Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega

[6.0] "Always had a bit of an adverse remembrance of this match being way worse than it was but it's actually pretty great, largely due to self-restraint. It's not the match that legitimises Kenny as a main eventer like history dictates and he's just a shithead heel taking advantage of a pre-existing injury and a lot of interference which is a way better route to go. Kenny targets the arm a lot and Tana is sympathetic as ever with his working man levels of selling, Kenny goes the other way with it by really showing "hey look how good I can sell my leg" and it's a bit much at times but better than nothing at all I guess. I can always see why he's a guy I gravitated towards as an impressionable teen but years later looking back he is incredibly frustrating at times. Thankfully most matches of Tanahashi past this point can be viewed just as much through his eyes as a tragic defeat than his opponents success and as the babyface, that's how it should work. Watching the heels eat shit is genuinely fun and Tanahashi being way too hurt to properly follow up when the odds are evened is perfect stuff."

[6.0] "I tried to get into this one but Kenny Omega is still just too goofy for me to take seriously. He does the moves perfectly and he's got stellar timing. Nothing against the man as far as that goes. It's everything he does between the moves that bugs me. He overacts and flops around like a ferret in a washing machine. I just want Tanahashi to slap this man as hard as he can in the face for real by the end of it. If you had this exact same match but Tanahashi was paired with someone who understood the concept of restraint, this would be an eight or above."

[10.0] "The match that made Kenny as a heavyweight, Tanahashi is absolutely incredible, and Kenny steps into his role as one of the greatest ever."

[7.0] "It's a good match but a bit messy due to all the interference. Tanahashi tries to persevere through all the cheating and heel tactics but ultimately fails. All the interference is a bit too much and drags the match down, but I understand it because of the story being told."

[9.0] "This was a fun match! The beginning of Kenny's ascension as a Heavyweight and as the leader of the Bullet Club. There's lots of limbwork and good selling in here, and the final minutes are really good, but the interferences kinda makes me like it a little bit less."

[9.0] "Limb work is something that this generation has some issues to execute properly. Hiroshi Tanahashi might be one of the best wrestlers of all time at this, but go ask for Mike Bailey, which is a great wrestler, to execute that. You'll not get the same awnser from him. This match basically had 15 minutes of limb work from both wrestlers, Tana focusing on his leg, Omega focusing on his arm, and don't get me wrong, it was a impressive match. Surprising me, Kenny did a great job in the limb work, I don't know why but I thought he was bad at this. The interruption from the Young Bucks was great and well made, different from the second in my opinion. And the ending action between both wrestlers was great. Of course they was "holding" themselves to a style too rigid for doing the best of both wrestlers in another event that we all know where it was. Well, that's what I think, I didn't watched the Tokyo Dome match yet."

[10.0] "What a fantastic match that would somehow be topped in an all time great match at Wrestle Kingdom 13. Tanahashi continued being one of the most important figures in wrestling history. First he passed the torch to Okada at WK 10, now he makes another star out of Kenny Omega. This match was the beginning of Kenny Omega's terrific heavyweight run in New Japan. Kenny Omega played the cartoonish heel role exceptionally and Tanahashi was a lovable babyface like always. Loved Tana's references to Nakamura in the early stages of the match. Omega capitalized on Tana's injured arm and worked over it in brutal fashion. In return Tana worked the leg of Omega with some awesome Dragon Screws. Both men sold their asses off. Young Bucks interfering was such an excellent use of interference. Omega pulling out the Styles Clash was another awesome moment. The closing stretch is loaded with drama including a reverse frankensteiner sequence that was just tremendous. Loved Omega trying to KO Tana with several V-Triggers in a row and finally winning with the OWA. *****"

[9.0] "Really an excellent match that told a compelling, if contrived story. This is Omega starting out as a heavyweight, so he's still deep into the Bullet Club cheating antics. Tana's still in his prime, but just lost to Okada and it seems that the torch was finally passed. They work a story driven limbwork match, with Kenny being excellent on effence targeting Tana's shoulder and him returning the favour by going after Kenny's knee. They both sell very well. It was great to see Kenny get rid of his goons at the start, only to reveal the ruse of the Young Bucks hiding under the ring. Gedo love's his foreign heel cheating tactics, but here they are executed well. Very good match overall."

[8.0] "Outside of the match's context that Tanahashi is defending the honor of Shinsuke Nakamura, this match is about a dishonorable wrestler vs. an honorable wrestler. Much of the work revealed that to us, like its early parts, where to gain an advantage against Tanahashi, Omega had to resort to unsavory tactics like raking Tana's face after he failed to outpower him twice in the opening of the match where Tana showed he could outclass Kenny simply by using a 101 wrestling hold and a brief usage of chain wrestling (core fundamentals of a wrestler of course). When Kenny sent his entourage to the back he was being insincere as later it's revealed that the Young Bucks were under the ring the entire time. Kenny did this antic to give Tanahashi a false sense of security which seemingly failed as Hiroshi declined to shake Omega's hand after assuring him it would be a 1v1 contest, much to the chagrin of Omega as he was seemingly bothered by it as his expressions showed us. Kenny being the dishonorable wrestler becomes more flagrant with his unsavory tactics. Instead of keeping things within the boundaries of the ropes, Omega drove things to the outside utilizing the guardrail, a cable, a chair, and Suplexing Tana onto the front row's chairs. All these things are outside of the confines of the rope which can inflict more pain on a wrestler gaining an unfair advantage over them. A beautiful snapshot that I believe captured the essence of the match was, as Kenny is attempting to Suplex Tana over the guardrail, Tana is vying to keep things closer to the ring as he would be Suplexing Kenny on the outside mats in contrast to Kenny sending Tana to the chairs. Another discernible moment that I believe makes a beautiful contrast between both sending things to the outside of the ring is when Tana sent Omega to the outside it was a result of Tana using Kenny's momentum as he ran towards him and backdropped him over the ropes. After that, Hiroshi hit a High Fly Flow but quickly rolled into the ring rather than utilizing his surrounding environment as Omega did. The outside interferences certainly complemented Omega's character, but it became overbearing. Even though Tanahashi sent Omega back first onto a trash can, that is a babyface serving comeuppance to a heel. Their limb work was beautiful as Kenny set his sights on Tana's already compromised arm going into the match, and Tana worked Kenny's leg after countering with a beautiful Dragon Screw. Omega was fantastic as he sold his leg in multiple spots even at some point not being able to execute certain moves due to the damage (one of them might have been improvised after miscommunication). Hiroshi did pay homage to Nakamura in some spots but ultimately failed to successfully defend his honor. I was not a fan of the overbooking with the interferences and the ref bump, but I am too fond of the work they created to deduct points so my rating will reflect that. ****1/4"

[7.0] "I'm a fan of the storytelling in this match, Kenny wants to prove himself so he gets rid of the Bullet Club at the start, but when he's about to tap out and lose the title the Bucks sneak in and save him. Tana on the other hand wants to avenge Naka, using some of his moves throughout the match. Ironically Kenny does also use a Styles Clash though Tana does kick out. Not the biggest fan of the structure, the brawl outside could have been done way better and kind of messed with the flow. The interference at the end is something I'm mixed on, I think it was assuming but also kind of unnecessary. Still a solid match but has got some problems that prevent me from rating it higher."

[8.0] "Kenny sending the bullet club to the back so that he and Tanahashi could have a straightforward one on one match was nice. Tana had a bad arm heading into the match, so Omega went after it and the work he did on it was relatively fine, but I thought Tanahashi's selling of his arm was awesome, until the very end when he stops selling it but that isn't the end of the world. Even when he was making his comeback toward the end he still remembered to sell his arm. The interference was annoying here but at least, it ended up with them fighting each other on one at the end. The styles clash near fall at the end was great, but I felt this match was dragging toward the end with some unnecessary action. Also, Kenny's facial expressions during this match were horrible.****1/4"

[9.0] "Very fun match. Kenny's bumping was terrific; he made shoulder blocks look like shotgun blasts. Both guys working limbs and selling them was great, with Tanahashi going into the match with an injured shoulder, and Kenny having his right leg assaulted by Tanahashi was dragon screws. Kenny even managed to pull off a moonsault while still selling his leg by doing it with only his left leg. The Young Bucks came from under the ring after Cody Hall distracted Red Shoes, ending with Red Shoes being hit with a trashcan and all hell breaking loose. These shenanigans didn't last long, as Michael Elgin saved Tanahashi from the Bucks and took them out of the equation by carrying both of them up the entrance ramp, something that was quite the feat of strength considering how unusually steep the ramp was. Kenny ended up winning after hitting Tanahashi with a One-Winged Angel. I greatly enjoyed the flow of this match, and it didn't feel like it went as long as it did."

[9.0] "This was like 30 minutes long and the action was great. Michael Elgin and the Young Bucks showed up."

[9.0] "An awesome match. The start of the legend of Kenny Omega as a heavyweight. The final 10 minutes were drama filled and the BC interference was very well done, as was the Elgin save. Two of the greatest of all time. ****1/2"

[8.0] "I'm conflicted on that one. On one hand, I loved the story. Kenny Omega needed to prove that he belonged with the best of the heavyweights and desperately required a marquee victory after kicking the most successful Bullet Club member yet out of the faction. Omega even sent his Bullet Club brethren to the back. This evolved into a story of Omega targeting the injured shoulder of Hiroshi Tanahashi, and The Ace countering by sending a clear message: What you've accomplished over the course of this full match, I will accomplish in a matter of moments. And just like that, both men were wrestling with only three fully functioning limbs. On the other hand, I thought the timing was off at certain moments and some of the interference moments didn't quite register with me like I wanted them to. Either way, the final few minutes of this match were pretty damn good and the story they told was great. As such, I'll land in the middle of my ratings of 8 or 9 and go 4. 25 stars, 8. 5 out of 10."

[9.0] "Nice to go back to a time where Kenny was working heel, his arm work was a little slow but it got the crowd solely behind Tanahashi. Interference spots where all the faction guys run in to even the odds can be really fun when done right, and this a good example of that. The finishing stretch brought this from very good to awesome, the first of many great Kenny Omega matches in the HW division ****1/2."

[7.0] "I don't really see the high rating here. Very boring first half. And just when it starts to pick up the pace and get interesting, we have the stupid interferences. I understand it from a story angle, but it just kills the flow of the match. Otherwise, quite a good ending and the match itself is pretty decent, but the flow is awful."

[10.0] "For me, this is the perfect interference style match. Which is amazing, these guys could have a perfect heel style interference match here, and then a perfect all around match at WK13. Nonetheless, this match just executed Omega's rise up the card perfectly. He tried to go at it alone, just destroying Tana's arm, and built up the heel character. He then started needing help because of Tana's resilience. But eventually, the playing field was levelled and he was again tasked with winning on his own, which he did decisively. But beyond that story, you just get fantastic action and sequences, combined with amazing selling by both men. They just had stellar performances all around. This match kept moving from the start and never got too slow to be dull, as they showed at WK13 as well, these guys excell at match pacing. Back then and even now, one of my favorites of 2016. Just a perfect blend of Americanized and NJPW styles Without the excellent performance in this match, Omega may not have had the momentum build for the megastar making match against Naito in G1. It all starts with him looking so good as a top star here *****"

[10.0] "Someone described this as Dude Love vs Steve Austin meets Flair vs Steamboat and I could not think of a more perfect description. The first twenty minutes are probably the most technical you'll ever see a Kenny Omega match, with him viciously ripping apart Tanahashi's right arm, while Tanahashi responds by attacking the leg of Omega - both of which were sold wonderfully I might add. The final nine minutes were crazy, with the reveal of TYB being, quite frankly, genius. Omega had sent Cody Hall and Yujiro to the back early on in this match, seemingly wanting to keep it as a 1-on-1 affair. However, while in a submission hold, Cody comes out to seemingly break up the submission, but while the ref is distracted, TYB come out from under the ring to attack Tanahashi, and the dynamic of the match completely changes, as it turned into an overbooked mess, but the right kind of overbooked mess, that sent the crowd into a frenzy from the Styles Clash spot onwards. A statement of intent from Omega, the match that began his meteoric rise through the ranks of New Japan. (*****)"

[9.0] "This was an important match into turning Kenny Omega into the star he would become for NJPW and filling the void left by Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles. Big props to Hiroshi Tanahashi as shortly after he passed the torch to Kazuchika Okada, he goes out and creates a new star. The story of the match was that Omega targeted Tanahashi's injured arm and Tanahashi responded by attacking the leg. Omega I think did a better job of working Tanahashi over. Both guys sold well. Not a fan of the interference by the Young Buck and Michael Elgin. ****1/4"

[6.0] "It was a good match, I think. The early parts where Omega feigned being a sportsman, sending BC away only to cheat his way throughout the match was really good and very clever. The constant switch in momentum between the two was well done also. Gave this match a very competitive feel to it. I want to praise their work on the limbs too even if the selling wasn't up to that standard. Both of them sold the initial pain of the work but they didn't sell it afterwards and they blew it off to hit moves like the v-triggers and dragon suplexes. Disappointing from both from that standpoint. The interference wasn't preferable but it made sense with Omega's cheating. The pacing is good too. The match never dragged for me at all. ***"

[10.0] "I actually wasn't into this match AT ALL when it first happened, but now after watching it for the first time since it happened, my thoughts on it couldn't be any more different. I would put it up there w/ some of the best New Japan main events of this current era. Omega's work on top, going after the right arm of Tana was brilliant, Tana's leg work rules & both guys sell their ass off. Tana's milking of the crowd before & during the big moves were absolutely masterful. ****1/2"

[8.0] "Despite the Bullet Club nonsense, this was still a great match, and it made a star out of Kenny Omega."

[8.0] "Although this match was bit overbooked towards the end, this was undoubtedly a great way to establish Kenny Omega as a top star. Loved the arm work by Omega, which of course Tana sold his ass of for. Kenny did some great selling himself too, which had me believing Tana would actually make the Cleaner submit to the Clover Leaf. Some great nearfalls towards the end helped to build great tension and drama, especially when Kenny busted out the STYLES CLASH. Overall, a really awesome match hindered by interference. **** 1/4"

[10.0] "Kenny made a great first impression to the heavyweight scene here, putting on a great match and beating the Ace in the process. Sure there was interference but: 1. It protected Tanahashi and 2. it wasn't really that bad, I love Elgin. Big match Kenny busted out the big moves, going for a High Fly Flow, hitting a Styles Clash and many Bomayes which we now know to be V-Triggers, one of Kenny's main signatures. Finish was great, really good match. (****3/4)"

[9.0] "Loved the selling of the pre-injured arm by Tanahashi, as well as the knee by Omega. Match could've easily been five stars had it not been for the chaotic overbooking toward the final quarter of the match. ****1/2"

[7.0] "I would've loved this match up a lot had it not been for the overbooking they had in this matchup and constant interferences. Loved the work done by Tana on Omega's knee as Omega sold it really well but kinda dropped it at the end once he overkilled the jumping knee strike. Omega's work on Tana's arm was decent but the match as a whole was good but not the classic I once thought it was. (***)"

[8.0] "Great match. Omega feigning sportsmanship was a great misdirect. Tanahashi’s Nakamura tributes were sweet, reminding that Tanahashi hoped to win this match and the IC title in honour of his rival and friend Nakamura. Tanahashi’s arm injury (courtesy of Omega and the BC) made Tanahashi very sympathetic as Omega is great at working it over in a variety of interesting ways. As Omega had been working over Tanahashi’s pre-injured arm for so long it was very satisfying to see Tanahashi work over Omega’s leg in response, which Omega sells incredibly well. Omega’s Styles Clash was basically him reinforcing his plan to be a better Bullet Club leader than AJ, fitting into the match narrative of Omega proving himself. The traded reverse frankensteiners was an amazing sequence. Elgin dealing with the Young Bucks was another great moment because it felt great to see Tanahashi finally presented with a fair one-on-one matchup against Omega. Throughout the match Omega’s aggression was awesome and Tanahashi’s never-say-die attitude in the face of all the interference felt inspiring. The finish was pretty great, as Tanahashi hits all his signature moves but fails to put Omega away, allowing Omega to hit some knee strikes (a possible Nakamura Bombaye reference) before using the One Winged Angel for the win. This match was the first step in the year long process of solidifying Omega as a top star in NJPW and one of the best wrestlers in the world, and this was a great first chapter. ****1/4"

[10.0] "So when I first watched this back in February I gave it a 10 and somewhere between 4 1/2 to 4 3/4 stars. After a rewatch I'm honestly giving it ***** and considering it top 3 MOTY (as of July 16 so there's still plenty left). The wrestling in it was perfect and the selling was also amazing. Never a dull moment and these guys got the crowd so fired up and invested in every move. The interferences throw some off bit for me it made it better. It added more drama and despite the interferences Omega was still tasked with winning on his own and he did. The last few minutes anyone could've won. Honestly a damn near perfect match"

[8.0] "This was an mess of a standard New Japan match, and I loved every second of it. It had a bit of everything. The match really felt like it mattered, especially with the loss of Styles and Nakamura from NJPW. The closing stretch with Omega winning and his post match promo were quality also (****)."

[10.0] "A massive, overbooked, messy epic that quickly sprawls from a well-worked, technical singles match into a full-blown attempted murder of the Japanese style. This match is like Steamboat vs. Flair meets Stone Cold vs. Dude Love. It has it all: humor, mat-work, chain-wrestling, high-flying, great strikes, interference that actually works, and great selling. It doesn't get much better than this for me."

[6.0] "I can understand why some are rating this highly, but for me I can't say it was more than solid. They tried for some really big stuff, the match was incredibly long and tried to incorporate a ton of different things. In the end I felt like it was kind of muddled, some things worked and some didn't but it just felt both crowded and overlong at the same time. The psychology was sometimes good and sometimes discarded, the interference was sometimes clever and sometimes overdone, the references to departed wrestlers like Styles & Nakamura were at some points well placed and at some points kind of a reach... so yeah, a ton of stuff and not all of it worked for me. I did see shades of possible greatness in Omega though, so I'm optimistic for the start of a bigger run for him."

[8.0] "This match was mark with ****3/4, i canŽt believe it. I like this match, but it wasnŽt so good. It was very slowly, and with a lot of interference of the Bullet Club. They made their best work, and the Omega works as heel was spectacular, but imo was very slowly, with Tanahashi who is very faster and Omega who fought in the indies. Omega didnŽt work so well the limbwork at Tanahashi. It had fake finals that made me go "OMG! Omega is going to win, 1, 2, no kick out at 2 and 3/4" I like this match, but ****1/4"

[10.0] "I was never truly impressed by Kenny Omega until this match. He really put on his best performance herr, and Tanahashi made him look like a million bucks. Amazing match, the interference was booked well. Omega's work on Tanahashi's injured shoulder was great and Tanahashi working on Omega's leg was great. Tanahashi doig Nakamura's taunts and tactics were great as well, and Omega doing the Styles Clash and attempting the Boma Yeh was amazing. Marked out hard for Big Mike! ****1/2"

[10.0] "The Omega era of Bullet Club starts off with a bang. Omega and Tanahashi work a very strong puroresu heel vs face dynamic match here with some good limb-work and selling from both parties (Kenny definitely shined in that respect especially), but the well-placed overbooking of the run-ins actually improves the match. Omega's false gesture of sending away Hall and Yujiro, only to reveal that the Bucks hid beneath the ring as a backup plan was brilliant, and the following segment with the trash can and Elgin showing up was just awesome. From there, the crowd just goes insane leading to the finish with Omega pinning Tanahashi in the middle with his finish, and I think the fact that the crowd went along with all the shit that happened in this match really helped it work. Top 3 match of 2016 so far, and in some respects a star-making performance from Omega. ****3/4"