BRM Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 28: Day 17

[Big Red Machine]

NJPW G1 Climax 28: Day 17 (8/10/2018)- Tokyo, Japan


SHOTA UMINO & JUICE ROBINSON vs. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Sho)- 5/0
I got really into Unino’s roll-ups. I SOOOOOO badly want to see this kid get a win!

THE GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY vs. CHAOS (Toru Yano & Gedo)- 2/10

CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Yoh) vs. SUZUKI-GUN (Zack Sabre Jr. & TAKA Michinoku)- 4/10

TOA HENARE & DAVID FINLAY JR. vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (Tetsuya Naito & Sanada)- 4.5/10

BULLET CLUB ELITE vs. KOTA IBUSHI & BULLET CLUB (Marty Scurll & Chase Owens)- no rating, meh segment
I get what they were doing, but there are good ways to do it and bad ways to do it. The stuff between Owens and Omega looked a lot more like a goofy dance than a wrestling match. Compare that to what Ibushi did with whichever Jackson brother he was in with right afterwards. Night and day.
Kevin Kelly’s joke comparing this match to Ali vs. Inoki put me in a good mood, so I’ll call this a meh segment instead of giving it a dud. Basically, they didn’t hit each other. Then the Firing Squad ran in and attacked everyone for a double DQ.

BLOCK A MATCH: Michael Elgin(6) vs. Togi Makabe(4)- 6.5/10
They hit each other a lot. Makabe won because that makes everyone the most equal.

BLOCK A MATCH: Adam Page(6) vs. YOSHI-HASHI(4)- 7.5/10
They had a great, athletic match. YOSHI-HASHI won because that makes everyone the most equal.

BLOCK A MATCH: Minoru Suzuki(8) (w/El Desperado) vs. Bad Luck Fale(6) (w/Tama Tonga)- DUD!
Same old sh*t. This crap has ruined this tournament by making so many of the matches feel like something to dread rather than to look forward to. I’m tired of it.

BLOCK A MATCH: Jay White(12) vs. EVIL(8)- 8/10
They did a great job of mixing up their normal patterns. EVIL predictably plays spoiler for White, meaning that the winner of the block will be the man who wins…

BLOCK A MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi(14) vs. Kazuchika Okada(12) (w/Gedo)- 9/10
It was an awesome Tanahashi Okada match. They sold well. I liked the fact that it went to a draw, and also that Okada busted out the WAY under-utilized “grab you by the leg then smash your knee down” move. That’s really all I have to say. The match was the usual level of fantastic from these guys, but at the same time it was nothing that felt… unique enough to really gush over.

This show was this year’s GQ in a nutshell: pointless undercard, some middle of the card G1 matches that are fine to good, terrible sh*t involving interference and weapons and bad refereeing, and then some stuff that finally lives up to the G1’s reputation.