Hiroshi Tanahashi

[El-P]

13 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

How many other wrestlers can credibly claim to have been involved in both the best world title match and the best tag title match of a major promotion?

Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi.

Pretty elite company indeed.

[Makai Club #1]

Hiroshi Hase, depending on how much you love his title match against Hashimoto in 94. 

[elliott]

RIcky Morton did it in 1986. 

[WingedEagle]

An easy top 10 pick for me this time around.  Where he ranks in the top 10 will be a lot more difficult.  After seeing basically he did this past decade in close to real time, I've started looking back at his work in the aughts and while I'm still early in that process its a lot better than I expected going in.  Looking forward to finishing off that decade for him.

[Ed.]

20 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

How many other wrestlers can credibly claim to have been involved in both the best world title match and the best tag title match of a major promotion?

Austin/HHH VS Benoit/Jericho arguably opens the door for few people there.

---

Tanahashi will be my highest guy from the NJPW 2010 years, but I would still like to watch more of his stuff from before 2012 to get a better feel for where exactly he should fall on my list.  I watched his April 2007 title match with Nagata the other day and thought it was tremendous. 

[Tetsujin]

Tana is right now at my top 10. He clearly was the 10s WOTD, because he peaked between 2011-2018 (that's a fucking eight years peak) and almost always delivered. There's no other wrestler that produced that many "very good or more" level matches last decade, against such different opponents and settings: you have his Ace run with guys like Goto, Suzuki, the Okada series is one of the greatest wrestling rivalries ever, you have the personal and stiff matches with Shibata (another great rivalry), he put over guys like Ishii, Okada, peak Nakamura, Styles Omega, pre-Ingobernables Naito, etc with great matches...

After WK 10 you have his Ace in decline run, with a fantastic Omega match, an all time great IC title reign (I specially recommend checking out the ZSJ G1 and Destruction matches), one of the very best wrestling trilogies ever with Naito in 2017, the Ibushi matches, his big comeback to the main event of WK with another great match with Kenny, and more recently he has been working with guys like peak Jay White, definitely non-peak Jericho, the Dangerous Tekkers, Great O-Khan, Shingo, etc and he totally delivered. Then you go to his pre-peak stuff, and more often than not you find great matches with more different opponents and with Tana playing different roles: Bryan, Nagata, Suwama, Angle, the HARASHIMA tag match, the Naka tag against Sasaki and Suzuki... people have already bring those and more matches out. His catalogue is INSANE.

The key about Tanahashi is that he always manages to get his formula in all of his matches, but in a way it never feels like the same match at all, he's very versatile while still being a formulaic wrestler, and that's why he might be the best formulaic wrestler (and big match wrestler, honestly) ever. He totally feels like a wrestling superstar thanks to his connection with the fans throughout his matches, his amazing selling, his clever offence, the way he portraits his character and can be the dominant Ace, the arrogant subtle heel, the good guy that gives the bad guy some of his own medicine,  the angry, extremely prideful veteran not wanting to be left behind, the veteran that can no longer go at the same level as current guys... He can do it all perfectly, adding so much interest and tons of emotion to his matches. He has a NEVER Championship match with Jay White next week, and I can't wait to see it. He's definitely starting to get physically limited (the Shingo match shows), but he's so intelligent as a worker that he manages to make his condition a reinforcement of the story of the match, instead of trying to ignore it and going all out with horrible results like other aged veterans like, Idk, Undertaker or Jericho for example. Or Okada

[Tetsujin]

On 4/29/2021 at 1:10 PM, Tetsujin said:

Tana is right now at my top 10. He clearly was the 10s WOTD, because he peaked between 2011-2018 (that's a fucking eight years peak) and almost always delivered. There's no other wrestler that produced that many "very good or more" level matches last decade, against such different opponents and settings: you have his Ace run with guys like Goto, Suzuki, the Okada series is one of the greatest wrestling rivalries ever, you have the personal and stiff matches with Shibata (another great rivalry), he put over guys like Ishii, Okada, peak Nakamura, Styles Omega, pre-Ingobernables Naito, etc with great matches...

After WK 10 you have his Ace in decline run, with a fantastic Omega match, an all time great IC title reign (I specially recommend checking out the ZSJ G1 and Destruction matches), one of the very best wrestling trilogies ever with Naito in 2017, the Ibushi matches, his big comeback to the main event of WK with another great match with Kenny, and more recently he has been working with guys like peak Jay White, definitely non-peak Jericho, the Dangerous Tekkers, Great O-Khan, Shingo, etc and he totally delivered. Then you go to his pre-peak stuff, and more often than not you find great matches with more different opponents and with Tana playing different roles: Bryan, Nagata, Suwama, Angle, the HARASHIMA tag match, the Naka tag against Sasaki and Suzuki... people have already bring those and more matches out. His catalogue is INSANE.

The key about Tanahashi is that he always manages to get his formula in all of his matches, but in a way it never feels like the same match at all, he's very versatile while still being a formulaic wrestler, and that's why he might be the best formulaic wrestler (and big match wrestler, honestly) ever. He totally feels like a wrestling superstar thanks to his connection with the fans throughout his matches, his amazing selling, his clever offence, the way he portraits his character and can be the dominant Ace, the arrogant subtle heel, the good guy that gives the bad guy some of his own medicine,  the angry, extremely prideful veteran not wanting to be left behind, the veteran that can no longer go at the same level as current guys... He can do it all perfectly, adding so much interest and tons of emotion to his matches. He has a NEVER Championship match with Jay White next week, and I can't wait to see it. He's definitely starting to get physically limited (the Shingo match shows), but he's so intelligent as a worker that he manages to make his condition a reinforcement of the story of the match, instead of trying to ignore it and going all out with horrible results like other aged veterans like, Idk, Undertaker or Jericho for example. Or Okada

Remember this? Well, the match was an absolute masterpiece. White was the best heel ever for one night, but Tana played that role I described better than ever. I feel like no other two wrestlers today could have worked this particular match, it just happened because Jay is a fucking prodigy and Tana is one of the absolute best ever, even past his prime. I know New Japan main event formula isn't for everybody, but PLEASE give this a chance without caring for duration or whatever. The dynamic between these two characters is what pro wrestling is about. I can't believe I enjoyed this much a match in the COVID era.

[Boss Rock]

That match is on the agenda for me. 

One thing I find really fascinating is how much Tana's stock has risen during what is generally considered the twilight of his career, or at the very least the twilight of his time as a featured player.

[kas]

Tanahashi is my working number 1, and the only people who could challenge him for that spot are Kobashi, Okada, Bryan, and Hokuto. He was good as a YL, and ever since the Nagata series in 2007 where he found his formula, he's been one of the best big match workers in the world. That fact remains to this day - even with a completely broken down body, he's produced 4 of New Japan's best 5 matches this year. He's also really great at subtly changing his offence depending on the situation, even if the formula is still there.

[justinsdrown]

I haven’t seen an objective argument for why Tanahashi shouldn’t be considered the best wrestler of the 2010s. Users seem to chalk it up to “he makes my skin crawl” or “I personally don’t like him”. Tana ranking lower than Danielson would be the easiest example of a wrestler getting a geographic edge. American Dragon indeed. Yes, for Tanahashi it was a slow build to an otherwise incredible peak. But that outweighs Bryan’s heel work in ROH or Bryan’s wasted periods(concussion years, certain weak WWE runs).

Spent the morning watching some Tanahashi matches with a good friend of mine. One of my favorite tricks in his bag is the ability to play heel for a single match. Giving it that extra bit of heat. We were watching that 2013 match he had against Ishii. Tanahashi acting like a cocky douche gives the match explosive heat. It makes me think of how hard Austin has to work to get the audience to boo him. If there’s any justice he’ll rank the highest of his contemporaries. 
 

 

[Tetsujin]

He'll be on my top 5. He's in his last year as a pro wrestler right now, his body is fucking broken, but he plays with that better than any other broken living legend I've seen. He's a guy you just feel he puts his very soul behind everything, both Hiroshi Tanahashi the character and Hiroshi Tanahashi the performer. The Takeshita match in USA is the best example of that this year.