Ranking The Biggest Rivalries In Wrestling Every Year 1990-2020
8. 2013 - Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs Kazuchika Okada
In 2012, Kazuchika Okada was literally laughed out of the Tokyo Dome when he chose Hiroshi Tanahashi's Wrestle Kingdom 6 celebrations to challenge him at the very next show for the IWGP Championship. Nobody - not anybody in the crowd, not Dave Meltzer called him "completely unconvincing", not Tanahashi himself - bought into the severity of his challenge. But 'The Rainmaker' lurked beneath.
One year later, and they were headlining the show in their third of many total classics. Okada looked ten foot taller, having traded the title with 'The Ace', but the constant improvement in their matches resulted in 2013 being the best of several years underpinned by their epic rivalry. Four singles matches in one year would be deemed impossible to keep hot anywhere else, but both wrestlers and the company itself had hit upon impeccable chemistry.
With booker Gedo proven right about Okada's ability and appeal, a NJPW saved by Tanahashi was gradually entering new stratosphere's with the man once thought laughably ill-fitting for the top spot.