by Hanley! » Jan 06, '17, 5:21 pm
God fucking dammit, that was a hell of a match.
My only criticism is that there were a couple of spots in there that were too dangerous and someone could have been really hurt - and even without those moves this would have been a 5 star match.
This had everything. Amazing athleticism, great violence, perfect pacing and psychology. Both guys showed drive and intensity at all times, fully committed to everything they were doing. This was an absolute star making performance from Kenny Omega. He's been great for a long time, but this was the match that cemented him as part of the tippy top tier of workers in the entire world.
That spot where Omega was kicking the shit out of Okada, but Okada refused to let go of his wrist and finally laid him out with the Rainmaker was the best thing I've seen in wrestling in ages. A thing of beauty!
I've seen a few people say that Naito/Tanahashi was better, but I don't see it. That was a great match in its own right, and Naito is one of the best natural heels in wrestling at the moment, but I'd probably give it a 4.5 rating rather than a full 5. I'm guessing there'll be a small handful of matches in 2017 that I'll like better than that one, but Okada/Omega will be hard to top. One of the best matches I've seen.
Fucking hell.