100 Best Wrestling Moves EVER
14. Kazuchika Okada | Dropkick
A very different signature to Hiroshi Tanahashi’s dragon screw leg whip, Kazuchika Okada’s dropkick was nonetheless executed with a very similar mentality in terms of structuring and pacing a match. The timing, the “when”, was breathtaking.
Okada supplanted Tanahashi as the Ace of New Japan. It was his turn now to insert a move that would crush the guts of the crowd. No, your babyface isn’t getting it done. It doesn’t matter how much adrenaline is coursing through their bent, nearly broken body. It doesn’t matter if the fans are urging them to burst into a rope run to generate the momentum ahead of a lung-bursting comeback: Okada was waiting to cut them off. He was too good. His mind was several steps ahead, his athleticism phenomenal.
It’s also the best actual dropkick in terms of sheer action.
It was somehow a taunt and a move, all at the same time. As that opponent sprinted at him full pelt, unwittingly doomed, Okada seemed to levitate in mid-air. Suspended, the move added to his inevitable persona. It was as if he was literally waiting for them to catch up.