[2018-07-21-NJPW-G1 Climax 28] Tomohiro Ishii vs Hirooki Goto

[superkix]

Match of the tournament so far and the kind of hard-hitting, meat and potatoes match-up I love. Ishii's selling in this match was terrific, from the way he took Goto's kicks to the lariat battle later in the match, with Ishii falling into the ropes and then both collapsing in one of the most convincing ways. Loved Ishii punching out of the sleeper hold and then the way he responds to Goto's slap to the face, just beating him down in the corner. The big lariat toward the end looked really brutal and then, of course, the final headbutts building to the finish. Really good stuff. 

[nivvad]

An incredible match with two CHAOS members going all out once again on each other. There was no bones about it, this was all meat and all power colliding against each other at a fast pace for almost 20 minutes. I loved watching this live, and I loved it even more watching it hours later. That said though, what is keeping me from going all the way on this match is the lack of drama, ****3/4.

[asteroidcitizen]

This has probably overtaken Suzuki vs. Tanahashi as my match of the tournament so far. It managed to avoid all the issues I had with Ishii's underwhelming match with Naito, despite being somewhat similar - it felt tighter, more intense, and much more violent, despite both matches being roughly the same length. Ishii's selling is hit or miss for me, but when he's on he's very good, and he was on here for sure - and it didn't hurt that (apart from a few weak forearms early) everything looked like it was doing some real damage. Ultimately it was nothing we haven't really seen before from these guys, but at the same time it's also pretty much the only match so far in this G1 (except for maybe Tanahashi/Suzuki) that I'm likely to remember once the tournament is over - and even go back for another watch - and that does count for something.

[cactus]

This didn't do much for me apart from making me wince at some of the hard strikes. If you've seen one big Ishii match, then you have seen them all. It's all big bombs and nothing else. Goto mirrors Ishii and it doesn't create an interesting dynamic. It's just too lads trading shots in an effort to figure out who has the bigger dick. The crowd is hot and the strikes are hard, but I need more than that in my wrestling. It's still entertaining, but I wouldn't call it a great match by any stretch of the imagination. ★★★