Day 14 - very kudt!

SANADA vs. Toru Yano
What an absolutely awesome comedy match. Everything w/ the Paradise Lock & Rocky was legitimately hilarious, and the overall contrast between the characters of SANADA & Toru Yano was so cool, they played off of each other perfectly. ***3/4

Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga
Absolutely nothing interesting about this one. *

Juice Robinson vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
Without a doubt one of the best looking match ups in the entire tournament - I mean, it's Juice Robinson, coming in with a banged up hand going against Zack Sabre Jr. There was no way it wasn't gonna rule; Zack delivered, as usual, in the top-side of things, indeed specifically targeting that hand & arm of Juice's, and Juice was on point w/ his selling & firey comebacks. Very much looking forward to the US Title re-match that was heavily set up w/ this match. ***3/4

Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii
There's some generic New Japan big match stuff in the middle, but overall the match had such a great dynamic & Ishii's underdog performance was so amazing that it can't be denied. Omega being a cocky prick to start things off was wonderful, and Ishii's response to that was absolutely priceless with him just playing with Omega's hair to show that he can play those games too. The damn crazy Cruficix counter too, what a great moment. This match also showed the improvement of Kevin Kelly to the maximum; dude went from being one of my least favorite commentators to quite possibly my favorite one - what a phenomenal call in "I'm telling you he's unbeatable, Omega is UNBEATABLE!". What a damned match! ****1/4

Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito

Great match. Thought that Naito was incredibly compelling with his work on top - he didn't do anything overly heely, but his arrogant facial expressions & overall body language were off the charts good. Very vicious with his work over Ibushi's neck & leg; unsurprisingly, Ibushi didn't sell the leg work at all, but if we ignore that, his overall selling was very good. The no selling of the leg work did annoy me a bit though. Thankfully & unsurprisingly his sudden pop-up comebacks were pretty damn great, and the finishing stretch was of course NUTS. ****

DAY 13!

Bad Luck Fale vs. Michael Elgin

One of Michael Elgin's better performances; he kept it simple with his babyface work from underneath, and goddamn he rocked it. And Fale was awesome as usual being the monster that he is. I have loved most of the BCOG run-in's in this G1, but here I actually thought that it took away from the match - without the interference hitting at the point it did, this could've (& most likely would've) reached the very good, to even great mark. ***1/4

Hangman Page vs. Togi Makabe

This was actually good, and that is something I wouldn't have expected to write when looking at the participants on paper! Just good slugfest-y action from start to finish. ***

Jay White vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Just as dull, boring, uncharismatic & uninteresting as it looked on paper. *

EVIL vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

This was so good. EVIL being awesome with that work on top, targeting Tana's always-banged-up -shoulder, and Tana is Tana. An absolute master at fighting from underneath with his emotional selling & perfectly timed comebacks. ***3/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki

This was a weird match for me, because I LOVED, and I mean LOVED everything that MiSu did - an absolute pleasure watching him beat the brakes out of Okada. But then on the other hand, Okada always coming up w/ his comebacks really annoyed me. Other than the big JOHN WOO, I didn't like ANYTHING that he did in this match. Felt like "okay your turn is over now buddy, let me shrug that off & hit my shit" kind of stuff. In particular the Rear Naked Choke -spot is up there w/ Stephanie McMahon successfully defending an Armbar from Ronda Rousey at Mania. It's a good match overall, because, hey, I am always up for Minoru Suzuki beating people up w/ his devastating forearms, knees & submissions, but from their battles this year, the Draw in Downpour has it beat easily. ***

Day 12; a 1-match -show

Tama Tonga vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Some very dull work by Tama on top, but Ishii's comebacks & overall all the times on the offense were absolutely tremendous. A solid carryjob from the man. **

Juice Robinson vs. SANADA

Very odd structure, with them starting with the classic "we're equals" back & forth shtick, but they actually went with that all the way through. I don't think it worked too well with this pairing, as there were more than a few awkward looking sequences, but the match definitely wasn't bad overall - just very, very, very forgettable. **

Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano

Pretty disappointing in all honesty. Toru Yano has been great all G1 long, and Naito is Naito, and with their characters I thought this one would be very fun, but sadly the end result was very different than what I had imagined. Much like Tama/Ishii & Juice/SANADA, this wasn't bad, but it was something that I won't remember in a few months. **

Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

The battle between the best bout machine & Kenny Omega was one of the most exciting looking G1 match ups in this year's tourney, and they delivered one of the best matches of the whole thing. They told the story of Zack's dangerous ground game vs. Omega's superior power & flips wonderfully; it went on for about 15 minutes, and that was the absolute perfect length for it. If it went on longer, I could see myself getting annoyed by Kenny's selling of the work on his injured foot by Zack, but here I thought that even though he was still running around doing his thing, he employed the idea of "I can't show him that I'm hurting really bad" very well. ****

Hirooki Goto vs. Kota Ibushi

As dry, dull, boring & soulless as a match between Hirooki Goto & Kota Ibushi could be. Even the finishing stretch was very tame by NJPW standards. Just nothing interesting or good about this one; too long, uninteresting pace - just an absolute bore all around. Really wish we could've got a midcard smackfest between them instead. *

Day 11

Bad Luck Fale vs. Togi Makabe
An ugly, scrappy fight between the two, aka exactly what it should've been. A good time. ***

Hangman Page vs. Jay White
Dragged by the end, but overall this was very good, and certainly WAY better than I expected it to be. Some very nice chops & lariats + very strong psychology w/ Switchblade viciously targeting Hangman's back, which Hangman sold pretty damn well. Miles better than their first meeting. Hangman has some real potential as a babyface. ***3/4

EVIL vs. Minoru Suzuki
Hard hitting strike exchanges, as one would expect, and mostly Minoru on top, giving EVIL a beating. EVIL was such a good babyface fighting from underneath to go against that. ***3/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI
A very charming babyface vs. babyface match. YOSHI-HASHI pushed Tana to the limit - Tana sold pretty much the perfect amount for him. ***1/2

Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin

Slow, plodding, downright boring for the most part with some generic BIG MOVEZ thrown in there. Not good. I guess if I had to take something positive out of this watching experience, at least some of the wrist control stuff was pretty cool, but that's it. Okada was tremendously boring when he was in control, and Big Mike's big movez were as generic as possible, as I already mentioned. *

Day 10'ski

Tama Tonga vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
This one is not getting much love from the most vocal NJPW fanbase, but I thought it was pretty damn awesome. Had this authentic feel of a rough, styles clash FIGHT that I absolutely loved; Tama was really good in control, he was roughing up Zack quite a bit, and Zack on the offense was of course superb - he tortured Tama's arm(s) any chance he got. The best match of Tama's singles career quite easily so far. ***3/4


Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano
Pretty fun stuff, with the highlight being Yano fooling Juice into thinking he was gonna be all respectful & not do his usual shenanigans - him going after Juice's hand outside the ring was actually pretty brutal! **3/4

Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Ishii awakened the absolute KILLER that Ibushi can be when he is pushed to that limit. An absolutely ridiculous smackfest, with goddamn PUNCHES TO THE THROAT. ****



Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito

A very solid, good match, with most of it being Naito working over Goto's neck, to get him ready for that DESTINO. Goto got a few good comebacks in, I always love the GTR. ***

Kenny Omega vs. SANADA

Filler destruction of the leg that of course gets no sold, and then just generic New Japan main event style big move counter wrestling. Nawt good. *1/4

Day 9 - worst of the tourney so far

Michael Elgin vs. Minoru Suzuki
Most of the match is with Suzuki on top, with him delivering deadly strikes & nasty arm work to Elgin, while Big Mike delivers some hard hitting comebacks. Very good stuff. ***1/2

EVIL vs. Hangman Page
This felt like it went on for forever, and at no point during it did I think it was good and/or interesting at all. *

Bad Luck Fale vs. Jay White

Some good stuff in here; Switchblade delivered some very nice chops to Fale, and while most of Fale's work on top was disappointing, he did have a few moments of his usual goodness in there. The match had it's positive moments, but it also had it's super boring moments. An OK one overall. **

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe

Well this was disappointing. I usually really like these two together, but here they dropped the dynamic that works the best with their matches against each other, and had a more basic, soulless bout. **

Kazuchika Okada vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Okada was really great in the beginning stages of the match - he employed the "cocky ace taking on the stablemate of his that isn't really a big deal at all" -character wonderfully. YOSHI-HASHI was very good in the beginning stages as well; loved the aggression he showed right away after Okada threw his shirt at him. Sadly after a while, it becomes a more "normal" affair rather than a character driven bout it could've been; YH went back to showing no charisma or personality, and Okada wasn't much better either. **

Day 8: ZSJ/Ishii IV

Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano
What a helluva 2-minute sprint! Yano's roll-up nearfalls were tremendous, as were that now-signature belly-to-belly of his, and then Goto's violent finishing of the match. So much fun! ***3/4

Tama Tonga vs. Tetsuya Naito
Very good, very solid action throughout, with yet another legitimately fantastic run in segment w/ the Los Ingobernables going against the Tongans. ***

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Ishii vs. Sabre Jr. is one of the best pairings in all of pro-wrestling, and here they delivered yet another outstanding match. Zack's control over Ishii was brutal as usual; he focused on the arm(s), and Ishii's selling was simply fantastic. LOVED Ishii's countering of the things by going after the leg of Zack, too - such an unique twist, and something I certainly wasn't expecting out of the Stone Pitbull. The way Rocky Romero & Kevin Kelly built up the "Ishii might pass out, but he will NEVER tap out!" -issue was terrific as well, and really added to the finish when ZSJ locked in one of his most brutal looking submissions ever. ****1/4

Juice Robinson vs. Kenny Omega

This told a very good story of Juice pushing Kenny to the limit; Kenny even had to go after the injured hand of Juice, which he was hesitant to do in the beginning stages of the match. GREAT callback to their previous G1 meeting too, with the One Winged Angel counter into a nearfall. ***3/4

Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA

A pretty damn great performance by SANADA, and a very enjoyable match overall. Some unfortunate no-selling of the leg work by Ibushi, but that wasn't the focal point of the match for very long, so it didn't take away too much from it. Good, competitive back & forth stuff. ***1/4