10 Best NJPW Matches Of 2020 (So Far)
7. Tetsuya Naito Vs. KENTA - New Beginning In Osaka
Tetsuya Naito’s first title defence after winning both titles at Wrestle Kingdom, after redefining his position in the company forever, involved him bleeding profoundly out of his head as one of the greatest kickers in pro wrestling repeatedly struck him in the blood wound. That’s the Naito I love. This match is a classic New Japan main event where KENTA makes the most of the genuine heel heat he gained from attacking Naito right after his historic win at Wrestle Kingdom.
This and the Shibata segment at last year's G1 finals have cemented KENTA as NJPW's best active heel, with him making up for his slower in ring style with more acidic character work and crowd manipulation. KENTA is more than capable of producing regular great matches even if he's not on the level that he was in the mid 2000s (which is to be expected after several injuries and dozens of hard hitting classics) and this is one of his finest of his year in New Japan.
The match is a fantastic pure heel/face dynamic, rare for Naito outside of Jay White as he usually plays the tweener role to perfection, but here he's the triumphant fighter of the people. It's good throughout but kicks into another gear when Naito bleeds, as he's the kind of wrestler who gets motivated by grievous bodily harm. A wonderful first defence that will hopefully be topped by his second.