As a relative newcomer to New Japan Pro Wrestling, I was relatively excited for Wrestle Kingdom 11 and, while I wasn’t going to watch it live, knew I’d get round to watching it eventually. I woke up today, checked twitter…and knew something had happened. I instantly watched the show and was blown away by its brilliance. Every match on the card was fantastic and instantly made me feel connected to characters I had only just met. And then…the main event began.
It’s honestly hard to explain how amazing this match it. No-one could dispute beforehand it was going to be fantastic as Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada are two of the greatest wrestlers in the world. However- it may be true that they are THE two best wrestlers in the world. The fantastic storytelling- Omega leading for a large part of the match, Okada hitting multiple Rainmaker clotheslines whilst still being unable to put Kenny away and the finish was beautiful. I genuinely had goosebumps when Omega kicked out of the Tombstone Piledriver into Rainmaker combo.
The biggest compliment I have for this match is that it made me feel things that I’ve not felt in a long time as a wrestling fan. To us, being members of the IWC, journalists, hard-core fans- whatever you want to call us, we have a tendency to overanalyse everything and take an insider approach to every match; we view it as someone being booked in a certain way, two men ‘selling’ each other’s offence and everything being pre-determined. I didn’t feel any of that while watching this masterclass. I was transported back to being a kid again- just sitting down, watching something I love and being thoroughly, thoroughly entertained throughout the entire contest.
[irp posts=”18838″ name=”Kenny Omega: WWE Is Hiring People Just To Hire Them”, Talks WWE’s Monopoly of Pro Wrestling”]
That is why I truly think this contest is the most important in years. It made me remember why I originally fell in love with wrestling. I won’t spoil the ending for you because you have to go and see it. Seriously- you have to.
So thank you. Thank you Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada. And good luck to every wrestler in 2017 as they try to follow that.
Article written by @McIverTheMark! Make sure to discuss it with him on Twitter if you enjoyed the match!