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 Bullet Club’s Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasom’s v2 defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Roppongi 3k.
Current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo of the Bullet Club are 1-1 against their Wrestle Kingdom 14 v2 challengers Roppongi 3k (Sho and Yoh). The champions dethroning Roppongi 3k in June, while the challengers defeated their opponents during the Super Junior Tag League (on their path to a third straight tournament victory) in November.
This rematch has been brewing since Ishimori’s and Phantasmo’s championship victory in June, yet it didn’t begin to heat up until after Sho and Yoh won the Super Junior Tag League. Sho received a RevPro Undisputed British Cruiserweight Championship match at New Japan Showdown in San Jose, eight days after Roppongi 3k bested the champions. While he came up short, Phantasmo needed to resort to underhanded tactics to defeat Sho.
Ishimori and Phantasmo would steal the Super Junior Tag League trophies from Roppongi 3k after their tournament victory over El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, result to insults during press conferences, and further fouls during multi-tag matches to get under Sho and Yoh’s skin leading up to their Wrestle Kingdom 14 date.
However, after a December 21st match, Sho and Yoh were able to take back possession of their trophies after leaving the champions laying.
This has been the most extensive build for an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom, and will likely be a match which draws attention from casual fans who do not always follow NJPW. The contest should bring the crowd out of its emotional state as it follows Jyushin Thunder Liger’s retirement match.
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
