ENTER THE G1 29

Lance Archer vs. Will Ospreay

This starts off with beautiful energy & explosiveness, as Ospreay is all FIRED UP & goes for the kill right away, but eventually Archer of course catches him & cements control in kick-ass fashion w/ the chokeslam through the table. Then it's pretty much Archer on on top, completely dominating Ospreay with his awesome power moves. It was a winning dynamic in their Cup match earlier in the year, and it's a winning dynamic here as well. Ospreay is pretty great at getting rag dolled, and Archer was rock solid doing the said rag dolling. That POUNCE spot was awesome. I do think the match loses some of its energy & urgency as it goes - it does drag a bit by the end, but not too much for it to not be a good one overall. On par w/ that Cup match. ***1/4

Bad Luck Fale vs. EVIL

I actually enjoyed this. Very nice brawling start, followed by Fale on top, which I also enjoy & then an awesome comeback rally by EVIL w/ them lariats & all. Very solid match. **3/4

SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

I really like the dynamic between SANADA & Zack - in their little rivalry, they've made this awesome story of SANADA very much matching Zack's submissions & counters, and sometimes even besting him. That's what the match was all about here, and it was really damn good. Kind of a "technical wrestling" spotfest in many ways, but they also got some pretty focused gameplans going - Zack started to target the arm after the best-bit-of-the-match in the Paradise Lock attempt into a pretty vicious looking Armbar spot. SANADA also made sure to do some damage to Zack's neck throughout. Both guys sell those in subtle lil' moments. It's very charming stuff all around. ZSJ vs. SANADA is definitely a quality pairing. ***3/4

KENTA vs. Kota Ibushi

Anyone expecting a crazy fast paced sprint hasn't been watching KENTA in the past 10 years. To quote one of my favorite songs from 2018 - "it ain't 2009 no more". Overall KENTA didn't look much different at all than as Hideo Itami, but what I thought made a huge difference was how brutal his kicks were. I remember watching his match vs. Mustafa Ali & thinking how ridiculous Ali's HBK at SummerSlam 05 bumping & selling looked when all of Hideo's offense looked light as a feather. Here I definitely didn't have to worry about that though. KENTA kicked the shit out of Ibushi with disgustingly brutal sounding & looking kicks. Ibushi sure got the shit beaten out of him overall in the match, and he was extremely compelling taking that beating; selling & bumping fantastically all the way through. He made all of KENTA's strikes look like true shotgun shots. Oh & I definitely loved the vintage KENTA troll spot where he pulls down his knee pad, only for him to kick Ibushi in the side of his head. Always a joy to see that. They even made the generic puro forearm trading pretty amazing, with their facial expressions (especially Ibushi's) adding a ton. Great match! Terrific showcase for KENTA's style of wrestling in his G1 debut. ****

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada

Aye, they pretty much played the hits here, and it resulted in their best G1 meeting probably since the original one from 2013. Very nice urgency right from the start, and it never really lets up. Some VERY brief legwork by Tana, which doesn't get sold, but I can forgive that since Tana wasn't very focused on the attack, thankfully. Very good bombfest fun. With it being in the US, it had a nice different vibe to it too. ***1/2