[2006-12-10-NJPW-Circuit] Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Shinsuke Nakamura

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Superstar Sleeze]

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. ****

[dawho5]

Early match was pretty well-worked. They got across that Tanahashi was easily overpowered, but had a speed advantage and is a technician. They did spend a little too much time working the New Japan matwork for the sake of matwork stuff, but that's a style quibble. The mini-heat segment on Tanahashi was a nice twist on an old idea. Nakamura gets a lot of counters to Tanahashi's hope spots that lead to setup moves for Nakamura's finishers. It shows that Nakamura himself is no slouch as a technician, despite having the power advantage as well as being something a little different. The finishing run was not badly worked, it seemed to come out of the heat segment pretty naturally and keep in line with the established roles. Several problems for me. First, nakamura hits a reverse powerslam that looks like Tanahashi should be done or just about done and he kicks out. Okay, just about done. Then he goes immediately into a tiger suplex that Tanahashi also kicks out of. There's too much of this in 2000s puro and I don't like how stuff that should be killer is tossed to the side as just a nearfall. Then Tanahashi hits a sweet exploder/uranage thing to set up a...sling blade. I think the sling blade looks cool, but the exploder is the nearfall here, not the sling blade. Why set up a weaker-looking move with a really big one? Otherwise, I thought the finish was intelligently worked and I think this still manages to be in the 90-100 range.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Tanahashi is the best championship wrestler of the 00s in Japan. Everything builds to such a satisfying climax and everything makes sense all the way through the match. The first highspot is ten minutes in and it stems from a great suplex struggle. Before that, you get a very good wrestling contest with well-done work because it feels organic. Even little shit like Nakamura working over the ribs, but he shoots Tanahashi across twice and each time Tanahashi is able to attempt a counter (whiffs on a cross body and a rollup through a knee lift). If you think about Nakamura is taking a big risk by allowing Tanahashi separation just to hit a bigger move and Tanahashi almost makes him pay. That's how you make someone earn something within their segment. Tanahashi never just sits around and takes Nakamura's shit. He is going to attempt to counter but come up short. Nakamura was really trying in this match from attacking with purpose to selling for Tanahashi. I liked the curveball of Tanahashi starting his finishing sequence early only to be cut off by a flash triangle, which nearly costs him the match. I always love when a challenger goes for broke (ala Super Landslide) and it leads to his demise via a sweet powerbomb, High Fly Flow, Dragon Suplex combination. There are some issues with lack of selling at times and how transitions are performed, but the first half and finishing run are really high-end stuff. I wish they built on this to give even better performances in 2008 and 2009, but it looks like 2006 is their best match together that I have seen so far. In the 40s probably at ****1/4