DAY NINE – A BLOCK
– Kota Ibushi v Lance Archer – I’m happy that Archer’s vast improvement is getting recognized in the thick of Moxley and KENTA’s WWE-to-NJPW excellence. Big Lance has been great. This opener was no exception, with some of the most serious knee strikes you’ll ever see (sorry, Omega!). One knee absolutely flattened Kota, making the story of a second Kamigoye finish — after Archer nearly and ever so freakishly no-sold the first one — a great one. – 3.75/5
– Will Ospreay v Bad Luck Fale – The BITW versus the WITG1 … and not even the Mighty Os could save this one. Fale has a role in New Japan, and has been a steady hoss hand for a while, but please no more Fale in the G1. Yano, I get; he’s the comedy relief between all of the grueling 15-20 minute match madness, but Fale — for 2-years straight — has resorted to shitty refbumps and mindless Bullet Club interference when he’s 350+ pounds. At least Archer has elevated his game in the tourney. IDK. This is sad.. but this DQ win was a likely needed break for the hobbled Ospreay. Skip. – 1.25/5
– EVIL v Zack Sabre Jr – A solid wrestling match with some fluid counters down the stretch and a perfectly timed Everything Is Evil win. Result-wise, Zack has had a rough tournament. – 3.25/5
– Hiroshi Tanahashi v SANADA – Had to watch this twice to see if I was missing something, and I wasn’t. Believe it or not, for these two guys, this was just a match. That still means it’s a fine one, but nothing that will make any top G1 match lists. If you adore either guy and have the time, go see it. – 3/5
– Kazuchika Okada v KENTA – Some friends at this past Friday’s PWG were asking me, “is this the same guy that was Hideo Itami?” In same ways, it is. Unlike Jon Moxley, who’s meshed his o.g. Mox and Ambrose into a deadly lethal New Japan Terry Funk/Steve Austin figure, KENTA isn’t exactly all the way back “KENTA”. But he is close. Hideo Itami did have some great matches on 205 Live (see affairs with Roddy Strong, Cedric Alexander, etc.), but nobody watched. He also had a solid NXT career before lingering injuries and adapting to the WWE style took its toll. That all said, it’s not hard to have a ***3/4-**** match with Okada, but credit to both guys for making KENTA look like a dangerous weapon in the process. KENTA seemed to have an answer for everything the Rainmaker had to offer but well-timed sgnature dropkicks that haulted any and all KENTA momentum. Strong main event! – 3.75/5
Overall = 3/5 Bibles
The worst A Block night and it still had two excellent bookend matches. Crazy.
DAY TEN – B BLOCK
– Hirooki Goto v Toru Yano – Instant classic. Meltzer just jizzed his pants. – 10/5
– Tomohiro Ishii v Juice Robinson – Juice’s best match since his epic brawl with Moxley at the BotSJ finale, and it’s against arguable G1 tournament MVP Ishii. You surprised? The only nitpick I have about this otherwise great match is that a few moments looked telegraphed; it seemed like Ishii, at a few points, was waiting on Juice to make a move, etc. Still, that’s just intense nitpicking. It’s clear that they were working the match on the fly and with that whole language barrier thing, they crushed it. Ishii is having a hell of a run, and we can only hope the Pitbull gets his due! – 4-4.25/5
– Jeff Cobb v Taichi – A good match. Miho Habe is life. Taichi is a god. Cobb needed this win more than anyone. – 3/5
– Jay White v Shingo – Despite Shingo’s best efforts to overcome White and Gedo down the stretch, his buckle-bomb, a pair of Pumping Bombers, and Made in Japan were executed, but two Last of the Dragon attempts were not. The interference played a fair part but wasn’t as annoyingly disruptive as the stuff we’ve seen in recent Fale matches. Both White and Shingo exchanged smooth counters and had excellent transitions, working a really nice match that resulted in a pair of sleeper suplexes, spike DDT and Blade Runner for a Switchblade victory. Not the best match of the night but a strong contest that could’ve shaved 5-minutes. – 3.5/5
– Jon Moxley v Tetsuya Naito – Another absolutely terrific outing for Jon Moxley. I went on a rant in our Ringside Apostles chatroom because this guy, in no way shape or form, resembles that “Dean Ambrose” guy from WWE TV. No, man– Mox is coming off like a Terry Funk/Mic Foley meets Steve Austin variation and it’s worked so greatly in Japan. Minus a match or two, Moxley has really had a superb G1 run, both in terms of match quality and results. He’s carried himself perfectly and has brought something fresh, rugged and old school to the G1. He’s quitely been motivated, too. At least once every match, Mox has brought a new move or an alternate form of a previous move to the table. At the very least he just looks better here doing it. There was even a time in the match when Moxley executed a near Flying Death Rider/butterfly suplex off the top rope. Not to be outdone, Naito instantly followed with a nasty tornado DDT. Moxley even brought back a reverse DDT/headlock faceplant later in the match, while Naito hit another one of those rolling Destinos. But the Tranquilo superstar couldn’t follow with a finisher proper and wound up seeing Death Rider twice. The second one just spiked his domepiece. What a match. – 4/5
Overall = 3.5/5 Bibles
If you can forgive the minute-and-a-half tomfoolery of the Yano/Goto match (and trust me, many will wind up with this on their MOTY lists… haha lol roflmao etc.), this was a pretty awesome night for the B Block. The worst non-squash was a steady match between Cobb and Taichi and White and Shingo could’ve been top of the line if it went shorter. Both Ishii/Juice and Mox/Naito were awesome! Are there really still 2 weeks left?!
-Travis Moody