[2019-08-04-NJPW-G1 Climax 29: Night Fourteen] Tetsuya Naito vs Shingo Takagi

[Jmare007]

I had MOTYC expectations for this match just as I had for Ishii/Mox, like I said that time, that's never a fair hype to have, but sometimes the match lives up to it, and this one did the first 10 minutes or so could've been the usual "whatever" part as most long NJ match tend to have, but I was compelled by Shingo getting pissed off at Naito's antics and proceeding to beat the shit out of him. I think the only bad transition was Naito going back on offense after that first control segment by Takagi, but that's basically the only criticism (which is incredibly minor) I have for the match, the rest was fucking awesome. Shingo being a dominant force, landing some incredible strikes and throwing this dude around, which forced Naito to pull off some great fucking counters to reset the action gave the match the sense of urgency it deserved. Osaka chanting for Naito both times the both of them were on the canvas near the end was dope as fuck, so was the drama. This was great, go watch it!

[Boss Rock]

Can't remember the last time I've seen Naito use a Dragon Suplex and probably the first time I've ever seen him hit a destroyer.

[Makai Club #1]

Once again, Naito didn’t really come alive until he was trading bombs with Shingo at the end. Naito can do much better but he really hasn’t done it for me in the G1 this year. He took some nice bumps but nothing to really make me care about him until the closing 10 minutes of the match. Very unsympathetic imo. Shingo, on the other hand, was much more fun and interesting, as always. Shingo excelled in the dominant role in this match. Sensational from him. But like I said, the finishing stretch was great with the two just hitting bomb after bomb and getting some great near falls. ***1/2