G1 Day 17 is simply amazing

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 30 - DAY 17


Minoru Suzuki vs. Shingo Takagi
Very much a slugfest for the most of it, and these two sure hit each other in compelling fashion, but then there's also some very nice arm targeting in the thing by Minoru, combined with some equally very nice selling of the said targeted bodypart by Shingo! It's actually somewhat almost shocking at how rock-solid his selling was all the way through. MiSu was of course indeed great with the attack too; he was persistent & torturous with the ways he found openings to continue the assault. The whole match was full of some badass stuff. It was a joy to watch it all unfold. ****

Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
I didn't like their previous G1 meeting at all, so I didn't have any high hopes for this one, but I am pleasantly surprised. I liked this a lot. It's not as "crazy" as that said previous G1 match of theirs, but there's still plenty of cool stuff -- but this time it actually feels like everything has a deeper meaning to them than usually in Ospreay matches, and every bigger move gets proper time to breathe, giving them a bigger impact. That's how I viewed it anyway, and I thought it was some really good stuff. The whole narrative of Ospreay wanting to finally get one over his mentor/leader/big bro/whatever you wanna call him, was told quite well throughout w/ the urgency & desperation showing in his output. The swerve that lead to the finish was done well too. Vvvvery good match. ***1/2

Kota Ibushi vs. Taichi
This match rocked my world. I cannot believe how unique it was, while also being so goddamn simple at the same time. They literally just trade kicks willingly for the whole duration of it, and it's amazing. It's the most glorious dick-measuring contest I've seen in ages. My instant reaction is that it felt like a Tokyo Dome level spectacle, just a truly epic battle for the every lasting second of it. Very much up there as one of my absolute favorite matches of the year up to this point. ****1/2

Jay White vs. Tomohiro Ishii
About on par with their previous G1 meeting. White vs. Ishii is just about a perfect pairing, because Ishii is the perfect man to shut that overly confident asshole up. It happened here, and the way we got to that conclusion was pretty damn great. White's overall work with his always superb facial expressions, trash talk & then that focus on the knee was really good stuff. Ishii's bursts of violent attacks also ruled, as did his selling -- and I loved the surprising twist when he himself turned the tables on Jay by going after HIS knee! Awesome, awesome match. That ending was simply beautiful too. ***3/4