DAY 13!

Bad Luck Fale vs. Michael Elgin

One of Michael Elgin's better performances; he kept it simple with his babyface work from underneath, and goddamn he rocked it. And Fale was awesome as usual being the monster that he is. I have loved most of the BCOG run-in's in this G1, but here I actually thought that it took away from the match - without the interference hitting at the point it did, this could've (& most likely would've) reached the very good, to even great mark. ***1/4

Hangman Page vs. Togi Makabe

This was actually good, and that is something I wouldn't have expected to write when looking at the participants on paper! Just good slugfest-y action from start to finish. ***

Jay White vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Just as dull, boring, uncharismatic & uninteresting as it looked on paper. *

EVIL vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

This was so good. EVIL being awesome with that work on top, targeting Tana's always-banged-up -shoulder, and Tana is Tana. An absolute master at fighting from underneath with his emotional selling & perfectly timed comebacks. ***3/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki

This was a weird match for me, because I LOVED, and I mean LOVED everything that MiSu did - an absolute pleasure watching him beat the brakes out of Okada. But then on the other hand, Okada always coming up w/ his comebacks really annoyed me. Other than the big JOHN WOO, I didn't like ANYTHING that he did in this match. Felt like "okay your turn is over now buddy, let me shrug that off & hit my shit" kind of stuff. In particular the Rear Naked Choke -spot is up there w/ Stephanie McMahon successfully defending an Armbar from Ronda Rousey at Mania. It's a good match overall, because, hey, I am always up for Minoru Suzuki beating people up w/ his devastating forearms, knees & submissions, but from their battles this year, the Draw in Downpour has it beat easily. ***