Clips of Yano vs. Ishii, Tonga vs. Juice, and Goto vs. SANADA are shown before the two big matches. Yano vs. Ishii is something I need to see. Juice vs. Tonga not so much.
1. G1 Climax – Block B: Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
This is… JIP!? Absolute travesty. They actually cut out ZSJ’s counter of a triangle moonsault with a kneebar. Insane.
Anyways, I feel like 2006-era JBL when I watch these guys: they are just fun to watch! It’s a heck of a match, might be better as a series of GIF’s than a complete match, but this feels a little like Rey Mysterio vs. Psicosis with kicks and ankle twists. These guys are just doing dope thing after dope thing. The kneebar counter of the pele kick was incredible. And god damn did some of those slaps and kicks have to hurt – ZSJ and Ibushi are twinks who can kill. They do totally lose it on a slam in the ropes at some point, but Ibushi also knees ZSJ really hard in the face at the end so we’re even. ***3/4
2. G1 Climax – Block B: Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito
Great pairing right here – loved the G1 Climax final last year, and you can tell these two completely trust each other. Everything is so frantic and sudden, from simple stuff like backbreakers to reverse hurricanrana counters of the One-Winged Angel. They bring the character early, including Naito almost NOT doing the tranquilo pose cuz this is the G1 and this is serious.
Once Kenny fired off that springboard plancha though – damn boy. This got serious. Action and dives and suplexes and counters and near falls and saliva in the face like only these two high-end 2018 professional wrestling superstars can pull off. There is a rope-running sequence that leads to a V-Trigger that is just impossible to comprehend how good their timing, selling, and connection was. Is it worth bringing up how pointless a couple of the head drops felt? No? OK. Fine. New Japan has a type, and this is one of its’ finest examples. ****1/2
