19 Ups & 4 Downs From NJPW G1 Climax 2019

1. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! (Finals)

He's back. Katsuyori f*ckin' Shibata is back.

KENTA turned heel as he, YOSHI-HASHI, and Tomohiro Ishii teamed to face Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Bad Luck Fale on finals night. Abandoning the six-man tag, he sparked revulsion around Nippon Budokan by screwing a promotion he'd always feel like an outsider in. He embraced his pariah's role, finally, destroying the hapless CHAOS members.

And out came 'The Wrestler.'

Shibata was on fire - and so were the crowd. He stiffed the hell out of KENTA as if he'd never been away and while he took no notable head bumps, his onslaught was incredible. This was the Shibata of old - the impossibly hard, ruthless ronin with feet and fists like pistons - and he brutalised his former charge.

But the numbers game was too much. Of course it was. Bullet Club and their new man overwhelmed Shibata, and KENTA, that bastard, rubbed salt in the wound by taking Shibata's signature cross-legged pose on his chest, having symbolically owned his old meal ticket.

There are so many layers to this that a single column entry can't do justice. Shibata, the black sheep of old, who'd finally earned New Japan's respect before his career was cut tragically short, had been betrayed by the new interloper. He was the only reason KENTA had been brought into NJPW, yet the former Pro Wrestling NOAH ace thought nothing of that. Nothing. That's why he ran down, that's why he attacked with such fervour, and that's why, if it can happen, Shibata vs. KENTA could headline one of January's two Tokyo Dome shows.

Enjoy this moment regardless of whether or not Shibata has been cleared to compete again. Drink it in. Let it wash over you.

This is it. This is professional wrestling.