The greatest in-ring rivalry of all-time according to me will have one final match in six weeks. With the looming retirement of my favorite wrestler ever and thus the context on its side, it has a good chance to shake up my ranking in the series.
In anticipation, I have been rewatching several entries and actually, the ranking has already been shaken up. For years, I fought against it because I really dig the Rainmaker's dual selling of the arm and the leg in 2013, but 2018 is harder and harder to deny as the best G1 Climax encounter in the rich history between Tanahashi and Okada.
A stunningly fast-moving 30-minute draw where surprisingly very few happens. At the moment, I believe NJPW is slowly drifting out of the peak of their Golden Age, the epic formula is played out and it takes a top 10 wrestler ever in my book who is on a mission to inject life, gravitas and meaning to the routine half hour+ main event and especially the mandatory filler first two-thirds. A masterclass of pace, crowd control and consequential wrestling providing extra weight to every single action or short chain of events. The art of getting more out of less; listen to the reactions they squeeze out of the Styles Clash, a Dragon German Suplex or a small package (the nearfall of the year!).
All magnified by my and by extension the crowd's investment in the Tanahashi character. Once again, the two biggest rivals stand in the way of our hero: Okada and Father Time. In a wonderful touch, on this day, despite all his efforts and perseverance to the very end, he doesn't defeat either but with the former slowing down because of his Balloonmaker crisis, it looks like he might be able to catch the latter to enjoy one last hurrah.
Throughout, they keep telling / asking us "Tanahashi can do it; can he?". With a disorganized Okada purposely running random offense, the neck of his opponent, notorious weak point and usual path to victory, is safe. On the opposite, said opponent tries to implement the standard gameplan revolving around the leg. Not that it helps the Ace to get within sight of the Promised Land, but it sure helps him to stay in contention constantly. The evening is full of these little rewards for him: he counters the top turnbuckle dropkick that sends Okada's victims to the outside where he automatically takes over, and later he himself dropkicks Okada off the apron to flatten him on the floor with a nasty High Fly Flow, starting his late match flurry; he survives the dreaded Tombstone that kills him earlier in the year thanks to a spared neck; he breaks the "pants control" that spells doom in May. However, it is never enough to create a decisive separation because Okada is always lurking. While Wrestling Dontaku is "one step forward, two steps back" for Tanahashi, this block final is "one (and a half) step forward, one or half a step back".
A draw is by essence a stalemate where nothing can be resolved. Thus, to be effective and useful, the performers must walk a thin line where nothing decisive related to the overarching plot(s) unfold, yet hint at significant progression(s). The art of moving forward while staying put. Things should stay the same, but not totally. By having the upper hand at the bell, it looks like Tanahashi is about to do it but poetically, he runs out of…?! It is the closest he has been since 2015 to beat his heir, but whether or not he can definitely do it remains to be seen because he sure isn't growing younger.
Tanahashi's decaying body is the main reason why their trilogy works perfectly in 2018: it acknowledges it! He still has enough mobility to function and his disabilities make him even more likable, go figure. He loses to a simple Rainmaker at Wrestling Dontaku, needs a whole lot to survive here, and will crawl to the finish line at Destruction in Kobe. And The Balloonmaker's arc makes the series competitive again, taking Okada out of his pedestal and bringing him down to Tanahashi's level, instead of Tanahashi rising up to his. Man, 2018 is the best ride of my life as a wrestling fan!
Even though such a classic would represent the pinnacle of many careers, this is barely the second best match of the weekend for our hero and the least of the ongoing trilogy. Incredible!
Forever my Ace; go Ace!
by Joshi_Fan