Now that the dust has settled how would you rate the NJPW G1 Dallas matches?
Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Roppongi 3K - * * * Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino - * * * 1/2 Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Jay White & Chase Owens - * * 3/4 Toru Yano, Juice Robinson & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI - * * * 1/2
Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer - * * * * 1/4 EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale - * * 1/2 SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - * * * 1/2 Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA - * * * * Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - * * * * 1/4
>Ospreay-Archer **** 3/4 I thought it was good but not that good, to each their own. Still pretty amazing how Archer is suddenly a player I hope he keeps it up.
Hunter Robinson
>Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino 3.75 (probably one of the best undercard tag matches in a while) >Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer 4.25 (it was good but not the MOTYC people claim it to be; felt slightly disjointed sometimes) >SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. 4.25 (one of the more underrated matches from the event; just mega smooth and great storytelling using "merely" holds) >Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA 3.75 (a little disappointing given the contestants involved but not terrible, that's for sure) >Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 4 (good match but would be better if the crowd fully appreciated the story between these two; action-wise, post-wall Tana is never gonna match up to the younger guys)
Robert Carter
Archer vs. Ospreay SANADA vs. Sabre Okada vs. Tanahashi EVIL vs. Fale KENTA vs. Ibushi
Joseph Peterson
>Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Roppongi 3K **1/2 - fun little match >Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino *** good tag match that played to everyone's strengths and characters >Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Jay White & Chase Owens ** forgettable >Toru Yano, Juice Robinson & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI ***1/2 really fun tag match >Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer *** good solid match but a little sloppy and hesitant at times >EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale ** boring >SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. *** good >Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA ***1/2 pretty good >Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi **** not one of their best matches but the best match of the night and the crowd was red hot
Noah Morales
Kinda felt Sanada vs ZSJ dad a bit too similar to their last match. Still neat but I was hoping they'd change it up a bit
Joseph Morgan
I only watched Okada v Tana so I don't care
Juan Anderson
>Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer - * * * * 1/2 >EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale - * * * >SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - * * * * 1/2 >Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA - * * * 3/4 >Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - * * * **
Bentley Sullivan
>Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Roppongi 3K - 3 start match. Nothing wrong, nothing very exciting. Good solid opener >Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino 4 stars because for the limited time they had, they had everyone wanting the match to keep on and where massively hot during the entire match. Everyone looked great here including the young lions. Also, when people pop up for a suplex in this day and age, you know you're doing great work >Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Jay White & Chase Owens 2.5 stars, or a bit lower. It was just a match >Toru Yano, Juice Robinson & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI 3.5 Fun entertaining match >Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer 4.5 It was really really good and no, Osprey didn't carry or have to carry anyone. Archer is on a mission on showing he can hang with the best(at least keyfabe wise). >EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale 2 It was a boring match. >SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr 4.5 A technical classic, everything was done perfectly and the end was the one it would have to be if Sanada was going to win. >Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA 3. Solid match but KENTA was massively exposed here. I guess it will take time to take the wwememe style out of his system. Still, even Cody had good matches with Ibushi. If you can't have a good match with someone like Ibushi, that's a problem >Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi 4. Their weakest match by far and still great. No wasted moves, just crisp and solid great pro wrestling.
Jackson Anderson
Is the KENTA vs Ibushi match worth watching? I heard people saying "all he does is stiff kicks" but i love stiff shit
Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer - * * * * EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale - * * 1/2 SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - * * * 3/4 Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA - * * 3/4 Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - * * * * 1/4
Hunter Hernandez
His kick don't sound or look that good anymore. It was slow and botchy.
Kevin Ross
Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer - * * * * EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale - * * SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - * * * 1/2 Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA - * * 3/4 Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - * * * *
Ryder Evans
worth checking out since you're into that style, definitely a good stiff match
Daniel Rivera
This
Fuckin sucked, was a shitty match, hype was so high to do this, also Ibushi didn’t do anything
Joshua Thompson
>Also, when people pop up for a suplex in this day and age, you know you're doing great work how based is he?
The undercard was solid >Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer - 3.5 real solid, good story, but too many kickouts and went just a tad long >EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale - 1.75 bad luck fale wrestled evil >SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - 4.25 great. two of the best in the company right now. >Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA - 2.25 mediocre and disappointing >Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - 4 told their story. some good spots. probably the worst match they ever put on together, but by design.
great night overall
Cameron Lewis
fale is a fat shitter at least cobb is better than lelgin was, can't wait for his match with Ishii
Colton Lopez
>but by design. Yea by them being both Washed up lmao
William Martin
>cobb is better than lelgin was Fuck off retard
Eli Bennett
naurto vs goku was my favorite.
Charles Garcia
>thinking the 2 GOATS are gonna do anything but their greatest hits in front of the yokels >Reminder that trying to tell stories through wrestling to Americans is like reading Shakespeare to a dog
>told their story. some good spots. probably the worst match they ever put on together, but by design. It was their best since the Tokyo Dome bout. The two matches they had last year felt like the were in slow motion.
Aaron Garcia
The ZSJ match is such a polarising one. You have people saying it's either 5 stars or boring as fuck, no inbetween.
Austin Hernandez
Fuck off. It was better than the title match but the match from last year's G1 was significantly better.
Owen Brooks
It's interesting if you're wondering what KENTA looks like on his return. I felt like both guys were playing it safe though, which makes sense considering it was just day 1 and they're both probably going to go far in the competition.
Liam Anderson
Basically my ratings. Sanada and zsjs mini rivalry has been highly entertaining.
Luis Parker
I really liked it but I wouldn't call it "great". A lot of people were underwhelmed by it apparently but I think it's worth watching and forming your own opinion.
William Ortiz
>defending Elgin yeah thats a big yikes from me
Kevin Lewis
>hating on Big Mike You have to go back, faggot
Juan Flores
It's a G1 show so I always think everything on the show tends to be "good to great", but here are a few stand outs to me. - Hirooki Goto is maybe in the best shape of his entire NJPW run right now. I am very into this "LA Dojo Redemption" arc that he is going through, I hope he goes far in the tournament. Don't expect him to win, but I see him being a contender. - That LIJ tag match was fucking awesome, and I've noticed this last year now good LIJ can turn into heels on a dime. Shingo's torso is also looking like a absolute unit. - Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer shocked me because I was expecting "good guy vs. shitter" match, and we got THAT. It was awesome. - I love Sanada's new look, but I wish he was somehow better, not even by much, like 20% better. - I was black out drunk by the Kenta vs. Ibushi match and paid no attention - I've seen Okada vs. Tanahashi enough for my lifetime but I was still entertained by it. I really hope they keep the distance between these two for a while now.
>Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer - * * * * Solid, surprisingly good but a bit bloated and longer than it should have been. >EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale - * * 1/2 It's Fat Fuck Fale vs EVIL, 'nuff said >SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - * * * 3/4 Very good but the ending bring the same as last year's G1 kinda ruined it, would've been match of the night had it ended in a moonsault pin or tap out >Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA - * * 1/2 Horrible >Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - * * * 3/4 Predictable outcome ever since the blocks were announced, better than their title match from last year though.
Jordan Anderson
>of his entire NJPW run spotted the nu japanlet
Evan Jones
I am a 2014 fag, I don't remember him looking like he did in a while, he's looked kinda chubby the last two years.
Jaxon Anderson
>I am a 2014 fag Then don't say shit like "his entire NJPW run"
Nathan Williams
Okay, "of the last few years where he's looking like a chunky dough boy, he's improved his physique in a major way".
Jaxson Howard
Archer vs Ospreay: 4.25 BL Fale vs EVIL: 3.5 ZSJ vs Sanada: 4.75 Ibushi vs KENTA: 4.5 Tanahashi vs Okada: 4.5
Lincoln Johnson
>ZSJ vs Sanada: 4.75 based technical-wrestling user
Archer might have been mediocre a year ago, but he's improved dramatically.
Oliver Brooks
he's had one (1) big match and it was against freakin ospreay, its still way too early to gauge his progress but he looked good for sure
Jordan Brown
I’m looking at the Dallas show as more of a prologue and the tournament actually starts this weekend.
>Ospreay/Archer 4 Archer is a man with something to prove and it looks like this could be a breakout moment in his career. >Evil/Fale 2 Was what everyone expected >Sanada/ZSJ 4 This and the following match seem super polarizing. I loved it because I love both these guys and especially love how well they work together. Sanada May be the best foil to Zack’s approach. >KENTA/Ibushi 3 KENTA looked out of shape and sluggish. I’m worried he is going to make his matches as bland as most Fale matches. Okada/Tanahashi 4 I loved the abbreviation version we got of this classic matchup. Condensed and focused this match was fire from bell to bell.
Cooper Lee
>Guerrillas of Destiny vs. Roppongi 3K - *1/2 idk it's kind of fun watching GoD stunt during their beatdowns and I like their characters but I want them to actually look like they're trying to win more otherwise they run the risk of becoming heel New Day just chahooing and throwing pancakes around instead of telling the story of a wrestling match. R3K did a good job of looking convincing on offense against opponents much larger than themselves
>Hirooki Goto & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Jay White & Chase Owens - * *
Toru Yano, Juice Robinson & Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI - * *
Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer - * * * (the most surprising match of the night for me, I knew Archer would deliver on "workrate" because he always does (actually kind of wanted it to be slower but w/e) but his heel character stuff that helped tell the david vs goliath story was based as fuck - "everybody dies!")
EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale - * * 1/2 (This was way better than I think anyone thought it would be especially considering it didn't have a clean finish, Fale is underappreciated. EVIL being able to lariat Fale off his feet on multiple occasions was based and made him look strong as fuck.)
SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - * * (Stretching as the beatdown is based as fuck and it's great to see some "wrestling" on a wrestling show, but SANADA didn't make the comebacks very memorable or impactful and the dragon sleeper spots that were his main input seemed hokey in comparison to the rest of the match; I think SANADA has more in him than this and can have a better match with ZSJ than this; it wasn't bad, but it was kind of just ZSJ vs Could Be Anyone. SANADA still has a long way to go imo.)
