Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP Title Reign - Every Match Ranked from Worst To Best
7. Vs. Minoru Suzuki (The New Beginning In Sapporo 2017)
An exhausting 2017 encounter was not Minoru Suzuki's best match of the last few years, but it came within spitting distance of his glorious Wrestle Kingdom 12 clash with Hirooki Goto with thanks to exquisite work on the Champion's knee throughout the duration of their 40+ minute epic.
Suzuki had damaged 'The Rainmaker's wheel weeks earlier, and targeted it again with holds, strikes and even weapons in the early stages of the match.
Bridging the age (and slight ability) gap between the two, Suzuki subsequently established a realistic path to victory - particularly after Okada seemingly looked close enough to defeat that cornerman Gedo considered throwing in the towel just to preserve the well-being of the man he knew to be the vital future of the organisation.
The match briefly breaking out into a fight between the warring CHAOS and Suzuki-gun factions was - for an IWGP Title contest - divisive, but it seemed to spark something in the gutsy Champion ahead of his ostensibly impossible comeback. After wailing in pain at the extended agony suffered in various submission holds and suffering a terrifying barrage of lefts and rights, three Rainmaker clotheslines at long last put down the doggedly determined challenger and highlighted the renewed survival instincts of the 'Ace'.