My favourite G1 matches - Part 2

Hi guys,

The G1 only ended yesterday and I'm already feeling it. I mean over a month of a jam packed schedule with matches coming out of my ears and I seriously couldn't believe the calibre of the matches from tag to singles. I did my favourite G1 matches for the first half of the tournament, so here's the second with even better matches.

Jay White v Shingo Takagi

Jay White has always been one of my favourite wrestlers and I’d seen him against pretty much any opponent. However, White v Shingo Takagi was something I didn’t really know what to expect because they’re so similar but so different. Jay White is a very smart wrestler using every tactic in the book to win whereas Takagi is a straight up brawler with the perfect mixture of speed and strength. With this force of Shingo, the match started extremely brutally for a White match and from then, Jay realised he needed to notch the heel up. He went for those blistering chops, tried to cahoot with Red Shoes by Two Sweeting him and poking the bear, or dragon by shouting “Come on Mr Dragon.” However, Takagi was having none of it and it became a battle of one-up‘ing each other from Shingo taking Jay’s move by sacking him against the ring and barrier and giving the chops as hard as White was. Yet, midway through the match, Jay the smart wrestler kicked in and he started using this perceived weakness to get out of situations and play possum like collapsing before Takagi could hit him with a pumping bomber. Even with some match interference and Shingo putting on an amazing fight, Jay eventually got the win with Bladerunner in a fairly clean fashion. It made me even more excited to see more matches between the two because it was pure fire!   

Zack Sabre Jr v Will Ospreay

I’m always very vocal about my love for inter faction matches, however, the prospect of two Brit’s colliding for the first time in the G1 was even more exciting. I had this match on my most anticipated and it definitely did not disappoint. ZSJ and Ospreay know each other as much as my two wrestlers can and have been wrestling each other for years. You could definitely see this from the start of the match with a solid 5 minutes of both guys countering each other’s moves as if they were psychic. There was a perfect mix of ZSJ submission skills and obviously the aerial offence of Will. However, what was great was seeing the two mix up the styles, even if in the smallest ways. We had Ospreay doing some of that traditional British style we all know and love and there was also bits of more high risk offences from Zack like a spinning DDT, which you don’t see often. As expected, Zack targeted the neck from the word go but it was a match that had you on the edge of your seat for so many reasons: mainly the constant attempts at finishers and the number of false ends. It was anyone’s game. However, the Submission Master got Ospreay into a beautiful Octopus Hold and got the win via tap out. It was probably one of my favourite matches and they really did the UK so proud. I also think that ZSJ needed this win a lot more, but a part of me wanted to an Ospreay win to get this match up again at Royal Quest.  

Kazuchika Okada v SANADA

Going into this match, Okada was on the hottest steak in a long time in terms of the G1 and Sanada was on his worst. Even though he was putting on amazing matches, the Cold Skull had only a few wins very early in the tournament. So, with Sanada having lost every match to Okada, it wasn’t looking good for the LIJ member. However, this didn’t seem to bother him and Okada managed to fire up Sanada and even be the heel I’m the situation with the crowd firmly behind him. Obviously with two amazing athletes, the match started hot but had some nice breaks and changes in speed throughout whether it was moving the fight to the floor or a bit of mind games. For most of the match, Sanada was definitely the underdog taking a lot of punishment from the champ but, as usual, he managed to turn things around so quickly and use the crowds cheers to help his momentum. There were drop kicks, forearms and literally anything you would want from a NJPW match. With time ticking and getting over the 25 minute mark, we had one of the best final sequences I’ve seen in a long time. There were attempted rainmakers and a long skull end which seemed to be the end. But, after a failed moonsault, it only took Sanada a picture perfect cutter and moonsault to pick up the win with only 13 seconds until the match time limit. No matter what people say about Sanada, hopefully this match shows how amazing an athlete he is and, even though he can’t win the G1, a title shot is in the bag!

Zack Sabre Jr v Lance Archer
Like I said in the ZSJ/ Ospreay match, I love me a good interfaction match and none so more then when the members of Suzuki Gun collide! Going into this match, we had a pretty intense tag team preview and it pretty much summed up what was going to happen on this match: nothing was held back. Going into the match, there was not only a clash of styles but body types. Lance Archer is a huge man with so much strength and ability to cause chaos with anything he does. However, ZSJ is a lot leaner and smaller with a technical ability unlike anyone else - I mean he's the Vegan Hydra for a reason. But, this didn't stop a banger of a match where both men used their skills, not sneaky Suzuki Gun style, to get the better of each other. What I loved the most about this match was the psychology. As well as both men knowing each other so well, ZSJ went in knowing he was probably going to die and used that to get Archer off guard. Even though ZSJ eventually got the win, once again, I've got to give it to Lance Archer for really putting up an amazing fight against our British boy and making him work for that win. Things were a little frosty for a while after that, but Suzuki Gun isn't Ichiban for no reason!

PLEASE ‘MEMBER ME LANCE WHEN YOU EXCRETE ME THROUGH YOUR ANUS https://t.co/YFYJU80FKA

— ZSJ. Ⓥ (@zacksabrejr) August 2, 2019

Jay White v Kota Ibushi
So, we finished the biggest G1 Climax in history with the Golden Star v the Switchblade and nobody knew what to expect with it being a first time match up. We obviously saw Jay target Ibsuhi's leg after he beat Naito and it was the perfect prelude to their match. After Red Shoes kicking out the entire BC (bar Gedo) from ringside, we got a match that was the perfect blend of both guys styles. Even with the hurt leg and ankle, we had Ibushi being as fearless as possible with those moonsaults, epic strikes and a whole lot of risk taking with the deadlift German suplex over the top rope. Then we had the shifty and tactical Jay White who used everything in his arsenal to beat the Golden Star. Apart from the amazing wrestling skills from his suplexes to those chops to the chest that could break windows, Jay used his brain to try and one up his opponent from his usual possom-ing, getting Gedo out to damage Ibu's leg more and managing to find a counter for everything. Going over the 25 minute mark, it seemed like both men were actually giving their heart, blood and tears into this match and you could see the crowd firmly showing their support for Kota Ibushi, even with Jay looking on the verge of a victory. However, in the end, after a blade runner, a kamigoye and a whole lot of brutality, the Golden Star hit his finisher twice and got an emotional win over Jay White.

With two posts of amazing matches and so many that I had to miss out, it really shows how high the calibre of wrestling was in this year's tournament. Later on this week, I'm going to have a look at my 5 MVP's of the tournament and I promise you, it's even harder picking them then it was picking matches and it's only out of 20 people not over a hundred matches!

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Until next time,

Bye