As always, I've got a very simple five point scale laid out where a 1 is total skip, 2 you can probably skip unless you love one of the folks in it, 3 is a match that's worth watching but not necessarily worth making time for, a 4 is a solid recommendation to make time for if you can, and a 5 is a must-watch.
Mind you, these are not star ratings. They're not meant to be absolute ratings in any sense, but rather a simple (and hopefully sensible) way to determine if a match is worth your time. A one is not necessarily a bad match, but rather just one I feel like you're best off skipping. I have my biases, of course, but hopefully I can make it easy for you to adjust for them.
And of course, because this is the G1 Climax, we'll be focusing on tournament matches only for the duration and keeping it relatively short and sweet, folks-- we've got 19 shows to get through here in less than a month, after all. This being the second match recommendation post for this year’s G1, naturally you can check out the first here if you missed it.
Night Six (B Block, July 25)
Michael Elgin vs. Satoshi Kojima (4): Bit of bull moose action early, Kojima managing to use his dad strength to overpower Big Mike. But even dad strength fades after the initial flurry and the leader of Bread Club finds himself spent mere minutes into the match. Even so, Kojima fights valiantly, taking openings wherever he can find them, and Elgin gets cocky, offering up his own riffs on the machine gun chops and the Bakayaro Elbow Drop.
Fighting to the outside leads to some big spots as each man is nearly wiped out in turn, and it's a question of if Kojima's deep reserves can outlast Big Mike's youth and power. This one is a hoot, folks.
EVIL vs. Tama Tonga (1): Right to brawling on the outside, deep into the crowd and out to a loading door at one point, Tonga happy to take the count-out but EVIL makes it back in time. The King of Darkness makes a comeback and takes this back outside for his trademark chair action, and then the temperature heats up in the ring as we have a back-and-forth contest on our hands.
The last few minutes of this match were awesome, especially the finishing sequence proper, which is like a dozen-odd smooth reversals of big moves until one guy finally gets the final blow, but the beginning is a slog. A brawl to the loading doors and back shouldn't be boring, and yet here I am. Pass, but go find that finishing sequence for sure.
Juice Robinson vs. Minoru Suzuki (5): Early brawling outside brings Juice up lame in one leg and Suzuki immediately capitalizes, taking him deep outside to brutalize the injured leg, throwing the barricade at it, pounding it with chairs, at one point, El Desperado even getting in a shot with a fan's umbrella.
Robinson is full of determination, however, fighting through the pain to rally, chops, a spinebuster, a cannonball, staggering but fighting, getting a solid nearfall off a back suplex so he knows his offense is connecting on some level, but all Minoru needs is one shot at the knee to get right back into it.
And so it continues, Juice creating openings for himself but all the legendary curmudgeon needs is one shot to bring the match in danger of a finish. This was excellent-- Juice has been frighteningly good lately and the match plays to modern-day Suzuki's strengths thoroughly. Watch it!
Kenny Omega vs. Toru Yano (5): Words cannot do this match justice. Like, referee Red Shoes Unno nearly takes a One Winged Angel at one point! How am I supposed to put that kind of glory into mere words? Comedy in wrestling is a tricky thing-- all wrestling is subjective to some degree of course, but comedy seems especially hit-and-miss, tied more closely to personal tastes and less dependent on good execution than a great "straight" match.
But this may be as close to an objectively great comedy match as you can get in wrestling. Really it should come as no surprise that Kenny Omega would turn the heat up and come out here, in a year where there's a strong argument that he's the best wrestler in the world, against an opponent as talented in the comedic arts as Yano, and have the absolute best comedy match possible.
Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA (3): Mat grappling early gives way to some lucha sequences, both men relatively evenly matched. SANADA feigns a knee injury to suck Okada in and the game is afoot, as it were. As the champ fights back into it, Cold Skull takes the action back outside and immediately regrets it when he eats the big crossbody over the barricade.
Of course, it ain't over just yet, and the match proceeds along mostly pleasantly, heating up as it goes with some really cool exchanges and sequences, but this just didn't connect with me as strongly as I'd hoped. It's a fine main event match well-executed, however, so if you're a bigger fan of either of these men than I am you'll likely have a lot to enjoy here.
Night Seven (A Block, July 26)
Tomohiro Ishii vs. YOSHI-HASHI (4): Tacos is game for some bull moose action early and it goes about as well for him as you'd expect, but bless him, he keeps trying and refuses to say die. And indeed, slowly as he chips away at the Stone Pitbull, he makes actual headway and from there it's a question of whether he can wear Ishii down enough before the last ticks of his proverbial health bar disappear.
Really enjoyable stuff, YOSHI-HASHI seems strongest in these opening tournament matches where there's a little less pressure to have a main event epic, and of course Ishii almost always delivers.
Bad Luck Fale vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. (3): Sabre climbing the big man right away, looking to find any limb-based opening he can, but Fale takes him outside and rams him back first into everything that's bolted down. ZSJ remains Bad Luck's victim a while longer, but the Evolve World Champion is canny and uses his superior agility to throw everything he has at Bullet Club's resident giant.
And I mean everything, because this match is a great example of what I think of as "kitchen sink" grappling, where a dude just keeps trying holds until SOMETHING works. It's trickier than traditional "pick a limb and work it" style mat wrestling, but when it gets done right, it's a thing of beauty. This is still kind of a standard Fale match and I can't justify going past three, but it's a strong three-boy for sure.
Kota Ibushi vs. Togi Makabe (4): As he's been doing this tourney, Ibushi is happy to play his opponent's game here, clubbing away until gets an opportunity to fly. And then clubbing away some more! This is very much a Togi Makabe match, but Kota fights it with aplomb and gives as good as he gets, elevating the proceedings significantly. Not a huge amount to dissect here, but some wonderfully brutal striking and the best Makabe match I've seen in ages.
Tetsuya Naito vs. Yuji Nagata (5): Fast and furious early, the old man looking to drop the Ingobernable one ASAP, but he finds himself on the back foot more often than not until Naito gets disdainful. His ire up, Nagata kicks things into another gear, and so it goes, with the Stardust Genius taking the offensive only to get ahead of himself and treating Blue Justice like his whipping boy and giving him access to another of his reserves of energy. And, of course, Tetsuya getting his chest kicked in as a result.
But after a few cycles it starts to feel like genuine strategy, a pro wrestling rope-a-dope, Naito trying to bait Nagata into using his second and third and fourth winds early, wagering that his reserves will outlast the veteran's if he can just take enough punishment. Great stuff, definitely worth a watch.
Hirooki Goto vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (1): Feeling out gives way to the old ace playing a little dirty, acutely aware that he's coming in at a disadvantage due to his arm injury, but Goto is happy to go hard in return, and ends up targeting the bad arm because why wouldn't he? Tanahashi gets a dragon screw off and starts a rally and really what we have here is basically a poor man's version of the Sabre/Tanahashi match from night one.
Well, that's not 100% fair because Hirooki veers away from the arm and just trades bombs with Hiroshi... and then they lose me in a strike exchange where Tanahashi throws with the bad hand, regrets it, looks down at his arm like "I know this is dumb but we have to" and keeps throwing hands with the bad arm. The match continues through some relatively hot action to the finish, but... Pass.
Night Eight (B Block July 27)
Juice Robinson vs. Tama Tonga (3): Mat grappling early, Tonga largely in charge but Juice holding his own. Tama gets a shoulder kneebreaker in the corner and pulls a definitive lead, forcing Robinson to struggle through the pain for every shot he gets in return. It's a simple story, and one that works, especially with somebody as sympathetic as Juice taking the beating.
SANADA vs. Toru Yano (4): The gall of SANADA, jumping the Sublime Master Thief! Yano returns the offensive and we have an even (if somewhat underhanded) fight on our hands! The fight spills to the outside (with a cool beat where SANADA turned the "Break!" spot into kind of an impromptu Tarantula) and Toru goes for his trusty tape but Cold Skull apparently isn't playing that and throws it away.
Back and forth from there, some cool stuff, some funny stuff, more tape, this is a click below the Omega match but still some prime comedy action. As long as you're not allergic to that in your pro wrestling, check it out!
EVIL vs. Minoru Suzuki (3): Just down and dirty brawling from the jump, but as much as EVIL makes the ringside area his home, Suzuki has laid claim to it for far longer and nearly cops a countout victory. Back in the ring he doesn't let up, grinding a spike into EVIL's forehead, but the King of Darkness is happy to cop a rake of the nose in return.
And such is the story of the match, two bad dudes with zero ethics just heaping dirt on each other. Not the most essential match, there's a certain lack of urgency here, where it feels like both guys would rather find some new underhanded thing to do rather than actually try and, you know, win the match until it’s time to go into the final stretch, but good times!
Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima (4): Okada going strong thinking he can just wipe the old man out and go home early but Kojima's feeling his oats tonight! Granted, he ends up feeling them from the turnbuckle to the floor on a dropkick, the champ does his usual stuff and heads back in the ring to... pick a fight with Tenzan?
Back on track, the match continues in the fashion as laid out, cocky Okada playing his more dickheaded aspects up to the hilt, never-say-die old road warrior Kojima fighting hard and finding openings in the champ's occasionally lackadaisical offense, this may not be one of Okada's objective best matches of the year, but it's an instant favorite of mine because of the story being told.
Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin (5): Feeling out early intensifies quickly and pretty soon Big Mike is trying to murder Kenny on the outside. And Omega is trying to murder Elgin in the ring, at one point cold chopping him in the throat! Prettymuch they're, with few exceptions, going big and throwing bombs here, whether big moves or "just" stiff strikes.
So, not a whole lot of waxing poetic from me this time around, but this is a hell of a match and you should probably watch it.
There you have it, folks
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to toss in your two cents below, Cagesiders.