G1 Watchlist - Recommended Matches

NJPW's annual summer tournament has come to a close, and with it came a number of interesting match-ups, some of which we don't get any other time of year. If you missed it, or want to revisit it, today I'm going to be talking through my overall impressions on the tournament, before giving you first a list of matches I recommend watching from the tournament, then every match in the tournament with my rating. This piece will be mostly spoiler-free, with the exception of the match on Day 19, which will show the two winners of the blocks.

Overview (Spoiler-free)

I think overall the G1 Climax was a little disappointing, there was certainly some good, even great matches going through, but it lacked any of the true classics we expect to get from the tournament. Furthermore, there were much less stand-out performances from people than in recent years, with the only person working far above what would be expected of them being Tomohiro Ishii in my opinion. Some of the more exciting match-ups didn't really land as well as I was hoping they would, and a lot of the higher end match-ups were simply what was expected of them, rather than lighting the world on fire. There's no Minoru Suzuki/AJ Styles match, there was no break-out Michael Elgin or Tetsuya Naito run. Finally, the finishing run was certainly exciting, but I wasn't particularly into the twists and turns towards the end, and some of the decisions seemed a little suspect to me. However, there were a few matches I really liked from this tournament, and I do think there are a good few matches worth watching, as would be expected from 91 NJPW matches.

Recommendations

Tier 1

Katsuyori Shibata vs Kasuhiko Nakajima (Day 4) ****^1/2

Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii (Day 13) ****^1/2

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada (Day 17) ****^1/2

Katsuyori Shibata vs Tetsuya Naito (Day 8) ****^1/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii (Day 11) ****^1/4

Tetsuya Naito vs Kenny Omega (Day 18) ****^1/4

Tier 2

Kazuchika Okada vs Naomichi Marufuji (Day 1) ****

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs SANADA (Day 1) ****

Tetsuya Naito vs Yuji Nagata (Day 2) ****

Tetsuya Naito vs Michael Elgin (Day 4) ****

Naomichi Marufuji vs Tomohiro Ishii (Day 7) ****

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Tetsuya Naito (Day 12) ****

Tomohiro Ishii vs Togi Makabe (Day 17) ****

Hirooki Goto vs Kenny Omega (Day 19) ****

Full Matchlist

Kazuchika Okada vs Naomichi Marufuji          G1 Climax - Day 1   4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs SANADA    G1 Climax - Day 1   4

Tomohiro Ishii vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan      G1 Climax - Day 1   3.75

Bad Luck Fale vs Hirooki Goto    G1 Climax - Day 1   3.25

Togi Makabe vs Tama Tonga      G1 Climax - Day 1   2.75

Tetsuya Naito vs Yuji Nagata      G1 Climax - Day 2   4

Tomoaki Honma vs Katsuyori Shibata  G1 Climax - Day 2   3.75

Kenny Omega vs YOSHI HASHI   G1 Climax - Day 2   3.75

Michael Elgin vs EVIL         G1 Climax - Day 2   3.5

Toru Yano vs Katsuhiko Nakajima         G1 Climax - Day 2   2

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Togi Makabe        G1 Climax - Day 3   3.5

Bad Luck Fale vs Naomichi Marufuji     G1 Climax - Day 3   3.25

SANADA vs Kazuchika Okada     G1 Climax - Day 3   3.25

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Tama Tonga          G1 Climax - Day 3   2.5

Hirooki Goto vs Tomohiro Ishii   G1 Climax - Day 3   2.5

Katsuyori Shibata vs Kasuhiko Nakajima         G1 Climax - Day 4   4.5

Tetsuya Naito vs Michael Elgin   G1 Climax - Day 4   4

EVIL vs Yuji Nagata G1 Climax - Day 4   3.25

YOSHI HASHI vs Tomoaki Honma          G1 Climax - Day 4   3

Kenny Omega vs Toro Yano        G1 Climax - Day 4   3

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tama Tonga         G1 Climax - Day 5   3.5

Naomichi Marufuji vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan          G1 Climax - Day 5   3.25

Kazuchika Okada vs Hirooki Goto          G1 Climax - Day 5   3.25

Bad Luck Fale vs Tomohiro Ishii G1 Climax - Day 5   3

SANADA vs Togi Makabe G1 Climax - Day 5   2.75

Katsuyori Shibata vs Michael Elgin        G1 Climax - Day 6   3.75

Tetsuya Naito vs Toru Yano         G1 Climax - Day 6   3.5

YOSHI HASHI vs Yuji Nagata        G1 Climax - Day 6   3.25

EVIL vs Katsuhiko Nakajima        G1 Climax - Day 6   3.25

Kenny Omega vs Tomoaki Honma        G1 Climax - Day 6   2.75

Naomichi Marufuji vs Tomohiro Ishii    G1 Climax - Day 7   4

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Togi Makabe         G1 Climax - Day 7   3.5

Bad Luck Fale vs Hiroshi Tanahashi       G1 Climax - Day 7   3.5

Hirooki Goto vs SANADA G1 Climax - Day 7   3.25

Kazuchika Okada vs Tama Tonga           G1 Climax - Day 7   3

Katsuyori Shibata vs Tetsuya Naito       G1 Climax - Day 8   4.25

Kenny Omega vs Michael Elgin   G1 Climax - Day 8   3.75

EVIL vs YOSHI HASHI         G1 Climax - Day 8   3

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Yuji Nagata       G1 Climax - Day 8   3

Toru Yano vs Tomoaki Honma   G1 Climax - Day 8   2

Tama Tonga vs Tomohiro Ishii    G1 Climax - Day 9   3.75

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Hirooki Goto        G1 Climax - Day 9   3.5

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Kazuchika Okada G1 Climax - Day 9   3.25

Bad Luck Fale vs SANADA G1 Climax - Day 9   3

Naomichi Marufuji vs Togi Makabe      G1 Climax - Day 9   2.75

Toru Yano vs Katsuyori Shibata  G1 Climax - Day 10 3.5

Yuji Nagata vs Michael Elgin        G1 Climax - Day 10 3.25

YOSHI-HASHI vs Katsuhiko Nakajima   G1 Climax - Day 10 3

Kenny Omega vs EVIL       G1 Climax - Day 10 3

Tomoaki Honma vs Tetsuya Naito         G1 Climax - Day 10 3

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Tomohiro Ishii     G1 Climax - Day 11 4.25

SANADA vs Naomichi Marufuji  G1 Climax - Day 11 3.25

Togi Makabe vs Kazuchika Okada         G1 Climax - Day 11 3

Bad Luck Fale vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan        G1 Climax - Day 11 2.75

Tama Tonga vs Hirooki Goto       G1 Climax - Day 11 2.5

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Tetsuya Naito   G1 Climax - Day 12 4

Kenny Omega vs Katsuyori Shibata       G1 Climax - Day 12 3.75

Toro Yano vs Yuji Nagata G1 Climax - Day 12 3.25

YOSHI HASHI vs Michael Elgin    G1 Climax - Day 12 3

Tomoaki Honma vs EVIL   G1 Climax - Day 12 3

Kazuchika Okada vs Tomohiro Ishii       G1 Climax - Day 13 4.5

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Naomichi Marufuji         G1 Climax - Day 13 3.75

SANADA vs Tama Tonga   G1 Climax - Day 13 3.5

Hirooki Goto vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan         G1 Climax - Day 13 3

Bad Luck Fale vs Togi Makabe    G1 Climax - Day 13 2.75

YOSHI HASHI vs Katsuyori Shibata         G1 Climax - Day 14 3.75

Yuji Nagata vs Kenny Omega      G1 Climax - Day 14 3.75

Tetsuya Naito vs EVIL        G1 Climax - Day 14 3.5

Tomoaki Honma vs Katsuhiko Nakajima         G1 Climax - Day 14 3.25

Toro Yano vs Michael Elgin          G1 Climax - Day 14 3

Tomohiro Ishii vs SANADA          G1 Climax - Day 15 3.75

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan            G1 Climax - Day 15 3.75

Kazuchika Okada vs Bad Luck Fale         G1 Climax - Day 15 3.75

Naomichi Marufuji vs Tama Tonga       G1 Climax - Day 15 2.75

Hirooki Goto vs Togi Makabe     G1 Climax - Day 15 2.75

Katsuyori Shibata vs Yuji Nagata            G1 Climax - Day 16 3.75

Katsuhiko Nakajima vs Kenny Omega  G1 Climax - Day 16 3.5

YOSHI HASHI vs Tetsuya Naito    G1 Climax - Day 16 3.5

Tomoaki Honma vs Michael Elgin          G1 Climax - Day 16 3.5

Toru Yano vs EVIL   G1 Climax - Day 16 2

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Kazuchika Okada G1 Climax - Day 17 4.5

Tomohiro Ishii vs Togi Makabe  G1 Climax - Day 17 4

Hirooki Goto vs Naomichi Marufuji      G1 Climax - Day 17 3.25

Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs SANADA     G1 Climax - Day 17 3

Bad Luck Fale vs Tama Tonga     G1 Climax - Day 17 2.75

Tetsuya Naito vs Kenny Omega G1 Climax - Day 18 4.25

Katsuyori Shibata vs EVIL G1 Climax - Day 18 3.75

Michael Elgin vs Katsuhiko Nakajima   G1 Climax - Day 18 3.75

Yuji Nagata vs Tomooaki Honma           G1 Climax - Day 18 3.5

Toru Yano vs YOSHI HASHI          G1 Climax - Day 18 2.25

Hirooki Goto vs Kenny Omega   G1 Climax - Day 19 4