Ranking Each Wrestler’s Performance in NJPW G1 Climax 28

CREDIT: njpw1972.com

NJPW G1 Climax 28 was a fantastic blend of stellar character work, solid story telling/progression, and top notch in-ring action. Although certain wrestlers played a more important role than others, each participant brought unique value to the tournament and should be recognized and appreciated…

20. Togi Makabe

Makabe’s G1 was completely inoffensive. He turned in solid performances throughout, with his best outings coming early against Yoshi-Hashi and Suzuki. The reason I have him at the bottom of this list is just because there was nothing story-progressing or particularly memorable about his tournament. Still, he played his role well, putting over younger talent and picking up a handful of feel-good wins along the way to keep things mildly interesting.

19. Bad Luck Fale

Considering my ratings for each tournament match, The Underboss had by far the lowest average match quality. Frankly, aside from his night 5 meeting with Hiroshi Tanahashi, Fale’s matches were repetitive and boring. With that being said, the dude’s got major heat right now, and that shouldn’t be ignored. The way he and his fellow Firing Squad goons utterly defiled the prestige and tradition of the G1 had audiences raining down a copious amount of boos each and every night.

18. Michael Elgin

Elgin was one of the standout guys in last year’s G1. He consistently delivered good matches, and had a pair of instant classics against Okada and Omega. Comparatively, Big Mike’s G1 28 was pretty dull. He was a part of some entertaining matches, it just never felt like he was much of a threat to pick up big wins or deliver incredible performances. With that said, he wrestled the second half of the tournament with a torn bicep and remained solid, which is pretty nuts. Credit where credit is due.