win, Robinson and Finlay called out reigning champions, Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa), and challenged them to a title match. The following day, NJPW officially announced the IWGP Tag Team Championship match, while also announcing the Texas Deathmatch for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship between Archer and Moxley, with the winner of the match facing Robinson for the title in the second night of the event.

At Power Struggle, Hirooki Goto unsuccessfully challenged Jay White for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, after White's stablemate KENTA interfered in the match, causing Goto to lose the match. Goto would enter in a path for vengeance after KENTA attacked Goto's best friend Katsuyori Shibata. On November 17, during the 2019 World Tag League, Goto and KENTA faced each other in their head-to-head match, with Goto teaming Karl Fredericks and KENTA with his Bullet Club stablemate Yujiro Takahashi, where Goto scored the win for his team, after pinning KENTA. Afterwards, in a post-match interview, Goto announced his intentions of getting revenge for KENTA's actions. Throughout the 2019 World Tag League, KENTA began usually mocking Goto after his matches, leading Goto to attack him on November 29. Despite being attacked by Goto, KENTA continued to mock Goto leading him to attack KENTA again on December 8. At a press conference the following day, Goto drew the ire of KENTA, after calling into question his in-ring abilities, leading KENTA to return the favor and attack him.

As part of a partnership between NJPW and the British Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW) promotion, Zack Sabre Jr. will make his first title defense of the British Heavyweight Championship against SANADA. Also at Power Struggle, Sabre and SANADA faced each other in a six-man tag team match, where Sabre teamed with Suzuki-gun stablemates Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki, while SANADA teamed with his ''Los Ingobernables de Japon stablemates EVIL and Shingo Takagi. SANADA would score the win for his team, after pinning Sabre. On November 28, SANADA scored another pinfall victory over Sabre during their head-to-head match in the 2019 World Tag League. On December 8, Sabre attacked SANADA due to being furious for losing to him twice. At a press conference the following day, Sabre walked out of the press conference after feeling to be disrespected by SANADA.

The event will also feature the retirement match of Jushin Thunder Liger. On March 7, 2019, it was announced that Liger would make his retirement match at Wrestle Kingdom 14. Liger also competed in the opening televised match at the first January 4 Tokyo Dome Show in 1992. On October 15, NJPW announced Liger's the competitors for Liger's retirement match, which would include some legends and rivals during his career; El Samurai, Naoki Sano, The Great Sasuke, Tatsumi Fujinami, Tiger Mask, Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Shinjiro Otani. Tiger Mask was his regular partner and the two won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, while Liger last faced Fujinami in June 2008. Liger's rival The Great Sasuke will also take part of the match. Throughout 1990's Liger and Sasuke had a rivalry, which main evented various events such as the Super J-Cup, they won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, and the last time they faced each other was in December 2011. Naoki Sano was also one of the Liger's rival, during their excursion as young lions in 1989, as well facing each other in October 1995, when NJPW was feuding with UWFI. Liger also wrestled in the opening televised match at the first January 4 Tokyo Dome Show on January 4, 1992. On December 8, Ryu Lee, who was previously known as Dragon Lee, returned to NJPW in a pre-taped vignette, challenging Liger to take part of his retirement at Wrestle Kingdom 14. The challenge was immediately accepted by Liger, he also hinted that he wanted to face Lee's rival Hiromu Takahashi, who had recently returned from a neck injury.