5 Best wrestling matches of 2012

#3 Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada - NJPW Dominion 2012

Many people will argue that the greatest feud in wrestling this decade has been Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada. That years-long rivalry extended into many spectacular matches awarded between 4.5 stars and 5.5 stars by the Wrestling Observer. This was one of those epic matches that pitted the then-surprise champion Okada defending against established ace Tanahashi.

These two wrestlers had such phenomenal chemistry it was as if they were born to wrestle each other. Even though this was one of the earliest matches between them, Okada and Tanahashi wrestled as if they had known each other for years. That led to some amazing near-falls and submission sequences, which made fans literally scream when big moves were hit and kicked out of.

But most importantly, these two wrestlers both sold exhaustion very well. Neither one of them was a John Cena-style machine that looked like he was completely impervious to pain. The way they wrestled made the match look like two combat sport athletes trying to win a legitimate contest.

You couldn’t tell when or how the match would end, which is critical in a wrestling match. This is why NJPW began over-taking WWE as the hub of best matches: the standard set by these bitter rivals was so high that nothing would come even close to them for years to come.