Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP Title Reign - Every Match Ranked from Worst To Best
Sunshine After The Rain
June's NJPW Dominion supercard represents a crucial moment in the recent past, key present and transcendent future of New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Echoing Wrestle Kingdom in terms of scale if not venue size, the card will feature two contests that define the scaled growth of the promotion in the past several years - one designed to continue fostering a burgeoning transatlantic relationship and the other to reward the new loyalty accordingly.
Many may turn back up at NJPW's doorstep to catch Chris Jericho's second match of 2018 just as they did in January, but it'll be his Wrestle Kingdom opponent Kenny Omega's latest shot at Kazuchika Okada's IWGP Title that they stick around for. The pair broke Dave Meltzer's brain in 2017, generating 18.25 stars out of a possible 15 over the course of a trilogy that surely...surely can't ever be topped. Unless 'The Rainmaker' and 'The Best Bout Machine' attempt it one single match.
To counter the problem of the time limit draw at last year's Dominion, the two will wrestle in a no time limit two-out-of-three falls match in which there's every possibility they go out of their way to again redefine expectations for themselves and every other performer in the industry.
That in isolation has been the story of Okada's record-breaking reign - reframing the narrative completely of what makes a good champion, a great challenger and a legendary match. Even in this list, 'worst' is a misnomer, and 'best' still somehow feels understated.
12. Vs. Bad Luck Fale (Wrestling Dontaku 2017)
Bad Luck Fale's run-in attack following Okada's incredible title defence against Katsuyori Shibata at Sakura Genesis (more on that later) was a brutal statement of intent from the much-improved Bullet Club henchman, as was the pinfall victory he scored over the Champion in a Dontaku tour as part of this contest's final push.
Whilst comfortably the worst of Okada's defences, the contest was only really hampered by the restrictions placed upon them both by a notable size disparity and Fale's inability to engage in the Champion's typical epic.
Kept short to mask the challenger's limitations wherever possible, the 21-minute duration removed the usual cautious and carefully constructed build-up Okada ordinarily enjoys in his main events. Fale's careless indifference towards the 'Rainmaker' was remarkable, as was the sh*tkicking he dished out in a sprint start to try and stop Okada even getting into the contest.
'The Rainmaker's guts and mettle were tested as he battled out of bearhugs, countered out of the Bad Luck Fall and kicked out of a violent tombstone.
Technically supreme in the face of a challenge more physical than mental, Okada converting waist control to wrist control after transitioning from a German suplex into a match-winning Rainmaker was an advertisement of everything so fiercely proficient about a Champion now just under a year into his reign.