For years it has been beating Tanahashi been the biggest endorsement NJPW could give to a young up and comer. Once he retires who takes that spot?

For a long time this had been the case that whenever NJPW is ready to move someone up to main event level they have them get a win over Tanahashi. By contrast almost no one went over Okada until they were already at that level (EVIL in the 2017 G1 is a notable exception.)

We saw it with Naito, Omega, Jay, Opsreay, Ibushi. Be booked to beat Tana and it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll be a main eventer before long. It’s clear this last G1 will be for Tana to do this and legitimise a new crop of stars before retiring next year.

So once he hangs up his boots who will be that guy, the next gatekeeper to the stars?

I am thinking after his title reign is over it could be Goto serving as that guy, and a win over him could be NJPW’s way of indicating who is about to get a major push.

On the junior side Hiromu is that guy despite despite being in his prime, his matches in BosJ did a lot to to legitimise Fujita and Francesco Akira.