Posted in: Doctor's Orders
Doctor's Orders: Six-Star Confessions Of A WWE Fan On Okada vs. Omega At Wrestle Kingdom 11
By "The Doc" Chad Matthews
Jan 12, 2017 - 11:37:33 AM

”The Doc” Chad Matthews has been a featured writer for LOP since 2004. Initially offering detailed recaps and reviews for WWE's top programs, he transitioned to writing columns in 2010. In addition to his discussion-provoking current event pieces, he has written many acclaimed series about WrestleMania, as well as a popular short story chronicle. The Doc has also penned a book, The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment, published in 2013. It has been called “the best wrestling book I have ever read” and holds a 5-star rating on Amazon, where it peaked at #3 on the wrestling charts.



I've been covering wrestling in column or review form for the better part of fifteen years and, during that time, I have regularly been intrigued by promotions beyond WWE. Back in the day, I used to watch TNA's weekly pay-per-views, kept up with them through their transition to national cable television and the monthly PPV format, and dabbled in classic Ring of Honor matches that friends and colleagues would recommend such as the CM Punk-Samoa Joe series; I also frequently re-watched old WWE and NWA/WCW matches. Years and years as a single student afforded me the number of hours in my week to be able to do whatever I wanted when I was free and, being the total wrestling addict that I am, I spent a huge amount of free time watching wrestling. My extracurricular time since getting married, opening a health clinic in my hometown at the turn of the decade, and having kids has simply been limited, naturally curbing my desire to watch wrestling to stricter-viewing habits (and mainly limiting them to WWE).

Still, when parts of the wrestling media call a match outside of WWE “Six-stars,” I cannot help but take notice. My interest was admittedly peaked by Wrestle Kingdom 11 well in advance of its January 4th air date, based mostly on the reputation of the last two Wrestle Kingdoms but, to be honest, New Japan Pro Wrestling has not been on my radar since the mid-1990s and, as such, I had no immediate intention of watching WK11. With all the glowing reviews this year, I eventually made a decision that, after WrestleMania Season is over, I'm going to order NJPW World and become more familiar with their product. The buzz never died down though, particularly for the main-event, and as a result I sat down on Monday to watch Kenny Omega challenge Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to see what all the hype was about.

Needless to say that I get it. Anyone that has yet to see it certainly should make time to do so; take my word for it...

Forget the art of star-ratings for a moment, folks. After I finished my first viewing, I struggled to contextualize that which I had just witnessed. My knowledge of Okada was limited to the things I had heard about his last two WK matches and, unfortunately, Omega had started making his early name in the United States long after I had ceased my occasional independent binges. So, I knew virtually nothing about the two wrestlers going in. That said, I felt like I knew everything that I needed to know about them by the time the exhausting match was over. It had been awhile since I had experienced that, probably since AJ Styles and Low-Ki blew my mind in the late summer of 2003 during my first experience with TNA. Styles, in particular, was perception-altering to me. I have called Seth Rollins the “Evolutionary Shawn Michaels,” citing the athletic gifts that he brings to the Heavyweight Title scene; that moniker might have always been a better fit for Styles.

Styles vs. Low-Ki in August 2003 was for the same NWA World Championship that I had watched Ric Flair famously defend in my youth, but the manner in which they wrestled redefined what I knew main-event wrestling could be. Of course, this has been a decade that has seen WWE bring a lot of the key elements of independent headliners to their product, meshing them with their own classic main-event formula. My first thought after finishing Omega vs. Okada was that my perception of what main-event wrestling could be had yet again been altered – or had at least been reminded that it could be altered.

Still, I could not come up with a description that I felt adequately captured its essence. I watched it about eight hours prior to the College Football National Championship game here in the States and it did not dawn on me until after the classic Clemson-Alabama rematch was over that part of what I enjoyed so much about Omega vs. Okada was that it was wrestling as sport. While certainly not lacking storytelling or entertainment, it was perhaps the best example I've seen in quite some time that sport is entertainment; if WWE is sports entertainment, then Okada vs. Omega is the embodiment of sports entertainment. One of my favorite aspects of sport is the psychological swings in momentum that occur as one team or player endures the early game plan of its opposition, adjusts, and counters to take control (and vice-versa). The Wrestle Kingdom main-event was a 46-minute chess match and, much like 'Bama vs. Clemson, it was presented as the two best in the game trying to out-duel one another. It featured long stretches of Omega putting Okada on the back foot, then similarly lengthy stretches of Okada seizing control, slowly building toward their respective kill shots. The culmination of their supreme efforts was a riveting, lengthy finishing sequence akin to the three touchdown spree in the last third of the final stanza in the national title game.

There was so much to digest within its run-time, not the least of which was the Japanese modus-operandi for how to wrestle a main-event of this magnitude, particularly the climax that featured palpable selling from the combatants in the midst of its bursts of action that carried with them a Hollywood feel; Omega's finisher was protected, while Okada's was utilized continually, the response to which was Omega coming back at the champion like the titular character of his Terminator-inspired entrance gear (I absolutely loved, by the way, the Young Bucks on the outside re-creating the Terminator theme with their hand slaps against the apron – dum dum – dum dum, dum dum). The totality of the final five minutes made Okada look like the ultimate warrior and Omega the near-unstoppable villain – the Arnold-T101 against the T1000 if you will.

It was brilliant and athletic; and it reminded me that pro wrestling should by all rights be a young man's game. Kazuchika Okada, at 29 years old, is in the prime of his athletic life, while Kenny Omega, at 33 years old, is in the prime of his pro wrestling career; their match was a three quarter of an hour marathon that loudly stated that pro wrestlers are among the most gifted athletes on earth. The English commentary, which I really enjoyed, put the focus on the in-ring abilities of the performers involved and on the logical place that the IWGP Champion should maintain as the face of the brand. Stakes were clear and high, revolving around a title that both men desperately fought to hold.

Wise, I would call it, to avoid comparisons of Omega vs. Okada to anything that WWE will offer this year, but I admittedly could not help but feel a sense of longing toward that kind of pro wrestling becoming the narrative drive of WWE programming, which has spent so many years devaluing its top championship to the point where holding it today makes you less “The Man” than arguably at any other time in the WrestleMania Era; for instance, if Undertaker were to wrestle John Cena at WrestleMania this year and AJ Styles was defending the WWE Championship in a match half-way down the card, it would be quite obvious that the titleholder was not actually the #1 guy. From his reputation to the way that the commentators spoke of him to his performance in the ring, Okada came across to me as the #1 guy in Japan; with all that he had accomplished in 2016 to his pre-match presentation to his performance in the ring, Omega came across to me as the unmistakable #1 contender. It seems like we're making excuses for WWE if we don't admit that the top guy versus the most likely challenger to unseat him and become the new top guy should be the yearly focus of the WrestleMania main-event each year with very rare exception.

So, six-stars? I wouldn't dare make that call after one viewing, but there should be no questioning that it was a special match deserving of the incredible reputation it has managed to build in merely a week. I've personally not watched a better match in a few years and, by viewing it, I feel like my wrestling fandom has been considerably enhanced.