[2018-07-30-NJPW-G1 Climax 28] Kazuchika Okada vs Michael Elgin

[Boss Rock]

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.

[nivvad]

Easily the best A-block match so far, but that was to be expected considering both guys in this match are super talented. They had a match in last year's G1 that was pretty incredible, and while I wouldn't say this year's match lived up to the previous, it was still a banger of a match. Elgin's offense was so impressive that he even got the crowd to rile up in his favor and were hoping for an upset. Okada was also great here as he led the story of trying to fight power with power, but was proving he couldn't do that. Kind of quick finish and no upset, but Elgin looks good in a big match once again, ****1/2.