G1 Day 10

Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano

Fun Yano sub-2 minute special. A pretty lovely time. Goto's pin was actually so damn cool looking, too. **1/2

Juice Robinson vs. Tomohiro Ishii

This is a complete war with them trading hard shots & gnarly bombs all the way through. Ishii's selling is fabulous as usual too, and all in all, it's a very compelling match. Though they did, or Juice did, have a few too many fighting spirit no-sell moments for my liking, but thankfully most of them somewhat worked. Them scrapping some of those moments is just something that could've made the match even more tighter as an overall package than it already was. ***1/2

Jeff Cobb vs. Taichi

Definitely better than their match for the NEVER title from earlier in the year. It very well told the story of Cobb's superior power & athleticism vs. Taichi's cheating. Taichi was very good on top, and Cobb was good out there with his explosive'ish comebacks. ***

Jay White vs. Shingo Takagi

White is so good in this. His work on top as the overly confident heel rules, and he sells brilliantly for Shingo when the time for that came. Lots of neat little moments of that shithead heel work like after he collapsed as a result of their strike exchange, he still barely gets up & delivers a lil' slap to Shingo. Shingo is real good too throughout with his usual bulldozer work on the offense, and overall the contrast between him & Switchblade created for a real intriguing dynamic for the whole thing. ***1/2

Jon Moxley vs. Tetsuya Naito

Moxley pretty much dominates, with Naito making some brief comebacks here & there, and it's good stuff. They play well off of each others personalities, and both guys are rock solid in their roles. ***1/4

G1 Day 9: KENTA vs Okada!

Kota Ibushi vs. Lance Archer

AWESOME battle. Archer was great as the trash-talking giant of a man oozing confidence & swagger beating Ibushi down, and Ibushi was such a good 'David'. Some neat counters to Archer's big moves & his big comeback towards the end rules. The actual finish with Archer refusing to go down to the 1st Kamigoye was real awesome as well. ***1/2

Bad Luck Fale vs. Will Ospreay

It's a shame that the Bullet Club shenanigans here ended up being VERY overwhelming in a bad way, because the actual wrestling by Fale & Ospreay was really good. They had a good, natural thing going with Fale dominating, and then Ospreay busting out a wonderful comeback w/ some of the best looking forearms (& strikes in general) he has ever lashed out. Truly a shame about the BC shit. **3/4

EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Their usual dynamic of EVIL's brute force vs. Zack's technique. The New Beginning match remains their best one of the year, but this sure was better than the Cup match. Dragged a bit by the end, but for the most part, it was very solid & pretty enjoyable to watch. **3/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADAThese two just feel right going against one another. Good, charming wrestling all the way through w/ nice competitive spirits & some fun counters. Not a high tier G1 match by any means, but a yet another strong match to add to the catalogs of both guys. ***

Kazuchika Okada vs. KENTA

This was probably my most awaited match-up of the entire tournament, and while I don't think it was as amazing as it could've been, it was still a kick-ass time from bell to bell. KENTA just slowly decimates Okada for most of the match, and it's awesome; stuff like him baiting Okada to try and hit him in the neck, only for him to trip him down & put on a neckhold, was really neat. Though I have to mention that some key moments, mostly by KENTA on the offense, felt surprisingly heatless & had no drama -- the two Triangle spots are perfect examples of this, especially the second one where he transitioned it into the Game Over, to pretty much no reaction from the crowd at all. It's a shame because it was a really cool sequence of things too. The 2 Busaiku Knees in a row had no drama or heat behind them at all either. The overall lack of drama took something away from the match for sure, but overall, I thought KENTA was indeed pretty great brutalizing Okada, and Okada's selling was actually really fantastic. Definitely down for a round 2 between these two. ***3/4

G1 Day 8

Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano

Yano's usual shenanigans don't work too well, because Juice is more focused than ever in this G1, and it results in a pretty fun lil' match. **1/2

Hirooki Goto vs. Taichi

Everything Goto does in this feels just LIFELESS, and of course the match suffers from it, but thanks to Taichi being awesome with his kicks & everything, it's still good. Just makes me think how good it would've been if Goto had brought it more. ***

Jon Moxley vs. Shingo Takagi

They beat the crap out of one another with lariats, forearms, jabs, knees -- you name it. It's already extremely enjoyable with that, but what put it to that next level was the leg psychology with Moxley being pretty damn vicious & very focused on the attack + Shingo selling very well throughout. Great performances by both resulted in a great match. ****

Jay White vs. Jeff Cobb

This was a really compelling & neat battle with Cobb running through White with his strength advantage, and White using his in-ring smarts (& some cheap tactics) to counter that. ***1/2

Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii

These two together are almost always a guaranteed hit, and such was the case here. It's Naito & Ishii brutalizing one another in classic Ishii vs. Naito fashion, and I liked it very much. Not their best match or anything like that, but a yet another great addition to their awesome rivalry. ***3/4

G1 Day 7

Bad Luck Fale vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

ZSJ is more urgent than usual with his submissions, with a good example of that being him opening the match by going for a Guillotine on Fale immediately -- its the result of him losing all of his first three matches, so now he REALLY wants & needs the win, so he is more focused than usual, and it creates for a real fun dynamic between him & big Fale here. The count-out finish absolutely ruled too. ***

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Lance Archer

The best match of the night. Archer absolutely dominates, even when Tana came into the thing with a rock solid game plan of attacking him right away during entrances. Archer continues to shine with his real good work on top, and Tana was just fabulous from underneath getting wrecked by this monster of a man. ***1/2

EVIL vs. KENTA

This actually legit made me fall asleep, so I had to re-watch it to see if it actually was that boring or was I truly just very tired, but yeah, this sure was disappointing. There's a few awesome moments of KENTA being an asshole like him wiping EVIL's eye make-up + him grinning proudly after Korakuen boos him very loudly after he had kicked EVIL in the ear, but overall, his work wasn't very compelling at all. He really needed to be more of a cocky prick here imo. EVIL wasn't interesting in the slightest during his times on the offense either. Extremely underwhelming stuff, and also disappointing coming off KENTA's awesome first-3 G1 match run. **

Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA

Really loved the early stuff with them showcasing their athleticism, as they try to one-up one another. Them milking the crowd to the max after the classic WE'RE EQUALS-sequence was really fun too. "A showcase of showmanship" was kind of perfectly put by Kevin Kelly there. Even the signature move stealing felt like it belonged here, which is something that can't be said about that kind of stuff very often. Overall this sure was good fun. ***1/4

Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay

Pretty much exactly how I imagined this match would be. Okada doing some super forgettable work on top, Ospreay getting some flippy comebacks w/ a few strikes here & there, and then a finishing gear full of counters that we've seen about 10 million times already in New Japan. A match that felt longer than it was, and a match that sure wasn't for my tastes. Extremely generic & predictable stuff. *1/4

G1 Day6

Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi

This ruled so much. Taichi is so awesome with his KICKS & Shingo is a true bulldozer with every bit of offense he lashes out. Smack & bomb heavy fun all the way through. ***3/4

Jeff Cobb vs. Juice Robinson

Juice dominating at least 90% of the match wasn't the most expected dynamic going into this, but it ended up being a very welcomed one, as he DEFINITELY was the more interesting of the two when it came to their offense. Juice is very good as usual, and while some first bursts of Cobb's offense weren't interesting at all, he definitely picked up the intensity in his last big comeback rally after countering Juice's Pulp Friction attempt with those sweet German Suplexes. He looked really good in that stretch just throwing Juice around. Good match. ***

Jay White vs. Toru Yano

Not a high tier Toru Yano match or anything close to that, but a pretty fun & solid 3-minutes. **

Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito

A pretty good match, but nothing special, which is pretty much what I've come to expect from this pairing. The in-ring action is just about 'the usual' from the two too, with some work over the leg, neck, a bunch of counters etc, etc. It's definitely pretty enjoyable, but nothing to really write home about. **3/4

Jon Moxley vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Moxley brought his own, different charm to Ishii's smackfest formula & it resulted in some real good stuff. Couple of very memorable singular moments too, especially FLYING ISHII THROUGH THE TABLE! ***3/4

G1 KORAKUEN begins! (day 5)

KENTA vs. Lance Archer

KENTA vs. a man much larger than him is historically a great match-up, so I was already intrigued by this one, and that intrigue only got bigger as Archer had two rock solid performances in his first G1 outings vs. Ospreay & Fale. And aye, this was indeed the good shit. Archer largely dominated, and he was real good at it. He threw KENTA around with his power moves and talked shit while doing so. KENTA was a helluva "David" as well, which isn't surprising. Him chopping Archer down with his lethal kicks was awesome & I loved the finish with him busting out the Triangle, and then transitioning that into the good ol' Game Over. The "you're not KENTA anymore, you're HIDEO!" bit followed by KENTA waking up & slapping the taste out of Archer's mouth was absolutely brilliant as well. ***3/4

EVIL vs. SANADA

They have built the tension between these two pretty well, and it translated VERY well into the match. EVIL truly came off as a someone wanting to kind of step out of the shadow of SANADA & the big 2019 he's had, and SANADA was great interacting against the focused EVIL with his facial expressions being on point. Very fun, competitive back & forth between the two tag partners - loved the signature move stealing starting with EVIL doing the Paradise Lock, which SANADA later on made sure to get payback on by doing EVIL's signature STO against him. Quality stuff all around, and a great moment with the post-match fist bump too. Mini-stories like this are what help make G1 so damn awesome year after year. ***1/2

Bad Luck Fale vs. Kazuchika Okada

Fale largely dominates, there's your Bullet Club shenanigans with Chase & Jado, Okada starts getting into the thing & ultimately wins. Pretty much "the usual" between the two, but I almost always enjoy it on some level, and such was the case here. Good match. ***

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

Not a surprise in the slightest that this was a banger. Charming & vicious grappling throughout with Zack doing some nasty damage to Tana's always-banged-up arm, which Tana sells greatly. The finish absolutely rules as well. Definitely would rank this over their Cup & MSG (both are very good though) matches when it comes to their 2019 meetings. ***3/4

Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay

Who would've thunk that Ibushi vs. Ospreay would get better as they add 10 more minutes into the thing?! I certainly wasn't expecting it, but this sure was absolutely great; they start it off slower (by their standards), with Ospreay starting to go after Ibushi's ankle injury, and Ibushi responding by attacking Ospreay's banged up neck. It's really great stuff - I very much popped for Ibushi using the CRAVATE, which was probably the first time I've seen him do it. The match pretty much gets more & more brutal as it goes on, with them busting out some truly gnarly & vicious moves to try n' keep one another down. Some of the highlights, for me, were Ospreay's twisting powerbomb, which was just ridiculously explosive + the Hidden Blade after he landed on his feet after Ibushi's deadlift suplex attempt - the Ospreay-landed-on-his-feet!!! -spots are a bit tired by this point, but this one was actually pretty fantastic with him selling the neck big even when he landed on his feet, and there was no corny poses/faces to be detected! And that mentioned Hidden Blade was absolutely brutal as well, the best one he has done so far. My absolute favorite bit of the whole thing though was the tree-of-woe stuff w/ them reversing the roles from their first meeting - Ibushi's blank lunatic killer facial expressions were outstanding during it, as he dared Ospreay to slap him back, and he went to that classic Ibushi-zone with them strikes during it too. The match definitely could've shaved off a few nearfalls & the finishing stretch, overall, a little bit, but for the absolute majority of the thing, this was amazingly compelling. ****

Grapple heavy bangers

EVOLVE 131: Drew Gulak vs. Matt Riddle

A real throwback to the good ol' days when EVOLVE was the best damn pro-wrestling product on the planet. Somewhat depressing in that regard too, because nothing they've put out ever since guys like these two (& of course many others too) left has touched the magic they brought here. They just do what Riddle & Gulak do; greatly spirited, competitive, mat & strike heavy action with excellent urgency, progress & escalation. Exactly what that CATCH POINT name is all about. ****

3-2-1 BATTLE! Wet Hot Seattle Summer 3: Daniel Makabe vs. Timothy Thatcher

It didn't reach the amazing greatness that was their first meeting, but I'd say Thatcher vs. Makabe III was about on par with their second bout, which makes it VERY good. Very nice work on the mat & plenty of nice SMACKS throughout. ***3/4

WWE 205 Live 07/16/19: Chad Gable vs. Jack Gallagher

I didn't really dig their first match all that much, but this one ROCKED. Much better than that said first meeting of theirs; the matwork here was really good, and especially Gable impressed. The way he went after Gallagher's ankle & knee was brutally compelling. He also impressed me with his selling; one standout moment was the corner dropkick by Gallagher, which already looked really great & vicious, but Gable's selling made it even better. Really liked how the match progressed from the matwork into a full-blown war of attrition with them busting out some real violent looking bombs/hits to put one another down, too. ***1/2