I’m coming home… I’m coming home…
Tell the world I’m coming home…
Let the rain… wash away…
All the pain of yesterday…
I know my kingdom awaits…
And they’ve forgiven my mistakes…
I’m coming home, I’m coming home
Tell the world I’m coming…
1. Yuya Uemura vs. Gabriel Kidd
Intensity, selling, the in-between stuff – whatever it is, it is straight-up professional wrestling and for some reason a majority of wrestlers either don’t learn it or stop doing it. These two learned it and these two do it.
Also, sometimes guys just hit each other real hard. REAL hard. Kidd blasts Yuta with a kick to the face that’d make Kawada proud and they have a strike exchange that’s so good it pops Liger and Milano on commentary. Kidd fights off a belly-to-belly suplex like it’d kill him and delivers a MASSIVE double underhook suplex for the win – I like this kid. **1/2
2. G1 Climax – Block A: Shingo Takagi vs. Jeff Cobb
I really want to go into a Jeff Cobb match not thinking it’s going to be a lull in my day but DAMNIT Jeff we are STILL THERE. Even against Shingo Takagi! How do you have your Same Average Match with Shingo Takagi?? They kind of did suplexes and used their body weight for momentum like an attempt at a Gary Albright or Dr. Death thing but it never actually GOT there. And then Cobb just beat Shingo. I swear. **1/4
3. G1 Climax – Block A: Kazuchika Okada vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Michael: Yeah, that’s not an act. He’s twice tried to microwave a Ding Dong while it was still in its foil… twice.
Wayne Jarvis: Twice?
Michael: Two times.
This was Okada and Yujiro’s second notable singles match this year and it was just as unnecessarily competitive as the first with even less energy. Yujiro took control early with a weak clothesline that Okada responded to by rolling outside and checking his neck like he was Misawa checking his jaw, and while halfway adorable the whole approach kind of just made me resent my boy Okada. He is like some inverse Kenny Omega where instead of unnecessarily epic matches with anybody it’s unnecessarily completely fine basic 10-minute matches with anybody. It doesn’t work with every guy, and after two rounds of it Yujiro is one of those guys. *1/4
4. G1 Climax – Block A: Minoru Suzuki vs. Taichi
HERE is the real wrestling match, Suzuki-gun technique vs. Suzuki-shtick technique unsurprisingly being the best possible version of Suzuki-gun. They go at each other right away before Taichi overwhelms Suzuki with electrical wires around his neck and when Suzuki finds air he makes one of the all-time great Suzuki faces. I liked how they didn’t go too long but still managed to make things dramatic at the close, teasing the usual Suzuki finish before Taichi just hit the Black Mephisto and won CLEAN. So cool. So good! ***1/2
5. G1 Climax – Block A: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Will Ospreay
This is a match that exposed the absolute TRAUMA of a G1 Climax without a crowd that can’t flip out for everything in front of them, as I think it was pretty much the ideal Ishii vs. Ospreay match but had a lack of energy hanging over it. There was so much good stuff in here though: mid-40s Ishii kept up with young Will in the blistering opening sequence, they exchanged suplexes in a way that kept pushing Heavyweight Will, and I have never been more assured that a high-flyer will not just hit his stuff clean but with such force.
The finish was sold great by both guys, an amazing near fall off Ishii getting spiked on his head before Will looked all “oh my! can I do it??” before he hit the Hidden Blade and Stormbreaker to put the old man away. ****1/4
6. G1 Climax – Block A: Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White
Where do you go from their G1 Final last year? That was really good. That was as good as Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White gets, I think. This was quieter and less interesting and just kind of a drag. White wrestled more straight-up than usual, which you’ve got to appreciate but it still feels too Acceptable versus Actually Good. He’s grown into the role and living the dream but can still be a pretty blank slate, and now that I think about it that can be Ibushi sometimes too. If there’s no extra hook, what are we doing??
Ibushi did hit White with an elbow that was SO nasty and SO shocking in how eerily quiet the gasps were as White crumbled to the ground. OK match, bummer main event. **3/4
Happy Thoughts: Two quality and unique matches in Suzuki vs. Taichi and Ishii vs. Ospreay made for a good show, even if Block A has some ISSUES. 6/10
