New Japan Pro-Wrestling ace Kazuchika Okada answered fans’ questions in an online interview. Kazuchika Okada discusses his finisher among other things. These questions and answers provided fans of his an interesting opportunity. They peer into the mind of one of the best wrestlers active today.
Kazuchika Okada has been a mainstay of NJPW’s for over a decade now. But only began portraying the ‘rainmaker’ since 2012. Prior to that, he was a generic young boy that lacked any uniqueness and had limited success at best as a wrestler. It wasn’t until he left TNA under acrimonious circumstances that he really came into his own as NJPW’s newest star.
Since 2012, Okada has transformed from generic NJPW Young Lion #42 to arguably the best wrestler alive. He has enjoyed immense success as a wrestler, both critical and commercial. Many of his recent performances are considered among the greatest matches of all time.
Below are some of the highlights of the questions he has answered:
On how he behaves differently as a champion versus without the championship:
“There’s a certain level of conduct that a champion needs to have, you have to be a little bit more polite, more gentlemanly I guess. That’s not to say you can forget your manners if you aren’t the champion, but I do feel I can be a bit more human and do what I want a little more.”
On if he’d be interested in pursuing the IWGP Tag Team Titles:
“I’ve gotta say, ever since Tanahashi and Ibushi won the tag belts, that division is looking a lot more appealing. The prospect of guys that I’ve fought so hard with in singles being tag champions, that’s intriguing. And wrestling the two of them together, that’s something different to singles matches we’ve had before. I know I only just lost my title to Naito, but if it’s a question of wrestling for the tag titles or a double IWGP championship match, the tag titles are more interesting to me.”
Kazuchika Okada discusses finisher
On why his finisher is called ‘The Rainmaker’:
“To make a long story short, it’s this American phrase connected to people that can come into a company and instantly make a ton of money for them, and I thought it would be a cool fit for me in NJPW. So it became my nickname.
And then to make sure it was used and that brand of mine got strengthened, I made it the name of my finish, too. As for the move itself, you see that wrist clutch and extension quite a lot in lucha libre; I can’t remember the match, but I remember seeing it in America and thinking it looked cool. And I always thought something leading to a lariat would be a cool finish, so one was added to the other.”
You can read the Q&A in its entirety here.
