Boss Rock

The first half of the match was solid enough although it felt like more of your typical plunderfest. Thankfully Mox and Janela managed to crank things up to 11 with the barbed wire spots and table bumps. And while I've seen plenty of matches that use thumbtacks, I've never seen them used as creatively as they did here. Obviously the atomic drop on Janela's bare feet is what stands out the most, but the Deathrider finish with both guys landing in the tacks was almost as memorable. It also helps that Mox's offense has looked infinitely better since leaving the WWE and Janela played an effective, resilient underdog. ****1/4

A really good match and a great way to not only introduce Darby, but to set him up as a potential top star in the company. Cody played his role well but I really thought Darby was the star here and held everything together. The opening minutes did a great job of establishing Darby as clever and evasive before bumping like crazy once Cody got his hands on him. However, I thought Cody's heat segment dragged and nearly grinded the match to a halt. As much as I like the guy, he's not particularly good at this kind of thing unless there's blood. Darby was thankfully able to get everything back on track by going for the hand and to Cody's credit, he sold it well. Once we got to the missed Coffin Drop on the apron the match kicked into a whole new gear. Cody redeemed himself in his urgency to put Darby away with the clock ticking as the body bag Disaster Kick and using his weight belt was really good stuff. A very good match that could have been great had it not been for the heatless middle. ***3/4

Match of the Year: Shuji Ishikawa and Suwama vs. Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi (1/13) Best Major Wrestling Show: NXT Takeover: New York Best Promotion: New Japan Pro Wrestling Best on Interviews: Haven't really seen a ton of promos this year but by default I think I'll go with Daniel Bryan Feud of the Year: Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston Most Improved: Jon Moxley Wrestler of the Year: Will Ospreay

Overall a pretty good show but the bad stuff was really bad. The Librarian stuff is like "worst angle of the year" WWE-level stuff and Nakazawa-Jebailey was embarrassing. And for God's sake no more chairshots to the head (thankfully per a tweet from Cody no concussion). But the rest of the main card was really good. Mox-Janela was a plunderfest cranked up to 11, the 6-man was a great spotfest, Cody-Allin dragged a bit in the middle but delivered in the end, the 4-way and triple-threat matches were fun and smartly-booked, and CIMA-Daniels was a fun opener.

Loved this match. 15 minutes and not a single down moment. They got to work pretty quickly with Ashino attempting to toy with Tachibana only for Tachibana to start attacking the arm. Ashino did a great job selling the injury although I thought he was able to hit his suplexes and lock on the ankle lock just a little TOO easily. Still, Tachibana's continued assault on the arm was great and really made me believe he could pull it off. Ashino's uppercut comebacks were explosive and the submission stretch near the end made for an exciting back-and-forth war. ****1/2

Dang, wish I had this before I did my predictions, ha.

I've heard that KUSHIDA has wanted in on the G1 for years so it wouldn't surprise me if he felt frustrated by being defined as the junior ace. That being said yeah I would have preferred him going to AEW over WWE. But considering how he's been on the E's radar for years it wouldn't surprise me if they gave him a good offer.

Generic up-and-coming babyface John Cena to the Dr. of Thuganomics.

Yeah, considering the fact that champion and challenger at the Dome have never been in the same block since at least 2012 leads me to believe Naito is the favorite. I wouldn't completely count Jay out as he's still clearly being presented as a big deal, but I don't think they give him a dome main event yet. It seems deliberate that they've kept Okada and Naito apart in the last G1, the NJ Cup, and this year's G1. Sort of expected Okada-Tanahashi on the first night considering the last two times they've done the time limit draw in the A block finals, but I"m still pretty stoked. I know Okada said his goal was to have a match with Tana in the U.S. The biggest question mark to me is how KENTA is going to do. He had a few solid matches in NXT while his run on 205Live saw Ali of all people struggle to get good matches out of him. Not to mention the last Marufuji match was a bit of a bore. Hopefully if he settles more into a grumpy vet role as opposed to trying to recapture his former glory as a fiery asskicker. Overall, this has the potential to be a truly fantastic tournament. G1 season is my favorite time of year!

Considering champion and challenger for WK have never been in the same block and that I don't see Okada losing the title before then, think Naito wins this year. I don't completely count Jay out, but I don't think he gets a dome main event quite yet.

A Block: Okada Tanahashi Ibushi Opsreay SANADA EVIL KENTA Archer Fale Sabre B Block: Naito Shingo Juice Taichi Moxley Yano Ishii Goto Jay Cobb Overall, really good and interesting field this year. A Block looks killer but B Block should be really good as well. Only major disappointment is that Suzuki got cut. Would much rather have him over Fale.

Felt like this was a bit of a slow-starter but right when Dragon Lee hit his insane tope suicida we were off to the races. A really great back-and-forth bombfest that you would expect from these guys. Not either guy's best match this year (they both honestly had better matches in BOSJ) but this was everything it needed to be. ****1/4

I'm in the minority here but I liked this a lot. It deviated from the normal 30-minute NJPW main event and genuinely felt different. Both guys tried to wrestle their game early with Jericho trying to make it a gritty fight and Okada trying to keep it as more of a wrestling match. Eventually, Jericho's disrespect and taunts forced Okada to change tactics and he really laid in to Jericho with a lot of his strikes. I particularly liked the stomps in the corner with the normally calm and relaxed Okada clearly pissed off. The match went on a little bit longer than it needed to but even without plunder I don't think Jericho felt out of place in the more "wrestling" parts of this match. The finish fell flat with the audience but I thought it was a nice surprise. ****-****1/4

That's fair and in all honesty I wasn't sure what he looked like right before he signed.

Same. I'd love to go with the theory that KENTA just couldn't adapt to the WWE style but considering how he looked in the Marufuji match last year, I think he's pretty much done.

I really liked the show overall. Thought all of the singles matches delivered to at least "good" territory and the tags were fine if just sort of there.

Yeah I thought 2018 was pretty terrific too.

Big Match Taguchi does it again! After seeing him mostly dick around the last two tournaments, Taguchi delivering good match after good match was incredibly refreshing. I liked how even though it was 3 years after their last singles match they really drove home the rematch narrative and how both guys knew each other very well. Taguchi countering Ospreay's handspring with a hip attack was really cool and catching the ankle mid-Oscutter is one of my favorite moments this year. While my favorite moments of the match centered around Taguchi, Will to his credit was pretty great as well. He may very well be the best in the world at least as far as 2019 is concerned. ****1/4

It's funny how their first match together centered around limb work and ended up being a colossal failure while their most recent match just 18 months later was a great match centered around limb work. Jay has really managed to put the pieces together over the last year. His work over Tanahashi's arm was great and Tanahashi did a great job selling. The leg-assisted Dragon Screw might be one of my favorite spots this year. And that's to say nothing of the finish, which was surprising while also rather brilliant. More of this please. ****1/4

This match in a lot of ways felt similar to Kenny-Tanahashi from WK 13. Very long but worked a more urgent pace than most NJPW main events. Lots and lots of cool stuff but for the first half of the match it felt more like a "really good" match as opposed to a "Oh my God this is incredible!" match. The finishing stretch however was pretty fantastic. As many bombs as they threw in the first 20 minutes, the last 13 cranked everything up to about 11. The Oscutter on the apron. The 630 to Shingo still standing (incredibly dumb and dangerous but still impressive). Shingo's final comeback. I feel like Ospreay winning this match was a mistake but considering how much Shingo took before the final pin, it was as good as you could get in terms of giving him his first loss. Not perfect, but still an outstanding match that might be the best this year. ****3/4

It's always refreshing to see such a style of match in a promotion not typically known for brawls. Moxley looked the best he has in years and it's pretty safe to say this was his best singles match in quite some time if ever. I was a bit concerned that we were going to see "Dean Ambrose" with the first few strikes at the beginning, but everything after the first 30 seconds or so looked a lot better. Mox looked like he was potatoing Juice pretty hard with some of those punches and the lariats were really good as well. Juice for his part turned in a great babyface performance and after seeing him have to work with Fale, Owens, and Cody this year, it was a nice reminder of how good he really is. I'm not sure the match needed to be as long as it did as I think it could have ended after the first table bump, but what we got afterwards was still really good. Chaotic, hard-hitting, and violent. An absolute must-watch. ****1/2

Really tremendous stretch of three matches. Jay-Tanahashi was great, their best match yet. It's crazy how much Jay has improved since the embarrassment that was WK12. His offense looked really good as always and his work over Tanahashi's arm was great. Loved the leg-assisted Dragon Screw and the finish. Mox-Juice was terrific and while I would agree it wasn't quite a MOTYC, it was still very much a must-see match. To say Moxley has been reinvigorated since leaving WWE would be the biggest understatement of the year. Quite a difference wrestling somewhere you actually want to be makes. And Juice was a great babyface as always. The main event was MOTN and a pretty solid MOTYC. Could have been a tad shorter and they certainly did a LOT of stuff throughout, but it was nice to see the opening 10 minutes worked at a much more urgent pace than you usually see in NJPW main events.

The match to beat as sprint of the year. It doesn't get much better than this when it comes to sub-10 minute matches. As uninteresting asTakeshita can be, he might have the best offense of any wrestler in the world. His athleticism and explosiveness was a great match for Higuchi's power and toughness. I really wish Takeshita would work more matches like these as opposed to 30-minute epics because they're clearly his strong suit. No filler, just action. ****1/2

Really fun spotfest and proof that ladder matches are worked best when they have more than two competitors. There were some ridiculous and downright dangerous bumps with O'Reilly in particular taking a ton of punishment and Montez's tope where he landed right on his back (although Ryker was out of position). Speaking of Ryker, I thought his interference was worked really well and all the teams uniting to take him out was great. The finish was also a brilliant fake-out reminiscent of the Mania 32 ladder match finish. ****1/4

Terrific opener and might be the best NXT/WWE match this year so far. Good, consistent pace with tons of urgency and action while never letting up for a second. Strong did a great job working over the back and Riddle's selling was excellent. Also had a sort of grittiness you don't see too often in NXT/WWE, especially with the former's indie-riffic tendencies. I remember in 2016 being skeptical over the hype of Riddle as this huge star, but he absolutely is. ****1/2