Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii

[9.0] "Had that David v Goliath feel, Ishii needing to overcome what was clearly a massive onslaught from Elgin. Ishii displaying that grit, determination and never say die attitude we all love. Competitive match that was engaging and captivating. A true highlight of the tournament."

[7.0] "A good match between two big men, who will test each other throughout the match to see who is the strongest. There's everything you'd expect from them, with the crowd completely invested, especially when Ishii gets up from Elgin's big holds. A good G1 climax match, without a doubt."

[7.0] "Really good match between elgin and ishii which is not a surprise because their styles mesh well. It was exactly what it needed to be, a bombfest. This match had 0 dull moments. The powerbomb into the guardrail is my favourite spot from the match. *** 3/4"

[10.0] "Exactly what I want to see from Ishii and I would have given this match a full score if it wasn't finished at the peak of the excitement. After a serie of strickes Elgin started destroying Ishii's body but in the finish the Stone Pitbull didn't wanna quit and after some Strong Style he won after the Brainbuster. What a match. ****3/4"

[9.0] "Absolute slobberknocker. Ishii went to war with a total beast in Michel Elgin. The powerbomb against the barricade was a brutal spot. This was a fast-paced hoss fight although one of the hosses was a lot smaller in stature."

[9.0] "This was a great strong style match like you'd expect these two beasts to have. Elgin's power moves looked absolutely insane. You almost never see Ishii thrown around like he was here. Elgin's running powerbomb into the guardrail looked killer and so did his huge falcon arrow. Elgin's forearms looked like they could be knockouts and Ishii sold them tremendously. Honestly my favorite part of this might be Ishii's selling. He was so good at working from underneath and timing his big moves. Like his headbutt underneath Elgin's jaw. They were given only 14 minutes and paced it real well. Not far off from some of Ishii's best strong style bouts. ****1/2"

[9.0] "WHAT A MATCH! An all-out war with shades of Kenta Kobashi vs. Dr. Death Steve Williams! And yet another absolute CLASSIC Tomohiro Ishii versus The Super Heavyweights match! Much like his incredible encounters with Chris Hero and Keith Lee, Ishii was the ultimate underdog in a match where the undersized powerhouse gave up considerable weight and strength to the opponent. That simply sold this story more, however, as Ishii fought the uphill battle to overcome one of the strongest wrestlers that he has ever stepped into the ring with. He took immeasurable punishment, including some of the stiffest strikes I have seen The Stone Pitbull endure and a Powerbomb into the steel guardrail that made my stomach turn. As for his offense, Ishii knew exactly what to unload at just the right moments. His signature headbutt under the chin was downright unsettling. And while I wish this match were longer as a fan who wanted more, this is what wrestling is all about: The realistic notion that a fight could end at any moment! And Ishii sang a story of absolutely magical notes from start to glorious finish. I will always be a sucker for Ishii versus The Super Heavyweights, and this one stands out among the best. Genuinely struggling to give this anything less than five stars, match length be damned. I'll settle on 4.75 stars, 9.5 out of 10. Unbelievable!"

[9.0] "Elgin had something to prove in his last block match, and he definitely delivered against Ishii in this packed 14 minute brawl. He busted all kinds of shit I never see him do years later, really really enjoyed this ****1/2."

[10.0] "An absolutely epic war. The match that out Elgin on the map for NJPW and for good reason. This was just pure slugging and action and everything you could want from these guys. They'd eventually have an equal level rematch but this is still one of the best of G1 25 ****3/4"

[8.0] "What time is it? It's clobberin' time, that's what time it is. And that's what this match was about; two dudes clobbering each other. It was great."

[9.0] "They delivered and then some. These two are great, no doubt about that and their styles are really similar so it's no wonder that these two put on this good of a match. Traditional Shin Nihon hard-hitting affair, not really much more to say there except I felt Elgin's one count kickout wasn't done as well as it could have been. Usually I love them but I don't think it worked that well. Great match nonetheless. (****1/2)"

[8.0] "**** Very good and enjoyable match especially for a powerhouse one. Michael Elgin is a great performer and can make good matches with almost anyone. Great psychology between those two. I loved the moment when Elgin was suplexed and get back easily. Very well built."

[9.0] "On any other night this would have been the MOTN, and it was definitely close in quality to Okada vs Nakamura, but I preferred Okada vs Nakamura's style and pacing a bit more than this. Still, Elgin vs Ishii was amazing on its own, and certainly established Elgin as a big deal in Japan. He was up against one of the stiffest wrestlers in the world and was on his level the entire time. In fact, I'd say Elgin outperformed Ishii, simply because he completely shocked the crowd. Both men displayed amazing strength, resilience, and passion. These two were screaming at each other almost as much as they were smacking each other. Once they figured out that they were so evenly matched they started trying to prove who was the most resilient by offering to take the other's strikes. I love fighting spirit moments such as that, and there were plenty of them. That feeling of self-confidence and power they create is just so contagious. The individual strikes and power moves from these men were incredible, and when they pulled off a sequence of these such strikes and power moves it was absolutely insane. This was the perfect example of a strong style battle, because it felt like a total war. Amazing match by two amazing wrestlers. Elgin gave a fantastic display for the Japanese crowd, and they definitely knew what he was about after this match. ****1/4"

[10.0] "Pretty sure Elgin tried at one point tried to make this a straight up fight. The G1 25 was huge for Elgin as he instantly got over with his hoss style of fighting which is always appreciated in Japan, so of course in this match Elgin got really good heat. The performance both guys in this match put on was amazing as it was just a straight up brawl of moves and elbows. Ishii is always the small tough guy in the ring who will fuck you up if you come at him, but this match was the complete opposite with Ishii practically being dominated by Big Mike for most of the match. Elgin really brought the pain as he delivered nasty and devastating moves to poor old Pitbull. Fortunately, after a number of finishers, Ishii finally put the big boy down, ****3/4."

[9.0] "Great stiff war between two big guys. This was a dream match for many and it delivered. Gotta say I've never been on the Elgin train, but he was pretty great here. And Ishii was Ishii as always. ****"

[7.0] "I gave this match *** 3/4 stars out of 5. Really good match between two powerhouse strikers. Very enjoyable and highly recommended."

[10.0] "This match totally blew me away, I hadn't seen that much of Elgin but holy god that man is power incarnate, makes even a guy like Cena seem weak by comparison. The way he was able to throw ultra-dense Ishii around was eye popping, and of course Ishii rose to the challenge with great gusto. This match made me cheer for certain wrestling tropes I usually avoid, but when you've got two wrecking balls like this smashing into each other I can actually watch a kickout at 1 and not roll my eyes. Incredibly hard hitting with stupendous spots to highlight the unique talents of these men."

[7.0] "A good fun hard hitting match. I'm a big fan of Ishii and I haven't really seen too much of Elgin, just the few ROH matches but he did a good job here and pulled his own well. Some great power moves and a great build in tension. Not amazing and i've seen better similarly built bouts but it was still good. My rating ***3/4."

[7.0] "Very good match. They beat the hell out of each other, they're also good storytellers in my opinion. It's been funny."

[8.0] "This was awesome. Just two total monsters throwing bombs at each other. Only reason I am not going to give this a ****+ rating is because I feel like they went little too far with the big moves and nearfalls in the match, but it was definitely an awesome match anyway. ***1/2."

[10.0] "This was just a war and a fucking great one. Hypothetically, if this match had to go on after Okada vs Nakamura it could've and I don't think anyone would be upset. I'm so proud of Elgin and this career resurgence he's had in this tournament. He really fits in with njpw. He clicks in his matches and the fans love him. Hope to see more of him in japan down the line. Would love to see that Elgin vs Nakamura we didn't get to see along with ones maybe against Styles and Tanahashi. ****3/4. Simply incredible"

[10.0] "Holy shit, this was fantastic; when it was done all I could think is that they put this on too early, because now three matches have to follow this. The insanity of these two strong ass men beating the hell out of each other for 14-minutes was something to behold. This was an Ishii+ match (shades of work with Goto and Honma, but different and a bit more reckless at times in a good way), with Elgin continuing his great run of performances and looking to earn a spot here. Elgin got to look fantastic with his power stuff, including a running powerbomb on the floor and then a dead lift into a falcon arrow suplex off of the ropes. His power stuff has gotten over so well that the crowds “ooh and ahh” now. Elgin got a ton of time to shine, Ishii got to sell for him (which I previously spoke about being an underrated aspect of his game) and they had a spectacular crowd. This was must see, and is in the upper tier of G1 matches for 2015. Ishii picked up the win, but this was one of those performances where Elgin lost nothing and will likely be better off overall. This was Elgin’s best single’s performance is a long time, and would have been a welcomed main event to any big time show this year."