Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga – G1 Climax (Block B)
Tama Tonga cutting a promo on Meltzer and star ratings as he walks to the ring is a true post-modern nightmare. My god, this latest episode of RAW is SHIN NIHON was wild. Tama spending an entire match choking Toru Yano, a referee getting RKO’d Outta Nowhere, Big Daddy Harold Meij EVICTING THE FIRING SQUAD. This is all cutting edge stuff, people. I can’t wait until we get to New Japan’s Ruthless Agression Era. *
Juice Robinson vs. Hirooki Goto – G1 Climax (Block B)
Outside of the awesome match with Ibushi, Juice hasn’t been doing much for me during the G1, but this match provided the type of world-class Juice Robinson professional wrestling content that he had been delivering before entering the tournament. The Juiceman controlled 80% of the action, going after the Goto arm injury (which got aggravated by ZSJ in his last match) and convincingly came off as a top-level guy without having to resort to awkward Strong Style Bravado like he did with Ishii.
I would never have guessed that Limb Work on Hirooki Goto would be such a successful wrestling trope, but this is the second match in a row where old Aramusha is blowing me away with his on-point arm selling. The ending stretch was pretty gripping stuff, great counters all over the place and possibly the first time in all of the G1 where Juice’s BIG PUNCH spot lands 100% and gets the desired crowd response. Just a notch below their NEVER title match from earlier this year, but rock-solid stuff all around nonetheless. ***3/4
Tomohiro Ishii vs. SANADA – G1 Climax (Block B)
Fuck me sideways, this was awesome. SANADA went head to head with the Stone Pupper and pulled the kind of performance I wanted him to have against Naito. Fast-paced and high-impact wrasslin’ pitting Sanader’s speed and Muto-ISM technique against Ishii’s brute force and Choshu-ISM lariats. SANADA brought his Muto tribute game to the next level here by doing the ‘’stare into emptiness and type on an invisible keyboard with one finger’’ reaction after a particularly hot near-fall. This lad is a true student of the Pure-O-Resew.
I’ve been over this before, but I just love Ishii’s delayed selling. The way he did it here was mind blowing: collapsing and then eating a bunch of stomps to the face from SANADA while making a face that very clearly said ‘’Yeah, we’re gonna have this strike exchange but I think I’m having a stroke right now, so just give me a minute boy’’. Another thing I’m a big fan of: guys targeting a limb late in the match even if there hasn’t been any ground work for it earlier. Case in point: SANADA Moonsaulting on his feet, hurting his knee, Ishii connecting right away with a knee dropkick and then doing a brutal SLIDING LARIAT TO THE KNEE = Amazing.
SANADA busting out the Muto/Sayama rolling savate in the middle of a strike exchange and making it look legit, Ishii trying to out-Muto SANADA with a GOD DAMN SHINING WIZARD, the uber-fluid Skull End/Brainbuster counters. Too much good stuff to list. Just a blast of a wrestling match all the way through, up there among the best SANADA matches I’ve ever seen. ****1/4
Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr – G1 Climax (Block B)
These two work so well together – loved their New Japan Cup match, loved this one just as much. They both enjoy working super fast, both have a knack for sweet GIF-able counters and both have trouble reigning in their inner dickhead. Match made in heaven, baby. Naito is probably the only guy in the entire tournament to get ZSJ to lose his cool through sheer douchebaggery, and the resulting bitch-slap-fests were of the highest quality.
Guys like Kenny and Ibushi are pros at making Naito’s offense pop because complex videogame spots and unwise neck bumping are second nature to them. ZSJ, with his lanky vegan socialist frame, doesn’t only make this stuff look good, he makes it look like instant death. Naito’s various snappy neckbreakers look like they are constantly breaking this guy into a million pieces, and I don’t wanna spend too much time on that insane Tornado DDT bump but MOTHER OF GOD this was the most brutal Tornado DDT bump I have ever seen.
The flash rollups near the finish were incredible, Naito losing his DGAF aura and looking seriously concerned for the first time in the match. And holy shit at that ZACK DRIVER bump. New Japan seem intent on making LIJ/Suzuki-Gun all about Naito and Minoru, but Naito/ZSJ is the real money match and Zack’s win here will hopefully lead to a third match sooner rather than later. ****
Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi – G1 Climax (Block B)
The 2012 GOLDEN LOVERS COLLIDE match has attained legendary status in the last few years thanks to all those epic History of the Golden Lovers videos and Twitter threads, but I was never a big fan. Both guys were still in the process of figuring themselves out as wrestlers and yeah, that top-rope Frankensteiner to the floor bump was truly admirable/stupid, but the whole thing felt more like an overkilly Fire Pro exhibition than an actual wrestling match. Both Kenny and Ibushi improved a lot since then, and while this was still very much a full-on bombs-fest, it was done in a smarter way, with a bit more editing and self-awareness.
After the over-the-top theatrics of the Golden Lovers/Young Bucks tag, I was shocked by how reigned in the acting was in this match. Ibushi held back tears in the opening minutes, Kenny seemed subtly distraught by the idea of hurting his BFF/husband/co-angel (cannot believe I used the adjective ‘’subtly’’ while reviewing a Kenny Omega match) and then both guys just went ahead and killed each other. The Bucks at ring-side were doing their best to ham it up every time one of the Lovers teased a death move, but both Kenny and Ibushi were all business and never stooped to the ‘’oh no I’m so conflicted’’ bullshit.
The one major thing this match has over the 2012 version is that both guys are now much better at building towards all the insanity. Kenny stopping the Golden Triangle Moonsault, Ibushi flipping out of the top-rope Dragon suplex, the constant struggle over the One Winged Angel – all of this stuff was more compelling than both guys just running through their death spots. I also dug all of the mirroring sequences that they used to hammer on the point that they are TWO HALVES OF THE SAME WHOLE. Sometimes you have to be unsubtle with this wrestling shit, and both guys knew when to be.
Kinda conflicted about the Kamigoye kickout. On the one hand, I get what they were doing. Ibushi’s the only person to have kicked out of the One Winged Angel, now Kenny’s the only one to have survived the Kamigoye. On the other hand, I wish that move had stayed a protected instant death move for a while longer. Basically it makes sense as a piece of their larger meta-narrative, but as a part of this match it didn’t feel like a big enough moment. Minor gripe for a great match filled with big moments. I have a feeling they saved some crazy shit for another match down the road, but in the meantime I’m more than fine with all the top-rope Tiger drivers and backflip murder kneedrops we got in this one. ****1/2
