Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

[10.0] "A slobberknocker, a hell of one honestly. My words won't be enough to describe how great it is the experience to watch that match, seriously, that is a individual experience everyone need to have. Even people that got tired of this style with tons of fighting spirit and kickouts at one need to necessary stand up and praise this match, because this a slobberknocker so fucking well builded. Shingo was living up his prime at 2019 and faced probably the best slobberknocker guy NJPW ever had, Stone Pitbull Tomohiro Ishii. Everything felt so in order, their style clicked so nice, Shingo punches looked like death and impressed me each time I pressed the replay buttom. Also, Ishii did a hell of a match, being the primary factor to help the crowd(super tired) care about this match, the emotion he brings showing himself as a beast and the guy he is facing being one as well helped to development this match, really, really amazing. Comparing it to the other slobberknocker he produced against Kota Ibushi, this one was less impressive when it comes to spots but also more controlled, Shingo did not made exagerate spots like Ibushi did to take out a reaction from the crowd that can even look forced. And the primary reason I am comparing those matches is the fact that they are both slobberknocker who happenned with a same guy on them and will have the same rating and the same stars. Yes, this is NOT a five stars match for me because of...perspective. I came to watch this match not feeling this would be a hell of a experience, I was actually forcing myself to know why this match had a rating so high on that site. I watched and I understood, it is indeed amazing, but I can't rate it as a five stars for me even knowing what I saw that week."

[10.0] ""I'm starting to question if either of these guys are human." Kevin Kelly with a legendary call that describes this G1 classic perfectly. A relentless paced classic in front of a perfect crowd. Two of the most consistent wrestlers of all time. If you need a banger these two will always deliver; no matter who their opponent is, they are gifting them perhaps the best mstch of their career. It's only right that together, they put on an all-timer. Shingo's 2019 is one of my favorite individual years that any pro wrestler has ever had. Ishii is an unbelievable model of consistency. Shingo's explosive moveset; Ishii's throat chops, a bunch of wild exchanges, guys just eating absolute bombs from their opponents and the hardest lariats you've ever seen in your life. This is a G1 match, but it's a match that the Never Openweight Title would be proud of. Almost more of a classic AJPW King's Road Style match; these two deliver one of my favorite matches of all time and a tournament defining classic."

[10.0] "Maybe the best NJPW match I've seen where the story is purely built around a stubborn need to be the toughest in the ring. Shingo and Ishii take turns giving each other heavy strikes, chops, and slams that flow wonderfully through the slugfest. There's a great sense of pacing: the match feels fast but you always have a moment to appreciate just how heavy each strike resonates in the ring. It'll be hard to find another brutal slugfest as exciting to watch as this one."

[10.0] "You want Japanese strong style? You watch Shingo Takagi vs Tomohiro Ishii. The dragon vs the stone pitbull was so hard hitting. So many punches and closelines, this match was intense. It was an awesome match."

[10.0] "It's everything you expect from two of NJPW's beefiest hard hitters in both Shingo and Tomohiro and it's just master class in every way. It's just everything you want from a perfect wrestling match."

[8.0] "Everything we've come to love from these two men. A straight-up bomb fest, hard-hitting at all turns, with little crescendos placed throughout the match. It's an irresistible force vs. an immovable object at its very best, and a love letter to the modern strong style New Japan has popularized. Flawed? Yes. Fun? 100% 4.25 Stars."

[8.0] "Fantastic match with two great wrestlers just battering the hell out of each other until they could barely stand anymore. The amount of punishment Ishii is able to endure and stay standing is out of this world..."

[9.0] "Exactly what I expected going into this is exactly what I got. Ishii and Shingo just running into eachother until one of them eventually falls and doesn't get up. Some hugely stiff lariats, chops and forearms are traded by both men, and even earlier in the match, Ishii just straight up kicks Shingo in the back of the head and chops him in the throat like 5 times. They do a bunch of no selling sequences and dueling kickouts at one during the final stretch, and there's even a super close nearfall after Shingo nails Ishii with the pumping bomber, before Shingo manages to hit the Last of the Dragon to pick up the win. I don't think this is perfect to be honest as it's a tad too long for an Ishii style match. Usually I find that his best matches are well under 20 minutes and basically get straight into the striking and insane shit that I want to see from Ishii matches. This one however, goes on for about 20 minutes and it takes a bit of time for the action to really kick into high gear, but when it does, it is absolutely brilliant. So despite that one flaw, I still think this match is amazing overall. ****1/2"

[7.0] "Ishii is one of my favorite wrestlers but outside of Ishii/Shibata 2013, I very much prefer his matches where his opponents aren't just trying to outstrike him or if there is at least some tangible story in the striking like with his matches with Honma. It's pretty much just 20 minutes of them trading strikes with the occasional big move which isn't interesting enough for me to agree with the 5.5 star rating from Meltzer and the >9 rating here. I would just rather watch his match with Shibata from 2013 if I wanted that and that ends in 12-13 minutes. It's a perfectly good match but I was expecting more based on these ratings."

[8.0] "The Shingo vs Ishii chemistry is always very good and guarantees good matches, this might even be the best match between them, but it's not mine, I'll take the later match in G1 31, maybe because I've seen that match before? Probably (****1/4)"

[10.0] "Amazing match. It was a brutal hard hitting slugfest between two of the best brawlers in the business right now. It's easily one of the best match of the tournament and definitely in my top 5 for best G1 29 matches. The pacing was great, layout and execution were excellent. The ending sequences were insane with back and forth lariats and insane one count Kickouts. It was an excellent 20 min display of physicality, technique and grit between the two baddest wrestlers on the planet. *****"

[10.0] "First of all I can't figure how the hell this match deserves 5, 5* for Meltzer, second what a fucking incredible banger! An epic war between two warriors that was truly outstanding from bell to bell. Everything from the chops to elbow strickes to the lariats looked brutal and both this Gods sold this like the fight of the Century. Must watch. *****"

[10.0] "Honestly it doesn't get better than this. If you want to make a fan of Shingo or Ishii show them this match and I guarantee they will be fans of both. Honestly if this were a last man standing match this would be considered the top 10 if not number one. This match is like Walter vs Dragonov and is arguably better than it. Shingo is still very underrated. Killer match and one of the best underrated."

"I enjoyed this match much more after watching it a second time. I would give it an 8.5, I will say Tomohiro Ishii doesn't strike me like he does others so I'm lower on this than others."

[10.0] "First thing's first - the commentary on this match is phenomenal. Playing up the history & anniversary of 8/8/88, and the mentorship of each performer that directly ties to it - before the bell even rang, this felt like a dream match just from how the commentators treated it. Secondly, I want to praise how well this match was structured. It belongs in the company of Hogan vs Warrior as a match that was structured to feel like the irresistible force vs the immovable object. With ample love to Hogan vs Warrior, this match hits harder & moves faster. The stakes aren't nearly as high, of course, but there are important stakes. This win legitimized Takagi as a Heavyweight threat, and a very welcome member to the G1 Climax for as long as he wants to participate. A very well earned 10/10, and a new entry into my personal Top 100."

[10.0] "Flawless match. Just flawless. Shingo spent his first year or so in the company running through junior heavyweights, and the G1 felt like his first real test to see just how tough he was compared to the bigger guys in the company. They lariat each other into oblivion and the crowd eat up every second of the action. Shingo really shows off his selling ability throughout the match, though he gives as good as he receives. Every time I rewatch this I have a giant grin on my face pretty much the entire time. Wonderful wrestling."

[5.0] "This kind of style is just not really for me, or at least this version of the style I guess. They hit hard for sure but not so hard that I was blown away or anything, and besides the striking there really wasn't anything much going on. It wasn't bad but it didn't excite me, hard to see how Meltzer could say this was better than say Austin/Bret."

[10.0] "This was one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament and it didn't disappoint one bit. I was worried this would be your usual Ishii match with a hundred forearm exchanges and the same old spots, but Shingo brought something totally different to the table. Shingo was already on fire from his outstanding match against Naito in his last block match, and now he wanted to prove he could beat one of the toughest strikers in New Japan. They started with some of the basic strong style spots but they quickly moved away from that. Their strikes exchanges had extra behind them and there was no downtime. All of Shingo's strikes such as those sick punches to the jaw and those amazing lariats were great. The strikes he threw where you could see Ishii's sweat fly off looked fantastic. Shingo was a total beast here. Ishii did what he does best and fought from underneath busting out all his big combinations to try and put Shingo away. Ishii could be so-so sometimes but he was game here. Great performance from the Stone Pitbull. The selling was exceptional. They sold their exhaustion perfectly. The fire-up and no-selling moments were done really well and built to exciting run-on sequences. Shingo hitting pumping bombers every which way was so good. This was 20 minutes+ of strong style bliss. *****"

[9.0] "This was the awesome first match that you'd expect from these two. Even though I don't see how it's seen as one of Ishii's best ever, since they don't really do anything different other than hit all their big moves and sell really well, it's a style of matchup that never gets old for me, fantastic match."

[10.0] "This was the business. It was everything you could want if you know Shingo Takagi and Tomohiro Ishii, and the crowd loved every second of it. So did I. *****"

[9.0] "A marvelous spectacle of stubbornness. I could have probably imagined this match and gotten pretty close to what happened in reality, but I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. No thigh slaps. No garbage spots. Only one guy came off the top rope lol. Nobody dove out the ring to a guy waiting to catch him. They never looked like actors or stuntmen. Its just two badass athletes, going head to head, in a test of wills. Everything they did to each other was focused on trying to win the match. Shingo trying to prove that he can hang with the heavies. Ishii trying to prove that he's the fucking man. So much good shit. Ishii slapping himself to pump himself back up. Ishii demanding that Shingo hit him in his neck as hard as he can because Ishii doesn? t think that Shingo can hurt him. Shingo obliges the Stone Pitbull. I love this match."

[9.0] "Any match that makes me laugh from how good it is gets at least an 8. This is a step up. Love these two."

[10.0] "A beautiful love letter to Choshu and Tenryu, with more layers than a croissant in Paris. Forgive me for that and focus instead on the fact that this was deeply personal' including their histories with Choshu and Tenryu themselves. And then there was the narrative that bound and divided them. The narrative was that Shingo Takagi's story was almost identical to that of Tomohiro Ishii. A narrative that Ishii clearly resented. While Takagi had to wait 16 years for his first G1 and nearly matched Ishii waiting 17, their paths couldn't have been more different. Takagi was a top star in Dragon Gate and a known commodity on the American independent scene. Ishii rose from obscurity. And when Takagi tried to beat Ishii at his own game and take his spot, the look in The Stone Pitbull's eyes said it all. As did the strong style beating he put on Takagi. If Shingo had any chance, he'd need to prove what makes him different' because there is only one Tomohiro Ishii and no one does it better. Defiant to the end, Ishii simply would not be defeated by a war of strikes. A phenomenal battle and a highlight of Shingo's career. 5 stars, 10 out of 10."

[10.0] "This match happened exactly 02 years ago and I wondered myself that why did I not consider this a great match in the last comment I made here. Now I truly feel it. They are monsters who tried to beat the hell out of each other. The pace was so great that it never felt too long. They know how to make it work and pop up the audience. The near falls, move exchange and kick out at 01 were all excellent. Some spots were really jaw-dropping. The first-time meeting and it could not be any better."

[10.0] "Best Shingo match? Yes. Best Ishii match? Yes. Best match of all time? It makes a pretty good case. You need to watch this contest, utter perfection. Hard hitting, brutal, well structured and not overdone (which is an important feature for any Japanese wrestling match that i believe to be worthy of 6. 75 stars). 3rd greatest match ever. As good as it gets. Trust me, you need to watch this one. ******3/4"

[10.0] "What a fucking war. Easily one of the best strong-style/slugfest matches you'll ever see, though that isn't surprising given the wrestlers involved. Shingo and Ishii just beat the living shit out of each other and it was amazing. The back and forth was amazing, the near falls were brilliant, and Ishii and Takagi had insane chemistry with one another. This was all about proving who the tougher bastard was, and in the end it was Shingo who managed to finally put down Ishii, though one would think it could've gone either way. Yet another classic in Shingo's G1 (as well as Ishii's) *****"

[9.0] "This is the kind of match which would be liked by audiences who loved two strong men made many impacts in the ring. They truly set each other on fire and they tried so hard to beat each other. (*****)"

[9.0] "A fantastic fight that featured two of my favorite wrestlers in New Japan. Ever since Shingo? s match with Ospreay, he? s become one of my favorite wrestlers and Ishii always puts on classics in the G1. This moved at a brisk pace and featured brutal exchanges. I? ve yet to see their rematch, but I can already tell it will be great from this. I really hope both men get a mega push soon, especially Ishii who has yet to win a major singles title, despite putting on the best matches in the company. 4. 75*"

[8.0] "Very good match but also very similar to other Ishii matches. I always had faith in Shingo so it wasn't really a surprise to me that he could hang with the best. They brought really good intensity and the "trash talking hosses" always makes me giggle in delight. But ultimately it had the same Ishii spots as always, and I wasn't blown away by Shingo's smoothness like I was in other matches. So, very good, those two delivered, but it didn't revolutionize pro wrestling (Ishii vs Shibata was way more revolutionary and had way more interesting ideas); just more of the same. I never thought I would say that, but at this point Ishii has to switch it up a little more (or maybe fight different opponents that bring a different style of match), because I am a bit tired."

[8.0] "This was the same bombfest style of match that Ishii has had ever since about 2013. Both men were incredibly physical and stiff, and they both sold their struggle and exhaustion very well, but I can't quite see how this is at all different -- let alone better -- than many of Ishii's classic 'strong-style' matches. It's two guys hitting each other really hard, and I can enjoy that to an extent, but for a match to be rated higher, I'm going to need more. I mean, this had all the staples of a big Ishii match: the 50/50 strike exchanges, the walk-directly-into-your-opponent's-strikes-to-show-how-tough-you-are spot, the mirrored purposeful no-selling, the mirrored collapsing due to exhaustion, etc. That's why it confuses me how this is getting such high ratings. I guess people just really loved the idea of Shingo and Ishii, two hard-hitting powerhouses, facing off, but I don't think this lived up to the hype. Were there some great interactions here? Of course. Was there anything extraordinary? No. Could they have a better match? I sure hope so, because a match like this, despite still being great, is relatively underwhelming when considering the talent of both men. Ishii just continues to dig himself further and further into his mould of being the guy who only has matches based around hard hits and fighting spirit, and this has massively diminishing returns because he re-uses the exact same spots and never really introduces anything new or unique. Some people may like that, but I get bored of seeing a wrestler give the exact same performance in every big match, even if that performance is relatively still very impressive. ****"

[8.0] "Arguably the greatest straight up Fighting Spirit slugfest we've gotten since the days of Shibata vs Ishii. It's an oft thrown around term in wrestling, but this truly was a war. Describing this match feels inappropriate and inadequate. They beat the absolute fuck out of each other and if you don't go out of your way to see this match you're robbing yourself. Shingo is now in both of my favorite G1 matches thus far, and in the two highest rated matches of the tournament on this site, and Ishii (as usual) is the most consistent man in all of wrestling. Shingo is an absolute star and if Shin Nihon doesn't move him up the card they're fucking morons. ****1/4"

[7.0] "I gave this match *** 3/4 stars out of five. Fun big beefy lad match, pretty much everything that I expected from these two. Strikes, suplexes and some power moves. Good stuff."

[10.0] "This match was like reading a really good book. It hooks you in, keeps you going, and when it's almost over, you desperately do not want it to end. For me, this was an all timer. There are very few times I am at a loss for words after a match, but this was one of them. I needed a cigarette once it was over. *****"

[10.0] "Brutal match. Both guys delivering stiff strikes to each other. Ishii matches are always highly entertaining and Shingo continues his run of great matches. ***** rating"

[8.0] "8. 1/10 - Best of G129 : Did these two men absolutely kill themselves for this match? Yes. Does that make it the instant classic it is currently rated as? No, not as far as my taste in wrestling goes. I guess this just ain't my type of a classic. a strikefest can only go so far for me no matter how utterly brutal, and make no mistake, this one was absolutely as nasty as it gets, but the fact that I could count all of its wrestling moves and maneuvers on my two hands leaves me unsatisfied. I guess me and 90% strikes matches still can't see eye to eye, no matter how irrefutably eye-popping their brutality is."

[10.0] "I was eagerly waiting for this match since the blocks were defined, and, man, these two did not disappoint. What a fuckin' battle, what an insane match. These two went all the way in an heavily fuelled fighting spirit bout and with their sick elbows, straight lariats and freakin' chop battles delivered a MOTY. The amount of bombs and intensity they displayed here has been simply unbelievable. Ishi worked his usual self in trying to intimidate the opponent with out of this world aggression, but Shingo never backed down and this created an awesome chemistry among them. And those last 5 minutes: this is what puroresu at his best is all about. Insane near falls work fine in making you jump on your seat not if they are spammed in every match, as unfortunately happens too much often, but when they are prepared and made credible by the right crescendo of crazy fights like this one. The double near fall at 1 was the peak of this perfect climax of intensity, stiffness and fighting spirit. Loved the post match as well, when they just weren't able to stop fighting each other. Ishi is a beast, and Shingo establishes himself as another star in New Japan. *****"

[7.0] "I feel like this was too repetitive and overreliant on lariats. I understand where all the love for this match come from, but apparantly it's not for me. If it was like 10 minutes shorter I probably would have liked it better."

[8.0] "You know exactly what you're getting with these two, even when they haven't faced each other before. It's 20+ minutes full of nasty hits & gnarly bombs, with it getting more intense & dramatic as it goes on. Some really good selling too by both guys. Definitely not my favorite kind of a match, but Shingo & Ishii certainly did it in WAY more interesting fashion than Ishii & Goto, for an example."

[10.0] "This match was fantastic, just incredible action and excitement from bell to bell. This was two of the best working their tails off to deliver one of many contenders for the best match of the tournament."

[8.0] "Proof that to have a great match you don't need to go 60 minutes, you don't need complicated reversals, you don't need twenty minutes of mat wrestling, you don't need interminable brawls and you don't need buckets of blood. If you look at this match there wasn't anything remotely complicated apart perhaps a couple of sequences by Takagi, and both men are hurting and tired from a long tournament in torrid weather. But as usual Ishii manages to squeeze the absolute maximum from his now limited moveset and Takagi's charisma and explosive strength did the rest. Very good match, could have gone a few minutes less but that's a very minor gripe."

[10.0] "That's it, I'm selling my soul to make Tomohiro Ishii and Shingo Takagi Heavyweight Champions in the future. This match was simply sensational, the hard-hitting contest was amazing, like the entire match. *****"

[8.0] "At first, I thought that this was going to be another generic, boring Ishii match where they? d forearm each other awkwardly for ages but it quickly went away from that and got much better. Shingo was on fire here, really stepping up the intensity against Ishi. The punches to the jaw of Ishii looked nasty and Ishii sold them like a champ. The strikes he threw where you could see the sweat flying off them were so good. Ishii fighting from beneath, trying to throw any combination he could is his bread and butter and he was great again here. The closing stretch was nuts too. Now it? s pretty clear that Shingo and Ishii will face again for the NEVER openweight title and I? m excited to see that. Great main event. ****"

[10.0] "One of the best matches of this tournament. A large number of hard hits, chops and powerful lariats. Feel the spirit of the 90s. ****3/4"

[10.0] "Well fuck that was a MOTY banger. 4 3/4. Possible match of the tournament right up there with Ospreay/Okada."

[10.0] "This was probably my most anticipated match of the entire tournament and it absolutely delivered. Classic strong style hoss match. These two took no breaks, went all out for the entire match and just completely battered each other. Easily my favourite match of the G1 so far and a very strong MOTY contender."

[8.0] "We already saw that many times at this point, it's your typical Ishii hoss fight. Hard hitting, intense, good build up for some quicker sequences ect... So nothing new really, I prefer to see them with different type of opponents to create something unique but they're just great at it, it's undeniable. But even together I think they can do better."

[10.0] "This was amazing. It felt more like an AJPW match than an NJPW match, which made it more special and unique. It had the grit and grime of a 90s-style Kings Road bout. In that sense, it was an intense drama reminiscent of a good western movie, but at the same time, it had a lot of intricacies and psychology to it. *****"

[10.0] "Classic hoss fight between the two. The expectations were very high on this, I don't think it lived up to it but it's mainly because the expectations were MOTY, still really great match tho. (****1/2)"

[8.0] "To tell the truth, this match did not meet my expectations. It felt that both of them had reservations, although the Ishii's injured ear had some effect. Early feeling a little drag, later explosive point less."

[10.0] "This was my most anticipated match of the entire G1 and boy did it deliver. Hard-hitting, perfectly paced hoss action with some genuinely jaw-dropping moments, mixed with truly phenomenal selling from both men, and a simple story makes this an absolute blast to watch. Match of the Tournament so far. (*****)"