[VIDEO] 5 Minute Wrestling Reviews: NJPW G1 Climax 28 Tournament Recap! Top Wrestlers & Matches to Watch

With the NJPW G1 Climax 28 in the books, we thought it was time for a recap of the best wrestlers and matches! It was an excellent tournament, with the B block being one of the better ones in history. The A Block was definitely weaker, and the constant Firing Squad interference got tiring after a while. That said, this year also had so many top end matches and great performers that it mostly overshadowed anything negative. Here we will run down the top performers, surprises, and matches of this year’s tournament as we eagerly await what New Japan has in store next.

https://youtu.be/2voO-3ZR6mI

This Year’s or Last Year’s Tournament?: Both years were just tremendous, but I would give the edge to last year for being better top to bottom. I thought this year had better top end matches (I had four 5 star matches this year, last year I had 2). That said, when one out of every five matches ended in DQ in both blocks, that brought it down from last year. In any case, both years were next level, and I am now going to suffer from G1 withdrawal.

Top 3 Performers: Tomohiro Ishii was the standout performer for us, as we had him having a 4 star match with everyone except Yano and Tonga. We also had him having 5 star matches with Ibushi, and Omega which will likely finish in the top 10 matches of the year. His matches with Goto, Naito, and Sanada were all unbelievable as well. The Stone Pitbull needs a belt around his waist, and soon.

Kota Ibushi was the next best performer this G1, from his first match with Sabre all the way to his final with Tanahashi, he delivered in spades. He delivered two 5 star matches and a few more just below that, and won in arguably the best G1 block ever.

Kenny Omega rounds out our top 3, but it easily could have gone to Tanahashi/Naito/Okada. Kenny gets the edge from us though due to his instant classics with Ishii, Ibushi, and Naito. The best bout machine brought it this tournament, and it will be interesting to see how he finishes the year out.

Biggest Surprise: I was surprised at Tanahashi winning it all. It seemed most predictions had Okada, Naito, or Ibushi winning it all, but in the end the Ace prevailed. I’ll be happy to see Tanahashi it what could be his final Dome main event, and he proved this tournament that he still is at the top of his game when it matters most.

Biggest Disappointment: Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale. The amount of interference just made their matches disappointing as a whole.

Top 5 Matches: Omega/Ibushi (Night 18), Ibushi/Ishii (Night 10), Okada/Tanahashi (Night 17), Omega/Ishii (Night 14), Tanahashi/Ibushi (Final).

Under The Radar Match: I thought Ibushi and Sabre Jr. (Night 2) had a great back and forth match that kind of just slipped through the cracks due to all the other great matches taking place, and the fact it happened on the same card of Naito/Omega. Lots of technical wrestling, athleticism, and great drama towards the end!

Best Matches of the Tournament

Night 1
Michael Elgin vs. EVIL ****1/4

Night 2
Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. ****1/2
Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito ****3/4

Night 3
Michael Elgin vs. Hangman Page ****

Night 4
Kota Ibushi vs. Juice Robinson ****
Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii ****1/2
Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto ****

Night 5
Michael Elgin vs. Jay White ****1/4
Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page ****1/4

Night 6
Tetsuya Naito vs. Juice Robinson ****1/2
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto ****1/2

Night 8
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr. ****1/4
Kenny Omega vs. Juice Robinson ****1/4
Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA ****1/2

Night 9
Evil vs. Hangman Page ****

Night 10
Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii *****
Kenny Omega vs. Seiya Sanada ****

Night 11
Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin ****1/4

Night 12
Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr. ****1/4
Kota Ibushi vs. Hirooki Goto ****1/4

Night 13
Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki ****1/4

Night 14
Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii *****
Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi ****1/2

Night 15
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Michael Elgin ****
Kazuchika Okada vs. Evil ****1/4

Night 16
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Juice Robinson ****
Tetsuya Naito vs. SANADA ****

Night 17
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada *****

Night 18
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Sanada ****1/2
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito ****1/2
Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi *****

Final
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi ****3/4

Thanks to everyone who checked our reviews throughout the tournament, we really appreciate the support!

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