Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP Title Reign - Every Match Ranked from Worst To Best
4. Vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (Wrestling Dontaku 2018)
Kazuchika Okada definitively putting down Hiroishi Tanahashi in their eleventh high profile match (with their record previously tied up at 4-4-2) represented far more than just a decisive conclusion to the greatest contemporary rivalry in New Japan Pro Wrestling - it marked another important milestone for the dominant 'Rainmaker'.
As Okada's 12th scalp in his current reign as IWGP Champion, Tanahashi himself lost a record he'd held whilst ascending to 'Ace' and helping reframe NJPW as the most cutting edge wrestling product in the world. His 11 title defences between 2011 and 2012 were futuristic showpieces - part of a product reborn and reinvigorated on his broad shoulders, but the passage of time between then and now had grown too wide for him to traverse across to overcome such herculean odds.
It spoke to the respect Tanahashi still commands that the audience would even buy the weathered warhorse as a credible challenger to a man he'd lost the measure of many matches ago. Even his victories at the time were tinged with teasers that the guard was changing - their Dominion 2012 thriller saw Hiroshi regain his prize whilst simultaneously welcoming doubt about how often he could remain atop the tree. He'd get his answer time and time again, swallowing losses and ego-bruising draws that all fed into this theatrical and evocative finale between the two modern-day warriors.