Boss Rock

I don't really have a problem with doing another Ciampa-Gargano singles match especially considering it wasn't the plan (although a last-minute replacement probably would have been better), but I think if this isn't the feud-ender they should probably wait until the Rumble or Mania Takeover before running this match again.

I don't think so, most star rating discussions these days seem to be how silly and ridiculous they've gotten (which they have) and that NJPW is overrated.

New picks for 2005, 2010, and 2018 (as of now). Daisuke Ikeda has been a tremendous discovery.

"Trick or treat mother******"-this Haunted House Match will either be awesome or terrible.

My thing with Naito isn't just that he was at his hottest and was the biggest reason for the attendance surge at WK 12. It was that the story leading up to that was perfect for him to win. It all went back to getting rejected by the fans after winning the 2013 G1 and losing the WK 8 main event to Tanahashi, Nakamura, and the IC belt. So after his brief title run that was again foiled by Okada, he gets revenge for everything that happened to him. First, he wins and disrespects the title that took his main event. Then, he defeats Tanahashi (the guy who's shadow he was always in) and rejects the notion of a fan vote to take a possible WK 11 main event from him. He defeats Tanahashi again 4 years to the day after he won the 2013 G1 and wins the tournament again. And this time, he has the entire crowd's love and support. The only person left in his way was the guy who beat him at WK 8: Okada. That was brilliant storytelling and they completely blew it. So while I wanted him to win the G1 this year, I sort of agree him winning wouldn't have been quite the same if they had just done the damn thing when they were supposed to.

Half of the stuff that I thought would make my list are no longer contenders, so it just goes to show how much great wrestling there is that I've missed out on.

I'm generally very down on Striker and Vamp's commentary, but that aforementioned exchanged as well as "The smell of burnt hair!" line from the 5-0 match are proof that they have some gems. I dig XO Lishus a lot. Dude is super charismatic. Glad Drago is out of the Reptile tribe. It was an interesting story but I think he makes for a much better babyface. Hopefully he and Aerostar resurrect the tag team. Loved the proposal bit. Taya was tremendous and the Macho-Liz homage was cheesy yet delightful.

That's my thought as well.

Yeah, I can sort of see him as a Bryan where no matter what they do the fans will still love him. And agreed that there's no real point in waiting when it should have been done already.

Overall thoughts on the tournament. B Block largely killed outside of all the Firing Squad Bullshit, but to NJPW's credit the angle actually seems to be pretty over with the fans. Still sucks though. A Block was basically a BOSJ block with only 3-4 "must-see" matches and everything else ranging from solid to entirely skippable. I will give props to Okada for getting good matches out of the most sub-par of opponents and I think they started to pick things up around the end of the tournament. Tanahashi winning the whole tournament is disappointing but I sort of understand what they're going for. It's a match they haven't done in a few years and Tanahashi still has that level of credibility that never goes away, similar to Cena. But like Cena, it's a tired option when you have guys like Ibushi and Naito (the latter who was largely responsible for the surge in attendance for WK 12). It also goes against the whole "Ace" story they've been telling with Tanahashi in that he's never come to terms with the fact that he's not the top guy anymore and deludes himself. That's a really good character right there that's kinda been rendered moot now that he dominated the A block and won the tournament. And speaking of Naito, I don't know how much longer they can hold off on him winning the big one without him cooling permanently. Business is still really good and he's still arguably the most popular act, but if the plan really is for him to beat Okada WK 14 then that's still a bit of a big gamble considering he was at his hottest last year.

Yep, definitely got that impression.

I think he was just sent home.

Yep. Rochelle Loewen, who was a contestant on the Diva Search, said he poured baby oil and tanning lotion in her bag.

This was good but never quite clicked for me. They took a little while to get going and while the finishing stretch was good, I thought the action was rather underwhelming compared to their match last year.

Great bombfest even if it wasn't quite the classic I was expecting. I like how they didn't spend too much time with the dramatic "You're my best friend!" and got right into "OK, there's no way around this. I'm going to win." Along with Kadaveri I was quite shocked with how violent this match was, but both guys are tremendous bomb throwers and with the stakes being as high as they were, I get it. I also liked how prepared they were for each other's biggest moves, forcing them to raise the bar with each exchange in hopes of putting the other away. I'm not sure I would say this was the best match of the tournament, but it's definitely a must-see. An awesome, 23-minute bombfest without any of the typical main event padding. ****1/2-****3/4

This was pretty typical for a lot of their more recent matches. 10 minutes of inconsequential padding, 5 minutes of solid escalation, and a 15-minute dramatic finishing stretch. The first 10 minutes of this were pretty rough and even though there was an interesting twist of Okada going after Tanahashi's leg, it was dropped pretty quick. Not to mention Okada totally blowing that shinbreaker on the railing. But both guys managed to acquit themselves very well like they tend to do. Okada and Tanahashi just have a way of making their matches feel dramatic and exciting once they get going. They're such a unique pairing. That being said, the story wasn't quite as strong as it was at Dontaku where it was Tanahashi trying to turn back the clock and Okada defending his kingdom. Still, a very good match once they finally got out of the gates. ****-****1/4.

The Mack-Big Ryck reveal was fantastic. Such cheesy goodness. And count me among those disappointed that Vibora got written off. Dude blew me away. And agreed, this season has been rather lackluster outside of a few good matches.

Jake Strong comes off like an even less interesting version of Ryback. The crowd is behind him with the "Strong!" chants but God is he just a black hole of interest. Sammy Guevara jumping off high stuff is neat though. Really liked the GotG match. Have only caught a couple fleeting glimpses of Dezmond Xavier's indie work, so I was really impressed with what I saw. And from the clip I saw of this week's episode, Mil-Mack is gonna be super interesting.

Elgin has easily been one of the worst wrestlers in the tournament, so kudos to Okada for getting something pretty good out of him. Granted, the first half of this match was reeeeaaaalllly slow and ultimately saved by a super-hot finishing stretch (although the opening minutes of Okada trying to big league Elgin were entertaining). Amidst all the criticisms of Okada's leg selling when it comes to mounting his comebacks, I feel like selling is one of the most underrated facets of his game. He does a tremendous job of letting his opponent just beat the crap out of him to the point where you think maybe, just MAYBE they can pull it off. The reason this match (mainly the finishing stretch) worked is that rather than try to go 50-50 with Elgin's boring offensive game like nearly all of his other opponents, Okada just took bomb after bomb and offered only a few glimmers of hope until the end. That splash mountain absolutely had me thinking Elgin had won it right then and there. It's probably the best Elgin has looked all year. Like I said before, this match isn't perfect and the first half is your typical main event padding. But it actually sort of works when they break out into the finishing stretch and that's the part of the match that really delivers.

SANADA continues to rise to the occasion and finally live up to the potential most saw in him when he returned to New Japan. The leg selling by Ibushi was iffy but typical. I just have to accept the guy just has ridiculously strong legs, ha. But other than my qualms with the leg selling, loved pretty much everything else about this. Just some excellent, athletic wrestling.

I thought the first half of this match was a bit slow but they absolutely delivered in the finishing stretch. Some excellent striking exchanges and Gargano's interference was really well done.

These guys always have great chemistry together and this was no exception. Love how the common thread in these matches has been Sabre going after Ishii's arm or arms and Ishii being forced to adapt. Liked that he used the other arm for most of his trademark offense and even managed to hold his own against Sabre in the early grappling exchanges. As fun as it is to watch Ishii clobber people, it's sometimes even better to watch him as the resilient underdog giving his opponent favored to win absolute hell. And the pop-up headbutt to the sternum was just fantastic. ****1/4.

I liked this a lot and I think it really highlights SANADA's development as a singles wrestler. As someone who never really got the hype surrounding him other than having a good look, he's consistently delivered this year and proven he can hang at a main event level with the company's best.

Well holy crap this was something. The no-selling on some of the suplexes was a bit ridiculous, but props to these guys for making it more believable than anyone else in the world could. It's a credit to Tomohiro Ishii's ability to make you think he really is the toughest motherfucker around and that Ibushi has some sort of magic deep down inside him. Some wonderfully outrageous spots and absolutely sick striking exchanges (goddamn throat punches!) make this easily one of the standout matches of the tournament. ****1/2.

Liked this a lot even if it wasn't as good as their 2016 matches. Goto has done pretty well for himself this after a thoroughly disappointing 2017, but this might have been his best match this year. Thought the crowd brawling worked well and added something a bit different to their prior encounters and Goto getting a bit more aggressive really fit their history as well. Really fun match and one of my favorites of the tournament thus far. ****1/4.