Kazuchika Okada vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (NJPW - 8/10/2014)

It was a huge deal when these two won their respective G1 blocks because it meant we’d see the long-anticipated “forbidden” matchup between the top two guys in CHAOS. This is sometimes described as their first match against each other since Okada’s rise to main event status, but they actually faced each other in the 2012 G1 in a match that has been largely forgotten for whatever reason. In any event, they show here that you don’t have to go over 30 minutes and have a million big moves to produce an epic. For one thing, all the sequences where they struggle to gain or maintain control give this an almost King’s Road feel. It’s that kind of struggle that separates an actual contest from an exhibition of signature spots. There’s also some cool learned psychology on display. At one point, Nakamura tries to apply a cross armbreaker to Okada’s Rainmaker arm and turns it into a triangle choke when Okada tries to reverse. Okada then tries to make the ropes, which allows Nakamura to fully apply the armbreaker. Later on, when Nakamura reverses a Rainmaker attempt into another cross armbreaker, Okada has it scouted and escapes by raking Nakamura’s eyes with his boot. I will say that I can’t stand how Okada uses the reverse neckbreaker as an out-of-nowhere reversal. The setup for that move is far too complicated for that purpose. I also have an issue with how New Japan uses finishers. For Nakamura, only the standard boma ye is capable of ending matches. All the other variants (sliding, diving, enzui) essentially act as setup moves. By the same token, Okada hits two short-arm clotheslines near the end of this match. But it’s not a proper Rainmaker unless he does the ripcord motion beforehand, so they don’t count. If they’re going to treat finishers like magic spells that only work if you pronounce each syllable correctly, I’d rather they not use virtually identical moves to set up the real deal. Overall, though, this is a dream match that lives up to the billing.