Top 5 NJPW Matches of July: Tomohiro Ishii Is On Another Tear
credit: NJPW
2) Juice Robinson vs Jay White (G1 Special in San Francisco)
As far as the actual rasslin’ moves go, this match doesn’t quite stack up to the others on this list. However, the character work was just out of this world. They executed every moment perfectly to work the crowd into a complete and utter frenzy. White was simply magnificent- targeting the injured hand, battering his opponent on every barricade in sight, running scared from Josh Barnett’s unprofessional behavior (yes that’s shade), and taking every possible second to bask in all of the glorious heat.
Then Juice delivered one of the most spirited performances I’ve ever seen- selling everything like his life depended on it, firing up with endless amounts of passion, desperately scratching and clawing at every opportunity to get ahead, and feeding off the crowd in a way that made it feel like they were an integral part of his eventual victory.
https://twitter.com/AXSTVFights/status/1017559281477079044
Robinson is one of the best pure babyfaces in all of wrestling, and White is one of the best pure heels. Watch this match if you don’t believe me.
Rating: ****3/4
Official #G128 B-Block Match: Tomohiro Ishii VS @s_d_naito! The Stone Pitbull's rage knows no bounds! The battle in the ring explodes as both athletes fight for a valuable tournament win! Watch now▶︎https://t.co/Tj7UBINesh #NJPWWorld #NJPW pic.twitter.com/0pPV5pTfva
— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) July 19, 2018
1) Tetsuya Naito vs Tomohiro Ishii (G1 28 Night 4)
Tomohiro Ishii is the best professional wrestler on Earth right now. I realize that probably seems absurd, but it’s hard to argue when you look at the quality of his performances lately. It doesn’t matter who he’s matched up with. He just has amazing match after amazing match regardless of opponent or circumstance. Also, yeah… Naito’s really great too.
Tomohiro Ishii vs @s_d_naito #NJPWWorld Watch now▶︎https://t.co/Tj7UBJ4PjP
— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) July 16, 2018
7.16 #NJPW #G128 pic.twitter.com/5GadZR3xIb
These two have had an abundance of excellent matches together over the past few years, but this is probably their best yet. Everything about it was picture perfect: brutal striking, impeccably timed no selling, unbelievably smooth reversals, consistent character work, flawless pacing and build, a blazing hot Korakuen Hall crowd. WOOF. So good. Long live Tetsuya Naito. Long live Tom Ishii. Five of them things.
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