NJPW: Wrestle Kingdom 14 Attendance, Jushin Liger on Retirement Match, More on AEW Title Stip

Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 1’s Attendance Reportedly Highest in Twenty Years

New Japan Pro Wrestling announced that the combined attendance for their two-night Wrestle Kingdom 14 event was over 70,000 for the paid attendance. Night 1 was announced to have had a paid attendance of 40,008 and Night 2 was announced to have had a paid attendance of 30,063.

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported that Night 1’s paid attendance was the highest for the company in the past twenty years. Meltzer also reported that the paid attendance for last year’s Wrestle Kingdom 13 was 38,162 and the year prior for Wrestle Kingdom 12 was 34,995 paid attendance.

Jushin Liger Comments on His Retirement Match at Wrestle Kingdom 14

Jushin Liger reflected on Twitter about wrestling at the Tokyo Dome for the final time of his career.

“Retired at Tokyo Dome today! After all, the champion, Hiromu was strong. I can retire without any regrets. I am grateful for messages from various people such as Choshu and Nakamura. There will be a retirement ceremony tomorrow. I want to go like a liger to the end.”

本日東京ドーム大会で引退しました！やはりチャンピオン、ヒロム選手は強かったです。何の悔いも無く引退出来ます。長州さんや中邑選手などいろいろな方からもメッセージをいただき感謝しています。明日は引退セレモニーがあります。最後までライガーらしく行きたいと思っています❤ #引退 pic.twitter.com/BnkY22rTVD

— 獣神サンダー・ライガー ☆ Jyushin Thunder Liger (@Liger_NJPW) January 5, 2020

English translation via Google Translate.

More on the AEW World Championship Stipulation at Wrestle Kingdom 14

As noted before, the Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Chris Jericho match at Wrestle Kingdom 14 included the stipulation that if Tanahashi defeated Jericho, he would receive an official title shot for the AEW World championship at a later date. Dave Metzer reported in a recent issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Jericho, Tanahashi, and Gedo came up with the idea simply as a way to add more interest for their match at the event.

Meltzer recently reported that NJPW’s Rocky Romero and AEW CEO Tony Khan were also involved in putting together the deal to make the AEW World title match stipulation official. Khan reportedly approved the decision to allow the AEW World title to be used in a NJPW storyline for the event while Romero reportedly helped convince NJPW officials to go along with the plan.