How WWE Could Get Much Better (By Removing One DISASTROUS Flaw)
Including a statistic that would blow Dana Brooke’s mind…
This may aggravate or not resonate with those of you who resent the comparison or don’t follow New Japan Pro Wrestling, but its top star - Kazuchika Okada - is in the midst of a drastic and unprecedented character arc.
This isn’t an NJPW > WWE argument. A supporting argument by way of context follows:
From June 19, 2016 to June 9, 2018 - two full calendar years, more or less - the Rainmaker reigned supreme with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The reign charted Okada’s path from Ace to God; Okada successfully defended his crown a record 12 times rendering him, mathematically, the most powerful storyline force in the legendary history of the company.
In parallel, Okada reached another uncharted stratosphere of critical acclaim, having wrestled arguably the greatest pro wrestling matches ever, opposite Kenny Omega, and a string of mere A+ bouts against the likes of Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata, and Zack Sabre, Jr. His body language reflected his brilliance to a repellent extent. Okada toyed with his opponents with withering slaps to the head. High on his own hubris, he even, at Wrestle Kingdom 12, debuted a new flared trouser aesthetic.
The ostentatious look mirrored his attitude; nobody else could pull off such a look, and nobody could touch him - until Omega did so, over the course of 65 gruelling minutes, in what was presented as nothing less than the fight of his life.
The loss has charted a new path, one both wonderful and strange. The new Okada enters the G1 Climax, balloons in tow (!) with an almost unsettling childlike exuberance. He is adorned in red and black. His greatness is in symbolic danger of bleeding out. He remains very much in contention to win the tournament, but as evidenced through a series of ingenious, ballsy, disjointed and intriguing performances, in which he has intentionally performed as such, he isn’t quite at his level.
Okada has lost both his Championship and his mind. To reclaim both, he must wear the gold that defines him once more by way of emerging victorious from the most competitive and arduous tournament in the pro wrestling arena because, in New Japan Pro Wrestling, there is no automatic rematch clause to invoke. There are too many well-established, genuinely deserving challengers in his way.
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