NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Night 2 (July 13) - B BLOCK: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best

5. Hirooki Goto Vs. Jay White

An ill-fitting main event for B Block's first night, the second singles meeting between Hirooki Goto and Jay White this year featured lots of industrious effort and a reasonably satisfying conclusion for the well-respected Goto, but it struggled to reach the drama of the clash at the other end of the card.

White occupies such a strange space on the NJPW roster at the moment - as a recent former IWGP Heavyweight Champion, he's permitted to have the confidence and cockiness of a man that could win the entire tournament, not least after toppling both Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada in last year's event. Here though, the story relied not on White's intoxicating arrogance but the babyface fire of Hirooki Goto. A fire that, regrettably, never ran wild.

On commentary, Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero worked overtime to get the story of Goto's refined look and regenerated attitude over (Goto sported an LA Dojo t-shirt en route to the ring as the pair discussed his important relationship with Katsuyori Shibata), but the in-ring wasn't quite as effective. An enjoyable finishing sequence was engineered to deliver a big ending for the match, if not the card itself.