One of the funniest twitter threads I’ve read in a while

Amazing. Thank you for bringing this to PW's attention.

Like Marufuji in 2016, KENTA is being set up as a serious contender for this year's G1 with a strong win over Ibushi. While Marufuji claimed a much bigger scalp in Okada, this victory to KENTA is nothing to sneeze at given Ibushi's rise up the ranks and claim to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. With that said, Ibushi still seems to be portrayed as a dummy. Instead of wrestling to his style, he tried to take KENTA on in a strike exchange and ended up having a bad time. It was pretty selfless of Ibushi really to help get over KENTA's in-ring style and let him hit all his signature moves to make the eventual matches with Tanahashi and Okada mean more.

Lots and lots of strikes from KENTA, it reminded me how redundant KENTA was made to look in the WWE because with CM Punk, Finn Balor and Daniel Bryan combined, he basically had no spots left to call his own. It was especially on the nose with Balor considering he came in to save KENTA from the Absolution. If only KENTA had have realised all he had to do was call on Vince McMahon and his pencil, he would have been A-OK.

Yano is keeping the peace this year.

Jul 11, 2019 11:36:40 GMT Big Pete said:

Like Marufuji in 2016, KENTA is being set up as a serious contender for this year's G1 with a strong win over Ibushi. While Marufuji claimed a much bigger scalp in Okada, this victory to KENTA is nothing to sneeze at given Ibushi's rise up the ranks and claim to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. With that said, Ibushi still seems to be portrayed as a dummy. Instead of wrestling to his style, he tried to take KENTA on in a strike exchange and ended up having a bad time. It was pretty selfless of Ibushi really to help get over KENTA's in-ring style and let him hit all his signature moves to make the eventual matches with Tanahashi and Okada mean more.

Lots and lots of strikes from KENTA, it reminded me how redundant KENTA was made to look in the WWE because with CM Punk, Finn Balor and Daniel Bryan combined, he basically had no spots left to call his own. It was especially on the nose with Balor considering he came in to save KENTA from the Absolution. If only KENTA had have realised all he had to do was call on Vince McMahon and his pencil, he would have been A-OK.

While I agree with your sentiment that it was selfless of Ibushi to take the loss, I want to point out that I don't feel like the way it was done helped in making the future matches mean more. What would make them mean more to me is if KENTA had wrestled a top-of-his-game Ibushi who was using his own style (because why would you ever not) and put on a clinic of a slobberknocker. Overcoming a difficult opponent in an intense battle adds emotion and feeling to KENTA's tournament run. Defeating a dummy doesn't really do much.

Sure, what you said is probably what they were going for, but I feel like it was a bad call without much sense to it. As evidenced by everyone's reaction here feeling disappointed in the match.

I don't think redundancy had much to do with his poor showing in WWE, but I have also long suspected his communication abilities were the primary factor in him not really getting anywhere with his massive talent. Politics play a huge role in the WWE and he probably never talked to Vince about his booking issues, I imagine.

Toru Yano is a national treasure. To the whole world.

Jul 11, 2019 17:05:29 GMT Lionheart said:

What would make them mean more to me is if KENTA had wrestled a top-of-his-game Ibushi who was using his own style (because why would you ever not) and put on a clinic of a slobberknocker. Overcoming a difficult opponent in an intense battle adds emotion and feeling to KENTA's tournament run. Defeating a dummy doesn't really do much.

Nothing wrong with your approach, but it's very routine, and perhaps not appropriate for this setting. Let me explain.

The wrestlers had a chance to tell a different, rare kind of story, and they took it. It didn't make for the best match in terms of star ratings or whatever, but it was still very interesting.

I wouldn't go as far as to say Ibushi was a dummy. Ibushi is one of the fiercest strikers in the business, so there's nothing dumb about him striking. He tried to go toe to toe with KENTA in striking, and it didn't work out. A strategic mistake. Could happen to any sportsman. This could also be attributed to it being KENTA's first ever match in NJPW. Ibushi is the poor sod who has to have the first match against a guy who is basically a complete unknown. When KENTA and Ibushi next meet, they will have that base story set in stone, and maybe Ibushi will try to wrestle KENTA in a different way, by using more high flying or power moves.

One of the things I really like about New Japan is the long term storytelling that happens in the ring. Sometimes this comes at the cost of match quality, but I'd take that over every match between two stars being an epic like they do in WWE/NXT. Too many epics can wear the audience out and trivialises the special. Especially in the G1, with five high stakes singles matches every single show. Wrestlers gotta pace themselves and offer some variety.

Jul 11, 2019 21:31:55 GMT Emperor said:

Nothing wrong with your approach, but it's very routine, and perhaps not appropriate for this setting. Let me explain.

The wrestlers had a chance to tell a different, rare kind of story, and they took it. It didn't make for the best match in terms of star ratings or whatever, but it was still very interesting.

I wouldn't go as far as to say Ibushi was a dummy. Ibushi is one of the fiercest strikers in the business, so there's nothing dumb about him striking. He tried to go toe to toe with KENTA in striking, and it didn't work out. A strategic mistake. Could happen to any sportsman. This could also be attributed to it being KENTA's first ever match in NJPW. Ibushi is the poor sod who has to have the first match against a guy who is basically a complete unknown. When KENTA and Ibushi next meet, they will have that base story set in stone, and maybe Ibushi will try to wrestle KENTA in a different way, by using more high flying or power moves.

One of the things I really like about New Japan is the long term storytelling that happens in the ring. Sometimes this comes at the cost of match quality, but I'd take that over every match between two stars being an epic like they do in WWE/NXT. Too many epics can wear the audience out and trivialises the special. Especially in the G1, with five high stakes singles matches every single show. Wrestlers gotta pace themselves and offer some variety.

I don't think it is routine at all. You are writing off how difficult it is to put on a good match, let alone an epic MOTY candidate match. You make it seem like that is the easier option.

This didn't just have the opportunity to be another run of the mill epic battle between stars like "every WWE match" between two stars. This is a first-ever matchup between two of the top competitors in the entire world. Sure, what they did was interesting, but I would take seeing one of the greatest matches of all time over some story buildup for their next match, as would most people. Besides, it's not like the match that happened would build up a story any more than an epic battle would have.

But my biggest issue with what you are saying is that the same logic could be used to excuse any match for not being good, regardless of circumstance. "Well, if they were all good then none of them would be special." The bottom line is the match could have been better and it wasn't, and I don't see any significant excuse for that to warrant it having happened. To me, you would need a damn good reason to justify not making a match as good as it possibly could have been. Especially when the reason is to benefit some imaginary long-term followup battle that may or may not even happen that you would have gotten plenty of buildup for anyway.

You say there shouldn't be too many epics or it will wear out the audience like it's a matter of diversity, but what I'm actually talking about is match quality. The match is the same length either way and I don't buy higher quality wrestling wearing people out more as an excuse to put out worse matches. In my experience, mediocre matches wear me out a lot more quickly than amazing ones. However you swing it, Ibushi wrestling that weird style that didn't fit him did not output as good a match as if he had wrestled normally. With the already existing huge variation of styles between the different competitors in the tournament, I don't see wrestlers needing to wrestle other styles to "shake things up" as anywhere near a necessity.

Jul 12, 2019 0:30:23 GMT Lionheart said:

But my biggest issue with what you are saying is that the same logic could be used to excuse any match for not being good, regardless of circumstance. "Well, if they were all good then none of them would be special." The bottom line is the match could have been better and it wasn't, and I don't see any significant excuse for that to warrant it having happened. To me, you would need a damn good reason to justify not making a match as good as it possibly could have been. Especially when the reason is to benefit some imaginary long-term followup battle that may or may not even happen that you would have gotten plenty of buildup for anyway.

I don't think the match was bad, or that they were deliebrately trying to have a bad match. It was a good match. It just caught people off guard because everyone was expecting a high octane epic, and they chose to work a much slower pace. But that is perfectly understandable givne the circumstances: this is KENTA's first match after five+ years of injuries and working a much slower style. He's not going to be suddenly godlike junior heavyweight KENTA from the mid 2000s.

They told a story to fit the circumstances, and while I think they could have told it in a more exciting way, in my opinion it was still effective. And who are we to say "the match could have been better? The wrestlers should try harder?"

Jul 11, 2019 17:05:29 GMT Lionheart said:

Jul 11, 2019 11:36:40 GMT Big Pete said:

Like Marufuji in 2016, KENTA is being set up as a serious contender for this year's G1 with a strong win over Ibushi. While Marufuji claimed a much bigger scalp in Okada, this victory to KENTA is nothing to sneeze at given Ibushi's rise up the ranks and claim to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. With that said, Ibushi still seems to be portrayed as a dummy. Instead of wrestling to his style, he tried to take KENTA on in a strike exchange and ended up having a bad time. It was pretty selfless of Ibushi really to help get over KENTA's in-ring style and let him hit all his signature moves to make the eventual matches with Tanahashi and Okada mean more.

Lots and lots of strikes from KENTA, it reminded me how redundant KENTA was made to look in the WWE because with CM Punk, Finn Balor and Daniel Bryan combined, he basically had no spots left to call his own. It was especially on the nose with Balor considering he came in to save KENTA from the Absolution. If only KENTA had have realised all he had to do was call on Vince McMahon and his pencil, he would have been A-OK.

While I agree with your sentiment that it was selfless of Ibushi to take the loss, I want to point out that I don't feel like the way it was done helped in making the future matches mean more. What would make them mean more to me is if KENTA had wrestled a top-of-his-game Ibushi who was using his own style (because why would you ever not) and put on a clinic of a slobberknocker. Overcoming a difficult opponent in an intense battle adds emotion and feeling to KENTA's tournament run. Defeating a dummy doesn't really do much.

Sure, what you said is probably what they were going for, but I feel like it was a bad call without much sense to it. As evidenced by everyone's reaction here feeling disappointed in the match.

I don't think redundancy had much to do with his poor showing in WWE, but I have also long suspected his communication abilities were the primary factor in him not really getting anywhere with his massive talent. Politics play a huge role in the WWE and he probably never talked to Vince about his booking issues, I imagine.

The way they went allows KENTA to seperate himself from the likes of Okada who is the ace and capable of having those barn-burning matches. It's been years since KENTA has been involved in anything resembling a main event epic, so I think easing him into it instead of trying to do it from the jump is a smarter approach, especially since this was a foreign crowd. While Ibushi and KENTA have experience performing in-front of a Texas crowd, I'm sure both men are much more comfortable in Tokyo, Osaka and other parts of Japan.

For all I know, KENTA could lay an egg against Tanahashi and Okada. However, I think this match was designed to showcase KENTA and get over his personality and move-set. While an Ibushi epic would have been effective, in all likelihood, Ibushi would have over-shadowed KENTA and it would have been a hollow victory. By adopting the approach they've taken, they've picked a side with KENTA and I'm curious to see how his tournament plays out. I think it's important for an ensemble cast to add a different dynamic, so I appreciate how strong they went with KENTA here.

Well injuries killed his run in the WWE, but even among the hardcore crowd, KENTA's WWE run was considered a bomb and I do think his inability to stand out is what hurt him.

Jul 12, 2019 6:19:18 GMT Emperor said:

I don't think the match was bad, or that they were deliebrately trying to have a bad match. It was a good match. It just caught people off guard because everyone was expecting a high octane epic, and they chose to work a much slower pace. But that is perfectly understandable givne the circumstances: this is KENTA's first match after five+ years of injuries and working a much slower style. He's not going to be suddenly godlike junior heavyweight KENTA from the mid 2000s.

They told a story to fit the circumstances, and while I think they could have told it in a more exciting way, in my opinion it was still effective. And who are we to say "the match could have been better? The wrestlers should try harder?"

Well it seems we agree about pretty much everything then. I also don’t think those things and already stated the match was good.

KENTA isn’t expected to be godlike suddenly, but it was Ibushi who was the biggest detractor from the match which is unrelated to that.

My whole point was basically that it could have been told in a more exciting way. I don’t think they needed to try harder to do that, just differently than the weird thing they went with. Also, we are the fans they are performing for so of course we have the right to voice opinions that matches could be better. Of course there isn’t much to complain about in this case though.

I’m gonna have to do a separate list for G1 matches boys. At this rate if I include it in my top 25 of the year it’ll overtake most of the matches on that list by like Day 7.

I skimmed over the tag matches for the most part but I made a point to watch Suzuki/ZSJ vs Okada/Yoshi. It was pretty fun as far as their throwaway tag matches go.

Watched the opener with Ibushi and co too. It was alright.

Juice vs Shingo - this was far and away Juice’s best match and I loved how they not only put on a great fight, but told the story of Shingo being a threat but still not quite in the same league as the Heavyweights. Didn’t matter what he did, he couldn’t put Juice away, and he’s going to have his work cut out for him if he wants to end with a respectable score.

Moxley vs Taichi - good old fashioned brawl but nothing to write home about. I guess Taichi drew the short straw and is going to be jobbed out pretty hard this year. I’m more interested in how Moxley fairs against the big names where he can’t just brawl his way out of his problems.

Naito vs Yano - *laughs in Gedo*

Cobb vs Ishii - what a fucking fight. I loved every second. Cobb tried to beat Ishii at his own game and GOT BIT. That’s a heavyweight bout if I’ve ever seen one.

White vs Goto - Goto looks great and I popped when he got the win. Didn’t think he would. If this year is Goto’s resurgence (which they were really hammering home with the LADOJO/Shibata stuff on commentary) then I’m here for it. He beat one of the toughest opponents in his block, so who knows where they go from here. Could be in the running to surprise everyone.

Overall good show. And it’s only night 2. Lets go boys.

Juice vs Shingo - I wouldn't go as far as to say this was Juice's best match but it's up there. Shingo was able to outmuscle and outtough everyone in the Super Juniors, but he's now facing guys his own size or slightly bigger, and Shingo has to adapt. He did well going blow for blow with Juice, but the moves that set him up to defeat the juniors weren't as effective against Juice. Nice storytelling, good match.

Moxley vs Taichi - They made it interesting with the jump start and the brawling but I didn't think these two had the best chemistry. I liked Moxley selling the chair shot to the back for the entire match, although that came at the expense of not acknowledging the rest of Taichi's offense that well. Pretty average match, not bad but worst match of the G1 up to this point.

Naito vs Yano - Naito tried to be tranquilo and play Toru Yano's game but it backfired in hilarious fashion. Fun match and good evidence to suggest that Yano is still able to keep his act fresh. I bet Naito will never keep his t-shirt on in a singles match ever again.

Cobb vs Ishii - These two really laid into each other as expected. Fantastic hoss fest. The first match in the G1 that might enter my personal MOTY list. I feel like Cobb gave Ishii a bit too much offense, taking a couple of Germans and a Dragon suplex that I found hard to believe, but that's a minor nitpick. Strong showing from Cobb in his G1 debut.

White vs Goto - Shocking result for me, but Goto is always booked very unpredictably. A great classic heel vs babyface match. Jay has really got his heel work down, his overconfidence is through the roof. Goto is used to playing the underdog face, but in this match he had an extra fire that I haven't seen from him in a long time. Gedo interfering in the end suggested that the match would go in White's favour, but Goto just scares him off and bombards White with a ton of crushing offense to score the win.

Day 2

Juice vs. Shingo - Juice is looking mighty impressive and has come a long way since he first entered the company. The intensity in which he goes about his business is a credit to him and it's crazy to see somebody outdo Shingo who is as ferocious as they come. I could just imagine playing musical chairs with somebody like Shingo, he isn't one of those guys who just sits, he LAUNCHES, and 99% of the time gets what he wants. Robinson winning suggests to me that Gedo wants to continue his ascent up the card, while I'm sure the even nature of the match wouldn't have done Shingo any harm.

Taichi vs. Moxley - I wonder when it sunk in for Taichi that he was in the ring with a mad man? That opening blindside was merely like waving a red flag infront of a bull and Moxley let Taichi know all about it. Interesting to see Moxley once again bring a table into the equation ala Omega. I'm not sure what it is about these AEW guys, but they sure like to introduce that element of risk to the match. Moxley is in the best shape of his career at the moment, towards the end he looked invincible reversing everything Taichi threw at him and the Death Rider >>>>> Dirty Deeds. Moxley must have really hated that rendition of Dir En Gray. Maybe Miho should introduce Taichi to some Culture Club instead?

Yano vs. Naito - In a former life, Yano must have been one hell of a policeman. The way he was badgering Naito was like that of a drill seargant, but it didn't take long for the real Yano to emerge. Yano matches are typically like Pixar Shorts, they're a change of pace and while Yano is running out of material, he does a solid enough job of repackaging it. I will note that a few things he was upset about with others in his pre-G1 address he was guilty of during the match. Yano is the ultimate example of do as I say, not as I do. However, Yano has once again been established as a threat this tournament and Naito will have to bounce back early to keep pace.

Ishii vs. Cobb - Ishii wrestles the way he looks, extremely rugged. If I was an aspiring grappler, I'd avoid Ishii matches like the plague because it's all about toughness. Ishii isn't afraid to take the fall, but he'll make sure you break your hand trying to beat his face into a pulp. As others have shown, he's beatable if you wrestle your style, but if you get into a battle of who's the toughest, you'll end up like Cobb who from what I've seen, is a bit dumb between the ears. I mean, this is the guy who got humbled by Matt freakin Taven for christ sakes! Pretty impressive win from Ishii to beat the stronger looking guy, but it's one of those wait and see victories. I wasn't impressed with Cobb here at all and thought he was made to look ordinary by the current NEVER Openweight Championship.

White vs. Goto - I see White is also a fan of South Park, hence growing a beard to show how evil he is. As an aside, that's my favourite early season episode of South Park and so many bits crack me up. Seems like a lot of White matches follow the same structure. Lose the initial exchanges, wait till Gedo interferes, play around with opponent, trade high moves, , win/lose. The difference here is that Goto really loaded up on moves here and I think if there was a time limit in place, he'd still be smashing White's head in with GTRs. A strong statement from Goto, and maybe Shibata will lead another famous opponent to victory? It worked for Tanahashi and his crusade for another IWGP Championship run, it could work again in this G1.

Emperor what Juice matches do you think were better? I’m having a hard time thinking of any but I also know I’ve probably missed one or two of his bangers.

Moxley & Shota teaming together is amazing and I’m loving how over Shota is already with Western fans because of it.

Starting on the G1 matches shortly. Really excited to see how KENTA / Tanahashi turned out.

Jul 14, 2019 13:24:49 GMT Big Pete said:

I wasn't impressed with Cobb here at all and thought he was made to look ordinary by the current NEVER Openweight Championship.

Don't really understand this comment. I thought Cobb was just an ordinary big tough hoss guy? Is he something extra special that we didn't see in this match? To me that match is exactly what I'd expect to see from Jeff Cobb, he just happened to be up against a guy who wrestles that style day in and day out.

Jul 14, 2019 13:24:49 GMT Big Pete said:

Seems like a lot of White matches follow the same structure. Lose the initial exchanges, wait till Gedo interferes, play around with opponent, trade high moves, , win/lose.

Eh, you can make this kind of dismissive comment about almost any wrestler. Jay White has his go-to structure and he does very well at it, just like Okada does his match very well or Ishii does his match very well.

Jul 14, 2019 17:05:00 GMT RT said:

Emperor what Juice matches do you think were better? I’m having a hard time thinking of any but I also know I’ve probably missed one or two of his bangers.

Juice vs Jay White from whatever USA show it was immediately comes to mind. That was a really special match due to the circumstances, and among everything else, White was on top of his heel game.

I'm sure there is one more recent Juice match that I claimed was his best match since the White match after I saw it. Shame I don't remember what it was. Most Juice matches are very average so his rare great matches stand out. Maybe it was against Elgin or Tanahashi, I recall him having good matches with those guys.

Cobb is an olympic grappler who is about slamming people, not exchanging strikes. Usually his matches consist of him manhandling his opponent, here he got into a tough man contest and paid for it.

That wasn't a knock on White, just an observation. I wonder if he's going to change it up at some point during any of his main event tournament matches? I'm sure Yano will get something different out of him, but as far as main events, he'll have to bring more against Moxley and Naito.

Lance Archer vs Bad Luck Fale - Way better than it had any right to be. Really fun big man slugfest. Fale got great height when he took the chokeslam, which set up nicely for the finish.

Will Ospreay vs SANADA - Watching this match I couldn't help but feel that these two were born to wrestle each other. Love the one upsmanship story they had going on, both guys wrestling similarly, but settling more into their own styles in the closing stretch. The finish with the Oz Cutter directly into the Stormbreaker was kinda cool, but when he held on to the grip after landing the Oz Cutter, it sort of exposed the move because SANADA's face was nowhere near the mat.

Okada vs ZSJ - I thought this would be closing the event, so when Okada came out for the third G1 match I was surprised. It made me think that ZSJ was going to win, but things didn't turn out that way. ZSJ has a much tougher time with Okada than any other opponent. Okada has him figured out. Usually ZSJ is able to dominate his opponents with holds for long stretches at a time, which wears them out before the closing stretch, and makes it easier for ZSJ to counter the big moves into nasty holds. This never happens with Okada. ZSJ was able to lock on a couple of big holds, but he was never able to keep a sustained offense and wrestle at his own pace. Okada kept his distance and kept his opponent at bay with big strikes and moves. Although Zack stayed resourceful and countered Rainmaker after Rainmaker, Okada would escape the holds very quickly and hit a high impact move, until ZSJ no longer had the strength to resist the Rainmaker lariat. ZSJ is never an easy man to beat, but on this occasion, Okada made it look easy.

EVIL vs Ibushi - I'm not very high on EVIL in general but him and Ibushi produced a fantastic strong style contest. The enigmatic Ibushi still hasn't found his regular rhythm, perhaps due to the ankle injury he suffered against KENTA. EVIL didn't focus exclusively on the ankle, but he did enough damage to apparently slow Ibushi down. Although Ibushi kept pace with EVIL in both the striking and moves department, EVIL found a second wind in the late stages and hit a big Widowmaker followed by This is EVIL for the upset win. Ties with Cobb vs Ishii as best match of the tournament so far.

The Wimbledon final has my attention now, it's going the distance, and I'm an hour behind live. KENTA vs Tanahashi will have to wait.

Jul 14, 2019 18:17:58 GMT Big Pete said:

Cobb is an olympic grappler who is about slamming people, not exchanging strikes. Usually his matches consist of him manhandling his opponent, here he got into a tough man contest and paid for it.

Oh, fair enough. I don't know Cobb that well, but I see your point. Ishii has a habit of dragging his opponents into tough man contests :lol:

Re: Jeff Cobb, a.k.a. The only thing ROH has done right in the last 5 years.

He was booked mega strong there and has built an aura about him amongst western fans as the next big thing. I’m convinced we see him in NXT within two years, maybe sooner. Triple H is going to throw money at him first chance he gets.

But now that I’m seeing him in this tournament, I’m seeing both what makes him special as well as his weaknesses. He’s not quite living up to the hype imo, but he still had an absolute banger with Ishii and I’m very much looking forward to his match with Moxley. I just fear his matches will all be relatively similar and his star with fade by the end of the tournament. I guess we’ll see.

...

I haven’t watched the last two matches yet as I’m out of free time for this Sunday. Water park is calling us. But I’ll get to them later or before bed.

Skimmed through the tag matches again, but decided to watch the last one. I like LIJ when they team up and I’m having a tough time ignoring anything Angry “I should be in the G1” Suzuki does. It was a good match. Naito had better get his head on straight or he’s about to have a very disappointing rest of 2019.

Main notes from me fast forwarding the other matches:

-How does Honma still walk?
-Cobb & Moxley squaring off gave me a semi.
-Shooter + Mox 4ever.
-Yano has two pinfall victories in two days.
-glad Suzuki got the win. I hope he starts picking off G1 guys as the tournament progresses. He’s so mad.

Archer vs Fale - better match than I expected but it was way too long. I liked the brawl to start but the match after that brawl should have been like 10 mins tops. A shorter match would have made it even better imo. I lost interest and almost skipped to the end just to see who won.

Ospreay vs SANADA - great bout. Loved them exchanging highlights then having a serious close to the match. Both are the future of NJPW and I’m here for it.

Okada vs ZSJ - thought this would be a loss for Okada but ol ZSJ just can’t put him away. I was a bit annoyed that the majority of the match was ZSJ working Okada’s left arm, then Okada put him away with a Rainmaker anyway, making all that for nothing. I feel like that’s a common theme in their matches but maybe I’m wrong. Anyway the match itself was fine but nothing spectacular. Seemed like both guys were saving themselves. ZSJ didn’t take any risks and Okada just seemed annoyed by the end of the match.

KENTA vs Tanahashi - KENTA is getting better, but it doesn't feel like he's quite there yet. This was a good, borderline great match, but it wasn't in the top tier of Tanahashi matches. It was better than Tanahashi vs Okada from Dallas though. The first half/two thirds was pretty slow paced, but not too uninteresting. KENTA showing some of his cocky badass personality right from the start. The match really picked up in the last five minutes, with Tanahashi going for the kill with the double High Fly Flow. KENTA got the knees up, and I expected a bit more back and forth, but KENTA won in short order after that. The way he won was really cool. Attempting the finishing combination of Shibata, eventually scoring with the Penalty Kick, which stunned Tanahashi long enough to hit a sick G2S! KENTA is adding new weapons to his arsenal.

Tanahashi is not a fan of KENTA, judging by the refused handshake at the end. Sore loser.

Watched the last two matches.

My thoughts on KENTA/Tanahashi are equal to Emperor’s. I’ll add this: the pride of NOAH and probably greatest GHC Champ ever ever over the Ace of New Japan. But the match was like an 8/10.

This is both amazing but also a “What could have been?” moment for me. What could have been if KENTA just never went to NXT/WWE. He essentially wasted the last 5 years of his life, and while what is happening now is a big deal, I feel like the ship has sailed in a way.

I hope KENTA fights beyond the G1 because I feel like there will be a lot more story to tell with some of NJPW’s greats and his future matches could be the best of his career.

....

Ibushi vs EVIL - pleasantly surprised with this match. Almost didn’t bother with it because my day went longer than expected but forced myself to do it. And I’m glad I did. Good striking match and also I’m almost kinda sorta leaning away from the “SANADA is the best thing to come from this tag team and it isn’t even close” camp. EVIL has his strengths and uses them well. He could be something too.

...


Ospreay is injured. NJPW just tweeted it. He won’t be competing tonight and his July 18 match is up in the air.

Please don’t be fucking hurt again.

Watch ZSJ throw a tantrum and watch KENTA get heckled.

I probably only have time to watch three matches from the past two nights. I'll be watching the ZSJ match - which other two should I watch? I'm leaning towards Kenta/Tanahashi and Ospreay/Sanada but I'm open to recommendations if I'm missing anything must-see. RT, Big Pete, Emperor,

Watched ZSJ/Okada and Ospreay/Sanada - will try and get another match or two in tomorrow.

ZSJ/Okada was interesting but obviously not a high priority match for either of them. Liked the simplicity of it all being about Okada trying to hit the Rainmaker and ZSJ doing all he could to avoid it, until he just couldn't any longer. And Okada hit it twice just to make sure. Biggest moment was the tombstone for me - I've watched it back and it looks like ZSJ slips as they come down and lands right on his head - made me really wince. Did anyone else think that? ***1/2

Ospreay/Sanada was better. I'm really loving Osprey's character and motivation - but I still don't love all of his moves. The Spanish fly always feels silly and takes me out of the match. The Os Cutter is a little too theatrical but I'm starting to get there with it. Then the Storm Breaker feels similarly silly - I don't buy that he'd be able to make the guy spin around so much. So I'm starting to really like Ospreay, but his main moves are just too much for me. Hopefully the more I see them the more I'll be able to suspend my disbelief because I really like how his confidence is growing and how he's carrying himself and want to have him as one of my favourites. ****

Jul 15, 2019 20:43:39 GMT PB said:

I probably only have time to watch three matches from the past two nights. I'll be watching the ZSJ match - which other two should I watch? I'm leaning towards Kenta/Tanahashi and Ospreay/Sanada but I'm open to recommendations if I'm missing anything must-see. RT, Big Pete, Emperor,

From a pure match quality perspective I'd go with Cobb/Ishii or White/Goto over KENTA/Tanahashi, but the latter is a dream match of sorts that is hard to skip.

Thank goodness there's a break until Thursday because the wrestling fatigue is starting to set in. Still managed to keep pace though.

Shingo vs Yano - Shingo probably studied a lot of Yano matches in preparation, including Yano's first round win against his stable leader Naito, but nothing can prepare you for the ever unpredictable Toru Yano. Shingo didn't know what to do, first taking the bait and trying Yano's own game and failing, then going for his own style, and also failing. Yano was one step ahead on every turn, but a timely interference from a comrade gave Shingo an opportunity to catch his opponent unawares. Another fun Yano match for the greatest hits collection, featuring every single Toru Yano G1 match.

Robinson vs Goto - Is this the year of the Juice? After such a strong start from Goto I wouldn't have expected him to go down here, but Juice wins his second hoss battle in a row. The match itself is about as mediocre as I expect from these two.

Moxley vs Cobb - Cobb started off impressively, but it got dull once Moxley took control. Even motivated Moxley doesn't appear to be anything special in a normal match without any wild brawling or gimmicks (come at me). They took the fight to the ramp near the end but it felt forced and the double clothesline spot was a bit of a dud. The finish was creative but altogether unconvincing - we've seen draping DDTs from other guys not come close to ending a match.

Ishii vs White - One of the best matches so far. Ishii once again on top of his game. White tries every trick in the book, including the play dead strategy that proved successful against Kenny Omega back in 2018. However guys are becoming wise to White's crafty ways, and just keep coming at him until White can take no more, which isn't easy because White is a surprisingly tough son of a gun. However Ishii repeated the chuck-bombs-forever strategy of stablemate Hirooki Goto, and after escaping a ton of Blade Runner attempts (including a reversal into a Flatliner!), eventually scored with the Brainbuster for a huge victory.

Naito vs Taichi - Wrestling fatigue had truly set in at this point, so although they went the distance and worked the typical main event epic style, it was all too long for me and one too many ref bumps for my impatient mood. It was basically two matches in a row of WWE style where the match never ends no matter how many crazy moves are hit, because neither guy can hit their designated match winner move.


Welp, Naito, White and Ibushi are 0-2. Who'd have thought that? I reckon all three will bounce back and probably won't lose again until the final day. Still holding out hope for the Ibushi/White final.

I'm shocked that both White and Naito lost those matches. Pretty insane even for Gedo's standards. I had Taichi pegged for like 1 win this tournament. Wouldn't even have been surprised if he got shutout.

So this tournament is going to be about which big name can crawl back to the top first, eh? Meanwhile Okada goes undefeated? Could be interesting.

Not shocked that Robinson won because apparently Hirooki Goto murdered Gedo's parents or something. But if Juice keeps this pace and is close to (if not in) the finals, that's pretty rad. They've put a lot of faith in him over the years and he's done nothing but improve. He's shown he can hang with the top stars, he had a good run as US Champ...it's not far from the realm of possibility that while we're here saying "who gets pushed first: Ospreay or SANADA?" we're all sleeping on Juice. I had a small inkling when he cut his hair that he was going to be taken a bit more seriously and so far this G1 has shown exactly that.

MOTN was Ishii vs White and it wasn't even close. No point reviewing the others. Just re-read what Emperor wrote. :lol:

Archer vs kenta was great, with respect to archer. Only three matches in and he feels like he is winning me over in this g1. I was disappointed kenta won. Kenta feels uninspired to me here, maybe the newness has worn off. I found it fascinating the crowd was so behind archer and so not behind kenta.

Sanada vs evil is what feels like the first match I've enjoyed from evil. Really enjoyed this way more than I thought I would.

Evil does nothing for me. Lile I can't even watch how matches. Was he a big deal when aj and finn were in the club? Okadas trenchcoat feels so ridiculous sometimes.when fale was jumping at the beginning of the match all I could think of was okadas trenchcoat.

Zsj needs to win a bit more, I don't know who I think he should win against, but he needs to back up his douchebaggyness. His mid match and post match hissyfits are too much, I love it.

Great match from ibushi and ospreay. I almost believed ospreys was gonna win, but so many big moves on the head/neck to ospreay, ibushi had to win. I wonder if ibushi would do better in his career if he stopped obscuring his vision with his hair in his eyes.

Nice of you to join us nazzer. Stick around!

KENTA vs Lance Archer - I liked the way they structured the match on paper. KENTA gets an early flurry with many convincing kicks to the leg, playing to his strengths, big man takes control and dominates, KENTA catches Archer with a flash submission. Unfortunately the execution left a lot to be desired, and that's mostly on KENTA. The crowd were hot for Archer all match, and KENTA's mini-comeback should have won some of the crowd over but didn't. I didn't feel any kind of energy or fire from him. As nazzer pointed out, KENTA seemed like was just going through the motions. This was the debut of his submission finisher from NOAH, the Game Over (Yes Lock). Maybe Archer was trying to do KENTA a favour by tapping so fast, but I think it would have been better for Archer to really sell agony for a few moments, allow KENTA to properly lock in the hold. As it happened, the match just kinda ended abruptly.

EVIL vs SANADA - Stablemate matches always intrigue me, but this one was mostly a disappointment. When I was watching this match I was thinking about how a lot of SANADA's offense doesn't suit him at all. The Moonsault and TKO are great. The Paradise Lock is stupid and has overstayed its welcome, should be ditched forever. It was used twice in this match. The majority of his closing stretch offense is Skull End or transitions into the Skull End. It's not the best hold in the world considering he uses it so much yet almost nobody taps to it. EVIL, on the other hand, is better in that sense. All of his offense fits his bruiser style, while SANADA is a jack of all trades, can do it all, but not particularly good at any one thing. He needs to focus his style.

I'll comment on the rest later.