January 4th hype: TANA vs. OMEGA, New Beginning '16

NJPW The New Beginning in Niigata: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kenny Omega

These two got me sucked into their story leading up to January 4th, 2019, so I've been itching to go back to this match, their first meeting, and well, let's bring on the new year w/ it. I actually didn't like this match AT ALL when it happened, but I hadn't re-watched it since, so I was pretty curious to see how I feel about it now, almost 3 years later. And my opinion on it couldn't be more different than it was then - right now I think this is one of the best NJPW main events of this current era. It starts pretty slow, and the highlight of the beginning stuff was Kenny telling Cody Hall & Yujiro to go away because the smart marks aren't fans of interruptions in their New Japan main events. I thought that was legitimately pretty funny - these days Kenny's star rating obsessed gimmick shtick is just tired & annoying, but it fit his goofy villain character here so well. Shortly after that, the match REALLY gets going; Tana goes for a couple of Nakamura signature moves on the corner, but Kenny counters that by going after Tana's right arm. Now, Kenny Omega doesn't come off as a natural "limb-working wrestler", but he actually is really goddamn great at it here; loved the Danielson elbows to the shoulder & I actually don't know what is it's official name, but the bending-your-back-on-top-of-your-opponents-arm -thing that Nigel McGuinness used to do, was so awesome. Kenny playing air guitar w/ the Naito entrance mask on was another awesome thing during his control segment. Of course Tana eventually rallies a comeback in by going after Omega's leg, to counter the arm work. Kenny sells the big Dragon Screw brilliantly, and that brilliant leg selling of his continued throughout the rest of the match. FANTASTIC moment when after Tana did the HFF on him on the outside, Kenny tries to enter the ring, but then Tana gets a hold of his leg, Kenny starts fighting immediately, trying to get out of it by repeatedly striking Tana; DA ACE masterfully milks that to the maximum, and then delivers that signature roar of his & busts out another big, fantastic Dragon Screw. And talking about great moments, Omega busting out the Styles Clash was yet another one - not only was he mocking AJ Styles, the man he betrayed a month earlier, but also Tana, who also uses Styles Clash as a signature move. Two birds, one stone. The last third is straight outta attitude era w/ all the run-in's; I wasn't too into the Bullet Club ones, but overall it fit the character/gimmick so it's OK. Didn't take too much away from the bout. Big Mike coming in & just carrying both Jackson's out was badass though. Overall this was an excellent, classic match - Omega truly delivered a match & performance to remember in his first major one as a New Japan heavyweight & Tana added yet another great big match performance to his resume w/ his terrific work fighting from underneath. Here's to hoping they come out w/ another banger at the Dome! ****1/2