Kazuchika Okada brings the classic Rainmaker gear back at Wrestle Kingdom 13

Well this is an angle I wasn’t expecting to take!

Kazuchika Okada and “Switchblade” Jay White were set for a grudge match today at Wrestle Kingdom 13 (for full results, check here), and a grudge match they did have.

Playing out like a classic New Japan main event on fast-forward, they dispensed with all the nigh-mandatory feeling out you usually see and went right at it, Switchblade targeting the back and neck after his trademark back suplex to the floor while Okada fought from underneath. The Rainmaker got his rally, fought off interference from his former mentor Gedo, and got all of his usual fast-paced reversals and exchanges that he executes oh so smoothly, but in the end, White snapped off Blade Runner for the pinfall victory.

1-2-3, clean as a sheet.

But no, as good as the match was and as fresh as it felt, the big news here is that the long boys are no more.

Yes, folks, Kazuchika Okada has ditched the pants his mommy made him earlier this year and returned to the shorts that brought him to the dance.

The pants had proved a shockingly divisive gear choice, but the return to the shorts sends a definitive message after Okada’s rough year following the end of his record-setting title reign at Dominion last year. The Rainmaker is back... in theory.

In reality, Kazuchika’s shown a tendency to spiral after big losses, and only time will tell if White’s victory here will send him right back into depression and a mother’s love as demonstrated by a pair of pants stitched with loving care.

There you have it, folks

Are you into the return of the Rainmaker’s classic shorts or are you hoping Okada will go back to the long boys, Cagesiders?