Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi(23/09/2018)

This was for Tanahashi's right to challenge briefcase in the Tokyo Dome main event.

Oh man…. Where do I even start?! Hiroshi Tanahashi hadn't beaten Okada in 3 years at this point. Coming into this match with incredible momentum off the back of a G1 win but there was still that blemish on his record. He still couldn't beat Okada in the block finals of the G1 climax as they went to a draw. There's a unique dynamic in the Okada vs Tanahashi rivalry here. Okada's chasing Tana again. For the first time in a long time. And while Tana has to save his contract, that's not enough. He NEEDS to beat Okada. So in that sense it's actually both of them chasing each other now.(Let me be a bootlicker here and praise them for how they come up with fresh dynamics for literally every match of theirs no matter how much time has passed.) This is a story of two fallen aces and at the same time it really represents two very common facets of life itself. A man who fell from grace after losing his championship, he lost his passion and he lost himself entirely. Facing him is another man in the same position but he's filled with a drive like never before, to get back to the top, regardless of his limitations with his “HIGH ENERGY”.

There's everything you'd expect from an Okada vs Tanahashi match. Them making even touching each other, from the first lockup so special by drawing the crowd into it. The slow burn. What actually goes on to make this match so special is that this is a top 3 performance in the careers both men and that's saying something, these are two of the best performances that I've ever seen in a wrestling match. There's Okada going for the leg work which really isn't his forte, he's just not himself at the moment and he goes for it anyway. There's Tanahashi going for his usual leg work and everything he does in his matches only with his drive multiplied tenfold. Stuff like straight up refusing to go down on the top rope corner dropkick even though he knew it'd lead to his leg being caught on the top rope giving Okada the opportunity to damage it even more and doing the aces high despite that damaged leg. Obviously Tana's brand of selling the leg that's just the best thing ever, him powering through the pain and intentionally throwing bad elbows at first that gradually gain the power behind them as the adrenaline gets pumping. Okada is in all timer dead eyed dickhead mode here. His control segments are phenomenal. In fact there's an extra oomph on them. But him getting overzealous with this new strategy of his just works to his own detriment at times giving Tana the chance to attack his leg. The incredibly dramatic, counter sequences that you usually see from their matches are present here too.

It's about who’s evolved the most. Who has an answer for everything that the other brings? Who has learned the most from their previous encounters? It's Tanahashi. He's quite literally a wrestling god. It's his will power that propels him to the win in addition to Okada's mistake of deviating of who he truly is. Of course, Tana comes up with a new variant of the high fly flow on the go and just has to add that nice little touch of his incredible selling falling down on his way for the final high fly flow before finally finishing it off. GO ACE!

I get teary eyed when I watch and write about these two and their matches but they're just timeless. And they never fail to deliver. This for sure, was once again one of the greatest matches of all time, as you'd expect from the greatest rivalry of all time.