1. Hiroshi Tanhashi, Jushin Thunder Liger & Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Cody, Hangman Page & Marty Scurll
God – what a line-up this is. Every piece of this match really shows off the history of New Japan, where it has been and how far it has come – the Legend who carried the juniors through the 90s, the Legend who carried the heavyweights through the 00s, and a big time American wrestling Legend vs. a big time American wrestling superstar who is using New Japan to cement his legacy, a newcomer gaijin who would feel completely out of place in the 90s but fits right in now, and this British junior heavyweight guy who comes out in a bird mask.
And all these boys were doing SHTICK early – tag-in-tag-out stalling, push-ups, taunts – tremendous. Rey running through his STUFF was awesome, as was Scurll catching and being there for ALLLLL of it. Rey still looks amazing. Just a fun crowd-pleasing 6-man, would’ve made for a high-end SmackDown main event or something. ***
2. No Time Limit 2/3 Falls Match – IWGP Heavyweight Title: Kazuchika Okada w/ Gedo [c] vs. Kenny Omega w/ Kota Ibushi
Pro wrestling in 2018 is different than pro wrestling in 1985 or 1994. That is obvious, but I think it’s necessary to set the stage for the words I will be typing here.
It isn’t quite so black-and-white, but a lot of conversation around what makes “good” wrestling these days tends to center around holding today’s pro wrestling to standards of the past or saying that today’s pro wrestling is the best there ever was.
In the end, pro wrestling throughout history – like most art/media/etc – has built itself on the past that came before it. Without that past, there is no present. And at some points, that building goes towards perfecting it. At other points, that building goes towards completely fucking it up.
When the Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega series of matches in 2017 were quickly called the Greatest Matches Ever in the days after each happened, it raised my expectations to a point that is both unreachable and unfair. Though the matches were great in the moment, when reflecting on them I – try as I might – couldn’t just take them for what they were. Incorrect or not, I had to see them through that fucked-up prism of them being called the best, them being called perfection. And while I thought all three were great, I just didn’t get the hype.
Where do you even go from what has already been called perfect? I’d say you ignore that noise and blaze your own path, but when you’ve got one guy in this wrestling series called the Best Bout Machine and the other guy called by many one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, that can be a challenge.
And yet here we are. I write this a little bit sleep-deprived, a little bit on rose-colored fumes. But I sit here thinking that these two crazy cats finally did it. They did the thing.
They built on the history of your your Jack Brisco’s, your Ric Flair’s, your Terry Funk’s, your Jushin Thunder Liger’s, your Shinya Hashimoto’s, your Mitsuharu Misawa’s. They blended what made the past special with what makes the present special. They took their time, they sold their asses off, they told a story, they made their big moves count, and once in a while they just blew your god damn mind with counters of counters and near falls that made me yell at my computer screen as the sun was just rising.
Their output was what I’d call not just an incredible, fun, dramatic, compelling, intense one-hour plus wrestling match, but a flawless masterpiece of a wrestling match.
And it all started with the intros. The build and history that was so brilliantly reflected in the opening video package. It was very much both a video game cut scene and pretentious independent film. “What did it cost?” asks Kota Ibushi, as the Bullet Club logo appears on-screen and dissolves. “Everything,” responds Kenny, re-invigorated now that his man at his side but holding onto the fact that he still hasn’t beat Okada for The Big One and he lost the Bullet Club as he tried.
Kenny Omega enters, muscles glistening, his abdomen region the most cut it has ever been. Okada meanwhile walks out with all the aura of the Final Boss, the Unstoppable Man, but just a little bit nonchalant. He is focused on keeping his title, but he knows what we all know: he always keeps his title.
FIRST FALL: If there is any issue I have with this match (and all their matches, really), it is that I didn’t completely dial in early. They started slow, they popped me, for a bit I had the same issues I had with their previous matches – occasional awesome, big cool moments, but it didn’t feel like this legitimate WRESTLING match. But – that’s the build, baby. They do the thing and they build it up and they eventually get you. And they got me. They started basic, cautious, and then – WOOP. Off they went – a V-Trigger ducked, a counter of a counter, Okada leaping for the guardrail crossbody right into a KNEE.
Time becomes no factor when these two work – it’s transfixing, the myth of this series plus the fact that they are just really good. Okada grins and smiles his way through the first 20 minutes, confident that he truly is the Best in the World. He keeps going for that Rainmaker though and just can’t hit it. He does the RAINMAKER POSE but Omega gets up and doesn’t make the same mistake Tanahashi did last month – he doesn’t simply stare Omega down, he drops him on his head with a Dragon suplex and leaps over the top rope with his best-in-the-world tope con hilo. A couple minutes later though, Omega counters another Rainmaker but Okada is able to counter that with a rollup for the first fall. WOW.
I dug all the in-between fall stuff, treating this thing like a boxing match with corner men coaching their guys. Water bottles are handed out as both guys are already drenched in sweat. Okada is GRINNING. This is the genius of Okada: Kenny is coming here in the best shape of his life, the Bullet Club is dead, Kenny has never held the IWGP Title and totally deserves it, Ibushi is at Kenny’s side, Okada has won the first fall to set the odds completely against Kenny – so OBVIOUSLY Kenny has to win. OR DOES HE!?!?!
SECOND FALL: It was at some point in the middle of this fall that it hit me just how great the selling was here. Selling is a weird thing – it can be over-done, it can be not done, and sometimes you’re not even aware it’s happening unless you really think about why what’s in front of you is working so well as a dramatic piece of athletic entertainment. The selling here by both guys was genius: Omega just wrecked but needing to keep going, Okada gritting through it but trying to appear unfazed. Omega is clearly exhausted and shook, while Okada is clearly exhausted too but trying to maintain his aura of cockiness.
Omega takes too much time to do his guardrail moonsault so Okada just pushes him off into the crowd. They go back in the ring and Okada leans in to Omega’s chops and no-sells them until he is forced to react, only to swiftly take Omega back down. A cross-legged SUPERPLEX dishes serious damage to The Ace. An incredible sequence follows: Omega tries the Dragon suplex off the apron through a table but can’t manage it, they go to the floor and Omega tries the One-Winged Angel, Okada slips out and tries the Rainmaker, Omega slips away and hits a reverse hurricanrana.
There’s a countout tease for Okada, who rolls in only to find a brutal V-Trigger waiting for him. Omega quickly sets up the One-Winged Angel but Okada is able to counter with a tombstone piledriver because he is the Greatest of All Time. Okada again goes for the kill with a Rainmaker but Omega counters with an insane URANAGE. Okada manages another rollup for a near fall that I COMPLETELY bought, and then Omega hits basically a Tiger Driver ’91 that seems so CERTAIN to get him the second fall until Okada does a brilliantly timed kickout. Omega does the One-Winged Angel again and I was somehow shocked when Okada DIDN’T kickout – these crazy kids somehow pulled off an ANTI-NEAR FALL.
The break between falls was great here too, with Okada looking completely dead, his neck seemingly broken. Omega meanwhile is clearly nearly at his end but you can see in his eyes and body language that there is no way he will not go on and WIN this.
THIRD FALL: This whole fall was just brilliant – the desperation, the drama, the near falls, the selling of both guys just being completely out on their feet but absolutely needing to win. It was at this point that Captain Lou noted to me that not ONE Rainmaker had actually been hit yet. The bell rings and Omega nails an IMMEDIATE V-Trigger, but tries the One-Winged Angel only for Okada to counter it with the first Rainmaker. Okada is hurt though and can’t cover right away, leading to a 2-count. Kenny soon struggles for a Doctor Bomb and the crowd GASPS when he lifts Okada, but he can’t complete it. Kenny just COLLAPSING as Okada threw him into the ropes for a dropkick was incredible. Okada tries a hurricanrana, but Omega holds on… and hits a STYLES CLASH!!! The AJ STYLES chants were the cherry on top.
Omega then delivers a BRUTAL V-Trigger to the back of poor Okada’s shoulder blades in the corner, then tries to set up a One-Winged Angel but both guys just collapse into the corner. Okada’s eyes are just CLOSED. Omega wills himself to lift Okada into the One-Winged Angel, using the ropes for help… but Okada somehow counters it with a tombstone… only for Omega to counter THAT with a Hangman Page Cracker Barrel for a near fall. Ibushi’s mouth is AGAPE at the insanity.
Omega tries a Spinal Tap but misses and Okada desperately throws a dropkick to the back. I loved how both guys in the third fall were barely able to lift each other for anything and were mostly just throwing blows. Okada finally hits another Rainmaker but is UNABLE TO FOLLOW THROUGH and just goes DOWN – THE ACE has truly been bested. Omega collapses right after and there’s a wonderful double KO tease. Both guys end up on their knees hitting each other, head-to-head – they are drenched in sweat, hair a mess, and Kenny just does a HEADBUTT. They have nothing left but they HAVE TO GO ON.
Okada finally manages an actual Rainmaker but can’t cover Omega right away, so he HOLDS THE WRIST and hits another. It SHOULD be over but Okada can’t cover right away again. Omega’s eyes have ROLLED TO THE BACK OF HIS HEAD. Okada sets up ANOTHER Rainmaker and it just has to be over, but Omega DUCKS and hits a German suplex, then holds onto the wrist himself. Omega hits another German, only for Okada to respond with his own German. Okada tries another Rainmaker, Omega ducks, hits ANOTHER German and then quickly hits a snap reverse hurricanrana.
Okada tries another Rainmaker and Omega responds with basically a snap One-Winged Angel, but he AGAIN can’t cover right away. The match peaks as both guys just lay next to each other against the ropes, trying to use them and each other to stand, and the the camera shot of this whole thing is SO incredible. Omega gets his ass up and delivers the greatest V-Trigger of all time right into the camera, then sets up the One-Winged Angel as the crowd buzzes… AND HE FUCKING HITS IT. ONE. TWO. THREE.
I am struggling to recall anything since the mid-90s that touches this build, this aura, this investment in the near falls, this investment in the RESULT. It’s the story. It’s the selling. It’s the fact that neither guy could lift each other up for their big moves. It’s the fact that neither guy could cover right away after they somehow managed those big moves. It’s the fact that referee Red Shoes was an incredible Third Man in this performance, selling everything brilliantly. It’s Gedo on the outside smiling as Okada had control and no-selling it when he didn’t. It’s Ibushi on the outside invested in his man finally succeeding. It’s the shots of the god damn crowd being completely enveloped in this amazing thing, as if they were watching a great circus and Hollywood thriller all at once.
The Okada/Omega matches are great matches, but this is the first I can confidently go the full ***** on, and honestly say that this might be the best wrestling match I have ever seen in my entire life.
Wow.
