| Wrestling Dontaku 2014 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster for the event, featuring caricatures of severalNJPW wrestlers | |||
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling | ||
| Date | May 3, 2014[1] | ||
| City | Fukuoka,Japan[1] | ||
| Venue | Fukuoka Kokusai Center[1] | ||
| Attendance | 7,190[1] | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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| Wrestling Dontaku chronology | |||
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| New Japan Pro-Wrestling events chronology | |||
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Wrestling Dontaku 2014 was aprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV) event promoted byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on May 3, 2014, inFukuoka,Fukuoka, at theFukuoka Kokusai Center. The event featured ten matches (including onedark match), five of which were contested forchampionships.[1][2][3] It was the eleventh event under theWrestling Dontaku name.
Wrestling Dontaku 2014 featured tenprofessional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds andstorylines. Wrestlers portrayedvillains,heroes, orless distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.[4]
In the first title match of the event,The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) successfully defended theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against former two-time champions,Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov andRocky Romero),[1] who had earned their title shot during NJPW's April trip toTaiwan.[5] The second title match featured the NJPW debut ofNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) representativeWes Brisco, who unsuccessfully challengedSatoshi Kojima for theNWA World Heavyweight Championship,[1] which his uncleJack has held in the past.[5] The third title match sawRyusuke Taguchi return to theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship picture by challengingKota Ibushi. Taguchi, coming off a big grudge match win overPrince Devitt atInvasion Attack 2014, had challenged Ibushi for the title twice before, but was defeated both times.[5] The match at Wrestling Dontaku 2014 ended with the same result with Ibushi making his third successful title defense.[1] The fourth title match featuredTomohiro Ishii also making his third successful defense of theNEVER Openweight Championship againstTomoaki Honma, avenging a six-man tag team loss from April 19 in the process.[5] Post-match, Ishii was challenged by Ibushi.[1]
One of the big matches of the event saw theBullet Club stable, which was celebrating its one-year anniversary, take on representatives of NJPW in a four-on-four elimination tag team match.Hiroshi Tanahashi andTogi Makabe survived the match, winning it for NJPW, and afterwards challenged Bullet Club'sIWGP Tag Team Champions,Doc Gallows andKarl Anderson, to a title match, but were interrupted byHirooki Goto andKatsuyori Shibata, who were also eyeing a shot at the title.[1] Another match featuredIWGP Intercontinental ChampionShinsuke Nakamura teaming up withKazushi Sakuraba to take onDaniel andRolles Gracie. After regaining his title at Invasion Attack 2014, Nakamura was challenged by the Gracies, leading to Sakuraba offering to form a tag team with him. In the build-up to the match, NJPW noted that Daniel holds amixed martial arts win over Nakamura from December 2002.[5] The Gracies won the match, after which Daniel challenged Nakamura to a title match.[1] The main event featuredKazuchika Okada defending theIWGP Heavyweight Championship againstA.J. Styles, who debuted at Invasion Attack 2014 by attacking Okada and revealing himself as the newest member of Bullet Club.[5] At the end of the match,Yujiro Takahashi, who had recently started a storyline, where he began showing disgruntlement towards his current position in NJPW and started walking out on his tag team matches alongside hisChaos stablemates,[6] turned on Okada and the stable and helped Styles win the match and become the 60th IWGP Heavyweight Champion.[1][7] With the win, Styles became the sixth foreigner to win NJPW's top title.[8]