10 Great Wrestling Matches (That Ruined Everything)
7. Kazuchika Okada Vs. Kenny Omega - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11
On January 4, 2017, Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega wrestled what many considered to be the single greatest pro wrestling match ever.
Working at a blistering pace until they knew precisely when to slow it down to both sell the accumulated effects and register its brilliance, the storytelling was so incredibly focused that fans were left breathless at Omega's struggle to execute the One-Winged Angel and so amazed by Okada's unreal, elasticised escapes that, before the final stretch, the entire Tokyo Dome reacted in various states of a meltdown. Everybody inside experienced such an intense, personal reaction that the crowd barely sounded like a crowd but rather a collective of individuals, all of whom had lost every semblance of an inhibition.
The long match = automatically good match principle had already been in effect for a while, as the U.S. super-indie circuit had drawn inspiration from the puro scene well over a decade prior. This match was so great however - an unprecedented generator of critical acclaim - that at least 10 minutes were welded onto virtually every major main event match that followed, irrespective of whether the match needed it.
Every wrestler wanted to reach the new star rating scale, but because none were as gifted as Omega and Okada, this all too often resulted in an early peak followed by artless finisher kick-out excess.
The match created a rule, in effect, one so robust that Gedo even booked EVIL to go 40 f*cking minutes in an empty f*cking building.