Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii

[6.0] "Definitivamente una lucha satisfactoria se notaba que ambos buscaban la victoria y me gustó el desempeño de ambos una lucha donde el público igualmente fue la protagonista y no tiene mucha duración a diferencia de otras luchas de NJPW."

[8.0] "This was a good main event. They performed hard-hitting moves the whole match and it was fun to watch."

[7.0] "I am not a fan of Open Weight style hoss fights. Just like some hate spotfests I am bored by tank battles. I prefer more variety in moves and intelligent counters. Here all fightback boils down to fighting spirit."

[9.0] "One of the great G1 hoss fests. It starts off somewhat tame, but the pace quickly turns up about 5 levels when both guys just start crashing into eachother and going strike for strike. What puts this above other matches that attempt to imitate this style though is the selling. Ishii is especially great in this regard; I loved how he sold Goto's initial flurry of kicks like death and even sold the effects of them after he had started to invite a few in. Goto was also great at this too. There's a point where Ishii levels him with a huge forearm and he just crumbles to the mat. Towards the end, the match ramps up in intensity, with both guys getting increasingly desperate and in turn going increasingly harder until Ishii is able to land a brainbuster for the win. This is just fantastic. It's the exact match you'd expect them to have but thanks to some great performances from both guys and a rabid Korakuen atmosphere, this ends up being truly great. ****1/2"

[10.0] "One of the most hard hitting strike matches I ever saw in my life, holy fucking shit. The execution right there was good enough to make you believe that Goto isn't the weak one in that match, it's just Ishii that it's so insane. Goto tried everything that Ishii did, but it wasn't effectful enough to beat him. Insane match and crazy how the booking of that tournament is incredible, at the point I'm talking, Ibushi, Naito, Ishii and SANADA have 4 points. Crazy to think about that. Anyway, this is a five stars match for me and surprising me, match of the night."

[9.0] "A great addition to the big men slapping meat catalog. I would be very curious to find out what percentage of this one is made up of shoulder tackles and closelines. Nothing fancy in this one just stiff strikes and some big power moves towards the end. What it lacks in diversity it makes up in brutality. This one is stiff and both men lay every strike in. Tons of fun. 4.5 stars."

[9.0] "Excellent match between these two stablemates, neither backing down until one couldn't get up before a loud Korakuen Hall."

[10.0] "This was a BRUTAL war. Just a bunch of strikes, closelines, and suplexes. Ishii and Goto put on a heavyweight slugfest. The match was very intense from start to end. Ishii came out as the big dog in the match. It was awesome."

[9.0] "This match wasn't really as hard as people claim it to be but it was good nevertheless. Of the course the Lariats and chops were good but they missed the 5* mark for me ending the match at <20 min. Great bout but there are better Ishii's Hoss fights out there. ****1/2"

[9.0] "In a sense, this one is lost a bit in the grand scheme, because it's overshadowed by the loaded 2018 G1. Both men's matches with Omega from the tournament, in particular, have been given their flowers, but this one shines equally as bright. These two guys hit the living shit out of each other and captivated the whole building in just 18 minutes of thrilling action, bell to bell. Not a quintessentail 5 star classic just because these two have been doing this match for years at this point, but its certainly their best stab at it. 4.75 Stars."

[7.0] "This is the typical Ishii strikefest that you'll see when he faces an opponent that wants to play the same game as him. A bunch of strikes in the first part, then mix in a couple of power moves in the second half to get to the finish. A satisfactory match but not essential unless you really like this style of match."

[9.0] "this match isn't talked about enough. two CHAOS titans going at it, taking each other to their limit. some of the stiffest forearms, kicks and chops being thrown. the pace at which these two went at was incredible. Goto's kicks to Ishii's chest sounded lethal. Ishii looked like a fucking beast surviving everything. the shoot headbutt sequence was insane. the crowd was going mental and popped for Ishii's win. just a classic Japanese strong style bout. [****3/4]"

[10.0] "This is a bit of a forgotten G1 classic that people don't seem to talk about. It's tremendous. Ishii is the best seller of this generation, it's as simple as that, he just makes it seem so real. Goto's best match no question about it. *****"

[9.0] "Goto and Ishii have a lot of great matches together but no one expected it to bang THIS hard this time around. They hit each other really hard, hit all of their best moves and the crowd was insanely hot for it, what more does a man need (Goto should've won though) ****3/4"

[10.0] "One of my Top 5 favorite matches of all-time. Two of the greatest brawlers to ever do it went to war with incredibly high stakes at the G1. Pride is always on the line between these CHAOS stablemates, but this one was just... Different. Raw and genuine emotion that brought me to tears at times because I was blessed to know how much this match meant to both characters. Ishii and Goto... Two of the best. And this was a masterpiece. Five stars, 10 out of 10."

[6.0] "This didn't do much for me apart from making me wince at some of the hard strikes. If you've seen one big Ishii match, then you have seen them all. It's all big bombs and nothing else. Goto mirrors Ishii and it doesn't create an interesting dynamic. It's just too lads trading shots in an effort to figure out who has the bigger dick. The crowd is hot and the strikes are hard, but I need more than that in my wrestling. It's still entertaining, but I wouldn't call it a great match by any stretch of the imagination."

[8.0] "This is not a classic to me but damn it was absolutely excellent. It's everything that I want to see in NJPW's main event, this was well built, we had some great opposition and great exchanges, they never lost time. Excellent match. ****1/4"

[8.0] "Very good match and just shy of that 5 star rating. Really good stuff but needed a bit more of it and trial and error to reach the 5 star level. Close to it, but just not quite there. ****3/4 ((man i love Ishii))"

[9.0] "What a match. Fantastic performances from both Ishii and Goto. A nice throwback of sorts to the NEVER open weight matches a few years back. It had a great, fast pace throughout. A few great elbow and chop sequences. Great displays of fighting spirit and amazing selling from both Ishii and Goto. Selling every chop and elbow but never stopping or showing signs of showing down . Neither wanted to show weakness to the other. Crowd went mental for it and so did I. It was by far the best match in the G1 so far. Goto has had an incredible G1 so far, all his matches have been in my top three of the G1. Amazing run and Ishii has been good to. F? N love the G1. ****1/2"

[9.0] "This was a great hard hitting match. Ishii is probably the most outstanding brawler on the planet. Goto is good but everything he does seems to lack something ( i can't put a word in it) and he doesn't have that it factor that truly makes a wrestler special. It was stiff, hard hitting with a tremendous amount of showmanship and of course both men trying to out do each other and prove that they were the biggest badass inside the square ring. ****3/4"

[9.0] "This was an incredibly stiff, hard-hitting match that built to a fever pitch. Not quite Shibata and Ishii from 2013 but it's in the same category. ****3/4"

[10.0] "Holy crap that was a perfect match! Battle of the strong styles! They killed each other. They told a tremendous story on who was the toughest, meanest SOB! The Korakuen Hall crowd was hot too! *****1/4"

[7.0] "The match is good, but at the same time, by the end of his monotony, he made me bored. Reevaluated Duel"

[8.0] "It's fairly basic the first few minutes with one really good forearm exchange. The two hit plenty of stiff chops, forearms, and clubbing shots throughout the match. I liked how Ishii was disrespecting Goto and mocking him. I like the aspect of one challenging the other to attack and then giving their best shots then vice versa. The strikes were really good and I liked the audibility. There was a good atmosphere for the latter half of the match. The lariat exchange where they nailed each other with repeated lariats until they both collapsed was pretty great. The match got better past the 10 minute mark when the two sped up a bit. A really cool spot was the stalling avalanche brainbuster by Ishii. There were a few good counter chains that got pops from the crowd. There were a few good to great nearfalls like when Ishii kicked out after Shouten Kai or Goto after a sliding Lariat. The finish was good. The match hit its peak by the last three minutes. I feel a bit underwhelmed and it wasn't the greatest strong style match I've ever seen but still really good."

[8.0] "8. 15/10 - #11 Best of G128 : They killed each other FFS ! Eye-gouging action by two strong style warriors, I just feel like matches like this need more than just chops and kicks to go to the next level. Say what you want but for me that's almost never enough, so even if these guys almost carved holes in each others' bodies, the match itself didn't carry much enjoyment to my heart."

[10.0] "The best match of the G1 28 with no doubt about it. Cinder Block Tom is always the MVP of the G1s, it's so sad that he probably will never have a IWGP Heavyweight Championship run, and so do Goto... But still, I'm not a fan of giving matches a rate above 5 stars, but this match realy deserves it! This is the best match I've ever seen in my entire life. *****1/2"

[8.0] "A very good smackfest between two of the best strong style wrestlers around. It drags a little, and there's nothing five stars here, but a great main event and fighting spirit exhibition. ****"

[10.0] "This match was awesome. The only downside was the use of the stiff headbutts. Sadly, the lessons of Shibata seem like they will not be learned."

[7.0] "Well done for an Ishii match. Solid pacing and consistent action, a few solid bumps, fairly enjoyable but nothing special. It's very rare that I enjoy an Ishii match, so he and Goto deserve credit for that"

[10.0] "This is strong style and fighting spirit taken to the extreme. Ishii and Goto just destroyed each other with ferocious energy. And while a lot of people can go out there and start stiffing each other, only a select few like these two possess the selling abilities, sheer charisma and aura required to create magic using forearms, clotheslines and headbutts. Just a brutal and exhilarating war. *****"

[7.0] "Both men startin off rough, as I would expect. For a while it seems like Goto has no idea what to do in order to beat Ishii, as his chops have practically no effect against him. He tries to kick the shit out of his chest, which seems to Ishii's kryptonite. That's where my problem with this match is - instead of kicking Ishii's chest more, Goto decides to use not very effective chops and also goes for a lot of sleeper holds. Instead of trying to get the clear win, he tries to prove himself against Ishii, which doesn't make much sense at all. However, it was fun watching this stiff match."

[6.0] "I gave this match *** stars out of five. I liked the match but it was mostly a strikefest (granted it had a lot of energy and excitement). I can't go higher because it wasn't versatile enough for my taste."

[2.0] "I figured this would be the full out stiff-fest, no strategy, full bushido psychology strong strong dick measuring contest, and while that's not my favorite style, I can appreciate why people dig it. There's a certain bullish logic to it, two guys just agree to smash into each other until one of them falls down. I thought it was good all the way until close to the end, where they started straight up smashing their skulls together, and I'm sorry, Shibata is too fresh in my mind. That really ruined the match for me, and guys this good really have no need to stoop to such dangerous tactics. I know I'm the way, way outlier here but this wasn't fun for me."

[10.0] "This was such a strong battle. All the stiff forearm strikes, chops, suplex's, and lariats made it into an excellent match. This was a hoss fight. A fucking war. *****"

[7.0] "Near a full and solid 8. Pretty awesome in the first 5 minutes and the last 5 minutes. What I don't really appreciated is what happens between those incredible 10 minutes of pure action and power. They slowed the pace of the match so much that it didn't felt right, but what really disappointed me was the fact that they kept on overselling when they were supposed to keep and raise the pace of the match. A pretty good match which is extremely overrated also because the crowd was on fire and because, despite what people say about high-flying wrestling, everybody gets pumped up when they get to watch two powerhouses fighting each other. It was a good match but nothing more to me."

[10.0] "Joint Match of the Tournament so far along with Naito vs Omega. Two of the most underrated wrestlers in NJPW showing why they deserve more. Brilliant match, 5 star wrestling."

[8.0] "Pretty good as far as strong style hoss matches go. Not a scratch on Ishii/Shibata 2013, but certainly among the best of the rest. Absolutely nothing you haven't seen a million times before from either guy, but a hot crowd and some great nearfalls make it stand out from the other Ishii/Goto/Shibata style slugfests we've seen over the years."

[10.0] "Quite honestly one of my favorite G1 matches ever and my favorite Goto match of all time. This man is on a mission this year in the G1 putting on killer match after killer match, just like this one with his CHAOS stablemate, Ishii. These two beat the living hell out of each other and it was beautiful. The lengths both men were willing to go to prove that they were tougher than the other. With the forearm exchanges, lariat battles, and devastating suplexes. This a match you should go out of your way to watch if you're just into two grown men fighting for 20 minutes. An Unbelievable encounter. *****"

[10.0] "If you know what was Ishii 2015 Never Open-weight title run you know what was this match. Two guys with problems in admiting that they are hurt just try to prove who is the toughest. No doges, just hard hits. 4 3/4 Stars."

[10.0] "If i needed to show someone what strong style is i would usually show them a Shibata vs Ishii match, but from now on i think this match is what i'll show. Great selling by both men, fantastic performance by Ishii and a wonderful main event."

[8.0] "An absolutely awesome smackfest, with great Korakuen atmosphere, great facial expressions, selling & some very neat little touches by Ishii. ***3/4"

[10.0] "That is for sure the greatest strong style match I've ever seen. Only 1-2 nearfalls, if any with them going 100% the entire time. What they did was so simple and yet so well executed that this could well be Match of the Year so far, had it not been for Omega/Okada. I think this tops Shibata/Ishii G1 23 honestly. I can't say enough good things about this, this is a must watch. (*****)"

[9.0] "Very good match. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as most other people but still think it was really good, especially towards the end where you could feel the urgency. I always have a hard time at the start of these matches where they basically do the same thing for about 7-9 minutes, clothesline into each other over and over again but when they pick up pace and start one-upping each other these matches get really interesting and intriguing as you feel they could end at any time. But at the end of the day, I don't feel like this had anything to put it on that amazing level, for that I preferred the Ishii/Elgin match from the New Japan Cup which seemed like a better version of this to me. Don't get me wrong, this is really good, just not as good as the other ratings are suggesting, in my opinion. ****1/4"

[8.0] "Extremely hard hitting, back-and-forth battle between a pitbull and a rottweiler trying to rip each other's head off. Just brutal and I must say FUN stuff. Great, great chemistry between these two."

[10.0] "An incredible match with two CHAOS members going all out once again on each other. There was no bones about it, this was all meat and all power colliding against each other at a fast pace for almost 20 minutes. I loved watching this live, and I loved it even more watching it hours later. That said though, what is keeping me from going all the way on this match is the lack of drama, ****3/4."

[10.0] "Two very stiff boys beat each other in the Climax. And every single second of it was incredible (*****)."

[10.0] "Yeah, the synonym of Strong style. These 2 beat the heck out of each other and it is always a joy to watch. So energetic from the start to the finish with chops, lariat, headbutts, etc. This couldn't be any better. Top 3 matches of G1 for sure."

[10.0] "Incredible match! Goto and Ishii showed a masterpiece. One of the best matches of this tournament. *****"

[10.0] "They smacked the fuck out of each other again. Goto is the mvp of this tournament so far as he's given great performances every time out. Ishii was his usual awesome self and man was he excited to fight his chaos stablemate. They traded bomb after bomb with the crowd getting hyped for each shot. My favorite spot was them trading counters to their finishers as it was just so smooth and they played up the exhaustion. Must watch match, ****3/4"

[10.0] "Wow just amazing stuff and probably the best Goto/Ishii thus far. One of the best of the tourney. Hopefully we see Goto/Ishii for the title soon, would be a great WK match ****3/4"