Cutting Through Destino

The Road to the Tokyo Dome is upon us, and it is truly paved in gold, with the final destination of Wrestle Kingdom 14 being the epicenter of a “first” and a “last”. Along with the historic final matches of Jushin “Thunder” Liger’s legendary career, we are also going to bear witness to the culmination of what’s been called the “Double Gold Dash”: for the first time ever, the IWGP Heavyweight Champion will face-off with the IWGP Intercontinental Champion with the winner walking away with both championships. So, how did we get here? What made this unprecedented event into a reality, and how did the four men discover this path to eternal glory?

Tetsuya Naito: Fueled by Resentment

To find the beginning of this path, our first destination is the night of Wrestle Kingdom 8. The winner of the G1 Climax, Tetsuya Naito, would go on to face Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in what should have been the main-event of the evening, following the tradition started the previous year by Okada himself, while Shinsuke Nakamura would defend his IWGP Intercontinental Championship against the Ace of NJPW, Hiroshi Tanahashi. However, in a stunning move, a poll would be held weeks prior to the event to determine which of these two matches would go on last, resulting in a 2:1 victory by the Intercontinental Title match, allowing the Intercontinental Title to main-event over the Heavyweight Championship for the first (And, so far, only) time in the company’s illustrious history. This result, as well as the subsequent failure to capture the IWGP Heavyweight Title, would cause an underlying fire of resentment and frustration to slowly build within Tetsuya Naito, culminating in the Stardust Genius’s trip to Mexico as he shed his old ways and found a new “tranquilo” way of life.

As the years would advance, Naito would find new success as the founder of the Japanese branch of Los Ingobernables, creating a unit of misfits that would shake NJPW to its core, even allowing Naito to capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship with the help of then-new recruit, SANADA. However, this would prove to not be enough. The former Stardust Genius desired more, and as a result, he would discard the championship, disrespecting the symbol of supremacy within NJPW, tossing and dragging the physical belt itself as if it meant nothing to him…and in a way, it truly did. He had finally reached the mountain-top, but it meant nothing to the man who lost his opportunity to main-event Wrestle Kingdom by an unheard-of technicality. To him, that was the pinnacle, and as time marched on, he would claim even the Intercontinental Championship and treat it with even more disdain, leaving the gold plating of the physical belt in shambles. It would not be long afterwards that Tetsuya Naito would punch his ticket to his goal once more, having survived the trials of the G1 Climax once again by defeating Kenny Omega in the finals, and as fate would have it, it would be the same man who took his Heavyweight Championship back from Naito and the same man whom he met four years prior at Wrestle Kingdom 8: Kazuchika Okada.

The stage was set for Naito to finally reach the goal that had alluded him for so long, and one step had been achieved. He would go on to main-event Wrestle Kingdom 12 against Kazuchika Okada, and yet, after a valiant effort, he would come up short. Despite the crowd being behind the now-Ingobernable One, it was not enough to drive him to his destino. This would force Naito to shift gears, once again making a point in pursuing the Intercontinental Championship and battling for it, recognizing it as something that has helped him in the past (Against Taichi as he challenged for the IC Title) as well as an object that others had desired that he now sought to keep for himself. It was then, before the 2019 G1 Climax, did Naito lay the groundwork for his plan: as the Intercontinental Champion, Naito would compete in the 2019 G1 Climax with the intention of winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom, and this goal would make him a target…

Jay White: Powered by Anarchy

In the midst of Naito’s reclaiming of his Intercontinental Championship from the hands of Chris Jericho, the paradigm had shifted within New Japan’s stable of outsiders. As Kenny Omega and the Elite, consisting of the Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, and “Hangman” Adam Page, would begin to stand out more and more within the Bullet Club, there would be an underlying tension from the OG Bullet Club members led by Tama Tonga. The infighting caused by the Elite and their inability to put aside egos for the greater good, and then the showmanship of the three-headed hydra of the Elite would eventually cause irreparable damage to the unit, splintering the unit into two separate stables. In perhaps the biggest coup of this newly formed “OGBC”, at the Destruction in Kobe event in 2018, after Tanahashi’s defeat of Kazuchika Okada in defense of his Tokyo Dome Main-Event contract, the Switchblade would hit the ring to confront both men, aided by Okada’s former manager and mentor, Gedo. It would be the following month where, in a fake-out of allegiance to Okada, the OGBC would hit the ring and beat down Tanahashi and Okada, allying themselves with Jay White, Gedo, and Jado, forming the new “Cutthroat Era” of the Bullet Club.

Leading up to his new partnership with the Bullet Club, Jay White had proven himself to be a prognosticator of the ring, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake with victories over the likes of Kenny Omega, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kazuchika Okada, with the latter creating a rift amongst his at-the-time stablemates within Chaos. After his victory over Okada in the G1 Climax, White would begin to assert himself as if he were the leader of Chaos, attempting to influence or even “corrupt” members within the unit, failing to make much headway due to the relatively united front they presented. In contrast, Jay White, bringing Gedo with him, was able to slide into the Bullet Club with ease, hearkening back to Omega’s attempt to recruit the rogue Switchblade into the stable as a method of “healing” the unit in 2017. It would fail, costing Kenny Omega his US Championship, with Tama Tonga even going so far as to say that perhaps “they sent the wrong guy” to do the recruiting, and as time would foretell, White would eventually find a home with the Bullet Club mere months after the expulsion of the Elite in 2018.

With the formation of this new Bullet Club, Jay White would assert his dominance and bring both himself and his unit to new heights of shared glory, with Jay White not only besting Kazuchika Okada at Wrestle Kingdom 13, but also defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at the New Beginning in Osaka almost seven years to the day of the famous Rainmaker Shock of 2012. The progress that Jay White had promised for his Bullet Club would only be halted by the very man that he made the first target of this new mission: at the G1 Supercard in MSG, a revitalized Kazuchika Okada would defeat Jay White and reclaim the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

After his defeat at the hands of Okada, Jay White would begin to stumble, similar to his counterpart of Chaos once his reign was ended. At the start of the G1 Climax, Jay White would go down three straight losses, all of which to the members of Chaos in his block, each one driven by a distinct enmity toward Jay White and their traitorous mentor, Gedo. It became clear to White and Gedo that one more loss would make Jay White’s Wrestle Kingdom dreams go up in smoke, and after a retooling of their strategy going forward, Jay White would win every single match from that point onward, making it to the finals of the G1 against Kota Ibushi… only to be snuffed out in the end. However, as a result of a victory in the G1, Jay White would be allowed to challenge Naito for his Intercontinental Championship, setting in motion his own counter-play for Wrestle Kingdom: If Naito sought to use the IC title as a ticket to immortality, why can’t the Switchblade do the same? After all, he holds not one but two victories over Okada. He’s beaten Naito when it mattered most: at the penultimate match of the G1 Climax to determine the winner of B Block, and history would repeat itself as Jay White would defeat Naito to claim the Intercontinental Championship at 2019’s Destruction in Kobe. On the march to Wrestle Kingdom, who could stop the leader of the Bullet Club? As the G1 Finals proved, no matter how brightly the Switchblade would glisten, the shine would pale in comparison to the intensity of a Golden Star…