11 Things We Learned From The 2018 NJPW G1 Climax

3. Kazuchika Okada’s Struggles Are Far From Over

Hiroshi Tanahashi Kazuchika Okada
NJPW

If Naito was the favourite to win the tournament, former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada wasn’t far behind. The genuine golden boy of New Japan, many fans considered it unthinkable that the Rainmaker was going to be kept out of the main event scene. Okada has been involved in every Wrestle Kingdom IWGP Heavyweight Championship match since WKVII after all.

Unless he can defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi for the contract, Okada will have to come to terms with a first Tokyo Dome match since 2013 without the big belt on the line. Okada displayed clear signs of confusion throughout the tournament, coming out without his robe and messing around with balloons, much to the frustration of his CHAOS teammates. The Rainmaker is no stranger to a redemption story, but there are legs in this one yet.

It is unlikely that Okada will manage to defeat Tanahashi for the second time in 2018, and it remains to be seen what awaits the Rainmaker at Wrestle Kingdom 13. It isn’t as if he is going to be relegated to the New Japan Rumble or the trios gauntlet, but these are testing times for the longest reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion in history.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.