Hiroshi Tanahashi

[ohtani's jacket]

Nakamura/Okada vs. Tanahashi/Naito, 12/23/12

 

-- This was okay, but at 30 minutes plus it felt like too much of a good thing, or in New Japan's case too much of a decent thing.

 

-- I don't think anyone really stood out as the best worker in the match. Nakamura obviously has the best strikes of the four. His front kicks in particular are really good, some of the best in wrestling. But aside from that he's like a Japanese DDP and really needs to expand his moveset. Tanahashi and Okada were Tanahashi and Okada, and Naito is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. If anything, I thought he brought the most energy to the match.

 

-- It reminded me a lot of post interpromotional era Joshi, where all they could think to do was up the ante each time. Whatever problems there are in a match like this, they started a long time ago. This is why I prefer shoot style (real shoot style, not that UWF-i bullshit) that's stripped of all the excess.

 

-- There was a submission that Naito put on Okada that should have been the finish of the match. Unfortunately, Nakamura tried to break up the submission and Tanahashi did his frog splash on him and the life was sucked out of the submission. Then they went on to do a four way knockout where everyone was counted out, which was supposed to be some kind of epic image leading into the Dome match, but was like some shitty ending to RAW. I really wanted that submission finish.

 

-- Probably *** 1/2 or so.

[dawho5]

After my first Tanahashi match I had to come see how others reacted to his work. I'm not too far off of OJ and Nintendo's basic idea. He's not as great as all the hype, but neither is he awful. The hot finishing sequence after uninspired early match work was one of the reasons I ended up going away from NJ juniors matches in the first place. It's not that I won't watch that kind of thing, I just find that after a while it all tends to run together for me. The argument that a lot of current puro is overdone on the no-selling of head drops and the overdone "fighting spirit" is one I totally agree with. I think it is almost a requirement now that there is at least one strike exchange in every match. To me that is overkill. Let the workers who are *good* at the stiff striking do that, and if you get a guy like Tanahashi who is clearly not, don't force him into that.

[ohtani's jacket]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, 4/6/14

 

* I still can't get over how odd Nakamura is. He's like Shinjiro Ohtani on some kind of stimulant.

 

* Wow, they actually did something interesting from the lock-up. The lock-up is one of the worst parts of Tanahashi's game, but they had an extended lock-up sequence here with a handful of restarts that was one of the better starts to a Tanahashi match I've seen.

 

* Tanahashi worked the not-so-subtle heel role here. Think Bret Hart but without the frustration and sense of entitlement. There was a lone guy in the crowd booing, but otherwise the crowd didn't care. He worked Nakamura's leg over, which isn't my favourite kind of wrestling, but here it added a new wrinkle to the Tanahashi formula, especially with stuff like the High Fly Flow onto the leg.

 

* The middle sagged a bit as middles tend to do. Nakamura sold well, but Tanahashi wasn't really interesting in his subtle heel role. The match picked up when Nakamura draped Tanahashi over the turnbuckle and delivered some running knees into his rib section. Tanahashi matches have a lot of weak strikes, but that's something Nakamura will never be guilty of.

 

* As usual, they turned it on for the ending. The ending was awesome. Nakamura caught Tanahashi in a hurty looking armbar that put extra strain on his ribs, and when Tanahashi managed to break it, there was this incredible shot of Nakamura landing a running knee to the back of his head. A couple of awesome looking strikes later and it was goodnight Tanahashi. Man, that was an exciting ending sequence.

 

* Topped out at ****, mainly due to the exciting finish, but the body was probably around *** 3/4.

[ohtani's jacket]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma, 7/21/14

 

* This is the first time I've seen Honma. He's not a guy I know a whole lot about except that the Wrestling KO guys are high on him. He sure is an excitable fella. I was impressed with how much better he made Tanahashi's strikes look by having a slightly more exaggerated or theatrical style of selling that drew your attention toward the sell and away from the impact. He did no-sell a fair bit, including on a suplex late in the match, but his charisma makes it forgivable.

 

* Tanahashi's lock-ups have really improved and his opening exchanges are much better these days. A small shift maybe, but it starts things off on the right note and makes me receptive to the match. Tanahashi wisely gave Honma much of the early going and I liked the way that Honma's direct style forced more physicality from Tanahashi than finesse.

 

* Match had no real flaws and was a solid G1 league bout. They weren't going for an epic and instead produced a tidy bout. I'd peg it at around *** 1/2.

[dawho5]

I was thinking that Nakamura had some similarities to Ohtani when I watched them wrestle each other. He's bigger and more shooty, but there's something there that made me think Ohtani was wrestling a bigger version of his younger self. I don't think Nakamura is as openly emotive or works the crowd as much though.

 

As far as Tanahashi goes, there's a lot I like about him. Yeah, his opening match stuff and strikes are really weak. And I wouldn't go so far as to put him on the level of a Flair or Misawa, but he's got a formula and it usually works with pretty much everyone and produces acceptable to good matches most of the time. The legwork grew on me when I noticed how he used it late to stay on offense after somebody got the knees up on a frog splash. Reminded me a little of the Kawada armwork that led to the opponent being unable to follow up after a jumping high kick. I do wish he'd work over the ribs a bit more in anticipation of the high fly flow though.

[ohtani's jacket]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata (7/26/14)

 

* I haven't enjoyed Shibata's bachi bachi style in the past despite being a big shoot style fan, but I thought it made for a great styles clash here. It helped that I read up about Tanahashi's views on Shibata prior to the match as there was a real tension there that I wouldn't have caught otherwise.

 

* The opening was a little cutesy, but it worked for me. The body of the match was solid. I'm not a huge fan of outside brawling in Japanese wrestling, but I thought the ringside spots were good and the basic narrative of Tanahashi having to avoid the penalty kick and try to neutralise Shibata's kicking power was decent. Shibata managed to vary the strike exchanges so that they weren't all centre of the ring, and I thought his forearms in the corner were great.

 

* Tanahashi going up for the second High Fly Flow was a bad mistake from a kayfabe perspective. You could see that wasn't going to end well. The finish itself was absolutely spectacular. As much as I've bitched about New Japan strike exchanges and as typical a one as it was (this being the "we're out on our feet" version where they're fighting through the fatigue), but the variations on the final strikes were fantastic and the Shibata spinning strike that knocked Tanahashi to the ground was beautiful. The ref was great here as well as it looked like he wanted to call for the doctor. And the set-up for the penalty kick was great. That's how you job in a big wrestling match. Tanahashi's no Misawa, but that was a Misawa style job.

 

* Great match! At least ****. Maybe even **** 1/2 for the excitement levels. Shibata was great in this. Tanashi sold well and as usual the match layout was strong, but Shibata wrestled with so much purpose and really deserved his win.

[ohtani's jacket]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii (7/31/14)

 

* This was all right, but nothing to write home about.

 

* The way they shot it was kind of strange as a lot of it was done from ringside. This made some of their strikes look better than usual and a few of them look even more business exposing, but overall it made the strike exchanges seem different, which is a plus.

 

* Tanahashi apparently injured himself the night before, but it was hard to pin point that as the reason for why the match failed to fire. I did like the big headbutt Ishii landed towards the end and the sliding lariat, but other than that my impression of this was a lot of sling blades and a couple of leg whips for good measure. Not really an inspired performance from Tanahashi.

 

* I don't understand how people can think Ishii is the best worker in Japan, let alone the world, when he's so limited. That's not a knock on people who do, and I freely admit that I have no idea who the best worker in Japan is at the moment, but he seems like a cult figure to me and not a super worker.

 

* I'd go ** 1/2 stars on this one. The commentator name dropping Buzz Sawyer in 2014 was cool.

[ohtani's jacket]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shunsuke Nakamura (8/3/14)

 

* Some basic matwork to start with. The more Tanahashi I watch, the more he reminds me of Shawn Michaels. I'm sure Michaels could do a decent side headlock takedown as well, and not much else.

 

* They go through the motions of having a great match, but if you're going to base a match around running strikes then Tanahashi will always be at a disadvantage because he has to rely so much on that sling blade of his, which is more of a takedown than a strike. I was going to complain about him using signature moves as transitions, because it makes the other guy look stupid for getting caught in your signature stuff again, but I was specifically thinking of the leg whip and then they did a variation on it with a short dropkick instead and a great nearfall at the end where Nakamura stepped his way out of it.

 

* The match really could have done with more suplexes or mid-range moves. Because they work these matches in stages, i.e. now's the opening stretch, now's the finish stretching, it was like they edited that chunk out to whittle down the time.

 

* I could not abide by the finish. Nakamura hit this crazy, reckless looking knee to the back of Tanahashi's head, then avoided the leg whip and delivered another running knee, and these were great nearfalls. Then Tanahashi countered into a sort of botched drop toe hold and pinned him with a Japanese leg roll clutch hold. Well that was a bunch of bollocks. One guy gets knocked into la la land and the other can't kick out of a soft pin. Not abiding by that.

 

* I'd go *** on this. The crowd were into it, but I'm not sure they match up that well.

[pol]

I wasn't a fan of that one. Mostly back-and-forth with only one section of sustained control at the start, which isn't my favourite match structure but can be fine if the stuff they are doing is compelling. Tanahashi is not the guy you want as one half of a competitive give-and-take match though. I quite liked his match against Davey Boy Smith Jr. from day 10 of the G1, different from the typical New Japan fare.

[ohtani's jacket]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata (9/21/14)

 

* Their match in the G-1 was one of my favourites from the tournament and I liked this a lot as well. No, it wasn't five stars and probably wasn't as good as the tournament match either, but it was very good.

 

* Tanahashi appears to have pared back his style in recent times. Not so many of the 30 minute epics anymore. Whether this is because of his physical condition I'm not sure, but it's rather noticeable.

 

* Improved lock-ups appear to be a new staple of his work, but this was also the snuggest his work has ever looked. If he worked this tight the majority of the time his critics might have a higher opinion of him. Even his transition moves that people dislike looked stiff and his strikes were the best they've ever been.

 

* The finishing stretch wasn't quite as dramatic as in the G-1, but it was far from excessive and that's a welcome relief. A few of the spots in the build didn't work so well, but the strikes were consistently good all match long and I have a hard time believing that anyone who preaches violence in wrestling wouldn't enjoy this. It wasn't perfect, but it was violent.

 

* Again, Tanahashi delivers a good match. It's beyond a trend now. You'd have to say the guy is a pretty good worker.He's more of a Shawn Michaels/Keiji Mutoh/Manami Toyota vein of good worker than say Toshiaki Kawada, but a good worker nonetheless.

 

* Around *** 3/4

[W2BTD]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata (9/21/14)

 

* Their match in the G-1 was one of my favourites from the tournament and I liked this a lot as well. No, it wasn't five stars and probably wasn't as good as the tournament match either, but it was very good.

 

* Tanahashi appears to have pared back his style in recent times. Not so many of the 30 minute epics anymore. Whether this is because of his physical condition I'm not sure, but it's rather noticeable.

 

* Improved lock-ups appear to be a new staple of his work, but this was also the snuggest his work has ever looked. If he worked this tight the majority of the time his critics might have a higher opinion of him. Even his transition moves that people dislike looked stiff and his strikes were the best they've ever been.

 

* The finishing stretch wasn't quite as dramatic as in the G-1, but it was far from excessive and that's a welcome relief. A few of the spots in the build didn't work so well, but the strikes were consistently good all match long and I have a hard time believing that anyone who preaches violence in wrestling wouldn't enjoy this. It wasn't perfect, but it was violent.

 

* Again, Tanahashi delivers a good match. It's beyond a trend now. You'd have to say the guy is a pretty good worker.He's more of a Shawn Michaels/Keiji Mutoh/Manami Toyota vein of good worker than say Toshiaki Kawada, but a good worker nonetheless.

 

* Around *** 3/4

 

I have no idea what Meltzer is thinking giving this match 5-stars. I had it at 4, so the same neighborhood as you. And like you, I thought the G1 match was pretty incredible and blew this match out of the water.

 

Tanahashi has largely stopped with the 30 minute epics because he's taken on a secondary role this year, and has closed fewer shows than usual. He's a guy who understands & respects wrestling and wrestling history, so while he could probably get away with doing whatever the fuck he wants in his role as the ace-transitioning-to-legend, he works his spot on the card. Also, yes, he's badly badly hurting too.

 

I think being out of the title picture for the first nine months of the year has allowed Tanahashi to have his most varied & eclectic in ring year possibly to date. While everybdy is paying attention to Bullet Club, he's having matches with Nak that all feel different, wars with Shibata, playing subtle heel vs guys like Honma & Ishii to give the fans the wink wink "ok" to go nuts for those guys, etc.

 

Tanahashi is way smarter as a worker than people give him credit for. And I think he's kinda sorta maybe changed some opinions with people who thought he was trash previously. Dylan is probably still no fan of his, but i've seen him praise more of Tanahashi's stuff this year than he has in 2011-2013 combined.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Tanahashi in 2007-2008 has been undeniable with only one misfire, but I am watching him do his pretty boy, cowardly heel schtick and he is friggin killing it. There are less pissing contests and more focus on actually winning matches. Tanahashi has been a huge breath of fresh air in 00s purorresu. I plan on watching his stuff from 2010-2014 and if he is as good as in 2007-2008 he is a lock to be in my Top 100.

 

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 2008

 

This did not make the Best of Japan 00's voting, but could not simply resist watching one of my new favorites against one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. Tanahashi as the cocky, pretty boy that will do anything to win matches is incredible. What makes him such a great heel is that he is always doing something underhanded to take the advantage. Early on, he gets under Kawada's skin by slapping him on a rope break and running away.He transitioned this into a baseball slide and wiping out Kawada with a plancha. When Kawada started kicking his pretty face in with big boots and then whipping him into the railing, he tried to blow out Kawada's knee. Unfortunately for him, Kawada has not sold his knee all decade and he probably is not going to start for this punk kid. Kawada is the perfect foil for Tanahashi. Unlike Suwama and Goto for are ultra-serious Strong Style pro wrestlers. Kawada has character. He holds Tanahashi in contempt for flaunting his hair and being a punk. So when Kawada is beating the snot out of him it is all the better. They do a great build on the outside to a Kawada powerbomb where he just throws Tanahashi DOWN! Tanahashi has been a great bumper in the matches I have seen. He really makes people's offense look good. Just when it looks like Kawada has him beat as he goes for a second powerbomb, Tanahashi low blows him. Awesome! The finish run is very well-done with minimal no-selling. Tanahashi is just absolutely desperate. He throws everything at Kawada going after his knees, throwing out cradles and sprinting for High Fly Flow. Kawada is also working hard to win the match using cradles, hits his brainbuster and kicks to head. There is a real sense of urgency as the clock winds down to a draw. This is the best Kawada match seen since 2005 and is about on par with Misawa Dome match. Tanahashi played to 00s Kawada's strengths and that is just letting him kick ass and work a hot finish. The more I watch the more I believe that if the NWA travelling champ was still a thing that Tanahashi would be the best NWA champion today. He works great with a variety of opponents, he knows how to shine them up, he always gets the crowd invested in his matches, he knows how to work on top as a face or as heel and his finish run lead to a climax. It was great to see Kawada have another great match and this leaves me only more excited for more Tanahashi matches. ****

[W2BTD]

Tanahashi in 2007-2008 has been undeniable with only one misfire, but I am watching him do his pretty boy, cowardly heel schtick and he is friggin killing it. There are less pissing contests and more focus on actually winning matches. Tanahashi has been a huge breath of fresh air in 00s purorresu. I plan on watching his stuff from 2010-2014 and if he is as good as in 2007-2008 he is a lock to be in my Top 100.

 

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Toshiaki Kawada - Champions Carnival 2008

 

This did not make the Best of Japan 00's voting, but could not simply resist watching one of my new favorites against one of my all-time favorite wrestlers. Tanahashi as the cocky, pretty boy that will do anything to win matches is incredible. What makes him such a great heel is that he is always doing something underhanded to take the advantage. Early on, he gets under Kawada's skin by slapping him on a rope break and running away.He transitioned this into a baseball slide and wiping out Kawada with a plancha. When Kawada started kicking his pretty face in with boys and whipping him into the railing, he tried to blow out Kawada's knee. Unfortunately for him, Kawada has not sold his knee all decade and he probably is not going to start for this punk kid. Kawada is the perfect foil for Tanahashi. Unlike Suwama and Goto for are ultra-serious Strong Style pro wrestlers. Kawada has character. He holds Tanahashi in contempt for flaunting his hair and being a punk. So when Kawada is beating the snot out of him it is all the better. They do a great build on the outside to a Kawada powerbomb where he just throws Tanahashi DOWN! Tanahashi has been a great bumper in the matches I have seen. He really makes people's offense look good. Just when it looks like Kawada has him beat as he goes for a second powerbomb, Tanahashi low blows him. Awesome! The finish run is very well-done with minimal no-selling. Tanahashi is just absolutely desperate. He throws everything at Kawada going after his knees, throwing out cradles and sprinting for High Fly Flow. Kawada is also working hard to win the match using cradles, hits his brainbuster and kicks to head. There is a real sense of urgency as the clock winds down to a draw. This is the best Kawada match seen since 2005 and is about on par with Misawa Dome match. Tanahashi played to 00s Kawada's strengths and that is just letting him kick ass and work a hot finish. The more I watch the more I believe that if the NWA travelling champ was still a thing that Tanahashi would be the best NWA champion today. He works great with a variety of opponents, he knows how to shine them up, he always gets the crowd invested in his matches, he knows how to work on top as a face or as heel and his finish run lead to a climax. It was great to see Kawada have another great match and this leaves me only more excited for more Tanahashi matches. ****

 

I have a bad memory sometimes because I really don't like rewatching matches until years later, so I end up forgetting about some of them even if I really liked them.

 

I forgot this match existed, but you are right. Holy shit was it fun.

[Superstar Sleeze]

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - Tokyo Dome 01/04/08

 

After New Japan's resurgence in 2007, I was surprised by the lack of representation for New Japan in 2008. Before I watch the nominated 2009 Tanahashi vs Nakamura, I thought I would watch the two Tanahashi/Nakamura matches from 2008. At the 2005 Dome show, Tanahashi and Nakamura had their first major singles match, which oddly enough is the last Dome show to draw 40K+. Nakamura had main evented two Dome shows before (Takayama and Bob Sapp), but neither Nakamura nor Tanahashi were really ready to main event Dome shows at that point of their career and delivered what could be best described as a disjointed performance. They seemed to put it together against each for the IWGP Championship in late 2006 that seemed to kick off the New Japan Heavyweight resurgence after the exile of Antonio Inoki. Tanahashi went on to have a breakout year in 2007 with a tremendous match of the decade contender against Nagata and another excellent bout this time against Goto. On the other hand, Nakamura had a rough 2007 being injured in the middle of the year before coming back to defeat Togi Makabe to earn this title match.

 

For the majority of this match, Nakamura looks like a complete charisma vacuum. I know that modern Nakamura is night and day compared to the bland Nakamura of old. That being said the dude in this match really had no babyface charisma except for a flash late in the match. As much as find Goto and Suwama one-dimensional, they are easily plugged into the Tanahashi formula and it produces a great match. Where the Tanahashi formula fails is when he is wrestling the equivalent of cream-colored wallpaper. Tanahashi is once again excellent in this match and drives my interest throughout the match when he is on offense and when he is selling for Nakamura. Nakamura spooks Tanahashi early with a quick cross-armbreaker attempt. Tanahashi, unnerved, rushes the ring and crowds Nakamura out of the ring. As Nakamura looks to return to the ring, Tanahashi does not give him a fair chance and he grabs the leg for the dragon leg screw. If you watched Tanahashi in this time period, you know how this goes lots of great knee work and awesome gloating. He has it down to the science, the opponent shows up Tanahashi and Tanahashi gets desperate looks for the knee to put himself in the driver seat. The problem is Nakamura is so boring that I feel no desire to see him make the comeback. He blows off the knee selling like nothing happened with knee lifts and moonsaults. Then they are trading Germans with each other interminably. I know Angle was on the card. It does not mean you have to him book your match. This reminded me a lot of their 2005 match and not in a good way. Tanahashi accidentally strikes gold when he blocks a lariat and this hurts Nakamura's injured arm. I know it is injured because it has tape on it. This is when for the first time Nakamura actually contributes and that was great verbal selling during Tanahashi terrific beatdown on the injured arm, which included a cross-armbreaker and a High Fly Flow. On the second High Fly Flow, he ate knees. Nakamura gets Landslide, but only for two. They go back and forth on the suplexes a bit, Tanahashi does seem a little desperate, which adds a little character to it, but it mostly feels mindless. I will say the Super Landslide did feel big and the quiet Dome crowd did pop for it as Nakamura takes the title. I have really enjoyed Tanahashi's heel work and would have loved to see it continue in 2008, but I guess there was a contract dispute so it was best to take the title off of him. I didn't think was nearly as good as the 2006, but Tanahashi had grown enough since 2005 to deliver a decent main event, but on the biggest show of the year you would hope for better, but his dance partner felt lethargic and sluggish on this night. ***1/2

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 3/30/08

 

In the intervening show, Nakamura unified the two disparate IWGP Championships (that were a result of Brock Lesnar and Antonio Inoki departing New Japan) by defeating Kurt Angle (he had beaten Brock Lesnar) and Tanahashi defeated AJ Styles. Now Tanahashi gets his rematch against Nakamura, who had beaten him about three months ago at the Dome show.

 

First thing is that this taking place Korakuen Hall helps immensely as there is real crowd heat and they do not feel need to do "Dome" spots like trading German Suplexes with each other interminably. Tanahashi is really over at the start the match to my surprise. Before watching any Tanahashi, I always thought he was an ace babyface like John Cena, but very clearly has been wrestling heel even though he looks like a babyface and is cheered like one. Maybe this is just me not totally understanding Japanese puroresu culture. Anyways, he is his usual awesome self and in this match he is afforded the opportunity to go even further with his leg work than normal which helps me enjoy the match more because Nakamura is much better at selling than on offense. Nakamura may be one of the worst babyfaces on offense ever. Sure his execution is fine, but he has no fire and no passion. It feels like he is either going through the motions or thinking about what he has to do next. Nakamura clearly has way more potential than fucking Hirooki Goto yet once again Tanahashi has gotten a better match out of Goto than out of Nakamura because Nakamura seems so nonchalant and apathetic. Hell they even gave him a babyface shine where Tanahashi is selling his bodyslams by powdering and Nakamura still looks bored. Tanahashi gets the party started with a dragon leg screw. Tanahashi adds wrapping the leg around the post and an inverted deathlock to his leg work slappping Nakamura down as he tries to get up. Nakamura mounts a comeback through Tanahasi's knee cutoffs. I like that as an obstacle for Nakamura to overcome, which is a nice touch by Tanahashi even if Nakamura was just going through the motions. Tanahashi gets a dragon sleeper and even though Nakamura is able to wriggle free, a well-timed dropkick to the knee stymies his comeback. Nakamura shows some life by struggling against the Cloverleaf in a nice spot before finally Tanahashi gets it applied. Tanahashi goes up top and Nakamura meets him, but ends up in a Tanahashi powerbomb. Nakamura applies a flash triangle. That is a great callback to their 2006 match where Nakamura was just rocking the flash submission from underneath to great effect. Tanahashi counters into the Cloverleaf, very nice. Tanahashi hits the finish run: Human Capture Suplex, two Sling Blades and a High Fly Flow can't get it done. Second High Fly Flow eats knees, but Nakamura's knees are injured and he sells! Landslide out of nowhere and a second one triggers a nearfall barrage. The actual finish was really good with Tanahashi getting an O'Connor Roll and Nakamura countering into a cross-armbreaker for the immediate tapout.

 

If Nakamura bothered to give two fucks this would be an MOTYC for 2008 (a loaded year and they would have been hard-pressed to win), but as is it is an amazing Tanahashi match and a great match overall. Given the flash triangle and flash cross-armbreaker, they should have played up that aspect more. Overall, it felt like Nakamura was extremely boring on offense, but really got his ass handed to him by Tanahashi. I am not saying Nakamura should roll over Tanahashi, but instead more commitment from Nakamura to a specific strategy and in-ring character. Besides the flash submissions, Nakamura just felt really generic. I thought that is what made the 2006 match so interesting was Nakamura's commitment to that. Chock this up as another Tanahashi performance that carries the day. ****

[Superstar Sleeze]

U-30 Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - Tokyo Dome 01/04/05

Tanahashi defends his vanity title against Nakamura in the main event of the 01/04 Dome show in the last NJPW Dome show to draw over 40k. Incidentally, nine years later they main evented this past Dome show and drew 35k together. More things change, the more they stay the same. Even though the main event is a major shake-up from the usual Inoki-ist fare at the time, the undercard featured an "Ultimate Royale" Tournament, which was most likely a faux-MMA tournament where Ron Waterman went over Nagata?!?!?! Also there was the usual Chono old person match where he took on Riki Choshu and Tenzan in a triple threat match. While Tanahashi and Nakamura were clearly the future (they just main evented the 2014 Dome show, which did 35k), New Japan was still taking baby steps towards its current product. Just like New Japan was testing the waters, Tanahashi and Nakamura were still get acclimated to the main event scene in this uneven affair.

I would say Tanahashi or Nakamura were pretty even at this point of their careers (I don't know if a gap ever really formed between the two, but looking forward to finding out). Both are terribly inconsistent, but you can see there is enough good in each one to know that once they pull it all together that they could carry a promotion. What is also interesting is that you see a slightly different style emerging from this match that is clearly different than NOAH, but also a departure from traditional New Japan Strong Style. New Japan has always focused on matwork and strikes with each star having just a handful of spots (slams, suplexes etc...). Even before this match settled with matwork typical of a New Japan match. They each hit the other with an early suplex, which seemed oddly NOAH. It did not really fit with the rest of the match, but the match was such a hodgepodge that nothing really fit. The matwork was more in the vein of 80s style matwork that you find opening a Flair match: amateur ride and wrangling for positioning rather than MMA-style matwork. Then Tanahashi totally no-sells a superplex. Not like Luger no selling a Flair move because Luger is a badass. Tanahashi acts like the move literally did not happen. He just brushes it off. It was so friggin' weird.

I have watched Tanahashi matches before, but outside of his spots I do not really remember how he wrestles the body of his matches. I was very pleasantly surprised how he worked his control segment on the back. A babyface working a control segment is in my opinion the hardest segment to work and often gets labelled as heel in peril. There is a difference to me from heel in peril and a babyface control segment. A heel in peril resembles a face in peril with extended selling and wear down, but with a heel on the receiving end. I feel Tanahashi was working a match closer to how you would see Backlund would with a clear strategy and looking to close in on a victory. It feels like Tanahashi is building towards a victory rather than the heel gaining command and going into the heat section. I feel like I am not doing a very good job explaining it. It is like the better sports team just gaining the advantage in a game and never really giving up the lead. Nine times out of ten, the babyface is the better wrestler than the heel, but the heel cheats or uses roughhouse tactics to compete. However, wrestling also nine times out of ten tells the story of how the babyface has to overcome the odds even though on paper he is better. Thus this is an interesting wrinkle to actually reflect a sporting contest in a more meaningful way. Of course, I don't know if Nakamura is really a heel here, I know he is by 2006, but if this is just face vs face chock it up to Nakamura just having better heel charisma for why I think that way. Long story, short, I dug Tanahashi's back work.

Another odd thing about this match is that it felt slow. It is not like they moved slow. Tanahashi wiped himself out and Nakamura in a wicked dive and Nakamura has some really bursts of acceleration of his flying cross armbreakers, but even between moves it was really plodding. The match story became that only way Nakamura could compete with Tanahashi was through these flash submissions. Tanahashi controlled 75% of the match, but could not put Nakamura away. At first Tanahashi is able to withstand the submissions and even get his own dragon sleeper, but Nakamura countered that by using the ropes into his own dragon sleeper in the only spot of the match that gets a pop. This was HHH/Brock Wrestlemania 29 levels of silence. Nakamura does get to showcase his offense briefly and I just love how he puts his unique spin on everything. Nobody does a powerbomb or a moonsault quite like that. He is a very weird guy. Ambrose should watch more Nakamura, if he does not already. Nakamura misses a knee drop to end his offensive spurt. Tanahashi slaps him a couple time to draw the nose-to-nose and you know end game is coming. Tanahashi hits a powerbomb, but Nakamura locks on the triangle choke, Tanahashi escapes to get a dragon suplex. Nakamura gets a cross armbreaker out of nowhere and Tanahashi sells it well to know he is finally in trouble. The sleeper nearly renders Tanahashi unconscious when he looks to break it, Nakamura quickly switches to the cross-armbreaker to win.

I liked the basic idea of the story: Tanahashi controls the majority of the match, but Nakamura hangs on with flash submissions. Tanahashi lets him linger and eventually bites him in the ass. Still the execution was just off. It felt slow, cold and uninteresting. I think Tanahashi works on top just fine, but just did not have a commanding presence at the time. Nakamura working from underneath worked in one regard because the flash submissions were an interesting hook, but he was not very good at selling. The beginning was pretty awful or boring. Things did get better after Tanahashi started to work on the back, but they were still a ways a way from delivering a classic. ***

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 12/10/06

What a difference two years makes! This is a vast, vast improvement over there very uneven Dome '05 main event and the first real indication that New Japan is turning things around from the Dark Ages of Early 00s Inoki-ism. I do not know the exact timetable, but I am pretty sure that Inoki has been ousted or will be by year's end. I remember Brock was the first champion of the Inoki Genome Federation (which is oddly still around and has just signed Shinya Hashimoto's son). This change over in power has refocused on the company on pro wrestling, a novel concept, but as we have seen from Vince Russo sometimes wrestling companies forget they are wrestling companies.

I remain impressed with Tanahashi's ability to energetically work on top when it so much easier for a babyface to work underneath. He does so with vulnerability as he does a great job selling the ribs in the middle portion of the match. Nakamura has developed a lot and is not just relying on flash submissions, but is varying his offense and seems more sure of himself. In the beginning as expected, Tanahashi bests Nakamura on the mat and I really liked the one spot where Tanahashi goes for the sunset flip and Nakamura back rolls out. Any wrestling fan at this point just expects Nakamura to dropkick Tanahashi in the face. Except Tanahashi rears back and avoids him thus he ends up getting a nearfall on Nakamura. It is neat little spot at the beginning. As in a lot of 00s puroresu matches, the struggle of a suplex signals a critical point in the match as Nakamura is able to hit a front suplex and follow that up with knee lifts to the ribs. A great spot during this fantastic rib work (Nakamura on point and Tanahashi sells beautifully) is Tanahashi is able to create separation looks to dive onto Nakamura ala Dome '05, but wary of this Nakamura rushes back in and spears Tanahashi right in the injured ribs.That is some good pro wrestling right there. They use the dragon sleeper reversal here again and it does get a good pop so like the tombstone reversal I see its value. I am disappointed a forearm exchange is the transition to Tanahashi's control segment. It is so cliche by this point. Tanahashi hits Sling Blade to cement his advantage and works a pretty good control. Nakamura traps him in a flash triangle where Tanahashi's arm drops twice, which was a pretty heated nearfall. Nakamura kicks out at one on Sling Blade. I think a well-timed one count can be pretty effective tool ala well-timed no selling. That one count was not well-timed. Tanahashi's High Fly Flow eats knees leaving him prey for Landslide, but that only gets two. Tanahashi blocks the Super Landslide attempt and defeats Nakamura with the impressive combination of a powerbomb, High Fly Flow and Tiger Suplex.

I do not know all the intricacies of New Japan booking at this point, but this match seemed pretty definitive in defining their future roles. Tanahashi was going to be the ace of his generation and was being set up to wrestle current Ace, Nagata, whom he ultimately vanquish in a changing of the guard. Nakamura would his Tenryu to his Jumbo or Kawada to his Misawa, the number two who will get the title and run with it, but never be the Ace. From a kayfabe point of view, Nakamura does not seem to be able match Tanahashi's firepower. He worked the ribs well, but really could not get the job done. Then he had to rely on his two big bombs: a flash submission and his Landslide, but it was too little too late. Tanahashi demonstrated his dynamism being to work effectively in control and underneath. The finish stretch needed to be built a little better, but baby steps and this was a great body of a match with a good finish. ****

[Childs]

Just watched the Tanahashi-Nakamura from 2/15/09, and it was probably my favorite match they'd had to that point (haven't seen the 3/30/08), largely because Nakamura showed more fire and personality. Between that and his performance in the tag against Misawa at the Dome, it seems '09 was the year Nakamura started to come into his own. But picking up on Sleeze's comments, I have to agree Tanahashi became a fully formed worker well before his rival.

[Superstar Sleeze]

So is Tanahashi a face or heel or neither? Everything I had read presented him as a face ace of New Japan. Maybe as I watch more recent footage that will be the take home, but he was quite clearly a heel in the Goto match, a subtle heel in the October Nagata match and all the Nakamura matches and an invading heel at Champions Carnival. The last pure babyface work seems to be against Bernard in 2006. Is Tanahashi just a heel that gets cheered? His strong suit in my opinion is extract the absolute best out of power wrestlers like Goto or Suwama, who would feel faceless and generic in the 2000s Japan landscape. He gives them someone completely unique to play off against each other. He also treats their power like a real threat. At first he is cocky and then he realizes he is in over his head, ATTACK THE KNEE! It is weird because I read in the GWE thread for Tanahashi that his matches feel soulless, but the only matches that have felt soulless are the Nakamura ones. I understand the Nakamura loves comes from after his "personality transplant" (a perfect way someone described it). So I will be holding out hope. My point is my creating a stronger face/heel dynamic, Tanahashi has boosted the crowd heat in his matches so that he is second only to Kobashi in the reactions he can get consistently and developed a underutilized hook: Can Tanahashi eek out a victory or will his pretty face finally get smashed in? I do not think there is anything soulless about that.

 

Does anybody know if the November 2009 Nakamura vs Tanahashi match is available? It is the one where Tanahashi is coming back from his eye injury.

 

I watched the February 2009 match last night, have not had a chance to write everything down, but I put it in a three-way tie with 3/30/08 and 12/10/06. They are all great matches, but they have not hit it out of the park yet. I watched the 2006 match months ago so I do not have a strong memory of it, but from my review I would say that is one I liked the best. I remember thinking Nakamura added more in 2006 with the rib work and flash submission. I would say all three are very close and all three have very good finish runs.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Tanahashi is the King of the Finish run in Japan at this point. He consistently has mastered building his matches to a fever pitch and blowing them off at the right point unlike NOAH, which goes on and on and on. I love the urgency on his High Fly Flow, like I say below, he has a match to fucking win. This is also a great performance because in a lot ways his subtle heel routine is a crutch. It is a simple hook that gets people involved. In this match, he dropped it and worked the match very straight, but because people are so invested in the Tanahashi character and he is so good working on top heel or babyface that match was still great. Unless something drastic happens between 2009 and 2014, I am projecting Tanahashi to be in my Top 5 for best workers of the last decade (2004-2014). He is tremendous. The only thing that is holding him back is the lack of competition. He needs a Kawada and this Nakamura is just not it. I did watch Nakamura/Ohtani from 2009 and I have seen the new Nakamura and he is really, really good. That Nakamura could be his Kawada for sure, I look forward to next couple Tanahashi/Nakamura matches.

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW 2/15/09

Fresh off beating Mutoh for the title at the Dome show, Tanahashi defends against the man who defeated him for the title at the 2008 Dome show and subsequently successfully defended it against in March of 2008. Nakamura riding a two match win streak in title matches against Tanahashi and winning a tag match against invading NOAH forces at the Dome show could actually argued to be the favorite in this match, but as the defending champion Tanahashi is riding a wave of momentum from winning the title from an All Japan outsider and New Japan legend. Last year, Tanahashi was able to kick Nakamura's ass for the majority of the match, but fell prey to Nakamura's flash cross armbreaker. Would history repeat itself or will Tanahashi finish the job? All in all, it sets for quite the collision in February of 2009.

The last Tanahashi match I watched was in April of 2008 and he was still working his great pretty boy, cocky douche character. The winds of change are blowing he is about to embark on the run that was supposed to finally definitively declare him the undisputed New Japan Ace (injury got in the way and his historic reign ended up taking place in 2011) thus the heel overtones have vanished. He is showcased as Nakamura's equal and the work is similar to how Japan worked native vs native matches in the past akin to something like a Misawa vs Kobashi. It is just two great wrestlers struggling to attain victory, nothing else is similar to that, but the point is there is no heel in the match. This is a boon in a way because Nakamura at this point is so bland that being forced to work as a fired-up babyface against Tanahashi left a lot to be desired. Now that Tanahashi was being presented as a babyface there was less reliance on Nakamura working face and just letting him work. I still didn't think they knocked this out of the park, but I would put this second only to the 2006 match, but this is essentially an improved version of the 3/30/08, but not by much.

I really liked the opening amateur wrestling that Tanahashi does to open his matches it is usually well-worked and is a great place to use as a springboard to escalate a match. I love when the matwork leads to something like when Tanahashi's arm is exposed Nakamura drops a knee on it. He looks to work it over, but in haste to deflect Tanahashi dropkicks the knee to save himself. This is presented more in line as just wise strategy rather than Tanahashi is not as good as Nakamura and needs to do this to level the playing field. Tanahashi works the knee well with a toehold and a kneecrusher on the outside. Unfortunately, Tanahashi's American style does lead to some annoying American traits seeping into his matches like shooting someone into the ropes only for them to counter. There is just no sense of struggle in that type of transition. Nakamura just really does not know how to work on offense in a compelling way during the body of a match at this point of his career. Nakamura makes the dumb decision of throwing Tanahashi back in the ring ahead of him. Everybody altogether, dragon leg screw in the ropes. Tanahashi applies the figure-4, which Nakamura does a great job selling and working through. I liked Tanahashi's quick cutoffs like dropkick to the knee or Sling Blade to stymie Nakamura before he revs up. They work an elaborate submission sequence that was pretty thrilling even if it bordered on unrealistic (I watched this match in 2009 and it is the only thing I remembered about the match coming in). Nakamura is selling his frustration about not putting Tanahashi well and it feels like he cares more about this match than his 2008 performances. Sling Blade out a Landslide attempt was wicked sweet.

One thing that Tanahashi has going for him over pretty much everyone else in Japan at this time is that his finish runs are consistently great. The finish is the last thing you see and too many NOAH matches will leave a bad taste in your mouth. Tanahashi matches make up what they may lack in body by having thrilling finishes that climax at the right point and incorporate the story. Nakamura is going to go for KO whether it is a landslide or a flash submission. Tanahashi will use Nakamura's knee against him and look for High Fly Flow. Tanahashi hits High Fly Flow, but eats knees. Nakamura's knees are injured and can't capitalize. Nakamura's long term selling has sucked this match, but here it was very critical and he came through. A Landslide only gets two. The new added spot is that Tanahashi spikes him on a hurricanrana out of a powerbomb. I liked Tanahashi trying hard to hook Nakamura's legs but couldnt get them in time before a kick out. There are a bunch of little touches like that that make match just much better. Tanahashi dropkicks the knee wiping Nakamura out. He rushes to the top and High Fly Flow to the back and then on his stomach to win. I love the urgency of Tanahashi's High Fly Flow. There is no time to pander for cheers, he has a fucking match to win! Nakamura's long term selling and offense at times left a lot to be desired, but he did seem more invested in this match. Tanahashi was great at changing his act so slightly to rely on being a heel, but still convincingly work on top. Once again, Tanahashi just kills it on the finish and locks up another Top 100 match to his name. ****

[ohtani's jacket]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (1/4/15)

 

* The Tanahashi/Okada match was far from the best in their series. If I didn't know better, I'd almost think that type of praise is predetermined. The early feeling out period was deathly dull. Striker tried to sell it like Tanahashi hadn't gotten out of the blocks yet, but early Okada control work is never that interesting. He even flirted with the same guardrail shit he does every match, but turned it into a DDT instead.

 

* The match picked up when Tanahashi took over, and I actually think his strikes have improved in recent times, though there's still a lot of air when he sells them. The match built pretty well from there with the HFF to the outside over the guardrail being a memorable spot, but they missed a beat on that Rainmaker kick out. That should have been a much bigger moment. Why it wasn't part of the finishing stretch is beyond me? It didn't help that they cut to a long shot of Tanahashi's Rainmaker pose, then a crowd shot, before cutting back to the kick out sequence from a strange angle.

 

* As usual, the finishing stretch was the best part of the bout and I dug Tanahashi immobilising Okada with the dragon screw leg whips before the finish. The match didn't feel at all special and wasn't helped by JR going into full on hype mode. JR praising it as an all-time great match was always going to be unconvincing, but it was annoying nonetheless. I wasn't down with Okada crying either, but at least Tanahashi was a prick to him on the mic.

 

* I'm going *** 3/4 on this one with the 3/4 being a decent stretch run.

[ohtani's jacket]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata (8/8/15)

 

* It's been a while since I've seen a Tanahashi match. Unfortunately, the only version I could find featured dub over English commentary from two guys who meant well but went over the psychology of each move in minute detail and kept trying to paint a bigger picture of a tension between Tanahashi and Shibata that they don't quite understand. After enduring a few too many "oh my god's" and "are you kidding me's?!" surrounding each high spot, I muted the match, put a record on, and went back to the beginning.

 

* Solid bout, but at no point was it as exciting as English dub over dudes wanted you to think it was. They weren't wrong about the psychology as such; they simply overreacted about it. I thought the finish worked quite well as opposed to the usual dramatic grandstand. A really good tournament finish and paid off Tanahashi's strategy throughout the bout.

 

* Somewhere between *** and *** 1/2 stars depending on how much Tanahashi facing a different sort of challenge floats your boat.

[BruceTharpe]

Tanahashi is an amazing wrestler whom I have gotten to know very well by traveling with him extensively in Japan. I will be back next month for my 15th trip. I have also had the opportunity to watch Tanahashi wrestle in person many times and he is amazing. Truly an elite athlete - and I believe that is the future of the wrestling profession. Wrestlers who exhibit truly athletic - hard hitting - competitive - amazing - believable - wrestling matches.

[ohtani's jacket]

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. AJ Styles (8/14/15)

 

* This was really good.

 

* Quite a traditional base to start with. Of course, better workers have done it better, but at least it was traditional looking. It kind of reminded me of the way Shawn Michaels liked to start a bout except it was better than a token Michaels beginning.

 

* I liked the way the match escalated w/ Tanahashi being worldly enough to know that two fingers in the face will piss off any gaijin opponent. I liked the way they handled Tanahashi being initially in control and then Styles taking over. Walton would probably comment that they send each other a telegram at times, or write each other a letter, but dramatic pauses and stagger selling are par for the course in this style.

* It was notable to me that Tanahashi didn't do a lot of his signature stuff during the body. It wasn't until near the 26 minute mark of a 28 minute file that he did a signature Tanahashi move. That was a welcome relief from dragon screw leg whips, cross body blocks, sling blades and high fly flows.

 

* Is it just me or is AJ Styles a superior version of what CM Punk tried to be in the WWE?

 

* The double low blow spot was weird. In true Japanese fashion they sold it about as realistically as a double low blow spot can be sold in professional wrestling and it was awfully weird.

 

* Finally, the director and camera crew figured out it's better if you shoot the forearm strikes from behind the wrestlers instead of side on. Kudos to them for that.

 

* That Styles submission where he was wrenching on the leg while Tanahashi desperately pulled on the ref's shirt was brilliantly done.

 

* The finishing stretch was the worst part of the match. I didn't mind them using their finishers on each other, but the pair of them popping up and sprinting through a bunch of shit was a weak end to a strong bout. For that reason, I'd go **** on a beginning and middle that were probably stronger than that.