Tiens j'ai trouvé ça. je suppose que ça viens de la newsletter.
A few notes about the Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito title match on 3/4. I’d give the match ****3/4 and it was the best match I’ve seen in a long time, probably dating back to the John Cena vs. C.M. Punk match (some people will get mad about that but Cena vs. Punk was an incredible match, with the crowd being a big part of it, but the crowd was a big part of this match as well). New Japan right now probably has the three best in-ring main event style wrestlers in Naito, Yuji Nagata (who is still incredible at 44 when it comes to things like timing and facial expressions and athletically can still go) and Hiroshi Tanahashi. Okada was so much more poised and impressive here than in the title win over Tanahashi. The most important thing is that when Okada won the title, there was a lot of hardcore negativity, because he was 24, clearly wasn’t in the league of Tanahashi. But the mentality was to make a new superstar. The one thing New Japan’s title at this point has that the WWE belts don’t, is that Okada did come in with a combination of heat for a heel being champion and cheers for people who wanted to get behind the new young cool guy on the rise. It was a great dynamic. When WWE put guys like Sheamus or Jack Swagger in that position, or even C.M. Punk or Daniel Bryan at first, it didn’t take anywhere close. Part of it was Tanahashi having a long reign, making the title meaningful. Part of it was beating a guy clean in a long match, as opposed to cashing in a Money in the Bank, which while part of the WWE rule set and is not going to change, is a joke when it comes to taking it seriously. Of course it’s also a very big difference playing before 2,000 fans in a city the size of Tokyo (it’s like the crowd that would sell out the Hammerstein Ballroom in a city the size of New York) and running Sumo Hall or Madison Square Garden. This sold out and turned people away, but you can argue that the IWGP heavyweight title should never be defended at Korakuen Hall to begin with. The big test will be when Okada has to defend on 5/3 in Fukuoka against someone who presumably won’t be Tanahashi or Naito. To me, watching it, this felt like it would be the beginning of the next historical version of Thesz vs. O’Connor, Dory Funk Jr. vs. Jack Brisco, Flair vs. Steamboat, Misawa vs. Kobashi type of legendary in-ring rivalry, because this match is likely to win match of the year and it’s likely to cement their future matches as special. Okada is only going to get better with time, and that if New Japan, and these two stay healthy, they are going to be two of the top three guys in the promotion for years to come (Tanahashi is now 35, while Naito is 29, and Okada is only 24).