My picks would be: 2008, 2011 and 2018.
2008: the year where Tana’s chosen sobriquet of “ACE Of The Universe” would reach a natural turn, with Tana becoming pretty much a full-on heel for that year. Nakamura was being positioned as the top babyface at this time, so Tana was naturally positioned opposite him. This year saw Tana take cues from one of his personal idols in Shawn Michaels, specifically late-90’s Shawn, he of the “I’m God’s gift to wrestling and to the ladies” variety, with Tana affecting a very similar persona. Tana’s work as a heel would peak in his “invader heel” run in AJPW’s Champion Carnival, where he would face the likes of Keiji Mutoh, Satoshi Kojima, Toshiaki Kawada and most importantly, AJPW’s “Ace” figure, Suwama.
2011: the year that saw Tana truly earn the “ACE” name. While his defeat of Keiji Mutoh at WK 3 in ‘09 would herald Tana as a top star, it wasn’t until he beat Satoshi Kojima at WK V and began his year+ long run with the IWGP that he was truly the top star of NJPW. Creating buzz from his title reign and the multiple defenses, against the likes of Nagata, Nakamura, Kojima, Goto, Naito, Suzuki and more, Tana would break Yuji Nagata’s previous record of V10 and make it to V11.
2018: the “fall and rise” year. The year that saw Tana start off with the IC Title, only to be beaten within a inch of his life by Minoru Suzuki and losing the Belt, followed by Tana’s desperate attempts ploy to stop Okada from breaking his V11 record being in vain at Wrestling Dontaku. However, come the G1, there would be a resurgence in Tana’s spirit, as he would go on to battle back various people in the tournament, making it to the Final where he would triumph over the physically superior Kota Ibushi in one of the best Finals of the tourneys history.
by MrPuroresu42