#191: Bryan Danielson vs. Kazuchika Okada, NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 18 (1/4/2024).
This is #10 in my Top Matches of 2024.
These two had a great first time match at AEW Forbidden Door in June of 2023, with Danielson not only winning the match, but becoming the 2nd person to ever submit Kazuchika Okada – the first being Shinsuke Nakamura during the 2015 G1 Climax tournament. In that same match, Danielson broke his arm due to an Okada diving elbow drop. Here, he challenged Okada to a rematch in the Tokyo Dome, promising “an eye for an eye,” meaning that he was going to break Okada’s arm, and retire the Rainmaker finisher forever. But would he?
Danielson, sporting an eye patch from his recent orbital bone injury, rips apart one of the Okada dollars on the stage.
The bell sounds, and the crowd is ready for this. They meet in the middle of the ring, with Danielson taunting Okada with a few quick slaps. Okada gives it right back, leaving his jaw open. Danielson with a quick kick to the leg, and Okada continues to egg him on. Danielson takes control of the back, and tries for a face lock, but Okada is able to slip out and take control of the arm. Danielson is back to his feet, and he goes right for the Rainmaker arm with an arm bar, and Okada quickly gets to the ropes.
They lock hands, and go for a test of strength. Danielson with an elbow to the head, and Okada with one of his own. We get a forearm exchange while their hands are locked, and Okada gets the upper hand with a diving shoulder tackle. Elbow in the corner, followed by a spike DDT for a nearfall. Okada locks in the Money Clip early, and Danielson gets to the ropes to break the hold. Okada drives his knee into the midsection, before hitting a Snap Mare and a running dropkick to the head.
Bryan rolls to the floor, and Okada follows him. He brings Bryan to the floor by the ramp, and hits another DDT. Okada then runs from side of the ramp to the other, and eats a Busaiku Knee out of nowhere from Bryan. Bryan slaps the shit out of Okada repeatedly, and promises to fuck him up. Bryan extends the arm and snaps it over his shoulder. He follows that up by hammerlocking the arm into the barricade, then slamming the door into it repeatedly.
Bryan extends the arm out again over his shoulder, before rolling Okada into the ring. He twists the arm around, and uses his knuckles for more pressure. He forearms Okada in the chest against the ropes, then hits a hammerlock Northern Lights suplex for a 2 count. Bryan gets Okada on the mat, and hooks his arm to the mat, and then stomps on the elbow, twisting his wrist in bad places. He promises to break his fucking arm. Ah, that’s the ROH Danielson that I love!
Bryan drives his knee into the arm again, and then arm bars it, Yuji Nagata style! The crowd is eating this limb work up, I should add. He transitions to a Kimura Lock, and Okada is able to get his foot on the bottom rope. Bryan stays on the offensive, trapping Okada’s arm in the ropes, and hitting several dropkicks into the shoulder. He taunts for a moment, and Okada explodes out of the corner with a big boot to the face.
Bryan with a hard kick to the midsection, but when he rushes Okada, the Rainmaker catches him with a neckbreaker across his knee. Okada pushes through the pain to hit a powerslam, and then he goes to the top rope. Bryan cuts him off with a forearm, and a nice uppercut. Bryan goes to the top with Okada, and brings him crashing to the mat with a double arm suplex, and he goes right into the LeBell Lock submission! Okada quickly gets to the ropes to break it. Okada rolls to the apron, but Bryan is quick to stay on him. A kick to the chest, and a slap to the face follow. Okada catches one of the kicks, and drops him on the apron with a Tombstone! Back in the ring, Okada unloads with some nice stomps to the head of Bryan in the corner. Here comes Dick Okada! He rips the eye patch off, and drives his boot into the injured bone! Beautiful dropkick connects flush from the Rainmaker.
Another powerslam connects, and Okada is back on top. He hits the diving elbow drop, though it injures his arm even further! Rainmaker pose in the Tokyo Dome! Okada goes for the Rainmaker, but Bryan counters into a side slide pin attempt for 2. Bryan with a hard kick to the arm, and then to the head! Bryan begins to drive his elbow into the neck of Okada repeatedly. Okada is powering through it, screaming after every shot. He’s back to his feet, and he lifts Bryan up, but Bryan escapes and hits the Busaiku Knee! He covers, but Okada kicks out!
Bryan transitions back into the LeBell Lock! Okada fights to crawl towards the ropes, but Bryan turns it into a back slide pin for a quick nearfall. Next, Bryan looks to trap Okada’s other arm in a submission – the same way he won at Forbidden Door! He has both arms trapped, and he’s pulling on the neck as well! Okada fights through incredible pain to get to the ropes, using his long legs. Bryan is all smiles though, despite this.
He stands to his feet, and grabs both arms of Okada. He stomps down on his jaw, and then locks in an arm bar. Okada is quick to escape, and he hits the Rainmaker out of nowhere! But he hurt himself in the process! Both are back to their feet, and Bryan kicks the injured arm. Okada with a few boots to the face, and we get a nice back and forth exchange. Okada drops Bryan to the mat with a forearm to the jaw. He goes to grab Bryan, who’s able to catch him in a LeBell Lock attempt.
Okada takes top position, and hits more forearms. High German Suplex follows, and Bryan kicks at the arm and the head! He counters the Rainmaker with a discus elbow, and the Busaiku Knee again! Bryan kneels in the corner and prepares for one more, but Okada ducks out of the way and drills Bryan with the Emerald Flowsion! Bryan counters the Rainmaker again, and a second time, but he can’t counter the dropkick!
Death Valley Driver by Okada, and the Rainmaker again! He covers, and that’s enough for the win! Post match, both men bow to each other and shake hands. This was a huge improvement over the Forbidden Door match. For starters, it didn’t have to follow a match like Will Ospreay vs. Kenny Omega, so the crowd was lively for it. Also, this flowed much better – probably because it didn’t have that weird seizure spot that the first one had.
They told a great story here of Bryan zeroing in on the main arm of Okada, and Okada fighting through it with great grit. There were some fantastic sequences towards the end of this match, as Bryan seemingly had a counter for everything that Okada had for him. But, as good as Bryan Danielson is, Kazuchika Okada is a different beast inside of the Tokyo Dome, so he had no chance here. Alas, a really great battle between two of the all time greats.