1. IWGP Heavyweight Title: Hiroshi Tanahashi [c] vs. Jay White
Look, the Hiroshi Tanahashi main event closing stretch is always something to be cherished but I’ve got some real bones to pick here.
Even Jay White himself during his entrance has the look of a guy who doesn’t think this should all be happening, like he is being held against his will being swiftly pushed to the top of New Japan Pro Wrestling despite no evidence of that being the right thing to do.
And in the match where Jay White ascends to the top of New Japan Pro Wrestling, they have to do the New Japan main event that must be nearly 30 minutes, has to be, despite no evidence of that being the right thing to do.
They hit the beats and it occasionally hits, but there was a whole lot of stuff to get there. Headlocks, Jay White leg work, escalation – where’s the twists and turns, baby? Tanahashi did hit an all-time great High Fly Flow and there’s nothing like the drama of The Ace, heaving with exhaustion, with one or all of his limbs completely wrecked. And yeah, they closed it real strong. But the first 20 or so just drags to the point of emptiness. Far be it from me to question the intentions of Hiroshi Tanahashi, but whatever he was doing with young Jay just didn’t get me compared to so much wrestling that exists. I mean I have a rock bottom zero intention of ever re-visiting this one.
The High Fly Flow is eventually countered with the Blade Runner, and Jay White becomes the 68th IWGP Heavyweight Champion.
What a deal. Jay White is solid, but it’s weird: for a guy basically built from the ground up as a Young Lion, he reads less New Japan trainee and more guy playing dress-up, the Lance Von Erich of modern day NJPW gaijin. The wrestling isn’t bad, it’s just… fine. He dips his toe into being a jerk, dips his toe into being a technical wrestler, dips his toe into being an aggressive wrestler… but it never feels like he goes all the way in with it. Plus you’ve got Gedo there cosplaying as Jimmy Hart and that’s a perfectly fine thing to do but maybe not here in this match and all the other big matches you’re in now. I just don’t see any evidence that that is the right thing to do.
I do not want to dislike Jay White. I am just simply watching the matches and not liking them. On the contrary, I really do want to like him, for admitting that I do not is perhaps admitting that New Japan Pro Wrestling has passed me by.
Of course, it must always be said: guy is 26 years old. Young Lion Tanahashi was teaming with Kenzo Suzuki at 26 years old. Wrestling Living Legend Tanahashi in a main event at 26 years old seems like a good thing to do. So good for Jay White. But maybe not so good for me. **
