Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2022 6:21:16 GMT -5
One thing about Okada. He absolutely is one of the best in the world. I'd put Danielson above him, Tanahashi if he was still 100%maybe.
But what he us the absolute best at, is being champion. No one in wrestling screams 'The Guy' more than Okada. Like in pure aura maybe Reigns comes close, but Okada has him beat.
He's also a goofball nerd and I love him
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Heartbreaker
King Koopa
Is actually Bindi Irwin
RIP Punk's media scrum, Page 54, Muffins, Biting People Bad™ (2022 - 2022)
Posts: 11,846
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Post by Heartbreaker on Jun 25, 2022 7:42:49 GMT -5
I feel like everything that makes Okada the baddest motherf***er has been stated but that entrance theme.
*coin drops*
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King Devitt
Grimlock
It gets better the longer you stare at it
Posts: 13,751
Member is Online
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Post by King Devitt on Jun 25, 2022 8:58:25 GMT -5
His rise to the main event scene and his rivalry with Tanahashi is the most compelling wrestling story of the best 20 years, in my opinion. Okada came back from his excursion in North American and his run as Okato in TNA to have a match at Wrestle Kingdom and he sort of stunk up the joint. Match kind of sucked. His finisher looked lame. His outfit didn't fit right. His hair looked stupid. Match stunk. He comes out later and demands a title shot against top star Tanahashi. Tanahashi basically rolls his eyes at him and says "Sure chief." and accepts the match. They face off, but the Okada that shows up for this match is different. He looks better. Faster. More put together. He's wrestling at an entirely different level to the point where fans online legit speculated his return match was bad ON PURPOSE to make this moment more shocking. And he beat Tanahashi. Out of NOWHERE. No one saw it coming. The next few years are basically these guys going back and forth trading the belt. Okada stops pretending to be a rich snob who doesn't care about anything and shows he wants to be Ace of the company for the right reasons. Tanahashi fights for his spot to prove that he isn't ready to step aside, and even if he was, Okada better be more than just a spoiled rich kid with some athletic gifts to do it. Eventually the whole thing comes down to one absolutely beautiful bit of storytelling where Okada just won't let Tanahashi's arm go, in a moment of pure grit and determination that pretty much won everybody over forever. I can't do it justice without a three page long post or whatever but I love Okada because I saw him evolve as a character in front of me. He's someone who it looked like was going to be set up as a generic rich super athlete gimmick but then showed unexpected range and emotion. He eventually became a HERO in a way only wrestling can do. The guy rules. Based on this post I went back and searched the Okada vs. Tanahashi story arc on YT since I started watching NJPW when Okada was fully established, and I've never really been a fan of the guy. I find his matches formulaic. And his lack of versatility as a performer has always turned me off to him (I did stop watching NJPW entirely when he beat Naito at WK for reference). But to see the moment when he stinks up WK against Yoshi-Hashi (whom I cannot stand to this day) only to come back the way he did a couple months later with a complete 180 is some god-tier booking. Just take a look at his Rainmaker clotheslines from that WK match to his Tanahashi match. Night and day. Like, to throw your biggest match back from excursion just to play to manipulate the ego of the guy you'll be challenging, and then beat him because he was cocky and didn't take you seriously is some amazing goddam storytelling.
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Mochi Lone Wolf
Fry's dog Seymour
Development through Destruction.
Posts: 24,037
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Post by Mochi Lone Wolf on Jun 25, 2022 10:00:51 GMT -5
Okada was the breaking point between New Japan and TNA, since TNA had pulled a lot of shit before then and New Japan was tired of dealing with them. I remember Scott D'Amore personally apologizing to Okada for the shit way he was treated during his excursion. I think they were also annoyed about how TNA handled Sanada, but not to the same extent. Okada, for his part, has been pretty gracious and credits TNA as teaching him a lot about playing to the cameras and other small things that have played a part in his presentation. He'd be well within his rights to shit all over them, but he seems to try to focus on the positives. SANADA’s treatment was the breaking point for their short relationship with Mutoh’s WRESTLE-1. Mutoh put a lot of trust in TNA to treat his prized protege right and they didn’t.
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Mochi Lone Wolf
Fry's dog Seymour
Development through Destruction.
Posts: 24,037
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Post by Mochi Lone Wolf on Jun 25, 2022 10:02:20 GMT -5
His rise to the main event scene and his rivalry with Tanahashi is the most compelling wrestling story of the best 20 years, in my opinion. Okada came back from his excursion in North American and his run as Okato in TNA to have a match at Wrestle Kingdom and he sort of stunk up the joint. Match kind of sucked. His finisher looked lame. His outfit didn't fit right. His hair looked stupid. Match stunk. He comes out later and demands a title shot against top star Tanahashi. Tanahashi basically rolls his eyes at him and says "Sure chief." and accepts the match. They face off, but the Okada that shows up for this match is different. He looks better. Faster. More put together. He's wrestling at an entirely different level to the point where fans online legit speculated his return match was bad ON PURPOSE to make this moment more shocking. And he beat Tanahashi. Out of NOWHERE. No one saw it coming. The next few years are basically these guys going back and forth trading the belt. Okada stops pretending to be a rich snob who doesn't care about anything and shows he wants to be Ace of the company for the right reasons. Tanahashi fights for his spot to prove that he isn't ready to step aside, and even if he was, Okada better be more than just a spoiled rich kid with some athletic gifts to do it. Eventually the whole thing comes down to one absolutely beautiful bit of storytelling where Okada just won't let Tanahashi's arm go, in a moment of pure grit and determination that pretty much won everybody over forever. I can't do it justice without a three page long post or whatever but I love Okada because I saw him evolve as a character in front of me. He's someone who it looked like was going to be set up as a generic rich super athlete gimmick but then showed unexpected range and emotion. He eventually became a HERO in a way only wrestling can do. The guy rules. Based on this post I went back and searched the Okada vs. Tanahashi story arc on YT since I started watching NJPW when Okada was fully established, and I've never really been a fan of the guy. I find his matches formulaic. And his lack of versatility as a performer has always turned me off to him (I did stop watching NJPW entirely when he beat Naito at WK for reference). But to see the moment when he stinks up WK against Yoshi-Hashi (whom I cannot stand to this day) only to come back the way he did a couple months later with a complete 180 is some god-tier booking. Just take a look at his Rainmaker clotheslines from that WK match to his Tanahashi match. Night and day. Like, to throw your biggest match back from excursion just to play to manipulate the ego of the guy you'll be challenging, and then beat him because he was cocky and didn't take you seriously is some amazing goddam storytelling. People were flabbergasted when he beat Tanahashi at New Beginning but, after Okada’s first defense against Naito, people saw things Gedo’s way.
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Mochi Lone Wolf
Fry's dog Seymour
Development through Destruction.
Posts: 24,037
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Post by Mochi Lone Wolf on Jun 25, 2022 10:04:55 GMT -5
I remember him as Okato in TNA when he was there on excursion. There was a lot of buzz around him as this can't miss prospect. I think they actually started calling him Okada by the end of his tenure there. He didn't really impress that much. IIRC, discourse was split between him being overhyped and TNA wasting his talents (more the latter because of the green hornet shit). I think I remember the way TNA treated Okada was one of the things that poisoned the relationship between them and New Japan. Jeff Hardy and RVD showing up to the Tokyo Dome high for a NJPW show was another big event that caused the relationship to break. TNA screwed up every working relationship they ever had.
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Post by EP 54 is banned from Collision on Jun 25, 2022 10:23:00 GMT -5
He was great in TNA. Shame he couldn't live up to the potential he showed there. Please tell me this satire It is not satire.
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Post by This Player Hating Mothman on Jun 25, 2022 11:10:37 GMT -5
I remember him as Okato in TNA when he was there on excursion. There was a lot of buzz around him as this can't miss prospect. I think they actually started calling him Okada by the end of his tenure there. He didn't really impress that much. IIRC, discourse was split between him being overhyped and TNA wasting his talents (more the latter because of the green hornet shit). I think I remember the way TNA treated Okada was one of the things that poisoned the relationship between them and New Japan. Jeff Hardy and RVD showing up to the Tokyo Dome high for a NJPW show was another big event that caused the relationship to break. TNA screwed up every working relationship they ever had. And you can't forget when TNA had the IWGP heavyweight tag belts and moved them around without permission
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r.
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Bye
Posts: 16,465
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Post by r. on Jun 25, 2022 13:35:56 GMT -5
Please tell me this satire It is not satire. So it was intentional you were going for the worst take of the year? Fascinating.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2022 14:05:07 GMT -5
His natural charisma and how he carries himself.
Even if you don't watch wrestling, you know this guy is special.
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Post by EP 54 is banned from Collision on Jun 25, 2022 14:25:57 GMT -5
So it was intentional you were going for the worst take of the year? Fascinating. No, you just don't know the difinition of satire.
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kidkamikaze10
Dennis Stamp
Trying to think of a new avatar
Posts: 4,274
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Post by kidkamikaze10 on Jun 25, 2022 15:08:25 GMT -5
It’s already been stated, but I realized he was special during what is now called the Rainmaker Shock.
Aka when he outright whooped Tanahashi like he had been in the main event scene for years, after a terrible showing in Wrestle Kingdom. From that point till I think Dominion or the year after, they presented Okada as this terror that came out of nowhere. The ads made him look like a a god.
After that match, I knew he was my favorite wrestler ever.
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Dub H
Crow T. Robot
Captain Pixel: the Game Master
I ❤ Aniki
Posts: 47,852
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Post by Dub H on Jun 25, 2022 16:03:10 GMT -5
One thing about Okada. He absolutely is one of the best in the world. I'd put Danielson above him, Tanahashi if he was still 100%maybe. But what he us the absolute best at, is being champion. No one in wrestling screams 'The Guy' more than Okada. Like in pure aura maybe Reigns comes close, but Okada has him beat. He's also a goofball nerd and I love him Honeslty if I had to Put a top 5 wrestlers today,it would be in no order Okada Bryan Tanahashi(if 100% as you said but even then like Bryan and Omega, he doesnt need to be to be amazing) Omega CM Punk and then a (not that) distant wrestlers along the lines of Moxley,AJ Styles, OC ,MJF,Rey Fenix.
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Rave
El Dandy
Perpetually Bored
Posts: 8,111
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Post by Rave on Jun 25, 2022 16:04:10 GMT -5
Jeff Hardy and RVD showing up to the Tokyo Dome high for a NJPW show was another big event that caused the relationship to break. TNA screwed up every working relationship they ever had. And you can't forget when TNA had the IWGP heavyweight tag belts and moved them around without permission And when they kept Team 3D off a tour despite them being IWGP tag champs at the time. Before that, there was the time they turned AJ/Tanahashi (a legit dream match at the time it happened) into a debut angle for f***ing Shannon Moore of all people.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,713
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Post by chrom on Jun 25, 2022 16:09:32 GMT -5
And you can't forget when TNA had the IWGP heavyweight tag belts and moved them around without permission And when they kept Team 3D off a tour despite them being IWGP tag champs at the time. Before that, there was the time they turned AJ/Tanahashi (a legit dream match at the time it happened) into a debut angle for f***ing Shannon Moore of all people. As well as having reigning IWGP Champ Shinsuke Nakamura work a match on Xplosion against Elix Skipper
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r.
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Bye
Posts: 16,465
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Post by r. on Jun 25, 2022 20:15:04 GMT -5
So it was intentional you were going for the worst take of the year? Fascinating. No, you just don't know the difinition of satire. I do and I also know the definition of blocked. Enjoy.
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