10 Best NJPW Matches Of 2016 (So Far...)

9. Tetsuya Naito Vs. Tomohiro Ishii - Wrestling Dontaku

Will Ospreay KUSHIDA NJPW
njpwworld.com

Tetsuya Naito and Tomohiro Ishii have had two great singles matches this year, but the added stakes and tension of their second makes this list ahead of their bout in the New Japan Cup. The Los Ingobernables/CHAOS feud had moved up a level by this point, with Naito capturing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Kazuchika Okada at Invasion Attack earlier in the year.

Everyone and their dog knew that Ishii wasn't walking out of Wrestling Dontaku as the new champion, but that shouldn't take away from the match at all. Ishii is absolutely perfect as the main event gate-keeper in New Japan, a credible opponent who doesn't lose value in defeat, the modern day epitome of fighting spirit.

Make no mistake about it, Tomohiro Ishii is the MVP of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Despite being picked to win this by exactly zero people, there were moments when you thought Ishii could pull it off. Okada and Gedo came down to ringside to even the odds with EVIL and BUSHI interfering, but it wasn't quite enough.

One Destino later, the dream was dead. It was a more compelling match than it had any right to be.

Contributor
Contributor

Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.