Toru Yano vs. Kota Ibushi – G1 Climax (Block B)
The best thing about this match was that you could tell Ibushi was having the time of his life working a crazy Yano comedy match. This was basically him going back to his roots, doing bonkers stuff in DDT just for shits and giggles. Meta-puro-historian commentary aside, these two going at it was absurdly fun. Yano completely dropped any pretense of working a ‘’fairplay match’’ and started cheating as soon as possible, which led to a whole lot of hilarity. Ibushi getting both of his arms taped together and still pulling off perfect dropkicks and Moonsaults was some of the most impressive stuff in all of the G1 so far. This man is nothing less than a super hero. Yano also came up with one of the most creative ref bumps I’ve ever seen near the end and the shock finish had the whole place imploding. This just in: Toru Yano can do no wrong in this G1. ***1/4
SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr – G1 Climax (Block B)
SANADA going hold for hold with ZSJ was one of my favorite match-ups in this year’s New Japan Cup. This was a shorter, more compact version of that match and it still ruled. They worked a full-on European style match based around how many different full-nelson reversals one can figure out and the crowd was there for all of it. That is something special. Matches like this also greatly add to the mystery of Seiya Sanada. This is a man that will spend entire tours coasting on his ability to throw a nice dropkick, but if you put him in there with a world-class talent in singles competition, turns out he’s nothing less than a technical wrestling genius. SANADA’s whole approach of revealing his TRUE POWER only when really needed makes me think he has some crazy shit up his sleeve for the upcoming match with Naito. ***1/2
Juice Robinson vs. Tetsuya Naito – G1 Climax (Block B)
This one didn’t grab me like Juice’s match with Ibushi or Naito’s match with Ishii, but it was still pretty good, albeit a little sloppy in parts. Naito worked heel and went right after Juice’s injured hand, which resulted in a weird mix of cool ideas and just plain boring shit. Naito switching up all of his dropkick variants to target Juice’s hand was pretty awesome, but the rest of his hand-work was mostly him ploddingly kicking it around to fill up time. Not super compelling, even if Juice’s selling was pretty remarkable. The action picked up as they moved towards the finish and Naito taking a completely wild backflip bump off Juice’s HARLEM SIDEKICK really took me by surprise. All of the counters were well done and the crowd was well into it, but it never really reached the next level. I’m not sure why, but these two guys can’t seem to have a true blowaway great match together. Something ain’t fully clicking. ***1/4
Kenny Omega vs. Tama Tonga – G1 Climax (Block B)
There has been some funny shit in this G1. Divorced Dad Okada and his balloons, Yano going back to his Amaresu roots, Ibushi landing Moonsaults with both of his arms taped up. But nothing will top Tama Tonga straight up MONOLOGUING in the middle of the ring for half of this match. And it was meant to be deadly serious! ‘’ LET ME REMIND YOU…’’ – Guys, I was dying. Admittedly, there were a couple of fun babyface Kenny bits throughout the match and the crowd ate that shit up, but this was mostly an overbooked NWO/Wolfpac mess. This whole thing needs some re-thinking. No one’s buying Tama and his boyz as top heels. **1/2
Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii – G1 Climax (Block B)
Ever since Shibata headbutted himself to death in the ring, there’s been a serious lack of no-holds-barred slug-fests in New Japan. Henare stepping up and working this kind of match with Ishii earlier this year was a blast, but otherwise Stone Pitbull’s been stuck in midcard purgatory with his pal Yano. Long story short: this match will take care of all your Strong Style Needs. Goto and Ishii went out there and did their thing for 20 minutes, reminding everyone of their relevance as throwback Japanese wrestling warriors in New Japan’s increasingly Americanized landscape. (This kinda reads like a Deadspin headline, I am truly sorry)
It took roughly 10 minutes before anyone hit an actual ‘’wrestling move’’ because both guys were too busy finding new ways to brutalize each other with forearms, kicks and lariats. And it was blissful. Ishii’s ability to add interesting little details to these kinds of matches is vastly underrated. Look at him drooling all over himself during a Goto sleeper, or absorbing an entire barrage of kicks before doing a Kawada-style delayed sell job. The guy is also an absolute pro when it comes to bringing a strike exchange to the next level. There were several moments here where they worked me into believing we had reached the peak of a strike exchange and Ishii would just add another layer of violence with a freaking chest headbutt or two-armed forearm rush.
The counters and near-falls near the end were incredible, but the heart of the match really was about these two bruisers trying to prove their unflinching toughness in apocalyptic strike-fests. A proper war. ****1/4
