NJPW G1 Climax 28 Night 9: Review, Grades and Analysis

MAIN EVENT: Kazuchika Okada vs YOSHI-HASHI

Okada walks into this match with 4 points, a win here would legitify him as a serious threat in the A block, and YOSHI-HASHI walks into the match with just 2 points, so this is sort of a must-win situation for him. Ferocious start as Okada threw his shirt at YOSHI-HASHI but he made Okada pay for it. As the match progresses after everything calmed down, Okada started targeting the injured shoulder of YOSHI-HASHI, which always becomes a prominent factor.

In the closing moments, Okada goes high for a missile dropkick,then a Air Raid neckbreaker, where he sat down this time instead of bringing him down into the knee! YOSHI manages to apply the Butterfly Lock a few moments later, where Okada was in it for a few minutes and I thought for a moment, YOSHI-HASHI was going to pull off the huge upset. Eventually, Okada reverses it into a Tombstone Pile-driver and connected TWO Rainmakers in a row to pick up the win, and head into 6 points.

RESULT: Kazuchika Okada

RATING: 4.5 stars

Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable show and I would give the show 3.5 stars. The tournament matches were good, but not excellent bar the main event. We are heading to double digits, as night 10 is up next!