RIPPA Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 KUSHIDA vs. Will Ospreay (6/16/16) KUSHIDA/Shibata vs Liger/Nagata (4/27/16) - mainly just because I want to remember to watch it Play-In Match KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. Kenny Omega (Wrestle Kingdom 11) vs. Minoru Suzuki (New Beginning) vs. Ishii (G1) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyanide Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I love KUSHIDA, and Okada may fall into that category others have brought up of "maybe don't think the absolute highest of him independently, but he has too many great matches to ignore" for me (of course, the NJPW bubble is again at play here - basically the entirety of his singles programs during this period put him up against Naito, Omega, Suzuki, Marufuji, SANADA...and Fale, with his high-profile one-offs being against Tanahashi and Ishii. It's gonna be hard to look less than stellar against that crew...) Maybe KUSHIDA could have pulled it out if he had been able to spend less time fucking around with BUSHI and the Super J-Cup, but Okada's opponents weren't working with dead weight either. Despite his super ace routine wearing thin quick, Okada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caley Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 I went KUSHIDA here because most KUSHIDA matches feel like I'm watching KUSHIDA. Okada, whether he's wrestling Omega, Moose, Tanahashi, whomever feels like the same match. It's a good match but it's basically a formula. KUSHIDA surprises me more than Okada does, I guess, if that makes sense. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Sandwich Carl Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 1 minute ago, caley said: I went KUSHIDA here because most KUSHIDA matches feel like I'm watching KUSHIDA. Okada, whether he's wrestling Omega, Moose, Tanahashi, whomever feels like the same match. It's a good match but it's basically a formula. KUSHIDA surprises me more than Okada does, I guess, if that makes sense. I agree with this and I don't really like the formula. Rare is the time when an Okada match is done where I think "Man, Okada was great in this!" Also the Rainmaker as a finisher can get bent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVA Posted March 4, 2017 Share Posted March 4, 2017 Yeah, Okada is in a lot of good stuff, but he's almost always just along for the ride. Literally, in all 3 of the matches Rippa posted, he's by far the least interesting guy involved. Okada march quality almost always comes down to whether or not guys can be special working around him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.T. Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 I am more of a Rainmaker mark than I am a Time Splitter mark. No diss to KUSHIDA. Matches with Okada in them feel bigger than matches with KUSHIDA in them, if that makes any sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niners Fan in CT Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 I like both guys but Okada had another tremendous year. His resume stacks up well against anyone in this tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NikoBaltimore Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 It was a pretty tough choice. KUSHIDA is fantastic and I highly enjoyed a lot of the exciting matches he was in. But Okada has been in some epics and it's impossible to vote against a 6-star classic. And it wasn't all Omega working a one-man show, Okada brought a ton to the match also. He does have a formula to him, but I've been so used to the WWE formula for a lot of guys that it doesn't bother me that much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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