#153: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, NJPW G1 Climax 23 (8/10/2013).
As the battle for Ace went on, it soon found itself taking place in the battlefield of the G1 Climax Tournament, the premiere tourney in all of pro wrestling. It begged a new question for fans: What would happen between Tanahashi and Okada if they were placed under a 30 minute time limit? By this point, both men are pretty close to equal, and a win here in Japan's biggest tournament would almost surely silence any doubt.
The bell sounds, and despite this being the fifth singles meeting between the two since 2012, the fans are just as hyped as ever. They lock up, and Okada gets Tana into the ropes, initiating a clean break. He does the Rainmaker pose, and Tana goes for the attack. Okada responds with uppercuts. He looks for the dropkick, but Tana holds onto the ropes. Tana runs the ropes and looks for the Sling Blade, and Okada counters with a Rainmaker attempt that Tana turns into a small package attempt.
Okada powders to the outside, as Tana stands tall. Now back in the ring, they lock up once again, and Okada twists the arm around. Tana takes the leg of Okada and brings him down to the mat. Okada takes a side headlock takedown on Tana, and looks to maintain control. Both men hit a stalemate and get back to their feet. Tana takes control of the arm, putting a hammerlock on Okada. The Rainmaker regains control of the side headlock. Tana sends him into the ropes and Okada takes him down with a shoulder tackle.
Okada focuses on the arm and sends Tana off the ropes. Tana looks to kick the leg of Okada out from under him, but he blocks it both times, remembering their past encounters. Tana comes off the middle rope with a crossbody, followed by an arm drag. He pulls on the shoulder, looking to weaken the Rainmaker arm. Tana brings Okada to the mat, and slams his arm into it several times. He hammerlocks it with his legs now.
Okada gets his foot on the ropes to break the hold, but Tana stays focused and ties his arm up in the ropes. Okada places Tana on the top rope and looks for a dropkick, but Tana counters. Okada punches him right in the gut and then brings him down with a top rope DDT. A neckbreaker follows, and Okada tries to pin with just his knee. Tana kicks out. Tana with several punches to the ribs, and then he goes to the top for his trademark senton, but Okada is back up and dropkicks him out of the ring!
The Rainmaker leaves the ring and ties Tana’s head up in the steel barricade. He boots Tana over the barricade into the fans. Okada waits in the ring, and Tana crawls his way back in. Okada snap mares Tana down and delivers a running dropkick to the head for a 2 count. I’m this far into this book and I just realized what a snap mare is. Nice! Okada wraps his legs around Tana’s arm and pulls at the neck of The Ace. Okada pulls as hard as he can, as he looks to weaken the neck for later in the match. Tana gets to the ropes, but Okada holds on for a few seconds longer, much to the displeasure of the fans in Sumo Hall.
Okada unloads with heavy forearms, and Tana responds in kind. Okada hits a neckbreaker on him, and then stretches Tana’s neck out by trapping Tana’s arms around his back and midsection. I didn’t describe that well, but trust me, it looks painful. Okada drops Tana on his back, as he looks towards the next move. Tana hits several forearms and body shots, before Okada goes for a standing senton, and Tana moves out of the way.
Tana comes off the ropes with a diving forearm to the head of the champion. He power slams Okada down and hits his diving senton from the middle rope for a 2 count. Tana then hits a dropkick to the leg, then chop blocks Okada down. A quick frog splash down on the leg, followed by a Dragon Screw Leg Whip, puts Tana firmly in control of this match. With Okada on the outside, Tana scales the top rope and hits the High Fly Flow to the outside! Tana rolls back into the ring, and Okada has trouble getting to his feet. He does get back in the ring, and Tana grabs his leg on the apron and hits the Dragon Screw into the ropes, furthering the damaged leg. Tana locks in a variation of the Texas Cloverleaf, and Okada gets to the bottom rope to break it. Tana is now relentless stomping away at the injured leg of Okada! He looks to send Okada into the ropes, but he collapses under the weight of the pain in his leg. Tana looks for Sling Blade, but Okada catches him in a Flap Jack. Both men are back up, and they unload with forearms to each other. Okada has trouble staying up due to his leg, but he won’t give up so easily. The strikes become harder, as both men look to take the lead here.
Okada with a boot to the face, followed by a spike DDT. He hits Heavy Rain next, and gets a nearfall off of that. A powerslam follows, and Okada goes to the top rope. He comes off with a nice Elbow Drop to Tana. He does the signature Rainmaker pose, still selling the damage to his arm. He goes for the Rainmaker, but Tana fakes a Sling Blade attempt into a Straitjacket Suplex for a 2 count. Tana goes for the Dragon Suplex, and Okada instead drops him with a reverse neckbreaker across the knee. Both men are back up, and Tana immediately goes to kick the leg. Okada responds with forearms. Tana with his famous bitch slap twice, and he runs the ropes. Okada goes for the dropkick, and Tana catches him, hitting two straight Dragon Screws!
Now he locks in the Texas Cloverleaf proper! He leans back hard to add pressure, but Okada is able to get to the ropes. Tana does the Rainmaker pose, and Okada sends him over the ropes. Tana pulls himself back in, and hits the Sling Blade on Okada. Tana goes to the top rope, and misses the High Fly Flow! Okada crawls towards the corner, and he grabs Tana for the reverse neckbreaker again, and it’s countered. Okada goes for an STF variant, and Tana quickly gets to the ropes.
Okada goes for the Tombstone, and Tana slips out and dropkicks the leg again. He runs at Okada, who moves and dropkicks the back of his head. He hits the Tombstone this time! He goes for the Rainmaker, and Tana slips out! After more reversals, Tana hits his own Rainmaker on Okada! Tana hits the Dragon Suplex into a pin, which is kicked out of. Tana then plants Okada with a Styles Clash! If only these two knew that AJ Styles was soon coming to New Japan. Tana goes to the top rope to attempt the High Fly Flow again, but Okada gets his legs up at the last second! This also causes more damage to Okada’s leg!
Exhaustion is setting in for both men, as they struggle to get to their feet. Okada is up first, and he pulls Tana up for the Rainmaker. Tana slips out and runs at Okada, who responds with the dropkick finally! Okada goes for the Rainmaker one more time, and Tana ducks it! Both men are down as the time limit expires! Neither man could get the job done. In essence, nothing was settled.
What an outstanding match! Easily my favorite of their five G1 matches. G1 29 and 31 are jumbled together in being great but not outstanding, G1 28 is a step behind this one, and G1 26 is arguably my least favorite of their G1 matches – though I have to admit that the closing sequence in that match is the best moment out of any of their G1 matches. The Time Limit was the story here, as the sense of urgency between these two was the highest it had been up to this point. Okada was out to prove he had surpassed Tana, and Tana was out to prove he was better than Okada. In the end, neither man was proven right or wrong.
Both men had great strategies coming into this, with Tana focusing on the leg and arm, while Okada stuck to the neck, as well as countering all of Tana’s signature moves. It kept the match at a fast pace, and made certain moments very unpredictable. Okada sold the injuries very well all match long, while Tana looked like a valiant hero in the face of incredible odds. The closing stretch was well done, with both men scurrying to get the job done. The issue is that neither man was willing to slow down, and it made the task of ending the match before the time expired that much more difficult. Also, another thing both men should be commended on is how they sold exhaustion. They were going so rapidly in this match trying to beat the time, that by the end they both looked shot. That’s a nice spice added to this particular chapter of their feud.