Night one of New Japan Pro Wrestling Wrestle Kingdom 14 saw a flurry of title changes, as new IWGP Intercontinental Champion, IWGP Tag Team Champions, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, and IWGP United States Championships switch hands. On night two on Sunday night, the rest of the titles switched hands, with Los Ingobernables de Japon leaving the Tokyo Dome as the squad with the most gold.
#AndNEW: Los Ingobernables de Japon Capture the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Titles
In the pre-show, the LIJ squad of EVIL, BUSHI, and Shingo Takagi came out the victors in a five-team match-up for the belts. Bullet Club, CHAOS, Suzuki-gun, and former champs Ryusuke Taguchi, Toru Yano, and Togi Makable competed in the huge match-up, but it was LIJ who captured gold, to add to the IWGP Intercontinental belt (Tetsuya Naito) and IWGP Junior Heavyweight (Hiromu Takahashi) the group won the previous night.
#AndNEW: Roppongi 3K Wins IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles
Bullet Club’s Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo seemed almost unbeatable after holding the Junior Heavyweight tag titles for the past 203 days. But Roppongi 3K‘s SHO and YO avenged their title loss to Bullet Club at NJPW Kizuna Road back in June, and in doing so, won their 4th Junior Heavyweight tag titles. That number ties them in second for the most decorated junior tag team, a position they share with their mentor, Rocky Romero, who won 4x with Trent Baretta in Roppongi Vice, as well as Apollo 55 (Taguchi & Prince Devitt/Finn Balor) and Gedo & Jado. They’ve still got a ways to go to break the record of seven titles, held by AEW’s The Young Bucks.
#AndNEW: Hirooki Goto Defeats KENTA for the NEVER Openweight Title
CHAOS’ Hirooki Goto continued his domination of the NEVER Openweight division, capturing his 5th NEVER Openweight title since the title was introduced in 2012. Goto ended KENTA‘s reign at 127-days, the longest single reign since Goto himself held the belt for 156 days back in 2018 during his second reign.
#AndNEW: Tetsuya Naito Wins Double Gold, Defeats Okada for IWGP Heavyweight Championship
In the main event, in a champion vs champion match-up with both titles up for graps, LIJ’s Tetsuya Naito took IWPG Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada to the limit, and in a near 40-minute classic, defeated Okada for his second IWGP Heavyweight Championship title in the main event for Wrestle Kingdom 14. His first reign was only 70-days, and after defeating Okada at NJPW Invasion Attack in 2016, he lost it back to Okada in his first defense against the former champ at NJPW Dominion later that summer (he only scored one title defense, against Tomohiro Ishii, at 2016’s NJPW Wrestling Dontaku).
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