Horangi

Well I guess looking for some kind of positives... it was executed well and it probably means less Yujiro in tournaments.

Kento vs Nakajima by far. I did really enjoy Kaito's matches against Kenoh and Okada earlier on in the year. Marufuji vs Ospreay probably rounds out my favourites list. Very disappointed in Jake Lee's run, not that its been bad, I just had really high hopes for it.

Hope it's Uemura, seen Nakajima and Ishimori listed as possibilities (don't know if Ishimori is cleared though). X = Shelton Benjamin? (He's got a no compete but so it won't be, but he does have a history as X)

I remember doing a random attempt to watch every Jan 4th Dome show during lockdown and noticed the Lesnar/Nakamura match missing, which I was oddly interested in as I remember it at the time being the only Brock match that anyone mentioned being decent. Sapp fans can rejoice however as Sapp vs Manabu Nakanishi is on NJPW World! On a completely unrelated note, apparently Kenta Kobashi is coming to one of my local feds in Melbourne that I generally avoid. Naturally I forked out the $120AU to meet him. So excited but know I'm going to say something super dumb haha.

He's doing a few weeks (possibly up to a month based on a tweet) of Australia with Robbie Eagles, but I remember Ohbari saying they were going to look at changing the excursion structure. I think Fujita may be the first since Tanahashi maybe that may not go on a real excursion

Ospreay and Naito was bloody great, with a hot crowd pushing it to the next level. The end was scary though...

The two matches you'd expect to be good were excellent in my opinion (ZSJ/Okada, and Ospreay/Finlay was an example of how shenanigans can work) Naito vs Hikuleo started very rough, but were able to turn it around and the last few minutes were a blast. EVIL vs SANADA was a heatless plodding mess. I don't just blame EVIL here, as I don't think the crowds are really buying SANADA as top guy (I think this was masked by his first defences being against one of the most popular acts in the company and a newcomer with intrigue). It's a shame, as I was digging J5G SANADA up until Forbidden Door. The EVIL match vs Takagi on the other hand was nuclear compared to this.

Skipped Nagano (do want to watch Ishii/Takagi but I don't think it will be anything we haven't seen before), but really enjoyed the Korakuen double header. Okada/YH & SANADA/Kiyomiya are amongst the best matches of the tournament from the first night, Ospreay/O-Khan and Umino/Kidd delivered too while Hikuleo and Tanga Loa both had possibly their best tournament matches so far. I don't think I need to mention Cobb/ZSJ and Ishii/Kingston as others have, but I do want to highlight Mikey Nicholls in particular is really going all-out in this tournament. He's not flashy or overly charismatic, but he's really giving it his all in the G1 and the crowds are starting to get behind him. Match with Shingo was fun, as well as the HENARE match before the bad ending, really interested in his match with Eddie Kingston now. Also full credit to Shane Haste, getting a good match out of Naito who hasn't seemed motivated since the Ospreay program last year. Glad to see them doing well here & trying to make the most out of the opportunity, considering the rumours they were not meant to be in it originally (Aussie Open I think were in as per the rumours, but the injury to Davis/signing with AEW changed things).

Night 4, outside of another really great Henare/Shingo match and a pretty decent main event is can be skipped. Tama came off really badly in his backstage promo afterwards...he's meant to be a face???? Night 5 on the other hand was great! A really hot crowd and by far best show of the tournament with Taichi vs Okada my match of the tournament so far (and a possible contender for New Japan match of the year for me). Loving grumpy Okada, and Taichi is really excelling as a fiery babyface (crowd was solidly behind him here). Kaito/Shota is a close second, a breakout match for Shota I think and Kaito played a great antagonist without overly being one. KENTA had his best match in God knows how long against Ospreay, bringing fire I haven't seen in a long time. Main was good, but preferred Dominion. Even the undercard was fun outside of Chase/Hikuleo, including YOSHI-HASHI getting something decent out of Tanga Loa.

Night 3 quick thoughts:

The Henare/Nicholls match was crazy and unnecessarily stiff, not surprised someone nearly got hurt. Was actually enjoyable until that end botch. As someone who has lived a long period with a Maori family and having gotten to learn and know the culture, I very much understand the importance of the Mataora and think it is so awesome to see authentic, indigenous representation in pro wrestling instead of watered down generalised representation. Saw people on twitter calling it a "stupid look", they can go fuck themselves, this is something much deeper than "a look", it is spiritual and representative of his culture and ancestors. Kevin Kelly tweeted a really good article about it - https://www.teaomaori.news/aaron-henare-first-maori-bring-mataora-wrestling-world-japan Night 2 was fun though outside of that, I think the 2 or 3 best matches of night 1 were better than anything from night 2 but night 2 felt overall more consistent. Kingston/Takagi was match of the night, but Finlay/Ishii was a lot of fun too. Main event was fine, if not a bit sloppy at times. Oh and really enjoyed ZSJ/Tanahashi with Tanahashi trying to wrestle Zack's style. More of that please Tana!

Was gonna wait until after night 2, but yeah, I'll add myself to the list of people who thoroughly enjoyed the two Block A future generation matches. Umino and Narita do feel like they're still figuring themselves out to an extent (especially Umino), but it was a great first chapter to their rivalry. Tsuji on the other hand, I feel just has "it" and would not be upset if the strapped the rocket to him and had him win the whole thing. Taichi/Ospreay was really great too, though wasn't a fan of the concussion-sell job. Last 3 minutes were crazy, highlighting the sense of urgency the new formula brings. ELP/YH and Okada/O-Khan were both fine matches but not really worth going out of the way for. I really don't see how Tanga Loa is going to survive this tournament...that was not good. KENTA also looked rough. There's 2 guys right there who could probably do without being in it. Main event was an odd choice, kind of just there. Do think Taichi match should have gone on last.

NJPW are now calling Narita, Tsuji & Umino the 'Reiwa Three Muskateers' Interesting that they've left out Uemura, but also perfectly sets up his return as the forgotten one with a chip on his shoulder.

So my big takeaway from Forbiddon Door was how slow and banged up Tanahashi looked, and how good shape Kojima is in...kinda now wish they'd sub Tana for Kojima and give Tanahashi some rest...