Inside Wrestle Kingdom 14 looks at the featured matches from both days of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s (NJPW) upcoming Wrestle Kingdom events on January 4th and January 5th. This article highlights Guerrillas of Destiny’s (G.O.D.) v8 defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against 2019 World Tag League Tournament winners, FinJuice (Juice Robinson and David Finlay).
Guerrillas of Destiny (G.O.D.) reign of IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions over 300 days at the time of Wrestle Kingdom 14 when they make their v8 defense against FinJuice (Juice Robinson and David Finlay) on January 4th. G.O.D. was able to defeat the World Tag League Tournament winners FinJuice on December 1st during the tournament.
FinJuice are coming off their first-ever headline match on a New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) featured event, which saw them defeat Cold Darkness (Evil and Sanada) to capture the World Tag League Tournament trophies. Despite this monumental victory, the tag team still feels as they are underdogs going into Wrestle Kingdom due to their earlier loss to G.O.D.
FinJuice’s Odds
G.O.D. have never won a tag team contest at Wrestle Kingdom, having lost the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano at Wrestle Kingdom 11 on January 4, 2017, and would again lose their title to Cold Darkness at Wrestle Kingdom 13 on January 4, 2018. However, the latter match was a triple threat tag team match, also featuring the Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson). This will likely lead to them showing up determined to win their first match together on one of the biggest stages in professional wrestling.
With David Finlay taking a large leap forward after missing most of 2019 with a shoulder injury, FinJuice presents a formidable challenge for G.O.D., who are only 3 successful defenses away from tying the Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) of 10 set between June 2010 – November 2011.
Juice Robinson has proven himself to be a challenge for any singles wrestler in NJPW and has a unique chemistry with Finlay within the tag ranks. If the two can find a way to limit the outside interference from Jado they will have a realistic opportunity to become the next IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.
Will G.O.D. Continue Their Dominance?
2019 has arguably been the best year of G.O.D.’s career as a tag team. They began their 5th IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship reign at NJPW/ROH Honor Rising on February 23rd then went on to win the Ring of Honor World Tag Team Championship on April 6th at the NJPW/ROH G1 Supercard. They held the ROH titles for 105 days, solidifying them as one of the best tag teams in the world today.
Their inability to win World Tag League has led to them coming up short at Wrestle Kingdom in recent years. While this does not guarantee the pattern will continue at Wrestle Kingdom 14, it does mean G.O.D. still has something to prove despite being on such a dominate run as champions.
Inside Wrestle Kingdom 14 Series:
1. Both Nights On Better Pace Than Last Year, A Look At The Featured Matches
2. Jyushin Thunder Liger Retirement Match I
3. G.O.D. Face FinJuice For The IWGP Heayweight Tag Team Championship
4. Lance Archer and Jon Moxley IWGP US Heavyweight Texas Death Match
5. Will Ospreay Defends His IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Against Hiromu Takahashi
6. Double Gold Dash, Jay White And Tetsuya Naito For The IWGP Intercontinental Championship
7. The Tanahashi and Jericho Match Has An Added Stipulation
8. Double Gold Dash, Kazuchika Okada And Kota Ibushi For The IWGP Heavyweight Championship
9. Jyushin Thunder Liger Retirement Match II
10. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Contest
11. Zack Sabre Jr And Sanada For The RevPro British Heavyweight Championship
12. KENTA And Hirooki Goto Battle Over The Never Openweight Championship
