The Greatest Matches in NJPW History: January
Wrestle Kingdom month brings lots of options with it
Best January Match in NJPW History
IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega
Wrestle Kingdom 12 - Tokyo Dome - Jan 4, 2017
There’s endless options picking a best match to occur in January in New Japan history, what with that Wrestle Kingdom thing going down this month, and the eventual winner for me is the WK main event from four years ago. Remember back to a time when Kazuchika Okada and Kenny Omega were still at the tops of their games. Before Okada would only turn it on from time to time and before The Gamer was the Most Hated Man among New Japan fans (and probably brass) after his acrimonious departure from the promotion.
No, 2017 was still the salad days for these two, and they put on a match for the ages - at the time the longest in WK history (since topped earlier this month by Kota Ibushi and Jay White) and hailed by many as possibly the best match in history (since topped by the third match in this duo’s trilogy the following year). This was just the start for them, as they would go on to two more epic matches to complete one of the best trilogies in wrestling history, right up there with Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat.
But this WK match had my favourite spot:
And the whole match was epic. A true New Japan Wrestle Kingdom main event.
Honourable Mention: Kazuchika Okada vs Tetsuya Naito - WK 14 (Night 2)