Rate Day/Night 1 of The G1 Climax

[Jay-Ashley]

Feel free to discuss anything and everything that happened on Day/Night 1 of the G1 Climax.

Spoiler: Day/Night 1 Results

Roppongi 3k vs Guerillas of Destiny: G.O.D
Jeff Cobb and Ren Narita vs Tomohiro Ishii and Shota Umino: Jeff and Ren
CHAOS (Hirooki Goto and YOSHI-HASHI) vs Bullet Club (Jay White and Chase Owens: CHAOS
Tora Yano, Juice Robinson, and Jushin Thunder Liger vs LIJ (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, and BUSHI): Tora Yano, Juice Robinson, and Jushin Thunder Liger
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Will Ospreay vs Lance Archer: Lance Archer
Bad Luck Fale vs EVIL: Bad Luck Fale
SANADA vs Zack Sabre Jr.: SANADA
Kota Ibushii v KENTA: KENTA
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada: Kazuchika Okada

Spoiler: Block A Results

Lance Archer: 2
Bad Luck Fale: 2
SANADA: 2
KENTA: 2
Kazuchika Okada: 2
Will Ospreay: 0
EVIL: 0
Kota Ibushii: 0
Hiroshi Tanahashi: 0

 

[Geese]

I'll give it an 8/10, a very good show from New Japan. Lance Archer vs. Will Ospreay was a solid match in the G1 Climax. But I was thoroughly impressed with the Sanada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. match-up. I didn't pay much attention to Bad Luck Fale vs. EVIL. Never been a fan of Fale.

 

[The Sheik]

7/10

Archer and Ospreay was my favorite match of the night, really enjoyed KENTA and Kota Ibushi to

I'm not a regular viewer of this promotion, but I hear Moxley is in the G1.

 

[Jay-Ashley]

7/10

Archer and Ospreay was my favorite match of the night, really enjoyed KENTA and Kota Ibushi to

I'm not a regular viewer of this promotion, but I hear Moxley is in the G1.

Moxley is, but couldn't perform in Dallas for New Japan due to his contract with AEW.

 

[Geese]

Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi vs. Jay White and Chase Owens. According to commentator Kevin Kelly, Yoshi was in the bottom four in the A block in 2018's Climax and wasn't allowed to participate in this year's tournament. In reality, looking at all the bandages on Hashi's body he was nursing his injuries and couldn't perform at Climax's grueling schedule.

 

[Snowman1]

9/10, but just watching the tournament matches.

Absolutely loved Ospreay vs Archer. Lance went from afterthought to force to be reckoned with quickly. This was no mere David vs Goliath showdown as - a theme for the show - Ospreay gave a beating but Archer shrugged it off and flattened him with that Blackout. Will looked good which made Archer look better

Like most I didn't pay much attention to Evil vs Fale. These guys do nothing for me usually but the frantic pace at the start and some hot sequences, then Evil grabbing the chairs... They got my attention and that's all I could have asked for. When Fale won I wondered if the small technical dudes would have to run after the two bigs to make the finals

ZSJ vs Sanada and these two probably have the best chemistry in the world right now. They love wrestling one another, and this was a lesser version of my favorite tournament match last year. Watching Sanada outwrestle ZSJ on the mat is wonderful television

So, this was the hype around KENTA. Start of the match and Ibushi was already questioning his life choices. Dude spent a good 15 minutes getting smacked and kneed and kicked around like a ragdoll (and it was still probably his safest match this year). This did go too long and KENTA wasn't ready for a 20 minute match after getting back from wasting the last 4 years and that heat spot sucked... But still presence was made here.

Okada vs Tanahashi... This wasn't an all time classic. But this may have been the most purely fun match they had for a minute. Lacking much of the drama of last G1 encounters, these guys went out there and gave a new crowd (and amazing atmosphere) what they wanted. Slick counters to everything, outside Hi-Fly Flows, Dragon Screws, dropkicks outside, callbacks, highspots, the typical high-gear insane endings Okada's known for... Wasn't the five star gutsy classics that pull at the sports fan inside of us, this was just the greatest hits played in Dallas and that's all it needed to be.

I loved the G1 last year and can't wait to watch it again.