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[2009-06-20-NJPW-Dominion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Manabu Nakanishi


Loss

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  • 4 months later...

This match is not as good as the earlier one in 2009. This is much more of a forced epic. That aside, Tanahashi working from underneath against a power guy like Nakanishi is far more inspiring than him working as an equal (as in the earlier match). The Tanahashi performance here is very good. Nakanishi no-sells the leg worse than the last match. Most of his late match offense is good, but I still think that if Tanahashi's early offense is almost allaaimed at your leg, you ought to act like it. I will say that Nakanishi's torture rack makes me long to see Luger put one on somebody.

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  • 3 months later...

Tanahashi working underneath is why I would put this match above the other one. I agree they went a little long with the strike exchange, but I actually how well the false finish for Nakanishi was built on that last German you really felt like he had Tanahashi's number.

 

IWGP Heavyweight Champion Manabu Nakanishi vs Hiroshi Tanahashi - NJPW 6/20/09

 

In my opinion, this is the better version of their first match. They work a lot of the same exchanges and sequences, but they add little touches here and there that make it that much more compelling as the first match. Plus this match has the luxury of building off the last one. Tanahashi made a big late match mistake when he went for the High Fly Flow on the knee and went for a Cloverleaf, but Nakanishi was just plan too big. This basically cost Tanahashi the match as Nakanishi recovered and hit three big suplexes to win the match. We know that Tanahashi will be focused on the knee, but will he trying to get a submission victory or will he use the High Fly Flow for the pinfall? Does Nakanishi just have Tanahashi number and is just too big to fail in this rematch?

 

The best part of this rematch was restructuring the match with Nakanishi working on top with power and Tanahashi having to overcome that. The last match pitted two equals, but in this match they established Nakanishi's power game and really added an obstacle to Tanahashi's stragety. Early we see Nakanishi take Tanahashi down, win a test of strength and even with all his strength Tanahashi could not hold a side headlock as Nakanishi just threw him off. The amount of these spots really put over how strong Nakanishi was and that Tanahashi faced an uphill battle. So of course, Tanahashi went to the knee. The knee work this go around was a lot Tanahashi was stomping better and liked Nakanishi peppering his hope spots with chops and the iron claw. Another example of how this match improved on its predecessor was how when Tanahashi went to Irish Whip Nakanishi he would yank twice and he just wouldn't budge. On the second time, Tanahashi smartened up and went after the knee. In the criss cross sequence, Nakanishi scores a dropkick and throws Tanahashi down on the suplex. They run through the missed knee drop, Polish Hammer and Nakanishi aerial spots which are basically the same as the previous match. They reestablish that Tanahashi still cant turn him on a Texas Cloverleaf. I liked the pop-up no-sell this time to use as a way to catch Tanahashi coming off the top and hoisted into the Torture Rack. Tanahashi uses an eye rake to apply a Dragon Sleeper and again improved this with Nakanishi letting his hand drop twice and really take his time rehoisting him into the Rack. Nakanishi's rack does suck, but I do like him constantly going back to it and boom wicked gutbuster. When Tanahashi wins a top rope battle with headbutts, his High Fly Flow eats knees. Nakanishi runs through the same finish sequence that won him the title except on that final suplex, Tanahashi uses the ropes to whip his head back and crack heads. So far, I have really enjoyed the match and yes Nakanishi still sucks at selling the knee on offense, but they have told a much more compelling story and Nakanishi is taking his time to really put himself over as a powerhouse. Then a strike exchange that just won't end happens. I liked Tanahashi jelly-leg selling a lot and you really buy into Nakanishi German Suplex finishing him off. Nakanishi is shocked and finally the crowd wakes up and cheers for Tanahashi. As much as I like Tanahashi not having that one knock out blow it is in these situations when he is because half-dead that one knock out blow would be more credible than Sling Blade out of a Torture Rack. I actually really would have liked the heads cracking to be the lead in to the finish run. The usual Tanahashi finish run restores him to his rightful place as IWGP champion.

 

I really loved the booking of Nakanishi getting the upset victory for the championship. It shows Tanahashi is still a young champion and not quite The Man. He is still prone to make mistakes and maybe overlooking opponents. It also allows you to milk a bit more of a lackluster career of Nakanishi. Then on the rematch you show how resilient Tanahashi is and how much the championship means to him. Here he is getting his ass kicked, but still had presence of mind to crack his head back. The finish run seemed a little too disjointed. I really liked that Nakanishi false finish because you bit on it due to Tanahashi's selling. Then Tanahashi starts to fly around after and he looked crazy suplexing Nakanishi when he was that beat up. They could have been more creative there. This falls short of Nakamura/Ohtani as the NJPW Heavies MOTY, but I'll have it in the Top 50 pretty sure. This was a very good championship match and Tanahashi overcoming a mountain. ****1/4

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  • GSR changed the title to [2009-06-20-NJPW-Dominion] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Manabu Nakanishi

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