19 Ups & 4 Downs From NJPW G1 Climax 2019

2. Things Get Incredible In Osaka (Night 13)

Bad Luck Fale vs. KENTA was a Bad Luck Fale match. It reeked. Fortunately, New Japan got it out of the way early doors on night 13, allowing the evening's more interesting performers to soar in an awesome four-match run that must go down as one of the strongest in the G1 Climax's recent history.

It began with Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Lance Archer, in which the tiny vegan crawled over his carnivorous Texan stablemate like a spider monkey, looking for openings with his sharp submission game. A simple format but an effective one, ending with the scalpal-wielding technical surgeon cutting the colossus down.

Afterwards, in a move that should surprise absolutely nobody at this point, Will Ospreay had another wrestler's best G1 match as he and EVIL went to battle, delivering one of the tournament's hottest closing stretches. Then came Tanahashi vs. Ibushi. A rematch of last year's final, it saw the Ace put up a brave, valiant fight against a man he must know has overtaken him, given the pure disdain in each disrespectful slap.

The best was saved for last. In the main event, SANADA finally bested Kazuchika Okada at the seventh time of asking, putting the IWGP Heavyweight Champion away with just 13 seconds remaining on the clock. It was stellar, stellar stuff. 'The Rainmaker' screaming himself hoarse, desperate for SANADA to finally rise up and realise his promise, was a moment to go down amongst the year's finest - as will 'Cold Skull' squeezing the life out of his opponent with those third-act Skull Ends.