NJPW WK 14 night one notes: Attendance, title changes, Stardom
– Attendance at the Tokyo Dome topped 40,000 fans for Wrestle Kingdom 14 night one.
NJPW announced a paid attendance of 40,008 for the show, up from the 38,162 for Wrestle Kingdom 13 last year. The number for Wrestle Kingdom 12 was 34,995 fans.
This year’s Wrestle Kingdom is split across two nights for the first time ever. NJPW had noted yesterday that they were opening part of the outfield stands for night one.
– Night one saw four titles change hands. Tetsuya Naito defeated Jay White to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, Hiromu Takahashi defeated Will Ospreay to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title, Jon Moxley defeated Lance Archer for the IWGP United States Heavyweight title in their Texas death match, and Juice Robinson & David Finlay won the IWGP Tag Team titles from Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa.
Kazuchika Okada retained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi on night one and will face off against Naito with both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles on the line in the main event of night two.
This is Moxley’s second reign with the IWGP United States Championship. He had to vacate the title in October when he couldn’t make it to King of Pro Wrestling due to travel issues associated with Typhoon Hagibis. Archer instead defeated Juice Robinson (who Moxley was originally supposed to face at King of Pro Wrestling) for the vacant title.
Moxley will defend his title against Robinson at Wrestle Kingdom 14 night two. The show will begin at midnight Eastern time overnight tonight.
– Mayu Iwatani & Arisa Hoshiki defeated Hana Kimura & Giulia in Stardom’s dark match that took place at the Tokyo Dome before night one went on the air. Stardom wrote about the finish: “Giulia mistakenly hit Hana with a Missile Dropkick, and Mayu pinned Hana after a SS Cutter, Dragon Suplex and Moonsault.”
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