18 Biggest Wrestling Stories Of 2017

17. January - Omega And Okada Break The Scale

Just four days into the new year, it seemed the Match of the Year title was already wrapped up, like January sale presents bought in premature readiness for the following Christmas. Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada's colossal Wrestle Kingdom clash wasn't just good: it crushed Dave Meltzer's star rating scale in the manner of an elephant at a WeightWatchers meet.

Citing it as the "greatest in pro-wrestling history", Meltzer awarded the match six prestigious asterisks - one whole more than the system's maximum score. It was some accolade, but in the process downgraded every Big Dave rated match ever by an entire star. Some people were not best pleased, tediously highlighting the Wrestling Observer doyen's apparent NJPW 'bias' and bewailing the 'fact' it wouldn't have received the same number had it took place in a WWE ring. That Meltzer is a 58 year-old journalist and far beyond such childish partisanship was irrelevant.

Bias or not, the match was phenomenal. The wrestling equivalent of Celtic claiming the SPL title in the second week of September, it seemed we could write the year end award copy twelve months early. Or could we?