How Wrestle Kingdom 14 Changed Wrestling PPVs By Making It 2 Nights
WrestleMania is the showcase of the immortals, easily the biggest pro wrestling event of the year. Some of the biggest moments in the history of the business have occurred on the grandest stage of them all and the main event of the show is considered the highest honor in the company, even surpassing a world championship victory.
The event is where the company goes all-out for one night, putting on the best matches and storylines possible in order to send the fans home happy at the end of the show. Early on, despite the prestige attached to the show, WrestleMania was a three-hour-long show. This eventually expanded to four hours and then even beyond that for WrestleMania 20 in 2004.
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Over the past few years, the broadcast has run as long as for seven consecutive hours and while fans still flock towards the show of shows every year, seven hours of constant wrestling programming is a bit too much to digest in one sitting. However, WWE could not fathom changing the structure of their biggest event. Why fix something that just was not broken?
Wrestle Kingdom 14 Changed Wrestling PPVs
Wrestle Kingdom 14 happened. Wrestle Kingdom is the flagship event of New Japan Pro Wrestling. The first edition aired in 2007 when WrestleMania was already up to its 23rd installment. Much like WrestleMania, Wrestle Kingdom has traditionally been a one-night show, until 2020. The 14th installment was spread over two nights, occurring on the 4th and 5th of January.
The announcement divided fans as the concept had never been pulled off. Much like WrestleMania, the flagship show of NJPW drew in fans by the droves so there was no reason to change the format, none whatsoever.
Then the event actually aired, with both nights receiving widespread acclaim and Wrestle Kingdom 14 become of the better shows in recent memory. NPJW made bank off of ticket sales on back-to-back days, selling over 70,000 tickets but putting finances aside, the company spanned the massive event over two nights perfectly in terms of storytelling and continuity.
The big story coming into Wrestle Kingdom was which of the four stars involved the four-man tournament would walk out as a double champion, with the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental championships hanging on his shoulders. The four wrestlers involved in the tournament were all big stars but the majority of the focus was on Tetsuya Naito and the company made sure to keep his journey back to the top as the focal point of the two-night event.
January 4th was treated more like a setup, as a trailer of things to come in the finale of the event. The night featured excellent matches but the contest between Tetsuya Naito and Jay White for the IWGP Intercontinental championship was a highlight. The two athletes clashed, with Naito walking out the winner but he headed into the finals and the main event of the second night with an injured knee, as White had targeted the joint constantly.
Okada walked out the winner in his brutal fight against Ibushi, setting up the main-event of the second night, Okada versus Naito with both championships on the line. The contest had surreal expectations as both wrestlers had a plethora of epic matches in their portfolios but this particular match felt a little special. The knee injury that Naito had suffered got people talking, ramping up the emotions and tensions heading into the bout.
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Naito and Okada put on a match for the ages, with both wrestlers suffering the biggest physical tolls of the night before but Naito more so, and Okada made sure to target the injured knee throughout the epic contest. Naito hung on, displaying his heart and will to win. The match dynamic shifted towards the end, as Okada, who acted as if Naito would never reach his level, grew desperate and reckless as Naito was refusing to stay down despite the extensive damage to his knee.
In the climax of the match, Naito pinned Okada to the mat after a Destino at the end of the 35-minute thriller, capping off an incredible journey to the top and the fans, who had been holding their breaths throughout the event, finally got a chance to exhale before breaking out into a thunderous round of applause for the two epic nights.
A New Status-Quo?
Wrestle Kingdom 14 was a massive success, not only financially but as well as in terms of entertainment, and spectacle. The two nights gave ample time for the big storylines to develop and also provided fans with a bit of respite, in order to avoid burn-out that comes with watching long wrestling shows.
WrestleMania 36, a few months later was a two-night event. The same was the case for the big shows the following year, with Wrestle Kingdom 15 and WrestleMania 37 both spread over two nights.
The first time the concept was put into action, NPJW hit a home-run, knocking the ball out of the park and now, WrestleMania 38 might just follow the same format because two is better than one, if done right, of course.
