Aug 11, 2018 @NJPWBros My top 20 matches of the G1 heading into the finals with dates for anyone who wants to catchup on the best bouts ; in order of fav to least fav (all are phenomenal matches though these are just the 20 best). Don't think anything is missing but I'm sure @Pinhead can confirm and will share his own list as well 1. Tomohiro Ishii vs Hirooki Goto 7/21/2018 5* 2. Kenny Omega vs Tomohiro Ishii 8/4/2018 5* 3. Tetsuya Naito vs Kenny Omega 7/15/2018 5* 4. Kota Ibushi vs Tetsuya Naito 8/4/2018 4.75* 5. Kota Ibushi vs Tomohiro Ishii 7/28/2018 4.75* 6. Hirooki Goto vs Kenny Omega 7/19/2018 4.75* 7. Kenny Omega vs Kota Ibushi 8/11/2018 4.75* 8. Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kota Ibushi 7/14/2018 4.75* 9. Tetsuya Naito vs Zack Sabre Jr. 8/11/2018 4.5* 10. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada 8/10/2018 4.5* 11. SANADA vs Kota Ibushi 7/26/2018 4.5* 12. Kenny Omega vs Zack Sabre Jr. 8/1/2018 4.5* 13. Kenny Omega vs SANADA 7/28/2018 4.5* 14. Tetsuya Naito vs Tomohiro Ishii 7/19/2018 4.5* 15. Hirooki Goto vs Kota Ibushi 8/1/2018 4.5* 16. Tomohiro Ishii vs Zack Sabre Jr. 7/26/2018 4.25* 17. Tomohiro Ishii vs SANADA 8/11/2018 4.25* 18. Kazuchika Okada vs Michael Elgin 7/30/2018 4.25* 19. Juice Robinson vs Tetsuya Naito 7/21/2018 4.25* 20. Kazuchika Okada vs Minoru Suzuki 8/2/2018 4.25* Looking back on it this was definitely better than last year no clue how @Sign Language and @tomroe93 werent hyped for this...I mean honestly I have nothing to say, this would be multiple years worth of s--- from any other company and new japan just did it in under a f---ing month
Aug 11, 2018 I'll give my G1 MVP to Ishii, but I didn't realize how many top end matches Kota had...just incredible really, I thought he had 4 f---ing matches worth rating 4.75, that's unreal. But Ishii had two of the three best and a whole smorgasbord of quality matches . Omega gets bronze this year It's crazy..ppl lose their minds when WWE puts on a Ciampa/Gargano or a Gargano/Almas...tremendous matches but theres 8 here I would put up in that category on top of just a massive boat load of other awesome wrestling.
Aug 11, 2018 @NJPWBros this G1 was by far my favorite stretch of wrestling in a long time. So many top tier matches. I agree @Big Dangerous Ishii was easily the MVP the G1 winner gets one title shot whereas Ishii is over here with potentially 3. All in all a fantastic tournament. Had story, emotion, athleticism and overall quite a few wrestlers were elevated in my eyes like SANADA, Hangman Page, Juice & ZSJ
Aug 11, 2018 Of course the night we get a midnight show is the night there's a f---ing wedding at work and I might not be out until 1:30
Aug 12, 2018 Ishii is no doubt my MVP, just as he was last year. He had Goto’s best match, Omega’s best match, and Ibushi’s best match in the tournament IMO.
Aug 12, 2018 Ibushi is my MVP. He's about to go have a classic final with an obvious, undeniable concussion after having the first or second match of the tournament less than 24 hours later. Was it the Tonga match the other day where he jumped off the balcony again? Nobody works as hard as he does. Kenny was doing the talking in the post match interview and Ibushi was totally gone. Looked high af.
Aug 12, 2018 I'd say people freak out about those WWE matches because that style has never really been seen before in the company. I remember watching it thinking that it was no different stylistically than a PWG match (like a Bate/Dunne) and it would be a five star match anywhere in the world. Whether it's too fast, considered too dangerous, not believable enough, whatever, a match like this just wouldn't happen 2-3 years ago, even for big time NXT events. It's not a coincidence we start getting matches of that level as non-WWE wrestling is exploding. Having Shawn there is huuuuge for breaking down that too fast mentality. He seems to think it's great. Edit Jesus Pieter is out of this world tonight He started slowing down and changing things around 07/08, but it's been a decade or so and Rey still looks as good as he ever did in that time.
Aug 13, 2018 So is there anything to suggest a comeback for tanahashi's corner man? @Pinhead @Big Dangerous