At NJPW Sakura Genesis 2023, we would see the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship change hands. This ended Kazuchika Okada’s seventh reign as the top champion in New Japan Pro Wrestling – with SANADA finally realizing his potential as a main event star.
Okada is not too fussed by this however, and is ready to step away from singles spotlight for a moment – and is now focused on winning his first tag team gold.
Kazuchika Okada Wants To Focus On Tag Team Wrestling To Grow As A Wrestler
While speaking with Sports Illustrated, Okada would discuss his recent loss to SANADA – and looked forward to his upcoming match for the NJPW Strong Tag Team Championships alongside Hiroshi Tanahashi.
“For now, I want to focus on tag wrestling. I think Sanada’s challenge will be to be recognized by every wrestling fan as the champion. But then again, he did beat me, so that should be easy. I think it will be an interesting story for the two of us. I just wrestled him in February at Battle in the Valley, and it was important to me to have a title match with Tanahashi. I feel like now I’ve wrestled him in pretty much any situation. We’ve been bettering each other since 2012; we have such a story together. I think tagging with him will be a great experience for me to grow as a wrestler.”
The team of Tanahashi & Okada is known to NJPW fans as the dream team – being the best of their respective generations.
Despite this, they don’t have the best record as a tag team – and unsuccessfully challenged Bishamon for the IWGP Tag Team Championships earlier this year on the NJPW 51st Anniversary show.
Okada Doing Side Quests Allow NJPW To Build Up Their Roster
It’s not uncommon for Okada to essentially do side quests after losing the top title in NJPW. Due to how dominant Okada can be, time with him away from the main event scene is healthy for the company – allowing names like SANADA to breathe and establish themselves.
We last saw this in 2020, when Okada held himself back from using his Rainmaker finisher to work on a submission finisher to mixed results, and during that same time – established the King of Pro Wrestling Championship.
All paths generally lead back to Okada at the top of the company, with him being their proven top draw and considered among the best wrestlers in the world.
The telling part of his dominance is that he’s never held a non-World Championship in his career. A focus on tag team wrestling until the start of the G1 Climax will allow Okada to enter the tournament in peak form, and he’s likely to make the finals – if not achieve back to back victories.
Okada & Tanahashi will challenge the Motor City Machine Guns & Aussie Open tomorrow night at Capitol Collision. Will The Dream Team win gold? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
SUBSCRIBE NOW: Get TheOvertimer’s Hottest Stories, Breaking News and Special Features in your email, CLICK HERE!
