by Hanley! » Jan 08, '18, 1:53 pm
Man, I'd say this Okada reign just is the greatest reign of all time. I can't think of anything to rival it off the top of my head, at least when it comes to match quality. He had two great G1 tournaments with the title, the best trilogy in wrestling against Omega, and awesome pay per view matches against guys like Suzuki and Naito. It's pretty hard to top that. Dude is only 30 too, it's crazy. At this rate, not only is this going to be arguably the best wrestling title reign of all time, Okada's going to go down as the best wrestler of all time period.
I thought the main event was the best match of the show too. The drama throughout was on another level. Some of the counters were really creative, and Okada's selling was note perfect. It helped that the stakes were so high, considering the length of Okada's reign and how long Naito has been building towards this moment. I didn't want either guy to lose.
The Jericho match was good, but I didn't like it as much as everyone else. Jericho's heel work was really good throughout the match, but I think some of it maybe distracted from the story they were telling. It was supposed to be a blood feud, but Jericho spent so much time antagonising the crowd and the ref that his hatred for Omega didn't come across the way it should. And Kenny didn't get as much babyface sympathy as he should have, because Jericho was stealing too much focus from him. I still thought it was a great match and one of Jericho's best in recent years (though I do think he's had better). But I'm not seeing where all this 'Match of the Night, Early Match of the Year contender' hype is coming from.
The Junior Heavyweight title match was insane. All four of these wrestlers are spectacular. Marty Scurrl has come out of nowhere to become one of my favourite wrestlers in the last year. I've seen him live a few times with OTT Wrestling and he's always a highlight. Takehashi was the star of this match for me, but given the story they were telling Ospreay's win made sense.
Suzuki v Goto was a really fun, stiff fight. I'm not the biggest fan of the Goto character, whenever I've seen him he's come across as a little bland. But I love Suzuki and this was very much his match. Loved him shoving away Suzuki Gun and shaving his own head. One of the best moments of the show for me.
Cody had probably his best ever singles match against Ibushi. Really good midcard affair. I like Cody's new look, and Brandi brings a lot to his act at ringside. When he gestured for the Cross Rhodes from the apron I was sure it was going to look shit, but holy fuck did Ibushi sell the hell out of it.
The Bucks match was really good too. I like Roppongi 3K from what little I've seen of them, and Yoh was the star of this match for me. The selling of the back from Yoh and Matt Jackson (I think) was fun here. Not what most people expect from a Bucks match.
My only big criticism of the show is one of the many criticisms I have of Wrestlemania: it's too damn long. I ended up watching it in three sittings. They could have cut a couple of matches, and maybe shortened one or two others. It would have benefited the show as a whole. Still, having too much of a good thing isn't the worst complaint.