Cody Rhodes' 10 Best In-Ring Rivals Post-WWE
4. Kazuchika Okada
In what should come as no surprise, the great Kazuchika Okada gave Cody Rhodes the best match of his career (up to that point) at July 2017's G1 Special in Long Beach, CA.
Interestingly enough, their first-and-only one-on-one meeting for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship occurred mere weeks removed from Rhodes' grand ROH World Championship win at Best in the World. Never before had anyone held ROH and New Japan Pro Wrestling's top titles simultaneously, so Cody came close to making history.
If Kenny Omega couldn't beat Okada for the belt, it was fairly obvious Cody wouldn't either, but the predictability surrounding the outcome didn't make this any less enjoyable. Cody stepped up his game and gave Okada quite the fight, while The Rainmaker was exceptional as always.
Cody and Omega were just starting to tease tension around this time, so Omega nearly throwing in the towel for him (as a nod to Cody almost doing the same thing during Okada vs. Omega at Dominion 2017) was a really nice touch. With Cody's character work also on-point (the One Winged Angel attempt was terrific), this was just awesome all around.
They've clashed in multiple tag team matches since then and have knocked it out of the park every time.