[8.0] "Juice Robinson VS Will Ospreay: With a pretty intense beggining. Seems that a match to unify the titles it's aroung the table. The final winner of it was pretty obvious, as the storylone that they tried to build around the match. The match was good itself, I'm not denying it, it us just that lacked a bit more of creativity. Maybe they are keeping that for their next match. Satisfactory one. [***1/2]; Shingo Takagi VS El Phantasmo: What a win for Phantasmo, what a great killer match. The intensity was even bigger and more dramatic than the previous match. Very nice to see him compitiing with this Heavyweight guys. Good match. [****]; Hirooki Goto VS EVIL: Predictable match. Although, the intensity they put over the battle was interesting. Goto really looked with the desire of winning the match, not finally achieving it. End of the tournament for both players. Satisfactory match. [***]; Tetsuya Naito VS Zack Sabre Jr.: What a surprising match. At the beggining all it looke like a secure ZSJ win, but obviously the Ingobernable leader did everything to stole it. Even if it lasted 4 minutes, it was a pretty satisfactory battle. [***1/2]; Tomohiro Ishii VS SANADA: Match that passed too much fast. I didn't enjoy the most of it, maybe it was because of SANADA, his combinations habe been becoming a same sequence of movements that is just changed by his opponent. In this case, neither Ishii could make the match more interesting. I suppose it's just an adequate one. [**1/4]; Tama Tonga VS Jay White: What a emotional match. I really loved this. The aproach that Tama took over all the match, looking as if he was the #1 contender for the World Championship. Exciting moves, and great storytelling. What a good match. [****1/2]; Bad Luck Fale VS JONAH: Powerful showing from JONAH, now again in this show. Defeating Fale is another brick on the construction of this path on being the absolute monster of the STRONG division. The match wasn't very entertaining, but still adequate to see these two giants colliding. [**1/2]; Lance Archer VS Kazuchika Okada: How did Okada survived that? the way this match was booked was interesting. Almost every piece of it was dominated by Archer, watching him doing a dropkick and the rainmaker was great. Also, the respectful way it ended, made a lot of sense with the storytelling. Pretty satisfactory match. [***3/4]; Well, now the semifinals are all set on. I don't think there will be any surprises here. Okada will result as the final winner. This event was good, even if most of its matches weren't so good. I really liked the surprises and the different ways the every match evolved and ended. Good event. [****]"
[8.0] "Great ending to the first stage of the tournament, then the semifinals and FINALS! In terms of wrestling, unexpected turns and intrigue, there are no complaints, everything is as always on the level. But there are questions about some booking solutions. Why was it necessary to merge Zack Sabre like that, he went so beautifully in the tournament and did not deserve such an attitude at all. Bad Luck Fale does not pull tournaments and it would be better if he lost quickly. In general, of course, I was very satisfied, the semi-finalists are interesting and it seems that hype fights and real drama are waiting for us."
[8.0] "This is the show where they just threw everyone who hasn't had a last match on this card. It's a great show and I can't wait to watch the semi finals."
[7.0] "*Rating is for tournament matches only* Some good matches with the main being the pick of the bunch and a couple of mediocre ones. It was enjoyable enough in spite of the duds."
[8.0] "The best match of the night was Okada v Archer, and while that's the only match that I fully recommend, nearly every other match was at least decent to good, and I recommend watching the show in full. Other than the stinker that was Fale v Jonah, I have no idea why that was the Semi-Main Event, and that match I recommend skipping, as it was slow, plodding and boring even though it was under 10 minutes. Everything else though at least delivered in some way."
[6.0] "This was a pretty OK show to end the block nights, the matches were good in general but they could have been better, the event served it's purpose and made me a little bit more excited for the finals."
[7.0] "Although without any great matches, this 2022 G1 show had the greatest ratio of good matches and was therefore the best 'block night' show. Juice vs Ospreay was pretty good. Ospreay's bumps, movements, and attacks were great, though Juice was still good but underwhelming. A bit overkill with big move kick-outs, but Ospreay's awesome signature moves made for a great finish. ***1/4 - ***1/2. Shingo vs ELP was also pretty good. Their differing styles mixed together well, making for some cool exchanges and spots. ELP showed a good amount of heart as he withstood Shingo's best powerhouse attacks and responded with his own impactful and well-timed signature moves to score the upset. ***1/4 - ***1/2. Goto vs Evil was a foregone conclusion considering how unlikely Goto was as a block-winner, plus how I knew Evil couldn't finish with only 4 points. This was mostly just the same Evil song-and-dance, though at least Goto was a decently fiery babyface and he got some good hope spots before finally falling. **3/4. Naito vs Sabre was the 'surprisingly short' match I was anticipating, and they did very well teasing a lot of very convincing flash pins before Naito finally succeeded. Their post-match antics were great, too. Too short to rate. NR. Ishii vs Sanada was really good. Sanada's agile and smooth attacks were impressive, as were Ishii's stiff strikes and impactful power moves. They ended up having some very convincing near falls and trading some very good big moves back and forth at an engaging pace, making for an exciting final 1/3rd. A shame they didn't go longer. ***1/2. Jay vs Tama was really good and my MOTN. There was a long-term feud at play, and it developed here in very exciting fashion. Tama was a great fiery babyface as he constantly pursued Jay with his energetic and agile attacks, while Jay did very well responding with his sadistically brutal and powerful offence. Their various near falls and run-on counters in the final 1/3rd were great, leading to the awesome moment as Tama scored the upset and looked like a massive babyface as a result. ***1/2. Jonah vs Fale was a decent 'big man vs big man' match. Fale was as unathetlic and devoid of cardio as ever, though he at least put some intensity behind his big strikes, and Jonah carried the rest of the match with his relatively nimble movements and his own big strikes. Good story of Jonah struggling to lift Fale up but eventually getting the win shortly after finally doing so. ***. Okada vs Archer was yet another really good match, with both men doing a great job teasing that Archer might score the win, as was indeed possible and not just some far-off 'upset'. Archer's monster offence was great, leading to quite a few convincing near falls, while Okada sold fantastically and looked great hitting his own signature offence in the build up to his comeback. ***1/2. The semi-finals and various potential final combinations all look quite exciting (as long as Okada beats Tama, of course)."
[8.0] "Even though the order of the card was not ideal and there was no 5-star match as I expected, this was a really solid night, full of excitement and a few interesting surprises."
[7.0] "There were four really good to excellent matches on this show, but this was underwhelming for a Budokan event. Not a single match went over 14 minutes, and the entire event only lasted for two and a half hours. No match was given room to breathe, and while it makes sense to have a big match go under two minutes about once every couple years, you should not do it on a night when every other match is short. It could not have been a good decision to book this venue three nights in a row if they're only going to draw at a quarter capacity. But if the building is going to be so empty, at least let the crowd cheer! They should have got rid of these covid restrictions a year ago when everyone in Japan was vaccinated and covid was endemic, but these woefully outdated rules continue to hurt events in the big buildings, at least the ones outside of Osaka. Still, the right people won to set up the semifinals tomorrow."
"I loved this show , with ups and downs . The shockingly quick contest between naito and zsj was so unexpected but also very exciting . Sad for Goto and takagi . What a great tama Tonga vs Jay white"
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