G1 Day 11

Bad Luck Fale vs. Kota Ibushi

Their 2017 G1 meeting is easily one of Fale's best matches - maybe even THE best one. This one wasn't quite on that level, but was still an extremely enjoyable bout. Fale dominates most of it, with some very good monster work. He mauls Ibushi down, and does a pretty damn good job at it. He even brings some nice psychology into the thing by making most of his onslaught target Ibushi's mid-section, even busting out a good ol' bearhug in there. Ibushi's kick heavy comebacks of course rule as well, making this a very strong little match overall. ***1/4

Will Ospreay vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Zack is pretty great here, and the easy highlight of the whole thing is his attack on Ospreay's neck. He is real vicious with them kicks, stomps & holds towards the neck. It's lovely. Ospreay doesn't do much at all for me on the offense, and there's a few straight up annoying moments with him like that cringe FIRED UP-bit with him putting on an "angry" face & all, BUT thankfully Zack kicked so much ass here that it's a good match overall for sure. ***

Kazuchika Okada vs. Lance Archer

Archer gets put over pretty big by dominating Okada for most of the match, and he sure is real solid with his work. That rope walk moonsault was pretty neat. Okada on the other hand wasn't in his most interesting form with his comebacks, but I did think he sold very well for the big man throughout. Good match! ***

KENTA vs. SANADA

I enjoyed the ALL CAPS battle very much. Was actually my favorite tournament match of the night - KENTA was real good as the cocky heel just kicking & smacking the crap out of SANADA, and SANADA was a real good babyface himself. ***1/2

EVIL vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

The centerpiece of this match was the dueling legwork, which of course gets completely no sold by both wrestlers, rendering it meaningless. Other than that legwork, its your usual generic big match wrasslin' with bombs all the way through. It could've definitely been interesting if the legwork had somewhat mattered, but since it didn't, the match just felt extremely hollow. *