[2019-06-09-NJPW-Dominion] Kazuchika Okada vs Chris Jericho

[Microstatistics]

Kazuchika Okada defends the IWGP Heavyweight title.

Pretty good stuff from Jericho here in between the aggressive attacks, heel stuff and generally trying to stay one step ahead of Okada story wise. I like Okada in general but this was a nothing performance. Aside from the gloating at the start, he contributed nothing to the match. Good finish with Okada outmaneuvering the "brawler" Jericho with a simple wrestling move. The pacing was pretty lethargic though and large parts fell flat. Not bad but hugely disappointing. ***

[Boss Rock]

I'm in the minority here but I liked this a lot. It deviated from the normal 30-minute NJPW main event and genuinely felt different. Both guys tried to wrestle their game early with Jericho trying to make it a gritty fight and Okada trying to keep it as more of a wrestling match. Eventually, Jericho's disrespect and taunts forced Okada to change tactics and he really laid in to Jericho with a lot of his strikes. I particularly liked the stomps in the corner with the normally calm and relaxed Okada clearly pissed off. The match went on a little bit longer than it needed to but even without plunder I don't think Jericho felt out of place in the more "wrestling" parts of this match. The finish fell flat with the audience but I thought it was a nice surprise.

****-****1/4

[ShittyLittleBoots]

I absolutely loved this & that is something I wasn't expecting to type out. Everything just clicked for me - loved how it was a bit different from your usual Okada big match formula w/ there not being a crazy finishing stretch or anything. Jericho dominated most of the thing, and I actually found pretty much all of his work on top very good & compelling; his beatdown of Okada was gritty, and he fantastically came off as the bitter, egoistic, cocky veteran that he is, punishing the young poster boy of the company. I also interpreted the STORY™ of the whole bout as Jericho slowly gassing out as he pulled out all the brakes to try and beat Okada, while Okada barely even left his first gear. That might be the case of me completely making shit up, but that's how I interpreted it anyway, and they told that story pretty fantastically throughout, all climaxing in the finish w/ Okada completely catching Jericho off-guard in vintage Bret Hart fashion. I personally LOVED it because I feel like the Rainmaker, as a finishing move, has been let kicked out of & been spammed a bit too much in the last 2-3 years. Also I am gonna forever defend that first Codebreaker by Jericho on the outside - it wasn't pretty, but my goodness it was the most vicious that move has ever looked performed by him. THIS WAS GREAT. ****

[SmartMark15]

A lot of love here and I can understand why. It disrupts the dreaded Okada formula, Jericho brings a lot of flavor with his character work, the finish was another unique disruption to the New Japan style. And all that might have worked if I hadn't just seen Tanahashi-White four days ago which in itself was a much better disruption of the New Japan style. Jericho is fun but he is slow and plodding. He hasn't hit a good Codebreaker in years (even though I too admire the balls of using it to counter the barricade dive), he's slow and plodding in the way that dragged down his feud with Owens, and a lot of the character stuff is wearing off a little. Maybe grabbing the camera would still be fun if he didn't do it in every single match since coming back. That being said, I thought that his traditional heat segment was fun and I thought that Okada brought a lot of charisma and fire to this match that's really been shining this year in particular. 

***1/2

[Childs]

This did not work for me at all. Jericho's New Japan schtick demands a fiery response, and that's just not Okada's strength. His offense doesn't fit in a brawl, and if the idea was that he'd trump Jericho's chaos with finesse, it didn't really come across until the actual finish. I was bored most of the way, and I'm not sure I want to see much more of Jericho in New Japan, though I have greater faith in Tanahashi to do something interesting with him.

[RingoPlaysDrums]

Sorry, wasn't really for me. I thought this really dragged and felt longer than it's 25 minute run time. I applaud Jericho's efforts at 48 years old but I didn't find this nearly as compelling as the Naito or Jericho matches. 

[soup23]

Hated this. Jericho looked old, sloppy and not as clunky with his strikes that made the Omega match work. Beyond that, Okada isn’t athletic enough to hide his short givings. You also had a tidy Okada main event with crowd brawling, flap jack transition and all the other bells and whistles that got cut off with a cute finish playing back a year ago. **

[Makai Club #1]

I thought Jericho would do wise to do a Jericho match rather than an Okada match but the first half of this match was god awful and that's basically a Jericho style of match. Once it turned into a normal match, this improved tremendously. Jericho had some nice chops. Okada took some nice bumps. There were some iffy sequences that looked awkward and slow though, so it wasn't all good. The finish was a show, to say the least. The post-match angle sucked and it was a bad way to end the show. It's been a while since the fans rejected an ending. **