10 Wrestlers Who Broke Dave Meltzer's Rating System In 2017
8. Hiroshi Tanahashi
When you have a comparatively "down year" and you still manage to generate a 5 star match, you must be Hiroshi Tanahashi. The Ace of New Japan is on the gradual back-end of his career, having relinquished his top spot to Kazuchika Okada in 2016 to go on a streak of putting over young talent and generally bolstering the upper-midcard. Still, the Once-In-A-Century Talent manages to show time and again why he was tasked with bringing New Japan out of its mid-to-late 2000s drudges: because he's one of the best wrestlers in the world.
In 2017, Tanahashi was mainly preoccupied with his feud with Tetsuya Naito over the Intercontinental Championship. The two had issues dating back to 2014, when Tanahashi took Naito's Wrestle Kingdom main event after a fan vote bumped Naito and Okada down the card. Since then, they've clashed on and off. After encounters at Wrestle Kingdom and Dominion, the two finally achieved a 5 star rating in the G1 Tournament, with Naito emerging victorious.
Outside of Naito, Tanahashi, with his fiery energy and in-ring acumen, has put on bangers with Kota Ibushi and Zack Sabre Jr., and is now set for another firecracker with returning youngster Jay White at Wrestle Kingdom. All in a day's work for the Ace.