[2012-06-16-NJPW-Dominion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Superstar Sleeze]

IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW Dominion 2012

 

I will say about these matches they are definitely tight and efficient. The layouts are great and that is to be expected with Tanahashi in the ring, just really strong sense of escalation. I think one thing that really benefits this match over the previous one is that this focused on Tanahashi overcoming Okada. As Tanahashi is the babyface this is a more natural and pleasing story to tell. Tanahashi takes it to Okada early tripping him up and wrapping his leg around the post. He did not come to play. Nice kneecrusher and chop block. Really strong leg work. They play off the last match with Okada looking like he pushed off Tanahashi for the senton, but Tanahashi skins the cat. The real transition is Okada uses Tanahashi's momentum to sit him up top and dropkick him. It was so seamless that I liked it. Okada works the neck again. Nice dropkick cut off and running kick to the head, but this is all Tanahashi's selling. Okada is pretty uninspiring on top. Thankfully, Tanahashi goes after the knee and then hits High Fly Flow to the outside. This time it feels warranted. Tanahashi is the challenger he needs to bring it and the neck work was longer this time. I actually thought they transitioned too quickly back to Okada, I felt like we could have gone right into Tanahashi first finish run attempt. Okada gets the big elbow, but when he goes for the Rainmaker he eats a Sling Blade. Tanahashi excited turns his back and POW! Dropkick! Great spot! Tanahashi actually takes control with a couple dragon leg screws and Texas Cloverleaf. So now we get the Tanahashi finish run, but he eats knees on High Fly Flow. Up until this point, I thought this was just as good as the last match, maybe liking a hair better because it was Tanahashi coming from underneath.

 

I thought the next part really added drama. I loved Okada rocking Tanahashi with the European Uppercuts and Tanahashi just collapsing. Some really good selling that really took the match up Okada went for his Tombstone and there is a great struggle over the tombstone. You really feel like whoever hits this tombstone is going to win the match. It was a really cool, dramatic spot. Tanahashi eventually is the one who nails it! In a perfect world, Tanahashi would have hit the High Fly Flow and won the match. But they go for one more round of Do-See-Do with a Sling Blade and then High Fly Flow. It is 30 seconds of fat and Okada actually sold really, really well so I am not going to kill them for it.

 

Tanahashi's selling and emotion really carried this one. I thought the last 2-3 minutes was excellent. Everything before was the usual solid as a rock stuff. Another great one, but really waiting to have my socks knocked off. ****1/4

[soup23]

I thought this was overrated at the time and have no idea what I was thinking as I have watched the match twice in the past three days and it is fantastic. You can see the progression and development of both men off of the first match and I liked how the headlock stuff starts things off here but within 5 minutes, Tana is pushing the pace more. He is not taking this kid lightly now and is more aggressive throughout this match. Okada continues to implement his spots of transition like the dropkick and flap jack but he also works the neck really well here doing the guardrail stuff again and a quick DDT. The finishing stretch with the battle of who can hit their finisher first is amazing and they are able to protect the RainMaker so well which was a great moment. In addition, the tombstone is a critical portion of this match much like February. They are building up a great feud between each other and Okada's facials were excellent here in conveying that he was down and never out. Him winning in February was no fluke and even in defeat here, you feel he is here to stay. Tanahashi gets the superstar face rock star reception when he wins. Just typing out these thoughts, the match is being raised in my eyes. ****3/4

[Superstar Sleeze]

Who is Stardust, now? :P

 

Jk, jk, would never hate someone for loving wrestling. Glad you are enjoying the feud so far. It gets way, way better starting in April of 2013 in my opinion. The next match Wrestle Kingdom 2013 is their worst in my opinion though.

 

Chad, I think you will come to the same conclusion that I did, that this feud is built around that late tombstone in every match and whoever can nail it will most likely win (I think maybe once did the person taking the Tombstone came from behind to win).

[soup23]

I want to see them in succession, my ratings coming into this are:

 

New Beginning ****1/4

Dominion ****

WK 7 ***3/4

Invasion Attack ****1/2

G-1 2013 ***1/2

KOPW ****3/4

WK 9 ****

WK 10 ****1/2

G-1 2016 ***1/4

[Superstar Sleeze]

I know I had Invasion Attack at *****. I had KOPW as my next highest at ****1/2. I never got around to watching the post-2013 stuff. I really should have finished it out.

[bradhindsight]

Tremendous match, Tanahashi is so f'n good here. There are a lot of callbacks to their New Beginning match that they build off of here. Okada slips out of the opening matwork and is pretty proud of himself. Tanahashi makes sure he wrenches him real good next time and he goes after the leg HARD early - ring post, real aggressive stuff. Love Okada's facials and selling here. I think Okada sold better overall in the NB match, and it's really the only knock on the match for me. This time he picks up Tanahashi to seat him up top to hit his dropkick. He uses the railing like in the Naito match and works the neck stuff in. These guys have great slug-offs with each other. Tremendous drop kick from Okada, jesus the elevation. One of the best i've ever seen. I love their upper cut trading as Tanahashi tries to fight back and Okada wins this sequence actually, keeping him down. This is great segue into Tanahashi's cutoff - a running dropkick to the knee where Okada does a 360 flip. HFF to the outside, knee work sequence #2 but Okada is right with him, really good back and forth. They feel like equals (to Chad's point). Inverted neckbreaker morphs into a sling blade. Now Tanahashi wrenches in the raised cloverleaf - looks like the end, but he gets the ropes. HFF #1 to the back hits, but the second is knees up like at NB. Okada races to hit his power stuff, but its not keeping Tanahashi down. Now to the tombstone - Okada struggling (perhaps the knee), Tanahashi plants him with it this time out. There's a Dragon suplex in here by Tanahashi that nearly gets three. Okada is *so* good looking for the Rainmaker late, great reversals and counters before Tanahashi gets him with another sling blade into the HFF and the win. Okada regularly shrugging off all of the knee work is the only blemish for me. Tanahashi is amazing. ****1/2

[Childs]

They struggled to build on what they'd done in February. Again, they went to the leg vs. neck dynamic. I'm not a stickler on leg selling. But why build all of Okada's big matches around it when his key transition spots are ultra-springy dropkicks? I also thought his neck attack was haphazard but maybe that's just because so much of his offense looked like shit. I hate that convoluted neck submission. The finishing stretch felt completely disconnected from the body of the match--just a long string of stuff and reversals and more stuff. The crowd loved it so I'll give them that. And I did buy Tanahashi's passion for recapturing his spot. But this was an undistinguished performance from Okada. He didn't do anything particularly well.

[soup23]

Okada certainly has a set formula through the first half of the 2012 run. While it makes it easy to compare matches in a way because I can say easily which neck attack utilized by Okada that I liked the best, it may not be the best thing from a repetition standpoint if looking at these matches from a binge perspective. I suppose since he is having one big match per month, some of these continued trends like the sitting dropkick and the funky neck submissions didn't feel as repetitious in real time. I do disagree with Childs in liking the submissions. It is a nice callback to Okada's Toryumon training and I appreciate the fact that he captures the limbs and applies the cravate pretty tightly. Compare that to the Red Ink he applies in the WK Omega match where the legs are barely grapevined and hardly any pressure looks like it is being applied. The crowd did buy the submission as a viable finish in the Naito match and I thought it was utilized well here to show that Okada still is not out of his league going against ace Tanahashi.

[Superstar Sleeze]

"Tanahashi is amazing" - Brad

He sure fucking is!

[cactus]

Okada is really started to hold his own when he's grappling with Tanahashi and he looks smug as hell about it. Both guys work their respective formulas on each other, Tana going for the legs with Dragon Screws and Okada softening Tana's neck with cravate holds and his gorgeous yet devastating dropkicks.

 

I love when the guys tee off with forearms, especially when Tanahashi's on the defensive. They play back to this moment during the very last moments of the finishing stretch with Tanahashi collapsing and this sells the exhaustion of both men exceptionally well. Speaking of the finishing stretch, it's utterly brilliant. The momentum swings feel organic and natural, Okada cuts him off with big move that focuses on the neck and Tana regains control by hitting a dragon screw or basement dropkick. Okada finally is put away with the High Fly Flow much to the fan's approval.

 

This is the first match between these two that felt like an epic. The atmosphere and emotion is off the charts and it's becoming crystal clear at this point that these guys have something very special.

 

★★★★½

[SmartMark15]

Much better than the first match and yet Okada actually manages to put in a slightly less impressive performance. Tanahashi was the glue that really carried this match into something great. The pacing was much tighter as Tanahashi actually came in with a lot more intensity as he didn't want to underestimate Okada again. As such he goes for the leg much earlier.

 

But alas, Okada gonna be Okada. Always with the inconsistent leg selling from this guy. It REALLY draws attention to itself especially when he starts running at full speed and throwing dropkicks.

 

Meanwhile, Tanahashi stayed consistent selling his neck and Okada targeted it relentlessly. A lot of fire from Tanahashi and the finishing stretch is fiery hot.

 

****1/2