10 Best Wrestling Storylines Of 2018
1. Two Talented People In 100 Years
Gedo is a wrestling genius.
The New Japan Pro Wrestling booker hasn't been immune from criticism in 2018 thanks to a growing resentment towards many of the pushed performers in the organisation, but the same man scripting Tama Tonga to spoil an entire G1 Climax was also the one booking Hiroshi Tanahashi to win it - even when levelling the playing field for his critics, he somehow comes out on top.
'The Ace's feud with Kazuchika Okada is surely the greatest in NJPW history, but their 2018 chapter was one no right-minded fan could have even imagined as 'The Rainmaker' crept closer to breaking a IWGP Title defence record set by the man he'd fundamentally replaced at the top of the New Japan tree.
The record-breaking match itself was engineered to illustrate the point and thus enhance the surprise factor of Tanahashi's incredible mid-year return to prominence. Okada's win in Dontaku was hard-fought and typically brilliant, but pointedly never in doubt.
Hiroshi emerged from this troubling spell to steal the summer with his G1 Climax victory, whilst Okada spent July and August working through a fault in his wiring after a devastating Dominion loss to Kenny Omega. The two met again, and though mere months had passed, the narrative had remarkably shifted back in the favour of the company saviour. Yet, he still couldn't beat the man that was once just a pretender to his throne. The two went to a draw. Tanahashi lifted the trophy 24 hours later, but was all too aware of who he still had to beat.
So he f*cking did it.
In their third absolutely mesmerising match of 2018 - Gedo is a wrestling genius, remember - Tanahashi proved himself worthy of one more run at Wrestle Kingdom glory, even if it was a partially broken Okada he snuck by. Maybe that's why and how he managed it. Maybe that's exactly what both men are currently thinking. Maybe that's what Gedo wants us all to think so he can go with the match again on January 4th 2020?
They've ended the year as friends via mutual enemies in the form of Jay White's reimagined Bullet Club. But mega powers have exploded before...