The Drama of Professional Wrestling - Naito vs Omega
Match #1 of An Unexpected Series - Kenny Omega Vs. Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax 2017
The worst reaction a performer can garner in the professional wrestling ring is no reaction at all. The boos, jeers and chants of the live crowd are the lifeblood of this sport. These reactions provide cues for performers to play into and bounce off of as they grapple, soar, and craft intricate stories night after night.
If a "good guy” is hated by the crowd, adjustments can be made. Famously, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson debuted in the WWF as a white-meat bland babyface named Rocky Maivia. His character was so reviled he had crowds nationwide actively chanting “Die Rocky Die” as they disliked a performer who didn’t showcase much in the ring or on the microphone. Johnson and WWF repackaged Maivia into The Rock, and one eyebrow raise at a time, he established himself as one of the biggest stars in American wrestling since Hulk Hogan.
Picture how has fate would have differed if he had garnered no reaction-no boos, no jeers, no chants wishing for his death. Only the horrifying sounds of silence from an apathetic crowd. This is the fate that befell Tetsuya Naito in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
At the beginning of the 2010s, Naito had decent success as the "Stardust Genius,” a character meant to echo the success of NJPW stars past and present such as Keiji Mutoh and Hiroshi Tanahashi. The Stardust Genius was a high-flying babyface, playing to the crowd and dazzling with magnificent feats of athleticism. Despite the success Naito achieved with this character, the crowd’s favor began to dwindle after his return from knee surgery.
In 2013 Naito won the grueling G1 Climax tournament, besting his fellow wrestlers over four weeks and capping it all off by beating Hiroshi Tanahashi in the finals and earning the right to compete for the most prized possession in New Japan, the International Wrestling Grand Prix Heavyweight Championship. 2014 was meant to be Naito’s ascension to the top of the card, but the end of 2013 was not so kind to Naito.
After a successful title defense by IWGP champion Kazuchika Okada, Naito confronts Okada to set up their match that is to main event New Japan’s biggest show of the year, Wrestle Kingdom. But when Naito steps out, there’s no reaction. No jeering, no uproarious cheers and hordes of fans screaming his name, not even confused murmurs.
For a highly promoted babyface who claimed he would be the next leader of the company, this could only be labeled a disaster. A silence so devastating that it led to New Japan doing something practically unprecedented, staging a fan vote to determine the main event of Wrestle Kingdom. In embarrassing fashion, Naito’s heavyweight title match vs Okada lost the vote, and he lost his match against Okada at Wrestle Kingdom.
Following this humbling defeat, Naito was kicked while he was down, losing his NEVER Openweight championship the very next month. Over the summer of 2014 Naito fell down the card and it was clear that New Japan management and fans alike both lost faith in his abilities to be a top star.
In 2015 Naito had the opportunity to go to Mexico, where he joined Los Ignorables, a popular heel stable. Alongside Los Ignorables, Naito was able to channel all the aggression he had towards New Japan fans and management turning their back on the Stardust Genius into a new character, the return to Japan would bring Naito to new heights.
When Naito returned to New Japan, he was an unrepentant asshole. He displayed his new devil-may-care attitude by disrespecting his opponents, the fans, and anybody in his path. This heel turn enthralled the crowd far more than the Stardust Genius, and they were eating out of his palm one “tranquilo” at a time. The character Naito had evolved into enraptured them and by 2017 he became one of the most popular wrestlers in the company; with a legion of fans adorned in his merchandise, screaming his name in support of his quest to best his rival Okada and win the IWGP Heavyweight title. Naito was once again in the G1 Climax tournament with the chance to main event Wrestle Kingdom and vanquish Kazuchika Okada, the only problem was he was in the finals against the same man who stopped him in 2016 from winning their group and potentially the tournament itself.
Kenny Omega wasn’t supposed to be here, not because he is a gaijin (Japanese for foreigner) as several foreigners have seen success in Japanese wrestling, no he wasn’t supposed to be here because well, he was quite frankly Just A Guy. A nondescript junior heavyweight wrestler in Japan, he had good matches but there’s plenty of talent who can put on good matches. He didn’t stand out until he returned to New Japan in 2014 under the moniker of The Cleaner, a cheesy gimmick revolving around Kenny cleaning up the filth of the junior heavyweight division.
The Cleaner was buoyed by the Bullet Club, a ragtag group of fellow foreigners running roughshod over New Japan and taking all advantages they could to win matches. Their traditional brash, southern based, American Heel gimmick caught fire in Japan and Kenny was their ace in the junior heavyweight division. By 2016 Kenny had taken the position as leader of Bullet Club and had graduated to being a heavyweight, with his sights set on claiming the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Kenny began evolving, with the newfound character came a newfound confidence in the ring, a confidence that management rewarded with a variety of high-profile title bouts and even booking Kenny to become the first gaijin to win the G1 Climax tournament in his very first G1 appearance.
Much like Naito had done in the past, Omega had the chance to dethrone Okada on January 4th in the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom and came up short in one of the greatest matches in wrestling history. Okada and Omega followed up their Wrestle Kingdom match with another main event match that ended in a 60-minute draw and had just met the previous night of the tournament with Kenny finally scoring a victory over Okada and propelling himself to the finals of the G1 climax.
For Kenny, tonight is about getting the opportunity to prove once and for all he truly is better than Okada. For Naito, tonight is about redemption, redeeming his failures from four years prior and cementing his status as top star of New Japan in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom.
There is no fear or worry about a lack of crowd reaction here, prior to the bell even ringing the crowd is enchanted by the two men before them, with the crowd cheering heavily for both men. As the two strip away their entrance attire and prepare for combat in the ring, the intensity is unmatched, and the crowd is in a frenzy.
As the bell rings Naito showcases the same attitude that brought him to this very moment, frustrating Omega by refusing his efforts to grapple at the start of the match. Naito is absolutely dripping with physical charisma, from the way he discards his suit prior to the match, to his evasive maneuvers after the bell rings. You can’t help but be mystified by the magic of Naito.
After going back and forth for the opening minutes of the match with neither man able to cement themselves as the dominating force, Naito gains the advantage after dishing out a brutal neckbreaker to the apron followed by a second neckbreaker to the floor below, perfect setup for his finishing maneuver the Destino.
Looking to force the issue and brutalize Omega’s neck more, Naito once again takes the match to the outside and prepares to do a piledriver onto the announce table. In one of the many spots that cause viewing audiences to gasp in terror, Naito slips off the table and comes crashing down with Omega onto the concrete below. It’s a shocking move, especially so early within the match, and is the perfect example of how much this means to Naito.
Even without knowledge of their backstory, simply by the energy of his and Omega’s performances you can witness a story being crafted between these two that is built on something deeper than just this one match on a hot August night. This is all or nothing for both men, there is no tactic they won’t use to achieve their shot at redemption.
The match continues to operate at a breakneck pace, it’s an evenly contested matchup between the two men with them both trading the biggest bombs they have at their disposal. As the match advances, the crowd is firmly behind Naito, as we hear scores of fans chant “NAITO! NAITO NAITO” before Omega takes control of the match with a vicious DDT on the ring post. It is exceedingly rare due to how expansive pro wrestling is for an audience to witness something that jolts them out of any disbelief they may have before them and brings them into the world with a force. With expert direction the camera cuts to the audience and pans across ten thousand plus people collectively gasping in shock at what they’ve seen. This camera work makes the follow-up reversal by Naito hit even harder as we see people stomp and clap in admiration for his ability to keep reversing Omega even when it looks like he should be out on his feet.
After a particularly dangerous looking top-rope reverse frankensteiner followed by an Omega kick-out, we see the desperation immediately seep into Naito. The once “tranquilo” wrestler is gone, the Stardust Genius is back. For the first time since making his return to New Japan, Naito prepares himself to hit his old finishing move, the Stardust Press. The moment Naito body slams Omega near the corner the crowd is molten hot. No matter the age, no matter the gender, all are on their feet to see the return of the high-flying theatrics that originally made them a fan of the dynamo. Naito misses in what the viewer can’t help but feel is a signal that the Stardust Genius is truly dead, the attachment to his past failures has now given Omega the advantage and possibly ruined Naito’s chance at redeeming his loss to Okada years ago.
The finishing stretches of this match is filled with the drama you come to wrestling for. The crowd is overwhelmingly in Naito’s corner now after starting the match split down the middle. As Omega begins to take over all we can hear is a red-hot crowd screaming for Naito’s comeback. With each consecutive V-Trigger knee strike from Omega, the crowd gets hotter. As Omega prepares to hit his devastating finisher, the One-Winged Angel, Naito is able to reverse mid-move and hit his second Destino of the match and both men are down for a double ten-count. Once the pair rise to their feet we get a classic strike exchange that leads us to our true finish of the match. After a pair of Hammerlock Destinos the match is finally over.
Despite a comparatively lackluster finishing sequence ending with Naito hitting his finish on Omega only for Omega to kickout and for Naito to hit his finish again for the win, I can’t help but see this as one of the perfect matches in existence. It has its foibles but amidst multiple viewings I find myself reacting as if it’s the first time, astonished by the action before my eyes and waiting with eager breaths to see who will come out the victor. In a golden period for New Japan filled with all-time great matches, the second confrontation between Naito and Omega in 2017 stands out as my favorite match, possibly ever.
Star Rating: *****