Night 3 of the G1 is upon us with some very promising matches. Altough every night of the G1 has promising matches so that isn't saying much. Back to Block A and just like yesterday we are at the legendary Korakuen Hall.
Block A Match - Hirooki Goto vs Yuji Nagata
Great way to kick off the night's G1 action. I love Nagata, the grizzled old bastard. The fans love him too and they are fully on his side here. It's one of those matches where both men beat the shit out of each other until one of them can't go any more. I enjoyed every second of this. ****
Block A Match - Togi Makabe vs Tomohiro Ishii
Fuckin' A, this was brutal. This resembled an actual fight as much as any wrestling match does. The chops to the neck and face that Ishii throws are evil. There isn't much else to say about this other than to say that it is like two wrecking balls smashing into each other over and over again until one of them breaks. Great fun. ***3/4
Block A Match - Kota Ibushi vs Zack Sabre Jr
Somehow this is the first ever meeting between these two. Sabre keeps Ibushi grounded and the story becomes whether or not Ibushi can escape Sabre's submissions and hit his own moves. Some of Sabre's reversals and transitions are out of this world. This was a brilliant match but I feel like with a bit more time this could have been really special. ****1/4
Block A Match - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Bad Luck Fale
This was a good but by no means great match. They play off the fact that Fale has numerous wins over Tanahashi and the fact that Tanahashi is having to wrestle this tournament with an injured arm. Tanahashi spends the majority of the match surviving the big man and doing what he has to to pick up the win. The finish shows that in a tournament like this a countout is just as good as a pinfall. ***
Block A Match - YOSHI-HASHI vs Tetsuya Naito
Both men try hard during this main event but it doesn't click in the way that it could. It's still a good match but much like the main event of night 2 it was a bit of a disappointment. They work the typical New Japan main event formula, with lots of big moves and kick outs but it never gets up to the standard to make it pay off well. I sound like I'm slagging this off but it was a good match, truth be told, but it was still Naito's worst singles match this year. ***1/2
Overall Grade - B
This was another good night of wrestling with the earlier matches getting the chance to shine. You can never argue with a show that has 2 ****+ matches on it. I will be back with a review of Night 4 tomorrow, featuring Okada vs Elgin.
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