Michael Elgin vs. YOSHI-HASHI – G1 Climax (Block A)
The low-volume ring mic’ing on this show + Honma being on commentary with his ravaged vocal chords is truly unsettling. This was Elgin and YOSHI working a hard-fought crowd pleaser and your enjoyment of this match will depend on how much you care about Magic Monkey Warrior extraordinaire YOSHI-HASHI. To me, the guy is so absurdly flat when it comes to personality that I have the hardest time investing myself into his matches. Unless he’s with a top-level guy like Naito. The whole story presented here (Elgin throwing his biggest bombs and loudest thigh-slaps at YOSHI, YOSHI pulling through by the seat of his pants) was fine in theory, but I found little reason to care about YOSHI-HASHI winning or losing, which defeats the whole purpose of pro-wrestling. Both guys worked hard and everything looked sharp, but in the end it’s still YOSHI-HASHI. ***1/4
Bad Luck Fale vs. EVIL – G1 Climax (Block A)
Not gonna lie, I really liked the idea of EVIL trying to outheel the Tongans in this one. Sure, the Firing Squad are a bunch of cheating bastards, but EVIL is the KING OF DARKNESS, baby. This was also one of the rare cases where the wacky overbooking helped the match a little. The crazy Tama Tonga/LIJ double-run in showdown felt more entertaining than a straight wrestling match between Fale and EVIL. You don’t need to go out of your way to see this or anything, but fun was had. **1/2
Minoru Suzuki vs. Jay White – G1 Climax (Block A)
I need to point out that Jay White deciding to show some stubble to look less child-like against Minoru Suzuki is tremendous. Actually, this whole match was just absurdly fun. Completely character-based wrestling with Jay really leaning into the chicken shit heel schtick and turning Suzuki into a default babyface. We’ve seen guys almost break their necks in the last few months while taking ridiculous spots, and yet, Jay slapping Minoru upside the head before applying his Muta lock was THE most terrifying thing I have seen in a New Japan ring in a long time.
You could almost see the fear in Jay’s eyes before he decided to go through with it. The INSTANT PAYBACK from Minoru was incredible: trying to break Jay’s arm right off the bat and then just Penalty kicking the shit out of him. You do not fuck with this man! Jay’s stock went up again in my eyes after this match. Not all gaijin wrestlers can pull off a good Minoru Suzuki match (look at the Kenny/Suzuki disaster from last year), and Jay was able to adapt perfectly to Minoru’s strengths. Super entertaining. ***1/2
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hangman Page – G1 Climax (Block A)
This was worlds ahead of their Honor United match in the UK and managed to strike the perfect balance between air guitar comedy and high-level wrasslin’ action. It was very much a Baseline Tanahashi match, but Baseline Tana is better than most wrestlers going all out. Page did good too: I liked him going after Tana’s bum knee and it led to a rock solid figure 4 leglock spot. I’m a total sucker for good figure 4 reversal struggle. Again, all of his offense looked super sharp. If he can tone down the flippiness and keep expanding his personality, the dude is going places. I’m sorry for calling you the Flip Gordon of the G1 Climax on Twitter, Hangman, this was wrong of me. Also, that leg standoff comedy spot that set up a stealth Dragon screw from Tana was incredible and I will not hear otherwise. ***1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs. Togi Makabe – G1 Climax (Block A)
Parts of this reminded me of that crazy underrated Okada/Kojima match from last year’s G1. Okada was nowhere as dickish as he was against Koji, but they worked with the same theme of Makabe portraying an over-the-hill vet getting completely outclassed by his younger opponent. And I dug it a lot! Okada is notorious for working light but he was all business in this one, bashing old Togi in the face with some real manly forearms. Makabe stayed on defense for most of the match, selling and making wild faces as the crowd kept rallying behind him. That’s just effective pro-wrestling, man. The ending sequence had some real meat to it too, as Makabe managed to hang in there for longer than I expected. Loved Okada countering the flying knee with a dropkick in mid-air. Other highlights: Okada casually hitting Rocky Romero in the face with one of his balloons while coming out, then starting the match by stealing the Makabe Corner Punches with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. This man is a treasure, questionable hair decisions and all. ***1/2
