Wrestling’s Top 10 Matches of January: A Month of Heartbreak
By Matt Seese
Photo Source: njpw1972.com
Everything indicated that it was Naito’s time. The stage couldn’t have been bigger, the crowd couldn’t have been hotter, the lights couldn’t have been brighter for Naito to reach the peak of the mountain top and topple the historic reign of Kazuchika Okada.
DESTINO!
Out of nowhere, Naito hit Destino on Okada! All he had to do was cover him and the most coveted prize in all of wrestling was his!
But he didn’t.
The crowd was going insane, urging him to cover Okada, but he didn’t. Instead, he pulled Okada back up to his feet, looking for a second Destino, but this time he was not so fortunate.
Rainmaker.
The comeback story was ruined by one fatal error.
The match went on for over 30 minutes, but all it took for Okada to end the dreams of Tetsuya Naito was three seconds. A stunned crowd, almost all of whom were pulling for Naito, sat there deflated, angry, and confused.
Naito’s destiny to becoming the top champion in the promotion he was once the laughing stock of was derailed because he had to take a moment soak it all in.
Heartbreak should never be so beautiful, but it seemed to be thematic in the month of January.