THE G1 HYPE TRAIN #5 : G1 Climax 2007 Finals
Card with Guide
I didn’t really mean to look at 2 Yuji Nagata finals back to back, but looking at a final from 10 years ago seemed like a good choice and Nagata just happened to be in it. I can’t really complain though as I enjoy watching his work and this G1 is obviously an important moment in the career on Hiroshi Tanahashi. So I felt like I should cover this one even if it might feel redundant doing 2 Nagata G1 highlights back to back.
The 2007 G1 Climax Finals!
Tournament format :
This years G1 had 2 blocks of 6 with the two top point earners of each block going vs the top 2 point earners of the other block in Semi-Finals and Finals after that on the same night. Earlier in this night before these finals Yuji Nagata went over Shinsuke Nakamura while Hiroshi Tanahashi went over Togi Makabe in his semi finals match earlier this same night.
Yuji Nagata vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (Link for those with NJPW World)
Who’s who?
Yuji Nagata has the nickname Blue Justice which of course in reference to his blue trunks and boots. He was also IWGP Heavyweight Champion here, having the belt for the 2nd time.
He briefly was in WCW from February 1997 to August of 1998.
Despite his short stint he garnered a North American following after feuding with other Japanese talent Ultimo Dragon and teaming with Kensuke Sasaki to win a WCW tag team tournament that garnered them the #1 contendership though they would fail to win vs the champions.
If you read the last G1 Hype Train you’ll be aware that Nagata won the 2001 G1 Climax over Keiji Mutoh, that would help propel Nagata bove his previous position on the card. Which lead to the great 2002 reign, NJPW giving Nagata bout of the year in 2001(G1 Final) and 2002(Title defense vs Chono).
Going into this 2007 G1 Climax Nagata had a decent amount of momentum having won the New Japan Cup in March of 2007. Which gave Yuji Nagata a title shot vs the recently first time crowned champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. Which Nagata won and was still holding the IWGP Heavyweight Title during this G1 Climax.
Hiroshi Tanahashi was a rising star. He was the guy NJPW was pushing as the young new breed of NJPW after the strange years of 2005-2006 when Brock Lesnar left NJPW with the title and refused to return it instead working for Inoki in his new Inoki Genome Project promotion. So with a vacant belt someone new needed to be crowned and that man was Hiroshi Tanahashi who was having a good reign before New Japan Cup winner Nagata dethroned him to capture the belt for the 2nd time.
At this point in Takahashi’s career he hadn’t won many belts outside of this IWGP Heavyweight championship. He had won the New Japan Cup in 2005 though and was twice IWGP Tag Team Champion with both Shinsuke Nakamura and Yutaka Yoshie in the early 2000′s.
How’s the match?
Fantastic! It’s a pretty great length for any match which is about 20 minutes. Long enough to get invest and see all their great spots, but no so long as to feel like a chore to get through like some matches can feel when they balloon up to 40-60 minute lengths. It also makes sense these two wouldn’t go that long since both men fought earlier in the night.
This mirrors Nagata/Tanahashi’s G1 bout this year. The old standard bearer vs the new standard bearer, but a decade earlier. It’s very interesting to me that Tanahashi is in a similar spot now to the position Nagata was here. Perhaps even past it at this point Nagata was on his last IWGP run while Tanahashi may never get that belt again now that his epic storyline with Okada has finished and Okada seems to be the office new Ace of NJPW.
These two guys mesh really well and this is the most competitive bout I’ve seen between the two yet. After this and their G1 match, I think I’ll find myself watching the title matches they had vs one another. I assume those will have a similar quality and want to see these guys clash again and again and again.
I particularly love the use of the Dragon Screw by Tanahashi throughout this match. It’s an underused move and I think Tanahashi might be the master of it or one of the masters of it as he and Dr. Wagner Jr. both do great variations of it, though I don’t know if Wagner has ever done the neck variation that Tanahashi whips out from time to time... pun not intended.
I’m not sure how I’d rate this compared to the other G1 Finals I have looked at. One thing I did like is that it was more varied in its offense. Where some of them like Hashimoto/Tenryu or the Inoki years tend to be one note sometimes where they are all strikes or all submissions. This one struck a good balance between the two styles.