Wahoos Leg

Am I the only one underwhelmed by the above lineup? I don't think a card with so many tag matches is the way to try and expand the appeal of the New Japan product in America. Those bottom three matches, in particular, are just pointless. I realize the Cow Palace show didn't draw like they wanted, but the lineup of that show was far superior. This feels like a slightly amped-up Korakuen Hall show.

I'm actually working on an article on Liger and his impressive body of work for PWO

Good action and a fine performance from both but the main reason is that this match resonated with me is that there was actual uncertainty over the outcome. Both competitors had been built as viable potential champions. Contrast that with the Hiroshima show... Ishii is cool and all, but no one actually buys that he's going to headline NJ's biggest event of the year. Some excellent false finishes, most notably KUSHIDA with the Hoverboard Lock, and then BUSHI with the backslide into the bridge after spraying the mist. Thought it was over both times. KUSHIDA is so smooth and steady, you always know you're going to get a solid performance out of him. A friend of mine said he's basically the ace of the junior division, and I suppose that's true but he certainly isn't booked that way, especially lately as he has felt like an afterthought for most of the past calendar year since dropping the belt to Ospreay last October. Also marked what might be the best BUSHI performance I've seen. There was also an absence of the 5-10 minute stretch of durdling that is present in so many major NJPW singles matches. Very good match that I actually felt was superior to Omega vs. Ishii.

This was long at just over 30 minutes but it breezed by for me and didn't have that giant chunk of emptiness at the beginning that I felt was there in their G1 match, or most NJPW main events. On the other hand, I thought this match lacked a lot of the drama from the G1 match and had an inferior finishing stretch. My biggest gripe with this match is an ongoing complaint about Omega matches since he won the title, and that's that he controls too much of each match he is in. Omega is, in many ways the ultimate video game wrestler and now that he is champ he wrestles like he's really really good at that particular video game... which makes for a few too many reversals and comebacks for my tastes, especially immediately after big moves.

I agree I think they're building to Okada vs White, with the winner maybe being declared the leader of Chaos. I do think White challenges for the briefcase before the year is over, though. And am I the only one that would get behind a Jericho-Suzuki brawl at the Dome?

This might be the most succinct summary of Omega, and the current NJPW main event style in general, I have ever encountered. This was, to me, a great match in spite of itself. For all the big moves (and Lord knows there were big moves aplenty), it was the little touches that made this special: the selling by Ishii putting over the wart of attrition, Omega taking his opponent lightly from time to time in the early going, and as others mentioned, the contrast of the two bleeding from the mouths at the end. Then there were some disconnects early, including the cross-up on the early leapfrog that was opening-match-between-two-greenhorns-on-a-shit-indy-show-level bad. The crowd collectively losing their shit at Ishii's comeback after taking repeated V Triggers gave me goosebumps. I thought the finishing stretch went on a little too long, but, well, that's NJPW for you. And from a storytelling perspective, it did emphasize the toughness of Ishii and set up a tantalizing challenge for the title. I've been jumping around the G1 but this is hands-down the best match of the tournament for me so far, even with its flaws, because of the drama of the comeback by Ishii and the insane crowd reactions.

Oh yeah these two tore the house down. As you said, Rollins consistently selling the arm and altering his offense to sell it was a joy. Two very believable false finishes on the superkick and the Stunner. I know a lot of people here on the board don't care for Owens, but I thought he definitely brought it here and this was fantastic.

In your opinion, is it still worthwhile to criticize them based on the old rules about things not making sense, not creating enough interest in their matches, not creating new stars, etc.? Is it completely irrelevant? If you answered the previous question yes, it is irrelevant, then what does matter now? What does WWE success look like, and what does WWE failure look like? To me, continuity and telling stories that make sense always will matter, even if it's not a big point of emphasis for the company. For a long time, it's been clear that the emphasis for WWE has been pushing the brand over making individual stars. For their big PPVs, they legitimately could wait and announce the entire card the week of the show -- if not the night of the show -- and it would still sell out, because of the brand. I think it's also worth noting that piss-poor booking has been a longtime part of wrestling as well. I love some of the old Memphis stuff, but let's be honest, it's not like their booking made a ton of sense either, with guys sometimes flipping back and forth to face and heel and back again literally week to week.

I think he's mastered the WWE main event style (whether you like it or not). An excellent wrestler whose efforts to connect with the crowd are hindered by the WWE promo writing style. I also agree with Dylan, that he is possibly the worst booked top guy for a major promotion, at least in modern times.

was it that big white weightlifter's belt? I saw him at a lucha show in San Diego in 2012, and he got every heel on the show with it during the main event. it sounded like a gun going off.

This was just a damn delight that, had it taken place in the ECW Arena 20-some years ago, would probably be seen as an all-time classic. Kofi Kingston eating the commentary chair on wheels was just the start of a match with all kinds of crazy bumps. Erick Rowan earns 10,000 toughness experience points for going hard into that barrier with the torn bicep. Kofi kicking out of the finisher distracted from things a bit for me. They spent months building up the Bludgeons as this unstoppable force, but then Kofi kicks out of their finisher, onto a ladder no less? This was about the best outcome that could have come out of yet another unfortunate injury, in what I felt was a very good, just shy of great, gimmicky brawl.

I've barely watched any WWE since WrestleMania, aside from most of the Money In The Bank show, but I'm giving it another go and trying to catch up before the PPV this Sunday. I really liked this match and the way it was put together. Like it or not, there's a definite WWE main event style, and Reigns really has mastered it. Red-hot crowd down the stretch really added to the atmosphere. I wish they'd actually pull the trigger on Balor but they still do a couple of things I find interesting from a long-term perspective, like how they protected his finisher in this match, and also how he is unbeaten in the Demon facepaint. The post-match also was fantastic. Legit goosebumps when the Shield came out. Even though they fuck up everything the next week by turning Strowman heel, this was a great moment when viewed on its own for what it was.

getting ready to give WWE a try again steadily making my way through all the G1 stuff I missed starting back on PWO2K still working on finding funding for a wrestling-related project

Agreed with all of this

Maybe the best match out of Block A through the first three sets of round-robin matches... I've been a Page guy for a while, and I recognize he appears to be somewhat of a polarizing wrestler around here, but I thought he came off spectacular in defeat. A couple of spots that didn't make sense, like the super-dangerous suicide dive when Okada was prone and didn't appear to make any contact, but he definitely got himself over with the Korakuen crowd. We also had the mid-match change for Okada from this happy-go-lucky persona to not-fucking-around Okada. Easily one of the standout matches through the first quarter of G1 for me.

This won't make any MOTY list or anything like that, but I was somewhat surprised to see it hasn't been mentioned here yet. Just a good, solid, hard-hitting match. The brawl up into the crowd won me over, capped by EVIL's grown-man-sized bump on the concrete. The battle of lariats really drove it home. It didn't have the usual array of NJPW false finishes, but that actually made the match seem fresher to me. Right guy won, too. I'm not usually a Makabe guy, but all three of his G1 matches to this point has been, at least, good, which is more than I can say for most of his block and at least half of the field. I thought there was a lot to like here.

The thigh slapping for noise effects looks especially bad when other guys are hitting the same strikes without that whip-crack sound

The last 3 years I have been so slammed with work in summers I didn't have time to watch G1 at all. This year, work has me behind, but I'm still able to watch -- albeit on a significant delay. I'm 4 1/2 shows in and enjoying it. I'll echo those who are underwhelmed with Elgin. When he first came into NJPW, I thought he stood out with some of his power moves and basically was presented and portrayed as a Dr. Death type. Now he's lost weight (good for him, I guess), but as a consequence of that he's flying all over the place and just seems like another guy. He's also definitely the "movez!!!" guy of the tournament... in a bad way. His matches with Page and White were both just him trying to do as much stuff, as quickly and with as much variance as possible, with little to no rhyme or reason.

About what I've come to expect from a G1 match in the modern era. Some cool spots, hard hitting strikes, and nice near-falls, even though I never thought Goto had any prayer of winning. I'll agree with WngedEagle that Goto should have controlled more of the match to set up any real sense of drama.

You know I thought it dragged at first as well but then I got pulled into the story and the slow escalation of hostility between two guys who have built a pretty strong history of mutual loathing in recent years. Things really kicked into high gear after the chops to the throat, and the finishing stretch was pretty much breathless from there, with a few very convincing near-falls by both guys. Given how early it was in the tournament, and the fact I am watching as close to unspoiled as possible, I legitimately thought Ishii had a chance as "have the favorite start out 0-2" is a pretty standard trope of these round robin tourneys in Gedo booking by now. One of the standout matches so far, for sure.

What a hellacious, tremendous sprint of a match this was. I feel like many big NJPW matches go too long so it was nice to see one where there felt like a sense of urgency rom beginning to end. The moonsault press off the top of the ringpost by Ibushi was top-level stuff, with a high degree of difficulty, and he landed it perfectly. Juice losing fresh off winning the U.S. Title is a bit odd but he plays so well as an underdog.

Best Yano match I've ever seen, and one of the top performances through the first four shows of the G1. So many great, unconventional false finishes and they had the crowd so engaged.

Thanks to a less hectic work schedule (which still has me running quite behind), I'm able to watch the whole G1 this summer, and I made the probably maniacal decision to watch the undercard tags as well. This won't make any MOTY list, but I thought it was a very entertaining opener. Jay White and Elgin bring the thunder on the chops early, although this was hindered somewhat by Elgin going crazy with the leg slaps on strikes down the stretch. Narita is probably my favorite Young Lion in NJPW right now, in terms of showing fire and teasing near-falls that seem believable even though we all know he has no chance of winning. Him and Yoh combine for some good stuff down the stretch. White plays his shitbag heel character better in these tags, so far, than in the block matches because he has a foil to play off of in Yoh. Not only is this worth watching, I liked it better than approximately half the block matches through the first three shows.

This was shaping up as one of my favorite matches of the tournament, even with White switching tactics mid-match, until that goofy finishing stretch. "My opponent is down and ready to be beaten, so surely this is the time I should go get a chair." Bah... still thought it was a good match, but the finish really detracted. White has grown on me with his recent efforts, but I'm curious if he can sustain them when he isn't in the ring with all-timers like Okada and Tanahashi. I've actually enjoyed White's tag stuff with Yoh as much as, if not more than, these first two block matches.

I fucking loved this. Two veterans just beating the shit out of one another for 15-plus minutes. This may be my favorite Makabe match that I have seen. Interesting that Suzuki has dominated in each of his first two matches and has zero points to show for it.