Tetsuya Naito vs. Togi Makabe

[5.0] "Tetsuya Naito -vs- Togi Makabe – (G1 Climax – Block A) [** 1/2] Too ordinary to stand-out. Solid, very typical New Japan wrestling. Not anything more than these two wouldn’t do in any half-big singles match. But of course you can’t go all-out all the time. Secure Naito along with Togi aggression."

[6.0] "So Makabe's taken four of their five G-1 contests; those days are over. Naito worked hard to create a fine match that did have a couple of kinks to separate it from the pack. First, early they fought t/out the venue whose hall is like a large soundstage and/or nuclear fallout shelter. Second, after much effort Makabe hit the Spider German; as he has not done so in the majority of his losses it leads one to think that Togi might then connect w/ the 'King Kong' kneedrop, but it as not to be. I must add that the second application of the 'Destino' is a bit awkward as Naito picks-up his severely wounded opponent, has him stand-still while Naito does his twisting thing all to hit an even stronger reverse neckbreaker. If Goto can lose to a neck-thrust chokeslam and not take the 'Bad Luck Fall, ' Makabe can be pinned after one 'Destino. ' Afterwards Naito antagonized and spit-on commentator Honma. ***"

[6.0] "Within the confines of this G1, this match was fine but nothing overwhelmingly special. That said, I did enjoy this match somewhat although it was pretty forgettable in general. (***1/4)"

[7.0] "I don't expect any Togi Makabe match to be good, so I was pretty surprised I ended up enjoying this quite a bit! A very positive surprise - him & Naito had a fun, good, enjoyable match. ***"