10 Best Wrestlers Of 2018

There were two Kazuchika Okadas in 2018.

One was the greatest wrestler in the world. A man at the top of his game and constantly proving it, carrying the right title and in the right form to remain untouched at the summit for as long as he wanted.

The other was a man who fell unexpectedly from said summit in one foul swoop, broken by the loss of the title and status that - as it turned out - had defined him with a certain fragility all along.

Persona A required him to be the best wrestler in the world, and he performed the duty as you or I would a basic daily task. Perona B required him not just to be the best wrestler in the world but somehow convincingly act as though he wasn't - a skill almost entirely at odds with everything every wrestler is ever taught.

Kazuchika Okada stands iconically astride over the two divergent paths. He was the near-unstoppable 'Rainmaker' until June, and a broken version of himself in the aftermath. At the centre of those paths sits arguably the most beautiful match in wrestling's rich history with Kenny Omega. Either side of that are electric encounters with Zack Sabre Jr, SANADA, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Minoru Suzuki, Will Ospreay, Jay White, Marty Scurll, Hangman Page and virtually everybody else he shared the ring with this year.

For a man still rapt in his own battle with perfection as a concept, he has again come closer to achieving a crystallised version of it than anybody to ever lace boots. Few (if indeed anybody) could have taken such a rich tale and told it so well.