{"id":18531,"date":"2018-05-04T12:39:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-04T16:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=18531"},"modified":"2018-05-04T12:39:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-04T16:39:31","slug":"why-omega-vs-okada-4-is-the-biggest-match-in-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2018\/05\/04\/why-omega-vs-okada-4-is-the-biggest-match-in-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Omega vs Okada 4 Is The Biggest Match in Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kazuchika<\/strong> Okada<\/strong> defended the IWGP heavyweight championship for a record twelfth time against Hiroshi<\/strong> Tanahashi<\/strong> at Wrestling<\/strong> Dontaku\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>today, effectively ending a classic feud that made Okada what he is today. Okada pinned \u201cThe Ace\u201din a tremendous main event then Okada listed the names he has defeated one-by-one. The last time Okada was in Osaka, he wrestled for one hour with Kenny Omega<\/strong> at last year’s Dominion<\/strong><\/em>. This led to Kenny Omega making his way to the time to challenge Okada to really see who the better man is at NJPW<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0Dominion<\/i><\/b>\u00a0in June in a Two Out Of Three Falls match with no time-limit for the IWGP heavyweight championship. \u201cThe Best Bout Machine\u201d vs \u201cThe Rainmaker” defined 2017 with a trilogy that will never be forgotten and now it\u2019s time to settle the score after a 1-1 record between them and one one-hour draw. This is what we know after Wrestling Dontaku 2018<\/em> but let\u2019s dig a little deeper shall we, this rematch of Omega vs Okada, after all, is seventeen months in the making for the biggest prize in NJPW.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/BulletClubItal\/status\/992366613021196288<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the greatest matches I have ever seen. If Dynamite<\/strong> Kid<\/strong> vs Tiger<\/strong> Mask<\/strong> and (Ric) Flair<\/b>\u00a0vs (Ricky)\u00a0Steamboat<\/strong> classics had a baby, it\u2019s name would be Omega vs Okada\u201d Mick<\/strong> Foley<\/strong> said after watching the first bout at Wrestle<\/strong> Kingdom<\/strong> 11<\/strong><\/em> last January. The matches somehow got even better after that when Dominion<\/em> rolled around in June and the match went to a one-hour draw with a dramatic finish featuring Cody Rhodes<\/strong> of Bullet<\/strong> Club<\/strong> almost throwing in the towel on Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega. That match at Dominion<\/em> earned six and a half stars from The Wrestling Observer, breaking the star rating system. Omega evened the score in August 2017 during the G1<\/strong> Climax<\/strong><\/em> Semi-Finals when he finally pinned Okada with a One Winged Angel but the championship wasn\u2019t on the line in the tournament setting. The question is: what else are Omega and Okada willing to do to win this next match after top rope Dragon Suplexes and over two hours in the ring together in singles matches was hardly enough?<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=HtjuubnpJP4<\/p>\n

Kenny Omega announced as Okada\u2019s next challenger is something many NJPW<\/strong> fans have been waiting for. NJPW is a company that prides itself on amazing in-ring storytelling but this is a great example of spectacular storytelling that writes itself outside the ring. Kazuchika Okada has solidified himself as probably the best World Champion of this era with his two and a half year reign as IWGP heavyweight champion. Okada has taken down challenger after challenger from Bad<\/strong> Luck<\/strong> Fale<\/strong> to two New<\/strong> Japan<\/strong> Cup<\/strong> winners in back to back years, Katsuyori<\/strong> Shibata<\/strong> and Zack<\/strong> Sabre<\/strong> Jr<\/strong>. Many didn\u2019t know how long Okada could keep up that pace last year but now Okada has proven to be the new \u201cAce\u201d and near unbeatable.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-Ift9hY90gQ<\/p>\n

This is the biggest match of Kenny Omega’s career on June 9 and Omega is going to make the most of it. Could Omega\u2019s IWGP United States Championship reign have been NJPW’s way of setting up Omega for bigger things and seeing how the reception would be? Omega’s IWGP US title reign was a big success, winning at the G1<\/strong> In<\/strong> USA<\/strong><\/em> special (NJPW’s first North American event) in a tournament finals against Tomohiro<\/strong> Ishii<\/strong> and holding onto the title for seven months before losing to \u201cSwitchblade<\/strong>\u201d Jay<\/strong> White<\/strong>. The American fanbase is 100% behind Kenny Omega and this would be the perfect time for NJPW to capitalize on the North American expansion by having a champion that pleases both sides of the fence. Venues like The Cow Palace in Los Angeles could be headlined by a Canadian IWGP Heavyweight Champion in Kenny Omega in the future or the championship stays on Okada for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qAzkcPtbBb8<\/p>\n

Kota<\/strong> Ibushi<\/strong> is an interesting monkey wrench in this situation and so are Bullet Club. Omega has isolated his former friends in favor of a Golden<\/strong> Lovers<\/strong> reunion with Kota Ibushi and The Golden Lovers beat The<\/strong> Young<\/strong> Bucks<\/strong> at NJPW Strong<\/strong> Style<\/strong> Evolved<\/strong><\/em> in California in March. Could Cody interfere in Omega vs Okada part four the same way he did in part two at Dominion<\/em> last year? Hopefully Kota Ibushi and Bullet Club stay in the back, allowing the best to be decided in the ring between Omega and Okada. Originally all signs pointed to Kota Ibushi being the man to challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and possibly win it with a battle between the Golden Lovers leading to Wrestle Kingdom<\/em>. The dust never settled from Okada vs Omega so it\u2019s time to give the world what they want and Ibushi will surely challenge the winner. \u201cThe Best Bout Machine\u201d has been waiting his entire career for this and at Dominion 2018<\/em>, Kenny Omega should finally become IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Kazuchika Okada would face backlash for winning yet another championship main event whereas Omega would be celebrated around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kazuchika Okada defended the IWGP heavyweight championship for a record twelfth time against Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestling Dontaku\u00a0today, effectively ending a classic feud that made Okada what he is today. Okada pinned \u201cThe Ace\u201din a tremendous main event then Okada listed the names he has defeated one-by-one. The last time Okada was in Osaka, he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2001,"featured_media":18545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,13,14],"tags":[626,149,1362,941,2673,946,1087,2244,1029,181,192,501,386,170,201,617,385,188,469,363,2027,609,628,422,2672,172],"class_list":["post-18531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-njpw","tag-bad-luck-fale","tag-bullet-club","tag-cody","tag-dominion","tag-dynamite-kid","tag-g1-climax","tag-g1-in-usa","tag-golden-lovers","tag-hiroshi-tanahashi","tag-jay-white","tag-katsuyori-shibata","tag-kazuchika-okada","tag-kenny-omega","tag-kota-ibushi","tag-mick-foley","tag-new-japan-cup","tag-new-japan-pro-wrestling","tag-njpw","tag-ric-flair","tag-ricky-steamboat","tag-strong-style-evolved","tag-tiger-mask","tag-tomohiro-ishii","tag-wrestle-kingdom","tag-wrestling-dontaku","tag-zack-sabre-jr"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2001"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}