10 Wrestlers Who Can HONESTLY Be Labelled A Genius
1. Kazuchika Okada
There is a formula to the famed Kazuchika Okada main event, but it never feels formulaic and thus boring, ineffective.
Okada patrols the ring in the early phase with molasses pace. Often, he doesn't work a specific body part; he simply dominates, very, very slowly, the middle act intensifies, and somehow, the last five minutes of an Okada match erupts into just incredible, captivating, life-affirming drama. And, in the end, Okada emerges as the best wrestler on the planet, and his challenger - headliner, midcard act, whomever - is both defeated, cleanly, and elevated. Okada loses nothing in being taken to his limit.
It's impossible to work out how he does it, because Kazuchika Okada is a magician.
Perhaps it's the slow way in which he dominates that informs the drama that follows. Okada frames himself as the undisputed master of the wrestling art, lulling his opponents into such complete submission. They are at his will, in his lowest gear. And so, when they accelerate through their own, it resonates as the fight of their career.
Okada must acknowledge that fight - putting those opponents over - by unleashing the most explosive reaches of his arsenal, which he never wastes in patient pursuit of the perfect, long-form wrestling match.