When news broke that Kazuchika Okada was basically a lock to sign with AEW after a promotion-defining run as the face of New Japan Pro Wrestling, fans around the world – literally – wondered how Tony Khan would present the five-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
Would he come in and immediately slay the big boss that is Samoa Joe, the current AEW World Champion and the man who ended MJF's record-setting title reign? Or would he instead debut alongside a pre-existing faction, say, turning the greater Best Friends group into Chaos West alongside Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, Orange Cassidy, Rocky Romero, and Danhausen, too, for good measure?
Well, as it turns out, Okada did debut within a group, replacing Kenny Omega and “Hangman” Adam Page to become the new face of the Elite alongside the Young Bucks, Nicholas and Matthew Jackson, and in the opinion of Matt Hardy on his Extreme Life podcast, this was the perfect way to bring him to American television, as the pairing has the potential to be money.
“I'm intrigued, and it's a good intrigue. I don't know Kazuchika Okada a lot. The few times I've met him, I've liked him a lot, seems very nice. The Bucks speak very highly of him. He's a big star, there's no doubt about that. Extremely talented individual,” Matt Hardy said on his Extreme Life via Fightful. “So I'm very excited to see his impact on AEW, especially as the AEW audience and people outside of the international wrestling bubble really get to learn who Okada is and really get to see how talented he is and get to see him in action, learn what he's about, what makes him tick. I think that's gonna be very beneficial, and I think pairing him with the Bucks is a good deal. It's something where everybody feels comfortable. It'll make him feel comfortable. They should gel good because they've been friends for many, many years, and it's gonna be an intriguing thing. I'm looking forward to watching it and following it.”
Would Okada have succeeded if he came over to America as The Great Saiyaman, an unflappable babyface hero who can go to war with the best of the best professional wrestling has to offer if he needs to? Sure, Okada was on the other side of Omega's 5-star matches and could do the same with AEW stars like Will Ospreay and “Switchblade” Jay White, too, if he wanted to. Turning him heel, however, presents the “Rainmaker” with a number of brand new opportunities that Hardy feels could make him very interesting indeed long-term.
Matt Hardy believes heel Kazuchika Okada has huge potential.
Turning his attention to Kazuchika Okada's future in AEW, Matt Hardy believes the decision to turn him heel was actually a stroke of brilliance from Tony Khan and his EVPs, as it should allow the “Rainmaker” to have added career longevity due to the complexity of his character.
“I think personally, it gives you career longevity. If you can go in a different direction, you can do something new, if you can establish and get it over. It can help you have career longevity. Because one thing that is so similar about actors and wrestlers is there are people who are playing a specific part, right, and the actors play a part in a show for… say you're a TV series. A good run is five seasons, is what people that are actors have told me. If you have five seasons, it was a success. Not a lot of people get five seasons, but if you have five seasons, it was a success. But after those five seasons are over, then if you do another show, you play another character, and you're kind of forced to,” Matt Hardy noted.
“If you're wrestling and you're the same character through 20 seasons, through 25 seasons, it can get old pretty quick. So it's very important to be able to re-invent yourself. It's very important to be able to evolve and constantly change, and that allows you to go back to things in the past that was over when people actually miss because it's been gone so long, when they bereave it and they want to see it again. So I think this is good for Okada. I think it's gonna give him career longevity, and I also think, as an artist, as someone who's creative, I think it's very cathartic to be able to go out and do something that you don't typically do.”
Technically, this isn't a new gimmick for Okada, as he worked a similar “Playboy” heel role early in his time at New Japan Pro Wrestling, but after being the big babyface hero of NJPW during most of the time, he was an international star, switching over to a heel run does present him with some interesting options moving forward, as eventually, he can have a babyface turn and go back to the “greatest hits” when his run with the Young Bucks has grown stale.
Follow Us
Subscribe