10 Best Wrestling PPVs Of 2017
8. NJPW G1 Climax - Day 17
Headlined by what would have been, in any other year, the best match held anywhere, Day 17 of the G1 Climax benefitted from its showcase dramatic masterclass and the urgent, do-or-die stakes of the perfectly-calibrated tournament's latter stages.
Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs. Tetsuya Naito was so good - a seesawing spectacle of dramatic peaks and troughs, in which the winner was impossible to predict. It was also impossible to determine who you wanted to win; Tanahashi wrestled with such characterful shades of grey, at once a battling babyface and a desperate, despicable heel, that fans were left in a state of emotional frenzy. He wrung every last emotion from the audience with his performance, one which required little in the way of high spots. Hirooki Goto and Kota Ibushi, meanwhile, contested a classic last-ditch sprint. Zack Sabre, Jr. and Tomohiro Ishii underscored their respective styles in a superb fusion of them. Yuji Nagata, in the form of his life, carried Bad Luck Fale in a superb bout to bookend his uplifting last stand arc.
There were more showy NJPW cards in 2917 - but few better shows.