Tetsuya Naito vs Kazuchika Okada To Headline Wrestle Kingdom 14 - Night 2
Wrestle Kingdom 14 sees the first time in New Japan history that the iconic event will be held over two days. Traditionally Wrestle Kingdom is a January 4th exclusive event. However the now 2 day extravaganza will also be taking place on January 5th. Night 1 of the event saw the start of the Double Gold Dash; where the IWGP Intercontinental and IWGP Heavyweight Championships were defended.
The winners of the two respective matches will go on to compete at Night 2 of Wrestle Kingdom. There to determine the first ever concurrent IWGP Intercontinental and Heavyweight Champion.
Tetsuya Naito defeated Bullet Club’s Jay White to capture the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and secure his place on the January 5th card. Naito will be heading into the main event of Night 2 against Kazuchika Okada. Okada defeated Kota Ibushi in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom Night 1 to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Naito recently made the following comments regarding his want to become the first ever ‘dual’ Champion at Wrestle Kingdom to NJPW1972.com. “There’s always been a distinction between the two titles; people wrestling for the Intercontinental Championship haven’t mixed with the Heavyweight contenders. So rather than have people think that I’ve gone back to just wrestling for the IC title; I wanted to say, no, I’m going to have this and wrestle for the heavyweight title as well. I wanted to get rid of this idea that once you’re in that position of wrestling for the IC; you never move away from it. Bear in mind, too, that I never had any interest in the Intercontinental belt in itself. The Heavyweight title has always been the number one belt to me.”
