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Kazuchika Okada
The Rainmaker, Kazuchika Okada at 26 years old is the closest thing you will find to a wrestling prodigy. A member of the CHAOS faction, Okada burst onto the main event scene over the last two years, becoming one of the top names in the company within months.
Okada, along with his manager Gedo returned to New Japan in January of 2012 at Wrestle Kingdom after a twenty month excursion to TNA. Okada immediately challenged Tanahashi for the IWGP heavyweight championship and within a month was the champion which was both shocking and surprising.
It was a huge moment for Okada, and a brave move from New Japan to have a newcomer to the main event scene dethrone Tanahashi, who was in the middle of a legendary title reign. Okada had his doubters at first but they were soon silenced when he blew people away with classic title defenses, one after the other.
Once he got to his classic series with Tanahashi, Okada had established himself as a bonafide headliner and superstar.
Over the last two years, Okada has won the IWGP heavyweight championship twice. His latest reign lasted for 11 months before AJ Styles ended it this past May. He is the 2012 and 2014 G1 Climax winner, recently winning the event to earn his championship match at Wrestle Kingdom in January.
The Rainmaker, super athlete character was originally meant to be a heel, but Okada’s in ring performances and charisma have propelled him into one of the top babyfaces in the company.
Okada looks like a superstar, wrestles like one and has an aura surrounding him now that is very rare for someone that has effectively only came into prominence in early 2012. The scary thing is that Okada isn’t even in his prime yet and is a good five years away from it.
He is set to challenge Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom on January 4th and it is more than likely Okada will start his fourth reign as IWGP champion. Okada is a legend in the making. In 20 years time we will be looking back on his matches and reminiscing on this golden era.
What to look out for?
His explosiveness and his ability to build a match to a point where all hell breaks loose in the last few minutes. Okada’s matches are generally based around him attempting to hit his Rainmaker finisher, which is a short arm clothesline that starts with a wrist lock from behind. The move has yet to have anyone kick out of it. Okada’s dropkick might just be the most beautiful in all of professional wrestling. Also keep an eye out for his Red Ink submission hold, top rope elbow drop and tombstone piledriver, which usually sets up The Rainmaker.
Now let’s take a look at the man in action!
Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi King of Pro Wrestling 2013
The final match in the Okada/Tanahashi series, and my personal favorite. This to me is everything you could want from a pro wrestling match. The big match feel, the conclusion of a classic series, a great story being told around Tanahashi trying to take out Okada’s arm to avoid the Rainmaker. At this point Okada and Tanahashi had met in four classics and it was hard to imagine how they’d top it, but they did. They always did no matter how high expectations were and you can see that by clicking here.
Kazuchika Okada vs. AJ Styles G1 Climax Block B match
Okada - having recently lost the IWGP Heavyweight championship after his stablemate Yujiro Takahashi jumped to Bullet Club costing him the title - was out for revenge when they met on the opening day of this year's G1 Climax. Check out the bout at this link.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura G1 Climax 24 Final
The final of this year’s G1 Climax came down to CHAOS stablemates in a match that had been anticipated for a long, long time by New Japan fans. And did it deliver? I’ll let you judge for yourself at this link.
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