Day 8: ZSJ/Ishii IV

Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano
What a helluva 2-minute sprint! Yano's roll-up nearfalls were tremendous, as were that now-signature belly-to-belly of his, and then Goto's violent finishing of the match. So much fun! ***3/4

Tama Tonga vs. Tetsuya Naito
Very good, very solid action throughout, with yet another legitimately fantastic run in segment w/ the Los Ingobernables going against the Tongans. ***

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Ishii vs. Sabre Jr. is one of the best pairings in all of pro-wrestling, and here they delivered yet another outstanding match. Zack's control over Ishii was brutal as usual; he focused on the arm(s), and Ishii's selling was simply fantastic. LOVED Ishii's countering of the things by going after the leg of Zack, too - such an unique twist, and something I certainly wasn't expecting out of the Stone Pitbull. The way Rocky Romero & Kevin Kelly built up the "Ishii might pass out, but he will NEVER tap out!" -issue was terrific as well, and really added to the finish when ZSJ locked in one of his most brutal looking submissions ever. ****1/4

Juice Robinson vs. Kenny Omega

This told a very good story of Juice pushing Kenny to the limit; Kenny even had to go after the injured hand of Juice, which he was hesitant to do in the beginning stages of the match. GREAT callback to their previous G1 meeting too, with the One Winged Angel counter into a nearfall. ***3/4

Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA

A pretty damn great performance by SANADA, and a very enjoyable match overall. Some unfortunate no-selling of the leg work by Ibushi, but that wasn't the focal point of the match for very long, so it didn't take away too much from it. Good, competitive back & forth stuff. ***1/4