I went into this G1 as someone who hadn't followed New Japan in a long time; I'm now a card-carrying NJPW fanboy. Just so much great wrestling and so many fun wrestlers ...
I didn't want Naito to take it all mainly because he's apparently not fully recovered from his knee injury, and the possibility of re-injury would really suck after the big push he's had. That said, he's a good, sympathetic babyface who could take Tanahashi's spot one day. And as far as his lack of selling goes: well, he's a guy who does a lot of flips and flying. If you work his leg the entire match, his only options are to either completely change the way he fights or to ignore the legwork while on offense. The crowd didn't seem to mind, so why should I?
I really liked the Davey Boy/Lance Archer match. Davey is getting really good and Archer is a perfectly serviceable gaijin monster heel. When you look back at the US careers of these guys thus far, it's obvious that they just weren't given the right opportunities. Them being total bros before and after the match made me smile.
And maybe I'm just weird, but the 6-man prior to the final is actually a strong contender for my favorite match of the entire tournament. It might be because the face team was so WAR-like in its composition. It might be because I fucking love Ishii's work. Or it might be because Iizuka's schtick amuses me. Whatever reason, I really, really liked the match, clusterfuck that it was.
