I guess I could call this disappointing, because I actually really liked their IWGP Heavyweight Title from earlier on in the year. This sure wasn't good. Long & slow as hell -- I usually don't want to use "slow" as an insult or in a negative manner, but it just stood out here how slow the match progressed. There wasn't really any compelling catch or hook to it, it was just KENTA doing boring work on top & Naito doing his usual generic comeback bits. One nice knee-shot in the entire thing, but as far as the positives go, that's just about it. *1/4
THE FINALS: Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA
This was a match that certainly happened. 'twas such a generic NJPW house style match, without nothing interesting happening for 99% of it. The 1-percent that was somewhat interesting was basically the one pretty great nearfall by SANADA. It felt like it never hit the "epic" gear that NJPW main events usually always do, which is pretty weird considering this was the G1 finals after all. I think that helped somehow with the pacing of the thing though, as while this went a LOOOOONG time, it really never dragged, even with nothing being really interesting. As sad as it might sound, it was very consistent in that regard. It's probably the main factor why I wouldn't call it a bad match, but it definitely is the weakest & the most forgettable G1 finals outing in a long, long, looong time. **
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