NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Night 8 (July 24) - B BLOCK: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best

5. Hirooki Goto Vs. Taichi

Eesh.

The trick with enjoying most of Taichi matches in this year’s G1 Climax is to accept that little will feel overtly important until he tears away his trousers to reveal the tights.In this case, it worked in reverse, and to the dullest possible extreme.

Proffering the sort of performance many feared when he was first announced for the tournament, the Suzuki-gun sh*thouse went about his cheating in a “methodical” style almost WWE in delivery. Hirooki Goto, meanwhile wasn’t anywhere near the babyface he needed to be during comebacks nor attempts to diffuse his lesser foe’s passable Kawada tribute shots. Unfortunately for the LA Dojo cheerleader, this has been the story of his tournament, particularly as some of the hungrier wolves of A Block begin to bare their teeth at the halfway mark.

Goto’s yet to suffer a savaging, but he looks prime bait for one on evidence here, particularly considering how little the booking cared for him in taking this moribund low blow loss.