Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

[9.0] "I loved this match. Admittedly, it does take a minute to find its footing, but once it does, wow. The final 10 minutes are masterful. I was so impressed with Tenzan here; probably the best I've seen him. He is so unselfish here and makes Tanahashi look like a million bucks. Tanahashi is still a little ways off from being the Ace we know and love, but you see that guy here. He may not have won, but in defeat he looked more than ready to be a top guy. 4.5 stars."

[8.0] "Great G1 Climax final, that was really good, and the definitive closer for a super fun show to watch, with many cool stories going on. The main difference here from the other previous matches, is that it was much longer, probably because they're not thinking about getting the victory ASAP, it's the final, there isn't another match after this, so it's time to give it all and at the same time, not worry about leaving the match in a good condition, which definitely didn't happen. IMO the bout was excellent, Tenzan had more experience, but he was more fatigued than Tanahashi, which is an advantage, specially considering Tana is so young. It's not an incredibly long match, but the ending stretch was really long and took a huge section of the match. I'm not THE biggest fan of the nearfall-heavy strategy that they were executing here, but it's undeniably thrilling and added a lot in terms of struggle and fighting spirit, they had to do everything in order to win the match, and Tenzan's arc here in this tournament was marvelous to watch, I was rooting for him and the entire arena was backing Tenzan as well, so it was huge payoff, and now he's a B2B G1 Climax winner, amazing - {***3/4}"

[9.0] "Back to back winner for Hiroyoshi Tenzan here in the G1 Climax 2004 Final against the young and future ace of New Japan Pro Wrestling, Hiroshi Tanahashi. The match was very different from the last year final, and it's great to have different style in the finals over the years. It's just peak japanese wrestling action, the crowd was very supportive also, and for those kind of matches, it's very important to see that the crowd is involved in the action they are seeing."

[10.0] "Awesome G1 final, with absolute electricity in the air for this clash. Tana's youth vs Tenzan's experience plays a key role here, with tenzan relentlessly going for Tana's neck following the brutal brainbuster bump he took in the Tenryu match preceding this, while Tana misses his golden opportunity when Tenzan hurts his own hand from missing a chop. Tana channels legendary NJPW figures like Fujinami and Muto here, while Tenzan has fully formed his own style, and ultimately that helps him seal the deal and beat all the new musketeers in one night! Excellent G1 final, one of the better ones I've seen!"

[9.0] "Clash of generations has always been an engaging story to me in wrestling and this one is no difference, matter of fact this one has such a special layers to it that makes it stand out in the category, it's a tale of a forgotten generation lost in the middle of two fighting for his spot at the top -after finally reaching it- against the new one sent to take them down immediately. Those Tenzan early control segments and what followed after helped a ton with the direction of the match, Tenzan is much more experienced and has that killer instinct but young Tanahashi is no easy task, he found himself is such big spot and was hungry to show that he belong here, it starts as an underdog story for him and as we move forward it almost completely shift as if the Generation change is destined for this night! by the time we reach the final stretches, the match had excellently built balance not being in either one's favor which playas perfectly to the story, this new Generation is hungry and full of talent to take off, but the old one starved for way too long. Best match in Tana's Career up until that point, high there with best Tenzan matches and overall one of my favorite G1 finals."

[8.0] "A story of the young trying to eat the old, shades of the greatness from tana that is to come. 4.25*."

[9.0] "Underrated match honestly. Tenzan does a great job punishing Tana all through the early stages, and even at a young age Tanahashi has this unbelievable timing to everything he does and the crowd believes in the upset more and more with every big move, counter and especially the roll ups. Match built to a great finish where Tenzan actually looked in trouble but he got out of the sleeper and in the end won with his own submission. 4.5 and even tempted to go 4.75"

[8.0] "It's nice to see Tana in such good form and in a balanced match against the veteran Tenzan. The more experienced Tenzan comes through, but Tana has nothing to be ashamed of in her first final, which lacked big sequences but was still enjoyable. In-ring quality: 2.25/4. Stakes: 1.75/2. Justification: 1/1. Place on the card: 1/1. Suspense: 1/1. Bonuses/penalties: none. Total: 8/10. Match seen on NJPW World."

[7.0] "Young Tanahashi with good knees and boulders for delts. Veteran but still spry Tenzan. Both of them crazy over with the crowd, which had me biting on several of the 2.9 counts. Really great counters and transitions. Up until the end you could see this bout going either way which is always a good sign of a well-done match. Maybe not quite what you'd expect from a G1 final, and just a tad too short for my taste considering how solid the performance was - but definitely a fun watch."

[7.0] "Both Tanahashi and Tenzan put on a good match here, though it wasn't the quality that I'd expect from the finals of the G1 Climax, though that could just be due to the past decade's matches setting my expectations way too high. I had a few minor issues from this match that prevent me from calling this bout great, as I felt like the entire first third of this match lacked any heat, especially Tanahashi's first comeback after Tenzan's control segment in the beginning. Nevertheless, everything after that was as good as it gets, with both men playing their roles very well and Tanahashi's fiery offense making me believe that he could legitimately win this tournament. Definitely check this match out, despite my minor gripes with it, this is still worth a watch. ***3/4"

[8.0] "On a rewatch, this wasn't just very good, but flat-out great. There were a lot of nice counters to the signature moves of both men, showing how equally matched they both were and how intelligent they both were as well. Tenzan worked Tanahashi over for the first half of the match, but then Tanahashi made a series of fantastic comebacks that really emphasised his power and agility. Tenzan showed very good aggression with all his subtle gestures and expressions, and all his signature moves had great technique and impact. Tanahashi's second big comeback after avoiding Tenzan's moonsault was fantastic, and it was at this point that the match became great. There was a ridiculous amount of drama as Tenzan continued to put Tanahashi down only for Tanahashi to continue to kick out, and Tanahashi somehow showed even more underdog babyface passion than before, as he perfectly linked together all his signature moves, pinfall attempts, and kick-outs, resulting in the crowd biting on every single near fall. To top it off, I loved the finish, with Red Shoes suddenly calling for the timekeeper to ring the bell, revealing to the incredibly hyped-up crowd that Tanahashi had submitted, and that Tenzan had won the G1. There were some slow moments in the first 1/4th of the match, but it had massively picked up by the half-way point, and then the drama just keep ramping up more and more, making for a very exciting finish. Tenzan was great here, and Tanahashi was showing hints of how he would eventually become one of the greatest of all time. ****"

[8.0] "One of Tenzan's better matches in his career. For Tanahashi this was his first G1 finals, so there was a lot of drama in the air whether or not this young dude could surpass one of the then top stars of the promotion. This was a great match for its time with Tanahashi and Tenzan both putting on great face performances in their own respective ways, ****1/4."

[6.0] "Tanahashi & Tenzan put on a pretty solid, exciting G1 final match here. It really wasn't anything special, but a pretty good match. **3/4"