10 Wrestling Matches That Broke All The Rules
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs. Kazuchika Okada - NJPW New Beginning 2012
Building a star is the most complex challenge a promoter faces because half the time, it matters little how well that star is built. Intriguing backstage vignettes, an undefeated streak, significant microphone time: if that performer doesn't connect, none of it matters, and there's no way of telling which performers will connect. In WWE, a funk-dancing dinosaur made more of an impression with WWE crowds than a state-of-the-art performer some hardcore fans deem a worthy successor to the Undertaker.
Wrestlers require a subjective, emotional response to get over. There's no formula - certainly not a formula as basic and optimistic as Wrestler X beats Wrestler Y for a World Championship, Wrestler X gets over.
That, somehow, is what Gedo and Kazuchika Okada achieved at New Beginning 2012.
A triumph of audacity and belief, the match itself was a wonderfully-told story of prodigy vs. genius settled by Okada's gruesome transgression of the New Japan style Tanahashi had spent his legacy purifying with technique and honour. He Tombstoned Tanahashi's skull into concrete in an approximation of the impact this shock result had on the fandom.
Okada fashioned himself as the enduring legend of his generation via shortcut.