10 Challengers Who Should Face CM Punk For The AEW World Championship
4. Kazuchika Okada
Kazuchika Okada is the biggest star in New Japan Pro Wrestling, the longest reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history, and just recently had his first reign with the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. A match between the Rainmaker and Punk would be the biggest match possible between the two companies, outside of Okada vs Omega 5.
Okada lost his IWGP World Heavyweight Championship to Jay White at Dominion, ensuring that Switchblade would walk into Forbidden Door as the champion. If he doesn't regain the belt before Wrestle Kingdom or win the G1 Climax, then a clash between Punk and the Rainmaker would be the perfect main event for the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 17.
Hiroshi Tanahashi has proposed a match with Punk at Wrestle Kingdom, and the two will surely clash down the line, but Kazuchika Okada is the man for this spot against Punk.
The last time a Tokyo Dome Wrestle Kingdom show was main-evented by something other than the IWGP Heavyweight/World Heavyweight Championship was back in 2014, when Shinsuke Nakamura defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Tanahashi. Punk vs Okada for the AEW Championship is a match worthy of that spot, and the two men would make magic between the ropes.