PWI 500: Top Ten Wrestlers of 2018

#3 Kazuchika Okada

Kazuchika Okada started the year with a successful title defense against Tetsuya Naito at Wrestlekingdom 12.

At this point, Okada broke Hiroshi Tanahashi’s record of 1,358 combined days as champion. Okada’s record-breaking year continued when he defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Dontaku 2018 in his 12th successful title defence.

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The match itself was an instant classic and earned a 5 1/2 rating from Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

His next challenger was later announced to be Kenny Omega at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall. The two men fought each other on three previous occasions with each man holding a record of one win, one draw, and one loss.

This match was to be a two out of three falls contest. Omega won the match by defeating Okada 2-1 to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship after the grueling 65-minute match ending Okada’s streak at 720 days.

The match is widely regarding by the wrestling fraternity as the greatest wrestling match in history. Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave the match a record-breaking 7-star rating.

However, since losing his belt, Okada has had a pretty silent year and has failed to win the G1 Climax. This has seen him settle for the number 3 spot on this list.

About the author

Sunil is a pro wrestling journalist, covering AEW and WWE news stories at Sportskeeda. He holds an MBA degree in Marketing, and has nearly 7 years of experience. A wrestling aficionado since childhood, Sunil used to imitate his favorite wrestlers as a young kid, and started writing professionally about the sport via Sportskeeda’s revenue-sharing opportunity.

Sunil admires former world champions AJ Styles, Will Ospreay, and Kenny Omega for their ability to consistently deliver great matches as well as entertain crowds with their mic skills.

If ever given a chance to change a storyline, Sunil would have booked Roman Reigns to end The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak instead of Brock Lesnar. According to him, The Tribal Chief needed the victory more than Brock Lesnar, as the latter was already an established performer when he defeated ‘Taker. He would’ve also made that as Taker’s final match.

Always focused on making his work accurate and reliable, Sunil thoroughly checks his facts before writing his articles. When not writing for pro wrestling, he spends his time watching cricket.

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Edited by Alan John