Kazuchika Okada
| Kazuchika Okada | |
|---|---|
Okada in February 2016
|
|
| Birth name | Kazuchika Okada |
| Born |
November 8, 1987 Anjō, Aichi, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) |
Kazuchika Okada Okada Okato |
| Billed height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) |
| Billed weight | 107 kg (236 lb) |
| Billed from | Tokyo, Japan |
| Trained by |
Último Dragón Yuji Nagata |
| Debut | August 29, 2004 |
Kazuchika Okada (岡田 和睦 Okada Kazuchika?, ring name: オカダ・カズチカ) (born November 8, 1987) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is in his fourth reign as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
Initially trained by Último Dragón and making his debut in August 2004, Okada spent his first years in professional wrestling working in Mexico, before returning to Japan and making NJPW his home promotion in mid-2007. Originally working as a junior heavyweight, Okada graduated to the heavyweight division in April 2008, with limited success. In February 2010, NJPW sent Okada on a learning excursion to American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he ended up spending the next twenty months, mainly performing on the promotion's secondary television program, Xplosion. From January to March 2011, Okada, now performing under the ring name Okato, was featured on TNA's primary television program, Impact!, as Samoa Joe's sidekick in his rivalry with D'Angelo Dinero.
Okada's run with TNA ended in October 2011 and he returned to NJPW in January 2012, repackaged as "Rainmaker" (レインメーカー Reinmēkā?), complete with a new look and a villainous persona. Just a month later, Okada defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win NJPW's top title, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which he would hold for four months, before losing it back to Tanahashi. The following August, Okada won NJPW's premier tournament, the G1 Climax. At the end of year, the Tokyo Sports magazine named Okada the 2012 MVP in all of Japanese professional wrestling. The following year, Okada first won the New Japan Cup in March, before regaining the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Tanahashi in April. After a thirteen-month reign, Okada lost the title in May 2014. Three months later, he won his second G1 Climax. Okada has since won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship two more times, and headlined NJPW's biggest annual event – the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show – four times (2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017).
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