10 Wrestlers Who Reward You For Paying Attention
6. Kazuchika Okada
Kazuchika Okada will make you pop by unveiling new entrance gear. He is a special performer, very, very close to the greatest ever.
There are few better at selling the gravity of the win and the loss. Following his landmark defeat to Kenny Omega at Dominion 2018, he descended into a sort of madness all the better for its absurdity. He didn't lean on melodrama; he modified his aesthetic and played with balloons to disassociate himself - and crucially, the fans - from his megastar playboy act. He reverted back to it at Wrestle Kingdom 13, wearing the old iconic trunks. This was genius; he lost his match to Jay White as the best version of himself, visually, informing the heft of Jay's subsequent IWGP Heavyweight Title win. Jay White didn't just defeat Kazuchika Okada; he defeated the Kazuchika Okada.
Okada was on fire throughout this year's G1 Climax when, and this was masterful, he was at a low professional ebb. Okada preserved the genius of his Ace character by deliberately entering middling performances. He has adopted, by design, a new finisher that isn't as effective as the Rainmaker. He is rewarding you now with the payoff to come.
Okada will one day smash somebody with the fully restored Rainmaker, and you are going to pop as if he hasn't used it repeatedly for eight years on top.