2007 G1 Climax Tournament Final

So with that, here we are at the finals.

Hiroyoshi Tanahashi v. Yuji Nagata

The match starts off differently, this time with a bit more of a feeling out process, Nagata posessing a little bit more respect for Tanahashi after wrestling him once. Once he gains the upper hand though, you really see his attitude go from growing confidence to outright cockiness. He bats Tanahashi around the ring with slaps, kicks and other more strike-oriented stuff with smirks galore, talking a little trash along the way.

Eventually though, Tanahashi catches a break and catches Nagata with a dragon screw on the apron again, but this time, leaps right on Nagata and goes right to work with a neck breaker on the floor. These two seperate bigger spots serve as the basis from which Tanahashi works: First take out the legs. Remember that brutal kick last match that cost Tanahashi the title? Yeah, he doesn't want a repeat of that. Once that threat is eliminated and Nagata's comeback potential is neutralized, start going at his neck and hope that his arsenal of suplexes and the sling blade will be enough to keep the Champion down for the count.

Eventually though, Tanahashi has a stupid moment and decides to start trading shots with Nagata, letting the champ right back into the match. Nagata doesn't punch as hard as he kicks, but he still 'punches' freakin' way harder than Tanahashi and it almost costs him the match just like it cost Nakamura his semi-final contest against Nagata. This is when the match sort of goes from confident-cocky Nagata to the 'NOW I remember why I freaking hate you' Nagata.

Problem is, "NOW I remember why I freaking hate you' Nagata is cousins with sloppy Nagata. Yuji cranks up the same home run kick that won him the belt off Tanahashi four months earlier, only to have the champion catch it this time and hit not one, not two, no, not even three dragon screws, but four, just to be sure Nagata wouldn't pop him out of the blue again.

Tanahashi smells the blood and basically starts dropping Nagata on his neck in an effort to keep him down. He hits a high german and that's good for 2. Tanahashi knows Nagata's plucky, so this German will get him right? Nope, that doesn't either. Rather than lose his cool, Tanahashi keeps his head and mounts the buckles and hits the frog splash. This time, Nagata stays down and Tanahashi wins his first G1.

Overall, I liked this match, but not as much as their first encounter. This certainly felt like a lot bigger deal than the first match, but it didn't quite match up. The progression is nice on the part of Nagata, but as is occasionally the case with him, his selling is REALLY clown-ish at times, which isn't something that should be happening in a big match like this one. Tanahashi is good, but I almost felt like this was more of the formulaic stuff we saw throughout Tanahashi's run with the strap, not the man coming into his own stuff we saw when he lost the belt to Nagata.

All that I can live with though, as it's really more asthetic stuff. The thing that made me like this match a lot less than the other one was that just when it seemed like a segment was really starting to make sense and click, they flew to something else and there wasn't ever really a time to let what was going on settle in. I just felt like the stalled when they got to a certain level and then moved on to the next thing.

The ending though, is outstanding. Tanahashi DOESN'T get hit with the hail mary and this time makes SURE he knows how to end something. He comes in with a plan and sticks to it. Stay around long enough to frustrate the champ, make him goof, take out the legs (defense wins championships) and then start twisting off that neck. In that sense, his stick-to-it-iveness shows a lot of growth despite the structure being rather formulaic Tanahashi stuff. Not that formulaic Tanahashi is bad. It just isn't as good as when Tanahashi is guided to a something new.

Overall I like this, but it did have it's flaws. It plays off some of the good stuff with the last match while flip flopping the roles a bit. ***1/4