Awesome / Kazuchika Okada

"As far as the big match, as far as like a guy who headlines the PPV once a month and is in the main event and gives you the big match, I’ve never seen a run like this in my life." - Dave Meltzer on Okada's 2016-2018 IWGP Heavyweight Championship run

Kazuchika Okada's Moments of Awesome are unique among champions of his caliber in that even in matches and feuds where he loses, he still comes out looking amazing. He has a unique set of skills that turns every match into a must-watch banger.

• First of all, his rivalry with Hiroshi Tanahashi. It's still the first thing that comes to the minds of many when hearing Okada's name or any words associated with him. In short, this is the rivalry that MADE Okada. Counts as awesome for Tanahashi too.
  • Okada returns from a learning excursion in TNA at Wrestle Kingdom 6, defeating YOSHI-HASHI. Later that night, after Tanahashi retains the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Minoru Suzuki in the main event, Okada comes out and challenges the Ace to a title match, drawing boos from the crowd. Tanahashi accepts. Come The New Beginning, 12 February 2012, the unthinkable happens: Okada actually does it. He beats Tanahashi clean and ends his 404-day title reign, to the shock of the crowd. The volume breaks when he lands the Rainmaker and skyrockets when the pin is counted.
  • Tanahashi bounces back and wins back the championship in a much-anticipated rematch at Dominion 6.16, 16 June 2012. Okada fails a Tombstone attempt due to Tanahashi's assault on his leg, then Tanahashi hits him with a Tombstone of his own. Awesome.
  • Wrestle Kingdom 7, 4 January 2013, exactly one year after it had all started. Okada had won the 2012 G1 Climax and had opted to have his championship match at Wrestle Kingdom rather than earlier and Tanahashi had managed to hold onto the championship, so the first of three Wrestle Kingdom main events was set between them. Each man pulled out all the stops but Tanahashi once again came out on top.
  • Okada would not be deterred from this loss, however. He would win the New Japan Cup tournament and once again challenge Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The match was set for Invasion Attack, 7 April 2013. Said match was the barnburner to end all barnburners, full of twists and great moments, such as Tanahashi's aggressive work on Okada's arm that lead to Okada screaming in pain after hitting the Rainmaker and being unable to make the pin. Okada would overcome and defeat Tanahashi to win his second IWGP Heavyweight Championship. This is the first of three matches in the rivalry to get a full five-star rating from Dave Meltzer.
  • Okada and Tanahashi were set to meet once again in the 2013 G1 Climax. The two were so familiar with each other at this point that the 30-minute time limit format of the tournament led to a draw between the two.
  • Okada agrees to one more match between the two for the championship on one condition: if Okada wins, Tanahashi will never challenge for the championship again as long as Okada holds it. The sixth match of the rivalry and the second to get five stars from Meltzer was set for King of Pro-Wrestling, 14 October 2013. Hiroshi Tanahashi of all people resorted to FAKING A LEG INJURY just to get the advantage. And when he does, he presses it. However, even that wasn't enough as Okada was able to plow through and silence Tanahashi with a Rainmaker to get the win and solidify his place as the new Ace of New Japan...for now.
  • Okada wins the 2014 G1 Climax and Tanahashi wins the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from AJ Styles at King of Pro-Wrestling. A seventh match between the two was set, the second Wrestle Kingdom main event between them. Wrestle Kingdom 9, 4 January 2015. The match had many callbacks to their previous encounters and this match is where the unthinkable happens: Tanahashi cleanly kicks out of the Rainmaker. That moment momentarily shocks Okada and allows Tanahashi to regain and maintain the offense. Tanahashi then finishes Okada off with THREE High Fly Flows for the win. The iconic image of a broken Okada openly crying as Gedo helps him to the back truly sells how much the championship meant to him and really puts over the title in general. It marked the beginning of a redemption story for Okada which led to him conquering lingering demons on his way to becoming NJPW's Ace.
  • Wrestle Kingdom 10, the make-or-break moment for the Rainmaker. Okada overcomes years of demons and finally defeats Tanahashi - breaking his Wrestle Kingdom streak in the process - and truly cements his place as the Ace of New Japan Pro Wrestling. This is the third match of the rivalry to receive five stars from Meltzer. Noteworthy moments in the match include both men stealing each other's finishers as well as Okada kicking out of the High Fly Flow chain that cost him the victory at the previous two Wrestle Kingdoms. But the greatest of all is at the end when Okada attempts a Rainmaker but Tanahashi slaps him and they both fall to their knees. The camera zooms in on Okada tightly gripping Tanahashi's wrist (with Tanahashi trying to free himself) and refusing to let go. That moment right there encapsulated what this victory meant to both men. If Okada lets go, he loses everything. He looks to the sky and fucking ROARS, and SMASHES Tanahashi with the Rainmaker. He drags him up for another, and finally one more to get the win. If Tanahashi was unwilling to pass the torch, Okada was gonna damn well take it from him. And he finally did.
  • Their match at the 2016 G1 Climax showed that there was no love lost between the two, and they threw everything at each other...and the match ended in a draw. Could this match be considered non-canon?
  • Tanahashi advances to the finals of the 2018 G1 Climax via outlasting his old nemesis Okada.
  • Tanahashi finally defeats Kazuchika Okada for the first time in four years to retain his Wrestle Kingdom title shot at Destruction in Kobe.
  • Their match at the 2019 G1 Climax. Their first time facing off on American soil.
• Okada continued being Awesome when he at 24 years of age won the G1 Climax Tournament in 2012. A yearly tournament that has been won by André the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Vader, Keiji Mutoh, and others.
• Okada's entrance at The New Beginning. Which must be seen to believe
• Bullet Club's newest member Yujiro looks to take out Okada during his rematch against Styles (Yujiro's Face–Heel Turn resulted in AJ winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship a month prior) when Tomohiro Ishii who Yujiro attacked earlier in the night appears out of nowhere and lays him out with a LARIAT making sure no shenanigans happen and the match was just between Okada and Styles. AJ retained in the end but he had to earn that one all by himself.
• Okada winning the 2014 G1 Climax. The whole tournament in fact was awesome with at least one four star match on every show including the Styles/Minoru classic above. In the end, the Rainmaker won the G1 for the second time in three years.
• Okada, since losing to Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom 9 had been broken both physically and mentally and found himself facing a roadblock in the form of Bad Luck Fale at Invasion Attack 2015. Fale would beat Okada on numerous occassions in single and tag action. But at the event at Sumo Hall, Okada would have a rebirth as he battled the behemoth of Bullet Club. Okada would not only get Fale up into a Tombstone Piledriver but would then follow it with the Rainmaker to finally beat him.
• Finally defeating AJ Styles (and regaining the IWGP Heavyweight Championship) in an acclaimed match at Dominion 7.5, 5 July 2015. The ending sequence is freakin' amazing.
• The match between Yuji Nagata and Okada in the 2015 G1 Climax.
• The finals of Block B of the 2015 G1 Climax between Shinsuke Nakamura and Okada
• How about Tetsuya Naito, two years after arguably his greatest humiliation, defeating Kazuchika Okada once and for all and finally claiming the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Invasion Attack 2016 and in the process becoming the most over man in all of NJPW. All he had to do was to become the most uncaring asshole in the company, but Japan loves him for it.
• Okada being announced as Tekken 7's King.
• His match against Kenny Omega at Wrestle Kingdom 11 for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship was only the second match ever to receive a six-star rating from Dave Meltzer.
  • Their rematch at NJPW Dominion got an even HIGHER rating.

"This was better than those two matches that I thought were the best ones I’d ever seen. It was the two best wrestlers in the world at this point in time, both in the best match of their lives. We are seeing history with this Okada championship run and this Omega vs. Okada program. This is the modern version of the 1989 Flair-Steamboat series, which consisted of three major national shows (they also did dozens of house show matches, most of which were close to the level, at least one of which was above the level, of the three national matches, which is something Omega and Okada didn’t do). Omega and Okada are right now scheduled for three matches this year, and after two, they are well ahead in comparison, even factoring in the time and place elements. I don’t know how you could top it, except some day, like everything, it will happen. 6.25 stars"

— Dave Meltzer

• His 720 day run as IWGP Heavyweight Champion in general, really. Okada has delivered awesome match after awesome match that has even turned some of his detractors' heads. Every match stands out in their own special way.
  • His run in the 2016 G1 Climax featured great matches against the likes of Marufuji and Ishii.
  • The IWGP Heavyweight Championship match between Kazuchika Okada and Naomichi Marufuji, highlights include Marufuji performing a piledriver on the ring apron and Okada looking like he's going for a tombstone only to instead hit Marufuji's own finisher on him.
  • Okada vs. Omega, both times, as mentioned above and then again in the G1 climax.
    • The match delivered and still stood out from the other two. Clocking in at just under 25 minutes, the match foregoes any filler holds and goes right into it, with Omega relentlessly targeting Okada's neck (which had been worn down throughout the entire G1) and Okada doing a great job fighting from underneath. And a crowning moment of awesome happens for Omega: he hits the One Winged Angel and FINALLY pins Okada, advancing to the finals...against Tetsuya Naito. It's a good time to watch to NJPW.
  • vs. Minoru Suzuki at The New Beginning in Sapporo, 5 February, in which he endured repeated (not to mention incredibly excruciating) leg work as well as vintage Suzuki punishment for just over FORTY minutes and came out on top.
  • Okada vs. Tiger Mask W at the 45th Anniversary. Their non-title match involved move after complicated move left and right. As usual, the resilient Okada is able to fight out of, survive, or counter Tiger Mask W's moves like the Press Power Bomb, Snap German Suplex, and Tiger Bomb. Okada then gets the win witha scary Deadlift German Suplex and a third Rainmaker.
  • vs. Katsuyori Shibata at Sakura Genesis, 9 April. The crowd was on fire for the entirety of the match, where both men took each other to the limit. Also counts as a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Shibata, as this match features the infamous headbutt spot where Shibata NO-SELLS THE RAINMAKER and delivers his vaunted stiff headbutt to Okada, who slumps to his knees, and Shibata looks out to the crowd and nods with blood trickling down his forehead. How Okada managed to overcome that is almost impossible to describe. It even netted five stars from Dave Meltzer.
  • vs. Bad Luck Fale at Wrestling Dontaku, 3 May. As of this writing it is the consensus 'worst of the lot' and it's still good. A classic David vs. Goliath match.
  • vs. Cody at NJPW's G1 Special in USA, Day 1, 1 July. Okada was the favourite heading into the match, and while Cody certainly carried his end, it's agreed that Okada was the star here. Think about that for a second - American fans were rooting for a Japanese wrestler. Could also count as awesome for NJPW itself, as its consistently great matches have touched wrestling fans all over the world, as highlighted by the enthusiastic fans during the event and repeated chants of "NEW JAPAN! NEW JAPAN!". WWE needs to keep a cautious eye on this promotion.
  • Okada's run in the 2017 G1 Climax featured great matches against the likes of Elgin, Kojima, EVIL and Suzuki.
  • vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Heavyweight title at the Dome and it does not disappoint with both men managing to kick or counter out of their finishers several times. In the end, Okada is able to counter a final Destino attempt by Naito to first plant him with the Tombstone Piledriver and then a final Rainmaker that finally brings Naito down for the three count, and continues his legendary title reign, but not before in his post-match promo, hinting at the possibility of a third match with Naito next year.
  • vs. Will Ospreay in a Champion vs Champion match at the 46th Anniversary Show. In their first outing, Ospreay did a ton of cool stuff throughout the match and Okada was excellent as usual. It won’t win match of the year votes or anything, but this was a strong showing by both men and they had a really great, fun match.
  • vs. Zack Sabre Jr at Sakura Genesis 2018.
  • Officially becoming the longest reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion of all time after 478 days, beating out Hiroshi Tanahashi's record, mere weeks before his 30th birthday.
  • At Wrestling Dontaku 2018, he finally does: Surpasses Tanahashi's Eleven Defense Streak by beating the man himself to do it. How does he follow it up? Challenging Omega to a 2/3 Falls, No Time Limit Match at Dominion, the anniversary of their 60 minute draw!
    • And the match absolutely lived up to the hype.
• Becoming the first Japanese wrestler to top Pro Wrestling Illustrated's PWI 500 in 2017.
• His run in the 2018 G1 Climax featured great matches against the likes of White, Page, Yoshi-hashi and EVIL.
• The Golden Lovers prevailing over Okada and Ishii at Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2018.
• Jay White shockingly beats Okada clean as a sheet at Wrestle Kingdom 13.
• His run in the 2019 New Japan Cup featured great matches against Elgin, Ospreay, Ishii and Sanada.
• Finally managing to beat his nemesis Jay White at the G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden to become IWGP Champion for the 5th time in his career.
• At Wrestling Dontaku 2019, after defeating Sanada, Okada does a post match promo for his victory, only to be interrupted by a video as his next opponent makes the challenge, the opponent? Chris Jericho!
• His run in the 2019 G1 Climax featured great matches against the likes of Ospreay, KENTA, Sanada, EVIL and Ibushi.
• Okada vs. Suzuki at Royal Quest 2019. Okada has to deal with the veteran tactics, multiple grapple moves, and hard-hitting techniques of a live underdog in the older Suzuki. The finish to the match involved a blocked Gotch piledriver, a dropkick at the back of Suzuki's head after absorbing more slaps, a stopped Rainmaker, a Gotch piledriver countered into a Tombstone piledriver, and a Rainmaker that finally landed.
• Okada vs. Ibushi at Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 1. Okada had to deal with Ibushi's alter ego, with him digging deep inside his championship pedigree to take down the wrestling prodigy of NJPW, countering with a Michinoku Driver and delivering a fifth Rainmaker to seal the deal.
• After all the setbacks and defeats, including twice before at The Tokyo Dome, Naito finally defeats Okada to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14 Night 2. Even though this was Naito's moment to shine, Okada served as the perfect foil for Naito, which made the moment extra special.
• Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay on G1 Climax 29 Night 7 (5 stars), Wrestle Kingdom 15 Night 1 (5.25 stars), G1 Climax 32 Night 20 (5.75 stars), and Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 2 (5.75 stars). Okada has found a new gaijin dance partner in Ospreay that could keep up with him like Omega did back in 2017-2018.
• After moving to and from the spotlight to allow for the championship reigns of Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi, EVIL, Will Ospreay, Shingo Takagi and Jay White to run their courses, the Rainmaker returns, with him defeating Switchblade for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on the main event of Night 1 of Wrestle Kingdom 17.
• Cue the Flying Pigs! Bitter rivals Omega and Okada has teamed up as an unlikely tag team in New Year Dash 2023.
• Kazuchika Okada vs. Bryan Danielson at Forbidden Door 2 on 6-26-23. Okada delivers what is easily one of Danielson's best AEW matches, with them brutalizing each other with counter after counter until Danielson pulls the rug under Okada and gets a one-armed submission win.
• Okada making his long awaited debut as a full-time member of the AEW roster by shockingly attacking Eddie Kingston and aligning himself with The Young Bucks. He then pinned Kingston in a trios match at AEW Dynamite: Big Business.

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