10 things you must watch from the NJPW Together Project
By Sonal Lad
5. Satoshi Kojima vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi – IWGP Heavyweight Title Match Tokyo Dome 2011
With such a huge back catalogue of matches dating back to the start of New Japan, sometimes it’s hard to know what to watch. Luckily, New Japan Together has brought some of them back to the forefront of our minds and, in this case, given us English commentary courtesy of the amazing Kevin Kelly.
After winning the 2010 G1, Satoshi Kojima didn’t wait until Wrestle Kingdom to get his title shot and beat champion Togi Makabe during the Destruction Tour to start his second reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. So, with no main event set, Hiroshi Tanahashi became the number one contender for the title at Wrestle Kingdom 5.
What I personally love about this match is the difference in Satoshi Kojima. We normally see the happy, go-lucky leader of the Bread Club but this man is a completely different entity. In the match, we see the leader of the then Kojima Gun and his sidekick in the form of a young and still hated Taichi. It was the same athletic and talented Kojima but with a huge chip on his shoulder and a disdain for the fans and Tanahashi, a world away from the man we see in the ring now as part of the Third Generation Club. And of course, the only person who can defeat that evil is the Ace Hiroshi Tanahashi who was just as talented and handsome then as he is now.
For me, this match is probably one that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves compared to other Wrestle Kingdom main events before and after it. It was the perfect heel v babyface match that we love to see at big events with the fairy tale finish as Tanahashi beats the evil Kojima.