Csonka Ranks Every NJPW G1 28 Match From Worst to First

– Welcome back to column time with Larry. I thought that I would keep with tradition, and go back and rank the NJPW G1 Climax 28 matches from worst to first, creating a play list or sorts if you don’t have an insane amount of hours to invest into the entire thing. I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to share your favorites from the tournament. The only rules are “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.” We all have opinions, we’re going to disagree, just be cool about it.

– 90. From Night Fifteen, A Block Match: YOSHI–HASHI vs. Bad Luck Fale [DUD]
– 89. From Night Eleven, A Block Match: Bad Luck Fale vs. Togi Makabe [DUD]
– 88. From Night Eighteen, B Block Match: Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga [DUD]

– 87. From Night Nine, A Block Match: Bad Luck Fale vs. Jay White [*]
– 86. From Night Ten, B Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tama Tonga [*]
– 85. From Night Thirteen, A Block Match: Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale [*]
– 84. From Night Fourteen, B Block Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga [*]
– 83. From Night Seven, A Block Match: EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale [*]
– 82. From Night Four, B Block Match: SANADA vs. Tama Tonga [*]

– 81. From Night Seventeen, A Block Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. Bad Luck Fale [*½]
– 80. From Night Six, B Block Match: Kenny Omega defeated Tama Tonga [*½]

– 79. From Night Eight, B Block Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano [NR] – Only a not rated match due to being under three minutes, but way better than the trash under it.

– 78. From Night Two, Block B Match: Tama Tonga vs. Juice Robinson [**]
– 77. From Night Twelve, B Block Match: Tama Tonga vs. Tomohiro [**]

– 76. From Night Sixteen, B Block Match: Tama Tonga vs. Kota Ibushi [**½]
– 75. From Night Three, Block A Match: Bad Luck Fale vs. Kazuchika Okada [**½]
– 74. From Night One, Block A Match: Hangman Page vs. Bad Luck Fale [**½]
– 73. From Night Thirteen, A Block Match: Jay White vs. YOSHI-HASHI [**½]
– 72. From Night Fifteen, A Block Match: Jay White vs. Togi Makabe [**½]
– 71. From Night Thirteen, A Block Match: Hangman Page vs. Togi Makabe [**½]
– 70. From Night Eleven, A Block Match: Jay White vs. Adam Page [**½]
– 69. From Night Ten, B Block Match: Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano [**½]
– 68. From Night Sixteen, B Block Match: Toru Yano vs. Kenny Omega [**½]
– 67. From Night Six, B Block Match: Toru Yano vs. Kota Ibushi [**½]

– 66. From Night Three, Block A Match: EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI [**¾]
– 65. From Night Five, A Block Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. YOSHI-HASHI [**¾]
– 64. From Night Seven, A Block Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. Jay White [**¾]
– 63. From Night Twelve, B Block Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano [**¾]
– 62. From Night Eleven, A Block Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. EVIL [**¾]
– 61. From Night Nine, A Block Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe [**¾]
– 60. From Night Five, A Block Match: EVIL vs. Togi Makabe [**¾]

~THE GOOD~

– 59. From Night Five, A Block Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale [***]
– 58. From Night Seventeen, A Block Match: EVIL vs. Jay White [***]
– 57. From Night Eleven, A Block Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI [***]
– 56. From Night Nine, A Block Match: Minoru Suzuki vs. Michael Elgin [***]
– 55. From Night Seven, A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Togi Makabe [***]
– 54. From Night Ten, B Block Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto [***]
– 53. From Night Seven, A Block Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Adam Page [***]
– 52. From Night Four, B Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr vs. Toru Yano [***]
– 51. From Night Two, Block B Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano [***]
– 50. From Night Eight, B Block Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Tama Tonga [***]
– 49. From Night Fourteen, B Block Match: SANADA vs. Toru Yano @ 5:22 [***]
– 48. From Night Fifteen, A Block Match: Hangman Page vs. Minoru Suzuki [***]

– 47. From Night Three, Block A Match: Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki [***¼]
– 46. From Night Seventeen, A Block Match: Togi Makabe vs. Michael Elgin [***¼]
– 45. From Night Twelve, B Block Match: Juice Robinson vs. SANADA [***¼]
– 44. From Night Thirteen, A Block Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL [***¼]
– 43. From Night Eighteen, B Block Match: Juice Robinson vs. Hirooki Goto [***¼]

~THE VERY GOOD~

– 42. From Night Three, Block A Match: Jay White vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [***½]
– 41. From Night Nine, A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. YOSHI- [***½]
– 40. From Night Seventeen, A Block Match: YOSHI-HASHI vs. Hangman Page pin [***½]
– 39. From Night Nine, A Block Match: EVIL vs. Adam Page [***½]
– 38. From Night One, Block A Match: Togi Makabe vs. YOSHI-HASHI [***½]
– 37. From Night Seven, A Block Match: YOSHI-HASHI vs. Michael Elgin [***½]
– 36. From Night Two, Block B Match: Hirooki Goto vs. SANADA [***½]
– 35. From Night Eleven, A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin [***½]
– 34. From Night Fourteen, B Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr vs. Juice Robinson [***½]
– 33. From Night Sixteen, B Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hirooki Goto [***½]

~THE ALMOST GREAT~

– 32. From Night Five, A Block Match: Jay White vs. Michael Elgin [***¾]
– 31. From Night Sixteen, B Block Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. SANADA [***¾]
– 30. From Night Three, Block A Match: Michael Elgin vs. Hangman Page [***¾]
– 29. From Night Four, B Block Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Juice Robinson [***¾]
– 28. From Night Eight, B Block Match: Kenny Omega vs. Juice Robinson [***¾]

~THE GREAT ONE… s~

– 27. From Night One, Block A Match: Michael Elgin vs. EVIL [****]
– 26. From Night One, Block A Match: Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada [****]
– 25. From Night Four, B Block Match: Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto [****]
– 24. From Night Ten, B Block Match: Kenny Omega vs. SANADA [****]
– 23. From Night Five, A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Adam Page [****]
– 22. From Night One, Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki [****]
– 21. From Night Twelve, B Block Match: Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr [****]
– 20. From Night Eight, B Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr vs. Tomohiro Ishii [****]
– 19. From Night Twelve, B Block Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Hirooki Goto [****]
– 18. From Night Thirteen, A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki [****]
– 17. From Night Fifteen, A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL [****]
– 16. From Night Fifteen, A Block Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Michael Elgin [****]
– 15. From Night Sixteen. B Block Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Juice Robinson [****]

~THE MUST SEE~

14. From Night Eight, B Block Match: SANADA vs. Kota Ibushi [****¼]: Ibushi finally falls as SANADA picks up the huge victory in a great match. This was the best match, by just a notch, on another really strong and enjoyable B block show. These two gentlemen are athletic freaks, an offered us a little bit of everything in this match from grappling, high flying, and even a bit of brawling. They delivered in the main event spot for sure.

13. From NJPW G1 Climax 28 Night 18, Block B Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr [****¼]: This was a great match, filled with beautiful counters and great call backs to their New Japan Cup match. This was not only great, but tremendously fun and they did an excellent job of creating drama through out and down the stretch, but the ZZSJ win came off as a huge surprise, as he ended Naito’s G1 hopes. The work was great, clean, and came off as effortless from both. I want more from these two.

12. From Night 4, B Block Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii [****¼]: This was an absolutely great match, and another worthy chapter in their series of matches. It was dramatic, hard-hitting, played off of their previous matches very well and they smartly held off on the near falls until late in the match, and by that time, they had the crowd locked in and reacting huge to all of the near fall. In many ways, they worked a less is more formula, and when they did the big spots, it only added to the drama and pulled in the fans even more. These two are great, and always deliver. It was no different here.

11. From Two, Block B Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr [****½]: On paper, Ibushi & Zack Sabre Jr feel like two wrestlers that shouldn’t work together as well as they do, but each time they face, they completely wow me in how easily and effortlessly they work together. This was an absolutely excellent match, featuring a great mix of styles, a strong story involving them battling for which style would overcome, an invested crowd and as I said before, just another excellent outing from them. I found it to be on the level of their New Japan Cup match, excellent, and completely different from any tournament match so far. These guys are rather good at the pro wrestling thing. I need to see it again and again.

10. From NJPW G1 28 Night 14, B Block Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito [****½]: This was a great main event, and they had a lot to follow, but did a really great job. Poor Naito was working so hard to deliver, he almost ended up sharing a hospital room with Hiromu by landing on his head so many times. Anyway, they delivered here, outing together a great match with high stakes, but the Ibushi win allows him to control his own destiny as he holds the tiebreaker over Naito and still has the Omega match to come. It didn’t quite have the drama of Ishii vs. Omega overall, but it was still really great and they did a great job of following an absolutely epic match (Ishii vs. Omega) that came before them.

9. From NJPW G1 Climax 28, Night 6: Juice Robinson vs. Tetsuya Naito [****½]: This was an absolutely excellent match, with a hot crowd, great layout, and great work from both. Naito was really great here, subtly mixing up his signature offense to attack the hand of Juice. Add into that the fact that Juice is one of the best babyfaces in all of wrestling, and put in an absolutely tremendous performance in losing, and they delivered one of the best matches of the tournament so far. Juice is a really special performer, and the Korakuen crowd is always into him. Romero & Kelly were GREAT hereon commentary and added a ton to the match. Juice loses again, setting up a third challenger for his US championship.

8. From NJPW G1 Climax 28 Night 18, Block B Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. SANADA [****½]: This was an absolutely awesome match, with Ishii delivering once again. I really like SANADA and think he’s an amazing athlete, but at times there is something missing from his matches, but I feel that it really all came together here tonight. This was an absolutely tremendous hard hitting match, with a great layout that allowed both men to shine and while SANADA’s deal is the fact that he’s largely emotionless, he showed more here than usual as he tried to overcome Ishii, who just kept coming and fighting through everything he had. The crowd loved this, they worked so well together, with some excellent counter exchanges, and some great drama. SANADA may have lost but this is a match that while he did take the loss, he lost nothing because he looked so great and absolutely delivered the goods. I also loved the battle of a Choshu guy vs. a Muta guy, as they mixed in some of that with classic moves and counters. Make sure to catch this one for sure.

7. From NJPW G1 Climax 28, Night 6: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto [****¾]: You always here about how “styles make matches,” and there is a lot to that. These two work a very specific style and that style is pretty much the definition of strong style. There is nothing fancy here, just two hosses in a war, playing the ultimate game of anything you dish out I can take and give better. This was the style that people love in the NEVER matches, they delivered what everyone hoped for, had a hot crowd, and the drama was off the charts. Watch this match now.

6. From Night Seventeen, A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi [****¾]: This was absolutely excellent, with both men selling the high stakes of the match, playing off of their rich history, and working in some beautiful counters to signatures tuff. I loved not only the call backs to their previous matches, but the fact that they beautifully teased Tanahashi losing again by costing himself by continually going for high fly flow, which has been his downfall so many times, because he just can’t help himself but to go back to what brought him all of his success, but in many ways, it’s caused him almost as many failures. They had the crowd the whole time and especially down the stretch. I know some will be too cool for school and say they knew it was a draw all the way, and I think most did, but I thought that this was one of the very best matches of the tournament.

5. From Night Two, Block B Match: Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito [****¾]: Kenny Omega and Tetsuya Naito once again made magic in an absolutely incredible match that set an extremely high bar on night two on the G1. They started out with some fun character work, and slowly progressed into a great match as most would have expected. And then they picked up the intensity, and mixed in the callbacks to their previous meetings, adding layers and starting to build a story of two contemporaries trying to overcome each other. And then, then they flipped a switch and on top of alt he great things they were doing, started to deliver some scintillating exchanges and near falls that nearly made me jump out of my seat a few times. I thought going in Naito had a good chance of winning, they made me believe he was overcoming and winning, and most importantly, had the live crowd in the palms of their hands, they were into it and they believed Naito could win. These two guys fucking rule.

4. From NJPW G1 28 Night 14, B Block Match: Tomohiri Ishii vs. Kenny Omega [****¾]: This was an absolutely insane match and more than lived up to their previous meetings. They had a few rough spots early on, but easily worked past that and worked into just an absolutely awesome hard-hitting match with the action escalating perfectly throughout and the home stretch was insane. The crowd was locked in, biting on all of the big near falls, and both guys proved why they are such great big match performers. The best part is that it sets up a rematch down the line, which I am more than ready for. This was one of the very best matches of the tournament. Had the beginning been cleaner, I easily would have went the full 5.

3. From NJPW G1 Climax Night Ten, B Block Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii [****¾]: This was an absolutely incredible battle, I had a feeling that we were in for an absolute banger here, and they didn’t let me down. This was just a raw battle of one upsmanship, with both men looking to survive the best their opponent had to offer, and then on top of that, they suckered me in even more as they started stealing each other’s shit and that pulled in the crowd even more, who were into this the entire time and really added to it with a great atmosphere. Ishii is a machine, constantly delivering, and not only is he a bad ass, but I say again, his selling is completely under rated. When Ibushi is on, there are very few that are better big match performers. Every time you thought they hit their peak, they somehow kept going, surpassed it, and it never overstayed its welcome. This was one of the best matches of the tournament with ease, and a top tier MOTY contender.

2. From NJPW G1 Climax 28 Night 18, Block B Match: Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi[*****]: This was an absolutely amazing main event match, one that was years in the making, and one many thought we wouldn’t get. It’s been teased for so long, and when you get a match like this, expectations are high, and sometimes fail to live up to them. Thankfully that wasn’t the case here, as they met and maybe even exceeded them. This match had a ton of history and emotion behind it, but they never labored down the match with it, doing long stretches of them contemplating fighting. It was all action, with both men going for broke as they sold their determination and desire to win the G1; Omega to win his second and make a third final in a row, and Ibushi to simply prove himself worthy. They let the work tell the story, to build the drama, and that was magnified by the excellent commentary work of Kelly & Romero, who again, have been absolutely tremendous all tour. It ended up being a blessing in disguise that Callis had to be away as Romero killed it all tour long and really added to things. The work here was excellent, single minded, and with a complete sense of urgency in terms of both men putting it all out there and showing that winning was their only priority. The action started at a fine base level with Omega initially controlling and then for the next 20-minutes, it gradually grew and became even more intense, and the crowd followed suit. It never felt wrong and they [peaked at the right time. There are several contenders for best match of the tournament, you can make an argument for many, but right now, this is the one for me; it checked all the boxes.

1. From The NJPW G1 Climax 28 Finals: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi [*****]: Just when I think I have seen something great and something special, something new comes along and absolutely blows it away. We all know that Ibushi is a special performer, and when he’s on there are few better, but at age 41, Hiroshi Tanahashi, looked at as the beaten down and fading ace comes along and shows us why he is an all time great. Not only is he the man that helped turn NJPW business around and start their amazing rise, but he still delivers in the big time matches, and why many have started to double him, we should all stop until he starts shitting the bed and gives us a reason to believe he’s fading and his skills are diminishing. As for the match, this was absolutely unreal and up there not only as the match of the tournament, the match of the year, and possibly the best G1 final ever, but it was quite possibly one of the very best professional wrestling matches I have ever seen. From the pacing, the way they captivated the crowd, Ibushi flipping the switch into violence to answer Tanahshi’s challenge, to the amazing babyface fire of Tanahashi, it was simply amazing, and they had me at the edge of my seat for the entire match. The crowd was locked in, the commentary was amazing, and it was a perfect storm and I don’t use that term lightly. As for emotional investment, they also had me with that the entire time, as we watched Ibushi trying to prove himself when it mattered as Tanahashi previously challenged him to, to the old gunslinger battling through everything his young, stronger, and faster challenger had to give. But for everything Ibushi had to give, Tanahashi had an answer, survived, dug deep and finally overcame to ride as the ace one more time. In the end, Ibushi’s arms were long enough to box with God, just not powerful enough to beat him. This was absolutely phenomenal and is essential viewing if you love wrestling. This was beautiful, this was art, this was professional wrestling at its very best.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”