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".

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. The shows will feature the retirement of the junior heavyweight legend Jushin Thunder Liger.

Background
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 will 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.

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 wrestle in block A. 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 needed to win the "silver medal" since he was holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Also leading to the match, 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. Naito had also previously lost to White during the 2019 G1 Climax in their head-to-head match to determine the finalist in Block, which White lost the finals of the tournament to Kota Ibushi.

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.

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). On August 22, during the 2019 Super J-Cup, Sho defeated Ishimori his first round match. 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.

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.