Ask WrestleTalk – Vol. 3

After having my eyes opened to Japanese wrestling for the first time by Wrestle Kingdom 12, can WTM recommend any other matches to hunt down from the Far East?
– Callum Madley

 

Certainly, though this is a very short list compared to the hundreds of world-class bouts that have taken place in Japan over the past several decades.

From 2017 alone there were dozens of incredible clashes, most notably the industry-changing Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega trilogy from 4/1, 11/6, and 12/8. Omega’s G1 Final outing with Tetsuya Naito on 13/8 was also breathtaking. For more from Okada, hunt down his 9/4 bout with Katsuyori Shibata and his near-perfect series with Hiroshi Tanahashi on 6/4/13, 14/10/13, and 4/1/16.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAIWOBVL2AE

Going back further, Mitsuharu Misawa’s war of attrition against Toshiaki Kawada at AJPW’s 3/9/94 Budokan Hall show is one of the all-time classic wrestling matches. Any of Misawa’s meetings with Kenta Kobashi are worth a watch, the best of which are probably a 1/3/03 meeting in NOAH and an 11/6/99 collision from AJPW. Another cracking Kobashi match comes opposite powerhouse Kensuke Sasaki on NOAH’s 18/7/05 show in front of 62,000 at the Tokyo Dome. That match features the longest and most brutal chop battle you will ever see.

Over in the junior heavyweight ranks, KUSHIDA’s Best of the Super Juniors victory over Will Ospreay on 3/6 is one of the greatest aerial battles of modern times. Ospreay’s meetings with Ricochet in the tournament on 25/5/16 and 18/5/17 both set a new bar for what is expected from high flyers. Before they came along, El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto were thrilling fans in the same competition two decades earlier (5/6/97), as were Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) and The Great Sasuke three years prior in the Super J Cup (16/4/94).

 

Related Content

• Ask WrestleTalk Vol. 2

• Ask WrestleTalk Vol. 1

• mitsuharu misawa
• super j cup
• the great sasuke
• Kenta Kobashi
• alberto del rio
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• Ask WrestleTalk
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• Will Ospreay
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