10 Biggest Non-WWE Matches Of The Last Decade

These sorts of comparisons never work completely, but if NJPW has a feud equvalent to the Rock-Austin back-and-forth that defined WWE's Attitude Era, it's probably Hiroshi Tanahashi versus Kazuchika Okada.

The duo have together headlined Wrestle Kingdom, New Japan's answer to WrestleMania, on no fewer than three occasions, each of them five-star classics that went well over half an hour. As trilogies go, it's right up there with the very best in wrestling history.

Tanahashi, one of the company's veterans, won both of the first two encounters at WKs 7 and 9, making match number three - at the celebratory 10th edition of the event - a hugely significant one. If Okada could win, he wouldn't just retain the IWGP World Title but in turn prove that he was up to the task of replacing his opponent as the NJPW's next leading man.

Sure enough, after perhaps the best match of 2015, that's exactly what happened. The company crowned its next franchise player - and, considering what Okada has gone onto achieve in the two years since, that has to go down as one of pro-wrestling's great torch-passing moments.