10 Introductory Matches To The Unrivalled Art Of Japanese Wrestling
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs. Minoru Suzuki - NJPW King Of Pro Wrestling 2012
This was the match to which Dave Meltzer awarded his first ***** rating to a Japanese promotion in seven years.
Pitting the esteemed and innovative mixed martial artist Minoru Suzuki against the flamboyant wrestling purist Hiroshi Tanahashi, this classic was a perfectly-pitched exhibition of character.
Suzuki mercilessly subjected Tanahashi, famously adverse to the Strong Style with which NJPW made its name, with a series of strikes both devastating and dismissive. The battered but unmoved Tanahashi nevertheless caught Suzuki with an abdominal stretch, following which he riled his hard nut foe with his signature air guitar taunt.
This anachronism doesn't translate to Western audiences - but it should still be appreciated as a heat-seeking ploy, despite the cultural barrier.
Suzuki reinforced his deranged heel credentials by tearing off Tanahashi's bandaged arm with his teeth before proceeding to maim it entirely. Tanahashi also employed a traditional technique by targeting Suzuki's left leg with a series of dragon screws - and even by aiming his spectacular High Fly Flow in its direction in a shrewd augmentation of the psychology employed with rewarding consistency throughout.
Tanahashi's strategy was so sound that Suzuki couldn't counteract his High Fly Flow by raising his knees - the left one had been so thoroughly decimated that the reversal hurt him more than his ultimately triumphant opponent.