Was Okada vs. Omega IV The Best Match Of All Time?

It’s a pretty badly kept secret that Dave Meltzer is a big fan of New Japan Pro Wrestling, and it’s hard to argue with him when they put out shows like Dominion.

The card was stacked with incredible matches like Chris Jericho vs. Tetsuya Naito, Will Ospreay vs. Hiromu Takahashi and Jushin Thunder Liger, Rey Mysterio and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. the Bullet Club trio of Cody, Hangman Page and Marty Scurll.

But without a doubt, the most anticipated match on the card was the fourth installment of Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

It was an incredible spectacle, and some have gone as far as saying it is the best wrestling match of all time, and that ‘some’ includes Mr. Dave Meltzer.

Okada and Omega made history by becoming the first to ‘break’ Meltzer’s match rating scale by being awarded as a six-star match at Wrestle Kingdom last year, and have since been awarded a six and a quarter-star match. But could this match go one better?

Here’s what Dave said:

“A lot of people have said best match they’ve ever seen in their lives, an awful lot of people including me.”

“This match was incredible. When they did the match in Tokyo, I thought it was one of the best matches I’d ever seen. When they did the match in Osaka last year at Dominion. I thought it was the best I’d ever seen.

“The G1 match I didn’t think was the best match I’d ever seen. It was a fantastic match though, still one of the best matches I’d ever seen. After every one of those matches, I never thought when it was over that I will never see a better match than this match.

“Even Osaka when it was over it was like, ‘This is the best match I’ve ever seen.’ And I thought someday I’ll see a better match. I’m not sure—when it was over that was one of my first thoughts, ‘This is the best match I will ever see.’ When the match ended that was kinda like my thought.”

The world of wrestling will be keeping its eyes on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter this week to see if the match can sit on its own as the best of all time… according to Dave Meltzer.

 

Was this the best match you’ve ever seen? Will there ever be a better one? Let us know in the comments below or on Twitter here. You can also join us on Discord to chat with Oli, Luke, the magazine team, the website writers and each other here!

• wrestling observer newsletter
• NJPW Dominion
• dominion
• dave meltzer
• Kazuchika Okada
• star ratings
• NJPW
• Kenny Omega

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