5 Best wrestling matches of 2012

#1 Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki - NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2012

In 2012, Tanahashi still had many doubters in NJPW, especially from the purists that didn’t like his less ‘realistic’ style. To silence those critics, Tanahashi was challenged by former MMA star Minoru Suzuki, who was as ‘legitimate’ as they came in NJPW.

Tanahashi had to fight from the bottom in this match as Suzuki dominated with both stiff strikes and lightning quickness. Even though Tanahashi usually won in technical exchanges, it was Suzuki who won in this match. Suzuki spent a lot of time destroying Tana’s taped-up arm, which made it almost impossible for Tanahashi to use any of his biggest moves.

So without the use of his arms, Tanahashi had to break out the move that had made him a bit of a controversial star: the High Fly Flow, his Frog Splash finisher.

The reason it was so controversial was that the move symbolized why Tanahashi was such a different star from NJPW’s past. NJPW wrestlers almost always won with submission holds or stiff strikes, while only the junior heavyweights ever used moves from the top rope.

Yet Tanahashi – the company’s heavyweight ace – beat the company’s biggest submission expert with a flying move. It was as big a sign as any that New Japan was moving away from its traditional approach and was heading forward towards something new.