Kazuchika Okada may have got the biggest pinfall victory to date in his AEW career and it happened to come up against an opponent he is far too familiar with.
‘The Rainmaker’ teamed up with The Young Bucks to face The Acclaimed and Hiroshi Tanahashi at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door, pitting two great rivals against one another in trios action. The Young Bucks and Acclaimed have been building toward a feud for weeks now, but the unexpected addition of ‘The Ace’ to the side of Anthony Bowens and Max Caster created an added ripple of interest to the match.
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All that culiminated in the final minute of the fight when it came down to Okada and Tanahashi in the ring. The two duked it out before Okada ended up hitting The Rainmaker lariat for the finish and the 1-2-3.
Since joining AEW as a full-time member of the roster, Okada has found himself in the unexpected position as a heel alongside The Young Bucks, all but replacing Kenny Omega in The Elite. Okada’s other big win of note since coming into the AEW fold was against Eddie Kingston, defeating ‘The Mad King’ for his AEW Continental Championship. This win at Forbidden Door, can certainly help position Okada in more of a main event light as ‘The Rainmaker’ has been greatly regulated to a comedic heel role since he’s aligned with Matthew and Nicholas Jackson.
Even though The Elite did get the victory, that doesn’t mean they’re fully free from The Acclaimed as Caster and Bowens beat The Bucks in an eliminator match, meaning they will have a future Tag Team Titles shot against the EVP brothers.
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