G1 DAY 2

Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks & KENTA vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ren Narita & Shota UminoI usually ignore the G1 undercards, but this looked absolutely BANGING on paper, so had to peep it out. Wasn't disappointed at all! This was indeed a banger, with all 4 young lions being awesome, bringing the fire with their scrappy & hungry exchanges. The KENTA vs. Tanahashi showdown was really awesome as well - they did such a great job building their big singles meeting, and there was this nice feeling of a cross-promotional meeting between two top guys from different worlds. Really good stuff all around. Well worth the watch. ***1/2

Juice Robinson vs. Shingo Takagi

This built pretty fantastically from start to finish with both guys getting plenty of time to shine. Shingo got to establish himself as a force to be reckoned with in his G1 debut, and Juice was his usual great self. Plenty of hard hitting, actually VERY compelling strikes, and equally compelling bombs. One terrific nearfall in particular also. Awesome match. ***1/2

Jon Moxley vs. Taichi

This banged. This banged hard. Best match of the night. Taichi's pre-match attack was vicious & set-up what was about to come perfectly, because that made Moxley even more physical & vicious than usual. It's hard to explain perfectly, but for me, this had such an authentic & somewhat chaotic feel to it. Pure physicality & brutality all the way through. ***3/4

Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano

These two play so well off of each others personalities. It's your usual fun Yano antics with Naito answering to them with some games of his own, and it rules. The finish is so damn great too w/ Yano going extra THIEF MODE to get the win. There's some real SHIRT psychology in it too, with Naito being so adamant about wrestling in a shirt when the match started, but then that same shirt costing him the match. Yano is next level, lads. ***1/2

 

Jeff Cobb vs. Tomohiro Ishii

These kind of matches with million forearms, chops & suplexes have lost some of their charm to me, but this was still good. There is no doubting that the strikes came off as pretty deadly, and Ishii's selling was real good throughout. ***

 

Hirooki Goto vs. Jay White

This was very enjoyable. Jay's work on top was pretty compelling for the most part w/ him targeting Goto's neck throughout. He came off as a real arrogant bastard with his cocky facial expressions & constant trashtalking, too. Goto's big comeback towards the end was really good as well, as was the whole finishing run. Good match. ***1/4