In addition to airing on traditional pay-per-view (PPV) in Japan,[7] the event also aired worldwide on internet pay-per-view (iPPV) through Niconico and Ustream.[8]
Storylines
Tetsuya Naito, who was slated to headline Wrestle Kingdom 8, but ultimately lost the spot due to his inability to connect with NJPW fans
On August 11, 2013, Tetsuya Naito defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi in the finals to win the 2013 G1 Climax. The following day, Naito was given a contract granting him a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 8.[10] Despite being a clean cut babyface, Naito was thoroughly disliked by NJPW fans, which led to NJPW changing their course of action, announcing a fan vote to decide whether the match between him and Okada or an IWGP Intercontinental Championship match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi would main event Wrestle Kingdom 8.[11] Nakamura and Tanahashi won the vote with Naito and Okada being demoted to the semi-main event.[12]
The event was also set to feature Hirooki Goto's return match against Katsuyori Shibata. Goto had broken his jaw during the previous summer's G1 Climax tournament and made a surprise appearance on December 8 to request Shibata as his opponent in his return match at Wrestle Kingdom 8. The two former high school classmates had faced off three times since May 2013 with two matches ending in draws and Shibata winning once. They were scheduled to wrestle again during the G1 Climax, but Goto had to pull out of the tournament with his injury just prior to the match taking place.[13]
On October 14, 2013, mixed martial artistsDaniel Gracie and Rolles Gracie appeared at King of Pro-Wrestling, announcing they would take part in Wrestle Kingdom 8. Later in the event, Kazushi Sakuraba and Yuji Nagata, after their match against each other, accepted the Gracies' challenge for a tag team match at Wrestle Kingdom 8. Sakuraba had previously created a name for himself on the mixed martial arts scene as the "Gracie Hunter".[14]
Wrestle Kingdom 8 was headlined by a "double main event", featuring Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Tetsuya Naito and Shinsuke Nakamura defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi. In the first of the main events, Okada made his seventh successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Naito, while the second main event saw Tanahashi defeat Nakamura to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion.[2]
The event also saw Kota Ibushi defeat Prince Devitt to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.[2] Devitt wrestled the match covered in face and bodypaint,[1] debuting what would later become his signature big match look and part of his "Demon" persona.[15] After the match, Ibushi was approached by an unknown masked man, later identified as El Desperado, who handed him a bouquet of roses.[2][16] In his return match, Hirooki Goto defeated Katsuyori Shibata, who afterwards helped him backstage.[2][1]
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter wrote that "by most normal standards, the show was very good", but felt that it did not match the previous year's show, which he called "among the greatest wrestling events of all-time". He praised the final four matches, giving both of the main events four and a quarter stars out of five, while calling the first half "not good" and the tag team match involving the Gracies "kind of an atrocity".[18] In his review of the show, James Caldwell of Pro Wrestling Torch wrote that "[t]he big matches delivered, the undercard was hit-or-miss, and the event production was top-notch".[1]
On the following months after his defeat to Hiroshi tanahashi, shinsuke Nakamura would go on to win that year's New Japan Cup and challenge Tanahashi for a rematch in Invasion Attack 2014 and would win the intercontinental title again.
