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NJPW G1 2019


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Went backwards after 12 to Night 11 - Just watched Zack Sabre Jr-Will Ospreay perform that glorious ballet.  I sometimes am taken out by unneeded silliness in Ospreay matches, but this one really connected for me.  I assume these guys have been going toe to toe for years - any recommendations available online?  Big fan of ZSJ.  Nobody is more interesting, exciting or better right now to my tastes.    

I also dug Okada-Archer. I, like most, am digging this Archer revitalization, but I do hope he's able to shed some of the needless and ugly moves (enough with the goofy rope walk into a horrible looking moonsault).  I kinda like the kooky persona, but tapering it off slightly would go a long way in establishing him as a bigger threat.  Anyway, another fun match.  

EVIL-Tanahashi I forwarded into the stretch run which was pretty stellar.  Skipped Fale-Ibushi.  KENTA-Sanada was a bit of a snooze.  KENTA was taking a lot of unfocused time on the crowd which seemed like maybe a bad influence from his run in New York.  He also seemed a bit sluggish.  Still not a bad match, some hard work.  

Bring on the 13th.      

Edit: I'm skipping all the opening tags from these shows to avoid over consumption, but I'm wondering - have there been any really great undercard pre-tournament tags during the G1?

Edited by HarryArchieGus
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My still way behind thoughts: Juice/Ishii from the 7/28 show low key one of the better matches of the tournament and Juice's second best match of his career only trailing the White match from San Francisco?

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14 hours ago, Ryan said:

That's kind of how he was before WWE anyway. Just weird and nuts. He wasn't all serious heel promo rargh kill you guy.

Exactly.

He can say some outlandish stuff. It's fine. If someone doesn't see the distinction between this and rambling nonsense in someone else's voice and prop comedy, then I don't know what to tell them. There's a clear line between what he knows amuses himself and the bad comedy that was written for him.

Edited by West Newbury Bad Boy
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Another fun show.  That end stretch from Okada-Sanada was very exciting.  What a wonderful and punishing finish.  I am very into everything Zach Sabre Jr is doing in this tournament.  It was fun to see him work against Archer's size and strength here.  Skipped to the finish of the KENTA-Fale battle, and uh yeah.  Whatever, there was lotsa excellent mat action to be had in the Ibushi/Tanahashi and EVIL-Ospreay matches. NJPW is on fire right now.  So pleased to have the NJPW World ease of access. 

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SANADA/Okada was frustrating for me because they have both gone to their fun matwork stuff at times (to counter ZSJ for example) and they show some brawling personality midway through, so this could have theoretically been a match where something, anything interesting happened in the first 9 or 10 minutes. Still, the ending was up there with anything in the tournament.

Really fun show all around, with Tana/Ibushi particularly to my liking. I don't know what it is about the way they match up but Tanahashi's moves just seem to land a little more satisfyingly on Ibushi than most anybody else.

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7 hours ago, The Natural said:

Meant to tag you knowing our mutual Tetsuya Naito appreciation.  Tranquilo!

Naito, Okada and Tanahashi are the new Holy Trinity of wrestling; supplanting Kobayashi, Misawa, & Kawada. All three of those guys are so good and so charismatic that I think they could easily get over in the US & UK without necessarily speaking a word of English. Of course, I said the same thing about Onita and Mutoh in the past. I can still listen to Onita promos and get chills even though I don't understand a word of Japanese. ? Now THAT'S an all-time great promo guy.

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23 minutes ago, maciej said:

SANADA/Okada was frustrating for me because they have both gone to their fun matwork stuff at times (to counter ZSJ for example) and they show some brawling personality midway through, so this could have theoretically been a match where something, anything interesting happened in the first 9 or 10 minutes. Still, the ending was up there with anything in the tournament.

Really fun show all around, with Tana/Ibushi particularly to my liking. I don't know what it is about the way they match up but Tanahashi's moves just seem to land a little more satisfyingly on Ibushi than most anybody else.

Tana might just be the most criminally underrated wrestler of our lifetime, some of his matches were obviously much better than others, but I really can't think of him ever having a bad match even when paired with a complete stiff. People used to talk about Flair being able to carry a broom to a *** match, Tana's the guy that actually could do it.

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I've never shied away from arguing that Tanahashi is the greatest wrestler of his generation / this millennium. Not a raving fanboy of his or anything, it's just that the proof, the output is there. I guess Danielson's the other big argument one could make.

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45 minutes ago, OSJ said:

Tana might just be the most criminally underrated wrestler of our lifetime, some of his matches were obviously much better than others, but I really can't think of him ever having a bad match even when paired with a complete stiff. People used to talk about Flair being able to carry a broom to a *** match, Tana's the guy that actually could do it.

No matter how broken he himself is.

 

Am I the only one who thinks Okada really wants SANADA to be his generational rival?

 

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From the talk (see constant and deserved praise) I hear, Tanahashi doesn't seem all that underrated.  He's such a crisp performer, but am I the only person that thinks the sling blade is a weak looking move?  It sometimes takes me a second to get back into matches after seeing it - from anybody.  

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For EVIL to graduate to the Ishii role, he's going to have to drop some of that dorky offense of his. Fucking can't stand that catch the leg -> pass it off to the ref-kick spot. The baseball swing with the chairs is dumb too. He has the intensity and persona. Could tighten up some of his offense and strikes but he's not too far off. Match structure and ability to carry a control segment are the biggest things I think. Still, that G1 match vs. Okada from two years ago is a top 10 G1 match from the past 3 or 4 years imo and his match with KENTA this year was great too.

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1 hour ago, OSJ said:

Naito, Okada and Tanahashi are the new Holy Trinity of wrestling; supplanting Kobayashi, Misawa, & Kawada. All three of those guys are so good and so charismatic that I think they could easily get over in the US & UK without necessarily speaking a word of English. Of course, I said the same thing about Onita and Mutoh in the past. I can still listen to Onita promos and get chills even though I don't understand a word of Japanese. ? Now THAT'S an all-time great promo guy.

I never realized your love of Kuniaki Kobayashi.

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21 minutes ago, HarryArchieGus said:

From the talk (see constant and deserved praise) I hear, Tanahashi doesn't seem all that underrated.  He's such a crisp performer, but am I the only person that thinks the sling blade is a weak looking move?  It sometimes takes me a second to get back into matches after seeing it - from anybody.  

Oh, he's not underrated HERE, but this is a particularly knowledgeable bunch of folks. I'm talking outside of our little bubble.

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