5 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2017

#2 Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega - Dominion 6.11

Kazuchika Okada is well on his way to becoming one of the greatest professional wrestlers ever… period. Since 2013, Okada has been putting on one wrestling masterpiece after another. He has somehow developed this uncanny ability to have a wrestling clinic with any possible opponent. Forget about Shawn Michaels or Ric Flair, Okada is now the guy to use in that classic idiom, ‘X can have a 5-star match with a broom’.

But Okada wasn’t alone in putting on this outstanding wrestling marathon. Kenny Omega joined him once again, and the two of them tried to top their spectacular Wrestle Kingdom performance from six months prior.

Some say they did, and there’s plenty of evidence to support that. The biggest reason for it is that Kenny Omega is something of a wrestling genius when it comes to creative and believable wrestling spots.

In this brutal marathon that went to a 60-minute draw, Okada had the advantage and fought desperately to hit enough Rainmakers to keep Omega down. So what does Kenny do? Does he hit some wacky submission hold to break Okada’s arm? Does he simply try some kind of flip or a crazy dive?

No, he does the simplest yet the most logical thing conceivable; he falls to his knees, exhausted from suffering so much punishment from Okada. In doing so, he dodged a vicious move that could’ve ended the match right then and there.

But Okada couldn’t hit the move, and was likewise exhausted from wrestling at an intense level with Omega for almost an hour. As time ran out, Okada tried desperately to cover Omega to make his victory decisive, but he couldn’t make it, leaving us with one of the few great matches to end in a draw.

Okada didn’t beat Omega; Omega survived Okada. He didn’t get pinned; he proved that he had the potential – however slim – to beat Okada.

Was it the best match of the year? Not quite, in my opinion, as the interference from Cody made the match’s momentum come to a halt and was completely forgotten by the time the match ended. Luckily, this brought the series between this duo to 1-0-1, so that meant more wrestling greatness was to come.