VOW 2021 Match of the Year: #10 (Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shingo Takagi)

Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shingo Takagi battle in a classic NEVER Openweight Title match.

2021 MATCH OF THE YEAR ARCHIVES

• Introduction & Honorable Mentions
• 100-76
• 75-51
• 50-26
• 25-11
• Top 10 Reveal/Audio Show ($)

VOICES OF WRESTLING MATCH OF THE YEAR ARCHIVES

• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012

#10
Shingo Takagi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
1/30
NJPW

Overall Points: 246
Total Votes: 40
% of Ballots: 22.7%
3 First Place Votes

“This happened so early in the year, I can understand one forgetting it happened, but it happened, and we are all better for it happening. Perhaps the best NJPW match of the year. What’s funny is at first I thought Ospreay/Okada from 2021’s Wrestle Kingdom was better, but in the end, in the long run, I think about this match far more often than I do that one. This match truly was awesome, and a perfect ending to Shingo’s reign.

Tanahashi is the ace, the old guard, the man who finds something new in the tank every single time you think he has nothing left. We are truly blessed to get to watch this match perform his craft right before our eyes, and we should never forget that cause one day it’ll, unfortunately, come to an end. For now though let us enjoy these special treats, these amazing matches that happen before us. For they are truly special, and we should cherish them while we can.” -Jeri L. Evagood

“One of the few non-Wrestling Kingdom/G1 matches to sustain me in an otherwise dry year for New Japan Pro Wrestling.” -Chuck Hodgin

“If you asked me to pick one match from the pandemic era that I could see in front of fans, it would have been this one. Imagine the reactions when both kicked out at one in the final stretch. Takagi even in defeat showed he belonged in top ranks of NJPW and Tanahashi showed he still had bangers in him after 25 years of producing some of the GOAT matches. What an unreal match.” -Peter Edge

“I continue to think “alright, this is the year Tanahashi slows down” and he goes and delivers this. I don’t think Shingo gets his heavyweight run without this match.” -Mark

“This match is one of my favorites from the year. Even though this was a NEVER Openweight title match at New Beginning, It felt like an IWGP Heavyweight title match at Wrestle Kingdom. The match started slowly as Tanahashi targeted Shingo’s leg. The Dragon was getting dragon screwed over and over again, and he wasn’t a fan of it. Shingo would try and cut the Ace off, but Tanahashi was just one step ahead of him. Tanahashi hit a dropkick to Shingo’s knee, sending him flying out of the ring. We then got the vintage big match Tanahashi spot as he hits the High Fly Flow to the outside. Back in the ring, Shingo turns the tide and starts attacking Tanahashi’s legs. Shingo wouldn’t be in control for long. Tanahashi is able to hit a High Fly Flow to the back of Shingo. The Ace gets too confident and goes for another High Fly Flow, but Shingo rolls out of the way.

Both men exchanged significant strikes and signature moves. Shingo drops Tanahashi right on his head with a Made in Japan! I jumped off my couch screaming, seeing the Ace get dropped on his dome. Even though he almost broke his neck, the Ace continued to fight back. He’s able to hit a dragon suplex and a Slingblade, but Shingo kicks out at one!!! I’m losing my mind at this point. Shingo then fires back with a Pumping Bomber. Tanahashi kicks out at one!!!! This match is nuts! Shingo attempts to put Tana away with the Last of the Dragon. Tanahashi reverses with a Sling Blade and goes to the top to hit the crossbody High Fly Flow. Tana then hits a dragon suplex and a High Fly Flow to become NEVER champion for the first time.

This was 35 minutes of wrestling excellence. I was glued to the screen for every minute. These guys are masters of the craft.” -Jeremy Donovan

“A fantastic match! Shingo is younger and more powerful and able to control the match early by sheer force. Tanahashi is able to dig into his back of tricks and go to work on the knees of Shingo to neutralize his strengths. Shingo refuses to stay down and tries to battle back on pretty much one leg and even starts to go after Tanahashi’s knee himself. Shingo goes to end it with Last of the Dragon but Tanahashi counters out of it with a Sling Blade. Tanahashi has his opening and throws everything he has left at Shingo and is able to emerge victorious. Phenomenal stuff!” -Alex Kalil

“Most of the time matches can drag when they went over the 25 minute mark, this one was absolutely the opposite. This one was an absolute banger of a match between one of my all time faves and the current best wrestler in the world, how could it get wrong? While it was still your typical New Japan main event with a slow start, the second half was tremendous. Tanahashi is the world’s best when he needs to suffer from big moves and he did here. The closing stretch was absolute phenomenal, while the Ace wasn’t on the edge to win but his final moves were the gamechanger. What an instant classic!” -Christian Gascoigne

“2021 saw another first-ever dream match taken off the board with Shingo vs. Tanahashi. The magic of Tanahashi is that even when you think “Man, I wish this match had happened five or six years ago,” he still manages to pull off a classic. The guy has graham cracker knees and absolutely nothing left to prove in his career, but he will always go full throttle in a big time spot because he’s Hiroshi Tanahashi and that’s just what he does. Put him with Shingo Takagi, a guy who can have banger matches in his sleep, and it’s a recipe for greatness. And this was great, just a classic battle between the stronger, faster tank and the smarter, more determined hero. Shingo’s leg selling was excellent, and Tanahashi deserves all the flowers for taking a Made in Japan right on his neck and still going. This match was so good, it had El Phantasmo on commentary cutting out the heel shtick and just going nuts for it. “I’m freaking out, man!” Shingo won the rematch for the World Heavyweight Title later in the year, but this night belonged to the Ace.” -Andrew Rich

“If you were asking me to pick who I think the single most valuable wrestler was to their given promotion in 2021, I wouldn’t say Roman Reigns or Kenny Omega. I would say Shingo Takagi. In a year filled with injuries and foreign stars being unable to get in and out of the country, Shingo proved himself to be a true top star.

His match with Tanahashi for the NEVER belt may not be his most high-profile match of 2021, but the chemistry between these two absolute all-time greats on this night was unrivaled. An increasingly rare main event win for Tanahashi and a tremendous showing for New Japan’s brightest new star, Shingo.” -Liam Renner

“Going into 2021, the one match that I hope I would get to see in New Japan….more than any other….was Shingo Takagi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi. When it was announced that these two would be facing off in a NEVER Openweight Title match on the New Beginning in Nagoya card on January 30th, I immediately volunteered to handle the review for Voices Of Wrestling. I was super excited to see this one, and when the dust settled, it certainly didn’t disappoint. This was two all-time great just going out there and putting on an instant classic for over thirty-five minutes. The closing stretch was, of course, all sorts of amazing, and Shingo dropping Tanahashi on his head with a Made In Japan was a super memorable (and VERY brutal) moment. Tanahashi winning the NEVER Openweight Title for the very first time was a great conclusion to a bout that was simply phenomenal from start to finish.” -Sean Sedor

“It’s been a decade since Tanahashi’s landmark IWGP title reign and he’s still one of the very best there is. Even while he’s slowing down, he showed in this match he can still go with the best, and fit into the NEVER Openweight style like a glove, trading stiff blows with Shingo Takagi. No other match from this year had me on the edge of my seat like this one.” -Paul Wedding

“The Ace never dies. A beautiful strong style epoch that didn’t feel too long. Another Tanahashi classic and the best NJPW match of the year. ” -Semi Salmikannas

“So I’ll always remember this match for three reasons: (1) I actually stayed up to watch it, which I almost never do; (2) I was chatting with my buddy Ian (who does great work at 411Mania and BackBodyDrop) throughout; and (3) SOPHIE, the seminal gender-bending electronic music and pop artist whom I considered to be one of the greatest musicians of our era, died just hours before. In fact, SOPHIE’s death was the only reason I was even awake, trying to find as much information as possible about it and throwing on the NJPW show to help keep my mind at ease. And so these two — NJPW’s most consistently excellent performers in 2021 — went out there and put on a classic. When people think of fantastic NJPW stuff from like 2016-2019, they think of matches just like this, a pristine formula between the best alive and perhaps the best to ever do it.” -Parker Klyn

“Tanahashi never disappoints. Two of my favorite wrestlers ever having a brilliant match.” -Rene Martinez

“Come on now. It’s Shingo Takagi and Hiroshi Tanahashi in a New Japan main event. Say that out loud, then ask yourself: How was it not going to be one of the best matches of the year?” -Suit Williams

“The amazing thing about Shingo Takagi’s NJPW run is how normal it all seems. Whether you were aware of the world-class work that Takagi did for nearly 15 years in Dragongate is irrelevant. He’s shown up, kicked ass, and assimilated himself into the New Japan fray in a miraculous manner. While I have, for lack of a better term, hated New Japan over the last two years, Takagi has offered occasional moments of solace. Despite coming into his own in a promotion so routinely ignored by Japanese press, Takagi demonstrated that he is capable of producing a match echoing the greats of yesteryear. This was a New Japan classic in every sense of the word. It felt big, in a classical sense. Violent, in a traditional sense. Great, in every sense of the word. It’s what you should expect from two of the greatest wrestlers to ever live.” -Case Lowe

“2021 started off spectacularly for Shingo Takagi; with his January framed by two stellar IWGP NEVER Openweight title defences. The second of which was against New Japan company Ace Hiroshi Tanahashi. Given its lofty main event billing in Nagoya, the match was expected to send the wrestling world into a frenzy. And it sure did that. I would go as far as to say, this match redefined what the NEVER Championship stands for. Whilst it gleefully fulfilled the heavy-hitting, all-action, strike exchange packed quota of any NEVER title fight, it also delivered the grandeur of an early Match of the Year contender. The emotional journey this match takes you on is utterly spellbinding, making you live or die by every impactful moment it serves up (and there are plenty of those).” -Jamie Johnson

VOICES OF WRESTLING 2021 MATCH OF THE YEAR