Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tetsuya Naito (NJPW - 11/08/2017)

Iirc the second one at Dominion it's already nominated, but not the last one. And oh boy, I don't understand why.

This match had everything against it, in order to be considered the worst of their 2017 trilogy. As Tana is the IC Champion and Naito's popularity was at this peak, with this match defining the A Block winner to advance to the G1 Finals, it was pretty obvious Naito was going to win this one. But, BUT, I don't know why but Tanahashi makes you totally believe he will win. Not only that, he makes you believe he HAS to win. This is their ultimate showdown. We know how badly Naito treats the championships and how rebel he is towards NJPW's traditions. Tanahashi can't allow that guy to have a chance at winning the G1 and main eventing the Tokyo Dome, specially when he lost against Naito at the G1 Finals some years ago and he knows he has to redeem himself. Naito has something to fight for as well, as he failed to reach the finals last year in a GOATC against Omega, and recently lost the IC Title to Tanahashi. He is at the very peak of his popularity here, but in order tu fulfill his Destino, he fucking has to win this time. So yeah, one of the absolute best performances for both guys, because how urgent everything feels.

They played a lot around the strengths of their two previous matches that year: the legwork, Tana's texas cloverleaf, great callbacks and counters... Everything is here, sintetized in this under-30 minute masterpiece. But the biggest strength of the match is how they make you believe anyone can win at any time (specially considering that Naito winning was kinda obvious from a booking perspective), with the crowd being nervous and excited as fuck (so am I every time I watch it again). A modern masterpiece that has to be remembered more, alongside the rest of the trilogy.