Top 20 Matches of WrestleMania 35 Week (Part II)

#2 Tetsuya Naito (c) vs. Kota Ibushi (for the IWGP Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship)

Kota Ibushi fulfills the dream of following in the footsteps of Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura

If Ibushi's battles with Kenny Omega are like passionate ballet performances and his matches with Tanahashi a grand ceremony of reverence, then the fights between Ibushi and Naito are explosive time bombs filled with hatred but underlined by wicked sexual tension.

There's some madness that captures these two when they face off, that surprisingly never hits such a high gear when Ibushi goes up against anyone else.

Sure Ibushi puts his neck on the line repeatedly with each match, yet that tense escalation reaches fever point with Naito.

It did so in the blistering opening round of the New Japan cup and it does once again here. This thrilling tale of one-upmanship comes perfectly from how Naito and Ibushi are so contrastingly similar, it's hard to describe them as anything even the cliche two sides of the same coin.

Where Ibushi is a Zen master with a manic edge, Naito is a calm and collected trickster with a dangerous demeanor once challenged.

The former has done best to temper his attitude to fulfill the prophecy Tanahashi once saw for him as the next ace. The latter since last years Dome show, has reflected upon his former stardust legacy as his Tranquilo facade begins to break forth for a fiercer want for accolades and accomplishment.

Their dazzling match features a sequence of unraveling moves and counters with each one hitting harder than the next. Never truly has a wrestling match really come to define pedal to the metal with such intensity.

The resultant end, an exhausted pumped crowd, a well-earned victory and a match that can live up to the iconic legacy of Madison Square Garden.

Result: Kota Ibushi's Boma Ye tribute doesn't pay off, but his Kamigoye does to keep Naito down for the three count and a win to become the NEW IWGP Intercontinental Champion!