Moar G1; the first ****+ match of the tourney!

 

Day 10: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA
These two had one of my favorite matches of 2019 at last years G1, so naturally this one was one of the most appealing looking matches for me in this years tourney. The starting dynamic is very different compared to that of the bout from last year -- now KENTA is a full-blown asshole who loves to be a prick any & every chance he gets. He largely was on top for majority of the match, and I thought his work doing that was really good; the legwork was awesome, especially with his always vicious looking & sounding kicks. Tana of course absolutely rules when he has to fight from underneath; his charisma shines so much with that pride & emotion showing in every comeback bit he gets. Really liked the Cloverleaf finish too! It was a very nice little "screw you" to KENTA whose main gameplan was to target Tana's knee, but in the end it was him who had to tap out to a submission targeted towards his legs. Made all the sense in the world too, since Tana's best flurries started with those Dragon Screws. A real good piece of business all around, and a highlight thus far in the tournament. ***3/4

Day 11: Minoru Suzuki vs. Will Ospreay
On paper this was one of the two genuinely somewhat interesting looking Will Ospreay matches in the entire tournament, and my goodness it delivered tremendously. Suzuki is just in complete torture mode the entire way through with his amazing, vicious work over the arm -- all the while throwing in some brutal strikes to Will's face here n' there for good measure. It's so compelling to watch, and I gotta give credit to Ospreay too, because this was a helluva selling performance from him. One of the great moments that comes to my mind instantly is when he blocked MiSu's PK with his hands up, but his right arm was so brutalized, he ended up eating shit anyways. Then there were a couple of absolutely lovely bits where Will went into a little forearm-flurry, but MiSu just ate them all & ended up killing him with some of his own. Lovely, lovely stuff. And of course then there's the goddamn La Mistica sequence. Hell. Yes. The definition of a G1 banger. ****

Day 11: Jay White vs. Taichi
The battle between two of the biggest scumbags in the company. That's already such a lovely starting dynamic, there was little to no chance that this wasn't gonna rule. And rule it did! Whenever they are actually going at it, it's of course awesome stuff since both of these guys are studs, but where this match truly stands out & shines is the clash of personalities between the Switchblade & Dangerous T. The beginning double-stalling, the "forearm"-battle, the Gedo involvement, all such good, FUN stuff. Loved the whole thing. ***1/2