10 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2017
5. Kazuchika Okada Vs. Katsuyori Shibata - NJPW Sakura Genesis
Finally: after years in the midcard wilderness, of eating defeat to Toru Yano and endlessly sparring with old college roommate Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata was finally afforded the platform of a major IWGP Heavyweight Championship match.
A brutal battle between New Japan's golden boy and black sheep, Okada Vs. Shibata was a phenomenal platform on which to both get the former over and put the latter over. Okada, the Ace, simply could not contend with the aural atrocities that were Shibata's forearm blows and kicks to the back. The layout was ingenious, given its purpose; this wasn't a test of Shibata's title credentials, but Okada's ability to survive in the face of a monster who, in the best moment of a masterpiece justified by the intra-match psychology, no-sold the most devastating finisher in all of wrestling.
Okada is very much in the Bret Hart mould. The balance in his performances is incredible. His ability to hoist opponents to his level without lowering his own is astonishing, and this was the closest we'll ever get to a proper sequel to Hart Vs. Steve Austin at WrestleMania 13, bravery-as-blood-trickle and all - but the grim irony is that this was the direct opposite of a career-maker for Katsuyori Shibata, who was forced to retire following the subdural hematoma he suffered.
A classic in itself, but an incrimination of Shibata's brutal update on strong style, it was the most absorbing wrestling cautionary tale ever told.
Wrestling cannot - and should not - get much better than this.