Back to the Yokohama Arena 2014: WrestleFile Historical Verdict

New Japan begins its May 25 Yokohama Arena card with Ryusuke Taguchi, BUSHI, Alex Shelley and KUSHIDA defeating Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Máscara Dorada and El Desperado. Both sides blend established junior-heavyweight veterans with younger specialists, allowing the opener to introduce the division before the championship program begins. At 8:25 and a C+ score of 6.5, the match is more useful for seeing the day's junior-heavyweight associations than for identifying the night's best wrestling. The eight names belong to one multi-man result; no single athlete should be credited with a solo victory or a title change here.

Bullet Club's Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi defeat Manabu Nakanishi, Tomoaki Honma, Captain New Japan and Yuji Nagata in a 9:03 eight-man tag. The finish is recorded as a team victory, and the two four-man combinations are central to the era's faction presentation. Placed immediately after a junior-heavyweight opener, the match gives the event an early heavyweight stable confrontation ahead of three separate title defenses later on. The C+ and 6.5 grade keeps its historical usefulness in proportion: it advances Bullet Club's group standing, but nine minutes across eight participants leaves limited space for individual showcase work.

Tencozy, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima, defend the NWA World Tag Team Championship against both Killer Elite Squad and Rob Conway with Wes Brisco in an 11:38 three-team match. The retained belts belong to Tencozy; neither Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. nor Conway and Brisco claim the titles on this event. The format is noteworthy because it brings three complete tag teams together for a non-IWGP championship while Yokohama also hosts title contests under NJPW's own banners. Rated C+ and 6.9, the bout is useful for keeping the NWA tag lineage straight, though its time allocation prevents it from overtaking the later featured singles matches.

Minoru Suzuki and Shelton X Benjamin defeat Toru Yano and Takashi Iizuka in the Suzuki-gun versus Crazy Ichizoku tag match. The recorded bell-to-bell duration is only eight seconds, making this a faction-story incident far more than a developed tag team wrestling contest. Its C and 6.3 assessment reflects that unusually brief record without assigning imaginary offensive sequences to any participant. A match this short cannot support the same analytical discussion as the 19-minute Ishii–Ibushi NEVER title encounter or the 26-minute heavyweight main event. Fans tracing Suzuki's and Yano's 2014 rivalry should note the outcome, while viewers seeking sustained wrestling can skip it.

Bad Luck Fale defeats Tetsuya Naito in 12:05, adding a Bullet Club singles win to the Yokohama card after the group's earlier eight-man success. The result is a genuine one-on-one victory, not a tag-team claim or a championship switch. Fale's imposing presentation against Naito makes the matchup distinct from the mixed-rules and title defenses that follow. A C+ and 6.8 places the contest firmly in the middle of the viewing guide: longer than the very brief Suzuki-gun tag but less consequential than the title matches involving Ishii, Nakamura and Styles. It is chiefly worthwhile for anyone following Naito's and Fale's 2014 progression.

Kazushi Sakuraba defeats Rolles Gracie in an Ishu Kakutōgi Sen mixed-rules match lasting 5:33. The rules label needs to be preserved because this is not advertised as an ordinary junior or heavyweight singles bout; the contest draws on a different combat-sports vocabulary. Sakuraba is the credited winner, and the five-minute runtime provides limited scope for an extended demonstration of that style. The C and 6.3 evaluation keeps the match from competing with the more substantial championship fights later on the card. As a historical entry it offers an unusual matchup and stipulation; as a modern replay choice it is a brief detour in the event's larger program.

Tomohiro Ishii successfully defends the NEVER Openweight Championship against Kota Ibushi in 19:22. The champion remains Ishii, and the challenger does not win the belt at Yokohama Arena. This is one of the event's longer performances and gives the NEVER championship genuine space before the next two title matches bring other stakes to the upper card. Rated B and 7.5, it earns priority over most opening and middle bouts, with a physical Ishii–Ibushi pairing that differs sharply from Sakuraba's short mixed-rules match immediately beforehand. The result also contributes to the card's pattern of three major championship retentions.

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe defeat Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata in 17:22, winning the designated No. 1 contender match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. This is an opportunity-earning bout, not a claim that Tanahashi and Makabe took the tag belts that night. The pairing pits Ace to King against Meiyu Tag and supplies the card with one of its longest tag performances. At B- and 7.4, the result is useful for understanding how the division's next challengers were established between the NEVER and Intercontinental title matches. Viewers tracing the 2014 tag championship picture will want the result and matchup context.

Shinsuke Nakamura retains the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Daniel Gracie in a 10:24 Ishu Kakutōgi Sen rules match. The special mixed-fight rule presentation is an important distinction from a conventional title defense, and it follows Sakuraba–Rolles Gracie's earlier match using a similar framework. Nakamura leaves with his championship despite facing a challenger associated with another combat-sports tradition. The B- and 7.2 evaluation recognizes the unusual format without granting it the same replay value as Ishii's longer NEVER defense or the Styles–Okada heavyweight main event. It is a worthwhile contextual stop in the event's three-title retention sequence.

AJ Styles retains the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Kazuchika Okada in 26:05, giving Back to the Yokohama Arena its longest and highest-scored match. Their contest carries direct title stakes and the central Bullet Club-versus-NJPW championship tension of spring 2014. Okada is the unsuccessful challenger here; reversing the result would distort Styles's early heavyweight reign. With B+ and 8.4, the main event clearly outranks the prior three-minute and ten-minute supporting material and makes the show relevant to viewers following NJPW's top-title history. It completes the card's pattern of Ishii, Nakamura and Styles all retaining separate major singles championships.