[2012-10-08-NJPW-King of Pro Wrestling] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[SmartMark15]

Loved this match. Came here because Moxley named dropped it as the match that got him into modern New Japan. Here's a video with more detailed thoughts: 

 

[soup23]

Rewatched  this about a month ago and agree that it took the best attributes of the new school Tanahashi/Gedo era and mixed them with an old school narrative. The first pinfall wins gimmick is clever but doesn't feel forced and Tanahashi felt triumphant in overcoming the dungeon master in Suzuki. This also corresponds with their 1/4/12 match really well and builds upon those themes. *****

[Superstar Sleeze]

You know I have never watched their 1/4/12 match and really ought to. 

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki - NJPW 10/8/12

Another one of those matches that I have seen know that I absolutely loved but didnt get a chance to review way back when so now I get to watch it and enjoy it all over again. 

Tanahashi's left arm comes in bandaged and at one time I knew why but now I cant remember. Tanahashi does his best to play keep away. He even employs an Unorthodox stance to keep his left arm behind his right arm. I really enjoyed that touch. Tanahashi busts out a double wristlock, side headlock and an abdominal stretch to mix it up, he did not go straight for the knee. He gets cocky. He plays air guitar on Suzuki. How did I forget that? I popped for that. That drew a chorus of boos and also the ire of Suzuki. A scuffle breaks out and Suzuki ends up on the apron and then drops down with his patented top rope-assisted dangling armbar on Tanahashi's bad arm. As JR would say, "Business has picked up.". Suzuki tortures Tanahashi's bad wing. Cranking it around the railings and the steel post. Stomping on it, kneeing, twisting it. He was brutal. It looked like he was going to make short work of the champion until Tanahashi caught a kick. You know what happens next. Dragon Leg Screw! Suzuki's selling is top-notch. He really sells the pain from the dragon leg screws really well. Tanahashi goes into full 2001 Mutoh mode with the Dragon Leg Screws and Basement Dropkicks. Tanahashi  lackadaisically leaves his arm out on the top rope as Suzuki is on the ground. He goes to grab Suzuki who then kicks his bad arm. More kicks to the bad arm and then rips him down with a double wristlock takedown as he bites the bandage to rip it off. Suzuki grabs a sleeper to sap Tanahashi of his energy. CROSS-ARMBREAKER! That could have been it! Big nearfall. Tanahashi responds in kind, but turns it into a Sling Blade. From there Tanahashi goes back to work on the knee. He even hits High Fly Flow on the bad leg. Suzuki's selling of this by scurrying away with all that pain on his face was exquisite. Tanahashi goes for his customary Texas Cloverleaf, but Suzuki blocks and Tanahashi settles for the Figure-4. The struggle in this over 2 minute Figure-4 is great Suzuki especially does a great job telling the story with his face. They has established the story of dueling limb psychology. Suzuki had targeted the bad arm tearing the bandage with this teeth and looking to break in two. While, Tanahashi has gone to his tried and true strategy of working the knee. Who will prevail?   

My favorite part of the match is next. Tanahashi signals for Sling Blade. Suzuki evades the first attempt. He goads Tanahashi into trying another by hobbling away and as Tanahashi is coming he explodes into a dropkick, but immediately clutches the knee. The ruse was so convincing because he actually was in so much pain. Suzuki slaps Tanahashi around and grabs a sleeper. Tanahashi has a bloody mouth now and this becomes important later. Epic struggle but with a last gasp, Tanahashi lunges to the ropes. Suzuki proceeds to SLAP THE SHIT out of Tanahashi. He slaps him until he blows himself up. Now he wants the Piledriver, Tanahashi drives a desperation dragon leg screw but Suzuki steps through it and blocks! Damn that was cool. Sleeper again all of Tanahashi's energy is gone. Piledriver but Tanahashi resists twice and drops down into a Dragon Screw! Tanahashi has one burst to really wrench him down with a Sling Blade. It is not done with the usual vigor but here comes High Fly Flow but it eats knees. Suzuki is in pain but Tanahashi looks toast. It looks like that took everything out of the champ. Suzuki slaps the shit out of him some more. Tanahashi is on the apron. Suzuki steps through the ropes. DRAGON SCREW! Tanahashi  with his mouth bloodied and exhausted looks like he has been through sheer hell, but he wills himself to hit not one but two High Fly Flows for the win!

One reviewer noted there was only one cover in the match and I didnt even notice. It was just that gripping. In a way the cross-armbreaker, Figure-4 and sleeper were used as nearfalls. Excellent minimalistic match where the match built organically and logically. Tanahashi never used his Capture or Dragon Suplexes or his reverse crossbody or somersault senton High Fly Flow to the floor or Texas Cloverleaf (there was an attempt). My point is this is a vast departure. It was not a formula match or check the boxes match or a Greatest Hit Match. Suzuki got pissed by the air guitar and targeted the arm. Tanahashi went all in on the leg strategy. Suzuki moved to a sleeper/slap the piss out of him strategy that left Tanahashi looking destroyed. Tanahashi cashed in on his strategy late when all those Dragon Leg Screws eventually gave him a chance to hit High Fly Flow. Terrific match and great selling performances, another ***** classic for my man, Tanahashi! 

[GOTNW]

This match is special in more ways than one. I watched it when it happened as I was really into New Japan at the time - though I was more of a NOAH fan, into stiffness and workrate, and Tanahashi didn't really offer much in what I wanted out of Japanese wrestling. I wasn't a big fan of Tanahashi's 2011 IWGP run of legwork doom, and was very excited for the emergence of Okada and New Japan being infected with the CM Punk/Christian Cage counter wrestling which took over the WWE main event scene in 2011. As a side note, my working assumption is that Christian (who was the most notable WWE worker popularizing the style at the time) actually got the style from working with Jeff Jarrett, who was working the dramatic finishing stretches built around finisher counters a couple of years earlier. So really, all those of you who love 2010s New Japan have Jeff Jarrett to thank for it 

In real time I thought this was a very good match, but not as great as it had been hyped. Since twelve years passing and being 27 instead of 15 will change anything in life, including your taste in prowres, I decided to re-watch it, as it had come up when I was thinking of what would be my match of the decade for the 2010s. This was the one match that I wanted to re-watch, as it was incredibly unique and stood out amongst the plethora of modern Jwres I'd seen, and my taste had shifted more towards matches worked in this vein than those built around nearfall drama. Uniqueness doesn't guarantee greatness though, so was I right in assuming I'd now hold this match in higher esteem?

Yes. In fact, I was really into this before the bell had even rung. A lot of times you can tell how good of a performance a wrestler is going to have just by their facial expression during their entrance (the dreaded "job face"). Suzuki looked ultra focused, like he came with the intention of having a classic. I'd like to imagine this was instigated by a bonus or a bet, maybe with another wrestler or a sports reporter. TAKA Michinoku comes out with the Suzuki army banner, MiSu fist bumps him and sends TAKA back. As he makes his way into the ring you get a clear view of a young lion directing traffic, and Suzuki spares him. Suzuki comes near the ring to climb the ropes, there's another young lion holding the ropes for him, Suzuki spares him the bullying as well.  So we've established this match is going to be serious business, so far so good.

As for the match itself, it's absolutely fascinating what a mixture of everything it is. If you look at the moves used, the counters, it is a 2010s  match. Rope hanging Armbars weren't really a thing 30-40 years ago. If you look at the structure, you can't miss how 1970s inspired this is. No pinfall attempts before the finish is a big clue, it's something which really stands out if you look at older footage, there is a lot more focus on the actual work and building the heat than just going through moves and using covers as a way to connect the action. Limbwork as the body of the match with long control segments is another. Suzuki targets the arm, Tanahashi the leg, every momentum shift advances the plot. Struggle is another. Moves aren't just given away – everything is earned, the important ones are teased and built to. There are no 1-1 („boo-yay“) strike exchanges, they are worked much more naturally,  serving the structural needs of the match at a given time instead of being there as a crutch for a pop, and mostly consist of one wrestler overwhelming the other.  So the foundation of the match is very solid.

However, a solid foundation doesn't mean this was going to manifest itself as a great match. At his best I think Minoru Suzuki is a pro-wrestling genius. Unfortunately, when it comes to working pro-style matches, I don't think there are 10 matches where he's worked to the best of his ability. Honestly, if I'm being really picky, there may not be 5. Luckily, this one makes the list, we only get the best of Suzuki here. Still, you can't have a classic against a broomstick, Tanahashi is also in this match. And if you were to look at their strengths and flaws, they match up perfectly to cancel each other out:

-Suzuki loses focus when he's doing midcard stuff or is against goofy wrestlers. Tanahashi is Shawn Michaels inspired, but he works and carries himself like a champion, so Suzuki is on his best behavior

-Suzuki is at his best when he is working control segments that include beatdowns and him stretching his opponent. 50/50 Suzuki matches with endless strike exchanges aren't much better than the standards stuff in the style, and it's a style I don't like much; none of that is shown here

-Tanahashi looks silly in longer strike exchanges but can look good when he is limited to shorter bursts, as is the case here

-Tanahashi's biggest strengths as a pro wrestler are his selling and his emoting, and that's what he spends the majority of this match doing

 

They do a good job of building a simple narrative, and the commentators do an excellent job of working you into believing this is something more than it is. Suzuki is serious, they open the match with some classic opening chain wrestling, Tanahashi gets him in an Abdominal Stretch and plays the famous Air Guitar. This pissed Suzuki off – he's usually the silly one, yet he is on business grind today, and this is is how he gets played? That's a trigger for a Suzuki control segment – he gets in Tanahashi's face, and like a dumb babyface Tanahashi gets goaded into the ropes for the Suzuki upside-down Armbar. And so starts the Suzuki stretching/beatdown. "Suzuki has the spirit of Showa! UWF! Pancrase!“ The play-by-play guy deserves a raise, you know he knows these exclamations are nonsense as Suzuki is biting Tanahashi's bandage and pulling him by the hair. At one point Tanahashi is going for a Cloverleaf, Suzuki blocks it and Tanahashi transitions into a Figure-4. All time great commentary call by I believe Kazuo Yamazaki (and it makes sense he'd be the one to say this) with a comment that said something like: „a classic wrestling move by Tanahashi….he is purposefully using it to send a message to Suzuki….this is like the NJPW vs UWFi feud when Mutoh used it to defeat Takada“. Now that's a man who understands working, watch Kazuo Yamazaki tapes and vote for him in the GWE

I am not the biggest fan of Tanahashi, but it is clear he has wrestling ability, as you'd expect from a wrestler who originally came-up in the Fujinami tradition. Alongside the virtues I've already covered, he has very good athleticism, creativity and a great sense of timing. I don't like how he uses them in many of his matches, but here the base is good. He uses the athleticism to throw himself onto Suzuki's legs, and is constantly using different attacks – Dropkicks, Dragon Screw variations, Chop Blocks, there's always something new in his toolbox, and he times it to perfection. The same is true for the important counters they pull-off, all of them have great timing and execution.

Still, Suzuki is the star here. For pro-style work, this is easily his masterpiece and his career performance. The wise commentators bring up The Destroyer, and you can't help but think he was trying to craft a match under that umbrella. You wouldn't presume someone working a hold for minutes at a time would be sending a 2012 crowd into a frenzy, but Suzuki was ready to kick, scream, yell and do whatever it takes to win a bet I imagined him having. For how much I talked about Tanahashi's emoting, it really is Suzuki's emoting, intensity, and to some extent even aura and reputation that primarily carry this match and get it to the next level. As creative as Tanahashi is in his leg attacks, Suzuki is even more creative in figuring out how to counter basically anything Tanahashi attempts into an Armlock, thinking up ways to work Double Wristlocks/Kimuras over and over again without it feeling repetitive, varying many Armlock variations and smartly using his surroundings to spice up the holds during the limbwork.

 

I would rate this bout as a wrestling classic. Unless some new FUTEN is unearthed, this is probably my Japanese Match of the Decade, and could very well end up being my overall Match of the Decade for the 2010s.