Csonka Ranks Kazuchika Okada’s Historic IWGP Title Run

Welcome back to column time with Larry. Today’s column is all about the upcoming Kazuchika Okada’s Historic IWGP Title Run. Today I will rank the matches in the run, including the match where he won the title back from Naito to kick off the run. Thanks for reading! Remember, it’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.” Feel free to share your rankings in the comments section.

13. Okada vs. EVIL – King of Pro-Wrestling 2017 – Oct. 9, 2017 [***]: EVIL defeated Okada in the G1, setting up this match. The G1 match was a tremendous piece of business and elevated EVIL over SANADA in the eyes of many, and he earned himself a title match and a huge opportunity here. Unfortunately, it just didn’t deliver for me. This came off as a disappointment; it hit good and basically peaked there. They went really long, they couldn’t create enough drama to make people think that EVIL really had a chance and then added in a ref bump that served absolutely no purpose. It wasn’t bad in any way, but my fears going in were realized; with zero chance of Okada losing, they’d have to get really creative to make it feel he had a chance, and they never did. It lacked the intensity of their G1 match, and in the main event, came off as disappointing.

12. Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale – Wrestling Dontaku 2017 – May 3, 2017 [***½]: This was the typical Okada vs. Fale match, which isn’t bad thing because Okada works well to his strengths. Okada sold well, made Fale look like a monster, they had some good teases and near falls and then made his comeback to slay the beast. Say what you will about Fale, and lord knows that I have, but he does step up working with the top guys like Okada, and Okada certainly gets the most out of him. While far from a classic or must see the match, it was very good and exactly what it needed to be.

11. Okada vs. Cody – G1 SPECIAL IN USA – July 1, 2017 [****]: I have not been a big fan of Cody as far as an in ring performer at times, and I feel that he’s left a lot to be desired with his performances, but I am happy to say that he stepped up his game here and brought it in a big time main event. The action was great, the layout and pacing were really well done and that the storytelling aspect, with Omega bringing out the towel as a play on the Dominion match was extremely well done and like Dominion, added to the drama down the home stretch. Add in Cody throwing a big fuck you at Omega as he tried to use the one winged angel, and it just worked. Some of the near falls down the homestretch also rocked, as they had the crowd biting on some of Cody’s pin attempts, which is something I wasn’t sure they’d be able to do, but they did. Cody finally stepped up here and delivered when he had to the most. This was a great match.

10
Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito – Dominion 6.19 – June 19, 2016 [****¼]: This was the match where Okada won back the title to start off his record-breaking reign. They did an excellent job here, and Naito getting to kick out of the Rainmaker was a great near fall and big for him. Most importantly, they did not do any shenanigans here. The whole thing behind Los Ingobernables is that when they can play their game, and get the numbers advantage, they thrive and win. Tonight, everything was even, and CHOAS got their revenge. This was a great match, but far from a classic. Many were upset with the Naito loss and still are to this day.

9. Okada vs. SANADA – The New Beginning in Osaka 2018 – Feb. 10, 2018 [****¼]: This was an absolutely great main event with a tremendous story. Okada was the overconfident champion, facing the challenger who hasn’t yet lived up to his potential. So while Okada was looking to almost cruise and be a dick to teach SANADA a lesson, SANADA ended up being way more of a challenge that he expected. The crowd actually tuned on Okada here a bit as SANADA was proving himself worthy of the main event spot, and the Osaka faithful started to believe in him, and started to rally for him and really believe. From there, things really got great, as they set up the second half with a strong first half. When we got to the second half, the crowd was fully invested and believed that SANADA could win, and that turned quality counters and near falls into next level things to them. It was very unlikely that Okada was losing here, so to make this great, the key was getting the fans to emotionally invest in SANADA, which they did. The home stretch was really great, and while he lost, SANADA looked like the star many of felt he is, and delivered one of his best and most complete NJPW singles outing to date. This crowd loved him, they wanted him to win, and that will go a long way for his future. With this reaction and the crowd at the dome, it feels like NJPW fans are primed and ready for a title change, and whoever beats Okada will get a Godlike reaction. This was great, great stuff.

8. Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki – The New Beginning in Sapporo 2017 – Feb. 5, 2017 [****½]: If Suzuki was going to lose, that was a good way to do it; they did a great job here, giving him so much as he dominated Okada and made it very believable that he could win here (the story had built in outs for him to lose). I am glad they kept the shenanigans to a minimum, because the story was the injured Okada overcoming an opponent that took the fight to him on a completely different level of violence, and the champion’s resilience and ability to overcome. The first half was really solid, like setting the base coast for what was to come, but like many Okada matches, the finishing stretch was really excellent. Overall, Okada’s selling was really strong here, some great spots of desperation, collapsing to the mat and the screams of pain all resonated; but what I did hate was in the middle, when he just starts to run around with little difficulty. This was a great match with a tremendous story, and came across as a very different match than the usual NJPW main event. That’s the benefit of Suzuki being gone for so long, he is amazingly fresh. This is a match that some people will absolutely hate (to long, Okada was too much a Superman, ect, ect, ect) but while I can see those arguments, I also felt that they did a lot right. Suzuki was made to be a total bad ass and freshens things up, also I have no issue with Okada overcoming all of that because of how they built to it. This was a basic story of Good vs. Evil, good won out in the end and didn’t just pop up, hit one move and win. I get if some have their reasons for not digging this, but there was really a lot to love, including re-establishing Suzuki as a legit and relentless badass. With all of the Suzuki-gun losses on the show, they did a great job of making me think there would be a title change here.

7. Okada vs. Naomichi Marufuji – King of Pro-Wrestling 2016 – Oct. 10, 2016 [****¾]: This was set up in the G1, and was an amazing battle, with the champion having to dig deep to put away a fellow champion and man that had previously defeated him. This was everything I wanted from this match and more, and more than delivered as the main event to an overall amazing show. Okada is an all time great, but when Marufuji is on, there are few that are better. The only negative to this is that it didn’t lead to more Marufuji in NJPW, but thankfully he’s still kicking ass in AJPW.

6. Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – Sakura Genesis 2018 – April 1, 2018 [****¾]: This was another excellent match, and felt very different from most Okada matches. Okada spent nearly 10-minutes working lucha style submissions, and that was all well and good, but Sabre finally figured out his game, and started to take control. Sabre took control, and showed that he did in fact have counters for every trademark Okada spot, including the rainmaker. Sabre’s early work on the arm is what allowed him to survive down the stretch, due to Okada being weakened, but the champion, as expected, overcame. The crowd was great for this, they were really worried for Okada, were wowed at Sabre’s submissions, and were rallying hard for the champion to overcome down the stretch. Okada varying his game and Sabre’s simply excellent, clinic like work, just meshed together so well here. Okada ties Tanahashi’s title defense record with the win, and Sabre is now a made man.

5. Okada vs. Naito – Wrestle Kingdom 12 – Jan. 4, 2018 [****¾]: While I still think that the decision was the wrong call (Naito had never been hotter), this was an absolutely amazing main event. Naito was ready, the fans were ready, but NJPW was too gun shy to pull the trigger here, and that’s a shame. Unfortunately, that seems to be the nature of the beast in wrestling, making the right move at the wrong time. Naito is far from dead, but I feel he was at his peak and that now was the time to run with him. It MAY lead to a good storyline, and felt that it was a questionable business move. But I was wrong as business is still thriving. I loved, loved, loved this match. It was absolutely amazing, with a great pace, great layout and just tremendous work from both in front of an absolutely electric crowd. The callbacks to their past encounters were played excellently, leading to an absolutely scintillating home stretch. While I may not be a fan of the decision, this clicked all the boxed for a big time main event match for me, and was a hell of a way to kick off 2018.

4. Okada vs. Tanahashi – Wrestling Dontaku 2018 – May 4, 2018 [****¾]: This was an excellent match, absolutely tremendous, and everything I wanted from this encounter. This had drama, a hot crowd, and played off of their history very well. This may very well have been Tanahashi’s last big time main event, and should be his final big time match with Okada. This was just so well done, Tanahashi was the old, broken down, gun slinging quarterback, looking to use all of his remaining skill and tricks to win the big game one last time. And he showed that he still had what it takes to compete at the big level, he dug deep, fought with all he had, the crowd was with him, but at the end of the day, his time as king was officially done. Okada wins the series, takes the title defense record, and is now the undisputed ace of NJPW, finally overtaking his greatest rival to conclude one of the best feuds of all time.

3. Okada vs. Omega – Dominion 6.11 – June 11, 2017 [*****]: There are parts of this that I loved more than the WK match, which was of course excellent. The pacing was excellent, and I didn’t even realize we were so deep time wise until they gave us the five-minute warning. The selling was largely great from both guys, but they invested early on the knee work on Okada, and then both dropped it; Callis on commentary even questioned, repeatedly why Omega wasn’t going back to it, it didn’t make sense, and in the overall scheme of things is a small gripe. But I do feel that they made up for it as they went deeper and deeper, creating some great drama and near falls. I honestly forgot about it until I was looking back over the review, they had me so locked in on the drama that it didn’t hurt a thing for me. The throw in the towel tease was very well done, Cody’s a dick and wants a title shot so it’s believable, but it also allowed for a small break, a tremendous near fall and the ability for both to reset for the insane closing stretch. The closing stretch was scintillating; Omega’s selling of exhaustion was absolutely tremendous. I do wish that the closing scene would have been Omega hitting his finish and crawling for the win, as it would have been a more dramatic finish in my eyes. One hour draws are so hard to pull off, but I feel that they delivered a more than worthy sequel to WK. And due to that, I expect the same divided set of thoughts, because while we all love wrestling, we all see it in a completely different way.

2. Okada vs. Kenny Omega – Wrestle Kingdom 11 – Jan. 4, 2017 [*****]: Omega put in a hell of a performance, one he needed since he was losing. I feel that was a mistake after the last year of booking, but the match was so great, even if a bit too long; the thing is that most guys would have been DOA after the build and loss like this. Despite the fact that he lost, Kenny Omega is more over now than he was before the match. He put in an all time elite one-man performance, that does not mean carry job, that means that his individual work was on another level, it’s his performance you leave talking about. And the booking: Even more importantly than the performance of Omega, was the booking of the match. Omega never got to hit “his big move, the one winged angel.” That means that Okada never got to survive Omega’s best, kick out of them and show that he was truly better. Omega took Okada’s best, he survived his best and became one of the few men to kick out of the rainmaker; Omega took the best of the champion but we can’t say the same for Okada. When they meet again in a one on one setting, people will lose their shit when Omega hits the one winged angel. Greatest of All Time?: I’ve seen the label “Greatest of All Time” thrown around for this match, and once again if you loved this match that much I think that’s awesome, because it should make you happy when you see great wrestling. In my opinion I think it is a bit too soon to call it that. “Best you’ve ever seen” I can easily buy, but to anoint it the GOAT feels like jumping the gun a bit, just like the people that want to shit on everything, claiming it the worst ever. It’s excellent for sure, and obviously delivered. Don’t forget about that Okada fella: Kazuchika Okada has been slowly but surely building what will be a hall of fame career, and depending on how much longer he can go (hopefully another 10 years or so), he may go down as the best big match performer ever. He does a ton of little things (in particular his tremendous facial expressions) as well as things that call back to the builds of matches, and while a knock on him is slow and largely pointless opening portions of his matches, Okada puts together some of the best closing stretches I have ever seen. Do you know what I love about this match?: What I loved about this match has nothing to do with the outcome, the layout, the moves or necessarily the competitors. What I loved about this match is that it brought out some of the best and most passionate conversation I have seen in a long time, fans defending what they loved about it or hated, sharing genuine feelings of joy at times. As I always say, when the wrestling is great, there’s almost nothing better. I love that so many new fans found NJPW and tried to expand their wrestling palette. I love that so many fans exited their comfort zone and enjoyed an amazing show. I love that this match is making people consider what the greatest match they ever saw was. It’s shows and matches like this, that at the end of the day, make me love what I do for a living.

1. Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata – Sakura Genesis 2017 – April 9, 2017 [*****]: The one thing that really stood out to me here is the obsession of the Okada character, not only wanting to be the very best, but almost willing to do that instead of beating his opponent. That character trait will eventually be his downfall; there are cracks in the armor, the defense is weakening and it will only be a matter of time before someone figures out the puzzle. Okada’s defenses keep getting longer and longer, and the new Ace is having to dig deeper than ever before, has to go longer and has to resort to some nefarious tactics to get the job done. This was an absolutely beautiful match, one where the fans were not only behind Shibata, but at times turning on Okada; amazing work from both men, leading to a very dramatic home stretch, when the wrestling is great, the wresting is great. This was a top tier MOTY contender, and a must see match in an effort that made Shibata a made man to the paying customers; unfortunately it was his last match. This is of course the match that Shibata threw the shoot head butt, which left him hospitalized and his career in jeopardy and then ended it. I’ve had people ask if I am going to change my rating of the match due to that, and the answer is no. It’s extremely unfortunate, but I will not change my mind about loving the match due to that. Shibata made the decision to throw a real head butt, something he’s done repeatedly, and something that pops the crowd and I will not lie, a spot I popped for as well. I still feel that it told an amazing story and was one of the best things I watched in 2017; but it’s also the final match Shibata ever had. My opinion is left unchanged, because I’m not going to become a crusader like some against the head butt spot, because that would feel disingenuous. Did I mark out for it? Yes. Is it needed? Obviously not when you can do it way safer. We can only hope that Shibata can recover and live a normal live, and that others will learn from his mistake; but my original rating stands, because no match connected with me on an emotional level like this one did during Okada’s run. And still does on repeat viewings, no matter how depressing it may be…

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”