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Post by mlev76 on Apr 1, 2019 11:28:44 GMT -5
The end of 2018 was pretty dreadful by comparison to previous years for Okada. The loss at the Dome was obviously meant to be a turning point and the NJ Cup was clearly the path to his ultimate redemption at MSG. So, I don't think it's unthinkable to consider Okada as being the top guy by year's end. I had his matches with Elgin, Ishii and Sanada at over 4 stars each and his matches with White and Ospreay weren't too far behind. I've come to appreciate the little things he does in the ring and he's started to grow a Bret Hart vibe with me (a guy who uses a limited moveset, but it's how he uses it that makes him great). Very slightly behind Gargano for me currently.
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Lee
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Post by Lee on Dec 14, 2019 14:41:43 GMT -5
People say Okada's had on off year and I agree in parts, he's title matches have been very generic and bloated but thankfully he had a ton of great non-title matches that don't fit that old, tired formula as IWGP HW title match. Tremendous match against Jay White at Wrestle Kingdom with some great crowd playing and badassery from Okada going after Gedo and White and being dominant before being shockingly defeated. A fun house show main event against Ospreay, a great Ishii match and a very good finals with SANADA. A good part of the amazing Sho/Okada vs Shingo/SANADA match, even if he was the background. A very good G1 with very good matches with mostly all of his opponents, Fale being the notable exception. One of which included three great matched against SANADA, Ospreay and Kota Ibushi. An awesome match that I watched live in Suzuki vs Okada at Royal Quest. He has some of his stinkers like Chirs Jericho (who doesn't have bad matches with him tbf) and even some of the SANADA matches in his long feud (two were good, one being really bad, the other being solid). Maybe not as good as last year or the year before but I think he's kept some great quality that a ton of people didn't imo.
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Post by bossrock on Dec 15, 2019 0:10:16 GMT -5
Top 10 contender. Much of his year has centered around his series with SANADA and while the feud was polarizing, the Dontaku match was really the only match I felt under-delivered with everything else being mostly very good. I actually liked the Jericho match quite a bit and thought it was the latter's best all year. His NJ Cup run saw him get good matches out of lesser workers in Elgin and Nicholls while delivering a MOTYC against Ishii. His G1 was also great even if it may not have quite been on the level of Ishii's, Ospreay's, Ibushi's, or Shingo's (the only NJPW wrestlers I would rank ahead of him). And that's to say nothing of the Royal Quest match with Suzuki which is my MOTY and saw Okada deliver a tremendous performance by stepping out of his comfort zone. All in all, still one of the most consistent big match wrestlers in the world.
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