Juice Robinson vs. Tomohiro Ishii – G1 Climax (Block B)
This was Juice working the Tomohiro Ishii slug-fest template match and it was a bit of a mixed bag. Juice working from under, getting his ass kicked and making angry underdog faces is always great, but I had trouble buying him as a guy that could believably go toe to toe with the Stone Pupper in a strike-war. I appreciated them chopping the dogshit out of each other, but beyond the chops, Juice seemed to have trouble finding his groove and some of those shoulderblocks were just plain weird-looking, man. Save a few hiccups, the last few minutes were a lot of fun and the crowd got into it big time, but again: should Juice Robinson be doing fighting spirit spots and trading chest headbutts with Ishii? Felt somewhat off-brand. Not a bad match by any means, but I wasn’t convinced by Juice’s turn as a Strong Style Warrior. ***1/4
Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr – G1 Climax (Block B)
Here’s a match where the roles were crystal clear and made perfect sense. Genius submission wrestler dismantling noble power fighter is a bulletproof story and these fellers nailed it. Zack put in a monster performance, not only delivering with the high-level submission work but actually showing more personality and fire than maybe ever? For a guy with his kind of vegetarian frame, his strikes were looking nasty as hell in this. Really laying in those middle kicks and European uppercuts on old Goto and his Samurai mullet.
Beyond leaning into all of these stiff shots, Goto played his part perfectly as the outclassed veteran: selling the arm like a pro and using his size advantage to make smart comebacks. Zack using his speed and technique to overwhelm Goto with rollup onslaughts was great stuff and as soon as he picked up the upset, I was craving a rematch for the NEVER title. Text-book example of how to work a first ever match-up – both guys doing just enough to keep me hooked. A resounding success. ***3/4
Kota Ibushi vs. Tama Tonga – G1 Climax (Block B)
A fine, fine example of the Tama Tonga match done right. High-flying babyface Ibu-tan working from under against raving madman Tama Tonga (randomly monologuing about his military background), complete with actually-exciting RAW is SHIN NIHON segment (featuring a fun little Kenny run-in) was something that totally worked for me. As soon as Ibushi hit the god damn BALCONY MOONSAULT, the crowd was ALL IN for everything that followed, shenanigans included, and it made for a fun ride. Tama constantly looking for that RKO Outta Nowhere moment added a neat dynamic and the fans seemed genuinely shocked when it connected. ***1/4
Kenny Omega vs. Toru Yano – G1 Climax (Block B)
Pure comedy gold. I don’t wanna spoil too much, so let’s just say Kenny Omega going back to his comedy roots was long overdue. Even with all the Meltzer stars and 3 hour matches against Okada, one of Kenny’s biggest strengths remains goofy comedic shit. And since he can’t have those matches in DDT anymore, Yano’s the perfect foil for him. The Firing Squad run-in was straight up overkill though. Kenny getting wiped out by them before the match was perfect, but the second time was too much. ***1/4
Tetsuya Naito vs. SANADA – G1 Climax (Block B)
I had high hopes for this – probably too high. There were a couple of great moments but it never fully came together as a match and some parts were down right clunky. SANADA really needed to step up here and he never quite got there except for the fun bit of fighting spirit fire he started showing in the last 2 minutes of the match. Naito seemed to be on cruise control and I wish he had leaned more into the heel antics, as the few bits of dickishness he brought to the table were the most interesting parts of the match.
For every cool moment like SANADA busting out the Tiger suplex or reversing the Destino with the Muto-style rope-draped neck screw, there was an awkward counter sequence or weird miscommunication issue. They just didn’t click like I hoped they would and never fully committed to a clear story, which made the match pleasant but kind of empty. The heat might be to blame as both the wrestlers and the crowd seemed to be dying a painful, sweaty death. ***1/4
