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IWGP Heavyweight Championship: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs Tetsuya Naito
If you're at all familiar with me, you probably know that Okada is by far my favorite wrestler in the world. His ability to have incredible matches with every single wrestler he faces is unparalleled, and he also just led NJPW to their second-most profitable year in history.

That said, he shouldn't win this match. It's Naito's time.

Really, the best thing you can do to prepare yourself for this match is to watch these three videos. They're exceptionally well done and cover pretty much all the most important info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y82ElzYuMaY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juuQJYWD8mI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZgZEgCkrs0
In case you don't want to, though, I'm gonna try to hit the cliffnotes. First, Okada's side.

- In 2012, Okada returned from excursion as a cocky young prick and won the title from Tanahashi in his second match back. This was a shocker, as Tana was on a legendary run at the time.
- Over the next few years, the two traded the title back and forth (only being interrupted a couple times by AJ Styles) in one of the greatest series of wrestling matches ever.
- At Wrestle Kingdom 9, in what looked to be Okada's crowning moment, he was instead reduced to his lowest. He left the ring actually sobbing as Tanahashi taunted him, saying he would never be the ace.
- During this period, Okada grew as a character, learning how to be a true champion, earning the respect of the crowd, and gaining a passion to lead New Japan into new prosperity.
- With his newfound attitude, he finally put his feud with Tana to rest at WK10, taking his deserved spot at the top of the company.
- Since then, except for a brief couple of months where he lost the belt to Naito, he's established himself as almost unbeatable. He bends but doesn't break. He always finds a way to win. His current reign sits at 563 days, and a not insignificant amount of people believe that, because of both the incredible match quality and the fact that he's sold out every big show he's headlined, it may be the greatest title run in wrestling history.

I could write pages and pages on Okada's character development, but that's enough for now. On to Naito.

- Naito spent several years as the NJPW equivalent of Roman Reigns. Pegged as a star but could never really get over the way the company wanted. Also, despite being ostensibly a babyface, he was kind of an asshole.
- The biggest disaster of this era of Naito was Wrestle Kingdom 8. He defeated Tanahashi in the G1 Climax to earn a title shot against Okada at WK8. However, the fans still didn't care. Tana was still the company ace at this point, and he was coming off what was to that point his best matches with Okada. Fans didn't like that Naito was getting in the way of that.
- Tana, in a last ditch effort to earn the main event spot at the Dome, challenged Shinsuke Nakamura to an IC title match and suggested that fans vote on which match they wanted to main event.
- The IC title match won the vote. As if that wasn't humiliating enough, Naito lost to Okada in a pretty forgettable match.
- After this, Naito floundered until he took a break and wrestled in Mexico for a while. While there, he aligned with a heel stable called Los Ingobernables. Upon returning to New Japan, he kept this heel attitude and became a massive dick, eventually forming his own Japan branch of Los Ingobernables.
- As the months wore on, something amazing happened. Naito got over. Fans identified with his "tranquilo," ungovernable attitude, relating to his feelings of being disrespected by the front office, his peers, and the collective public.
- In April 2016, Naito finally accomplished his dream of winning the IWGP HW championship, but he had to rely on a ton of LIJ interference to do so. However, he mistreated the physical belt, implying that he was bigger than the championship itself.
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