[2018-12-09-NJPW] Hirooki Goto vs Kota Ibushi

[paul sosnowski]

Goto defends the Never Openweight Title.   Talk about it here

[nivvad]

Thought this was really good, but not as good as their G1 match. It was shorter, and Goto worked Ibushi which felt like forever for some reason. There was plenty of Seth Rollins type contrived sequences with reversals galore, but at least they kept it physical in NEVER signature fashion. Ibushi does not know how to hold a belt though, ****.

[Boss Rock]

Definitely a step-up from their G1 match. Goto has always been best when he's either a perennial loser who's trying to prove everyone wrong or when he's working with urgency. This was definitely the latter as he was particularly violent in his attempts to keep Ibushi grounded. Ibushi dazzled as always with his flashy offense even he took some ill-advised neck bumps and threw a shoot headbutt or two. Not much to say except very good and very physical. ****