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NJPW G1 Climax Final: Nakamura vs. Tanahashi Prediction

By Jay Sichler

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The NJPW G1 Climax Final is set with, The King of Strong Style, Shinsuke Nakamura, vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi.

In the western world, wrestling’s greatest rivalry’s over the last 15 years have consisted of Stone Cold vs The Rock, CM Punk vs John Cena and Randy Orton vs John Cena. However, in Japan, only one rivalry has been considered the greatest, Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi.

Nakamura and Tanahashi are slated for another huge match tomorrow in the 2015 G1 Climax Final at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The winner of this match will earn a main event championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 10 at the Tokyo Dome on January 4th, 2016.

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The history of these two is long and their matches have been considered some of the greatest in the history of New Japan Pro Wrestling. The two men’s last encounter happened last year during the 2014 G1 climax final, when Tanahashi got the upper hand Nakamura in a fantastic clash.  The two also main-evented Wrestle Kingdom 8, where Nakamura was yet again defeated by Tanahashi, with Nakamura’s IWGP Intercontinental Championship being on the line.

Nakamura however, was able to seek revenge on Tanahashi when he defeated him to regain his IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Invasion Attack in April of 2014. The Intercontiental championship isnt the only title these two have clashed for. The pair have also had some iconic battles for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

The two’s most notable Heavyweight Championship match came in 2008 at Wrestle Kingdom 8 when Nakamura was able to defeat Tanahashi to win his 2nd Heavyweight Championship. This is the only time that the defending Heavyweight Championship in their clashes have lost. Tanahashi has never been able to take the Heavyweight Championship from Nakamura.

Going into tomorrow’s G1 Climax final the two were both 7-2 in their respective blocks. Tanahashi’s two defeats came by the hands of Bad Luck Fale and Tetsuya Naito. Even though Nakamura was credited with two loses, he was actually only defeated in the ring once. He lost his opening match to the Machine Gun Karl Anderson. However, after winning his second match against Yugi Nagata, Nakamura injured his arm and had to forfeit his third match against Michael Elgin.

Prediction: – Shinsuke Nakamura defeats Hiroshi Tanahashi via pinfall.

Ever since he lost his IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Hirooki Goto, Nakamura has seen determined to win his fourth Heavyweight Championship. He has not held the Heavyweight Championship since 2009 and he is way overdue to be champion once again. Nakamura has not been pinned in the ring since his opening G1 Climax match against Karl Anderson, and I don’t believe he’ll be pinned tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s match has the making of being a match of year candidate. Even though im picking Nakamura to win the match, I don’t expect Tanahashi to make it easy. One thing is for certain, we are guaranteed an exciting match tomorrow consisting of twist and turn’s and we will one of the most dramatic and exciting G1 Climax Final’s of all time.

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