Kazuchika Okada's 10 Best Wrestling Matches

6. Vs. Katsuyori Shibata - Sakura Genesis 2017

Katsuyori Shibata Kazuchika Okada
NJPW.co.jp

If this match ends up being Katsuyori Shibata's final pro wrestling match, then what a way to go out. This was Shibata's first real shot at complete redemption since returning to New Japan Pro Wrestling, and The Wrestler gave it his all. Shibata presented Okada with a whole new type of challenge, and somehow Okada managed to survive the headbutts and the stiff shots.

Okada managing to survive is becoming something of a recurring theme, but the glory of his most recent IWGP Championship defence is that it brought out something very different in Kazuchika Okada. The Rainmaker wasn't faced with an opponent he could outsmart or outwrestle - Kazuchika Okada had to learn how to fight.

And learn how to fight he did, hitting Shibata with more weight than he had mustered in previous matches. Okada didn't beat Shibata at his own game, but Okada was able to evolve his own game just enough to come out of this most intense challenge with his title intact.

Coming out of it alive may have been a bigger priority whilst Shibata's strikes rained down, however. If you aren't a fan of stiff wrestling then this match will not be for you. Kazuchika Okada showed that he was more than up for that fight though, hitting a desperate, elbow-throwing Shibata with a Rainmaker for the win.

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Contributor
Contributor

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.