NJPW G1 Climax 2018, Week 1: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best

9. Togi Makabe Vs YOSHI-HASHI (July 14th)

Kenny Omega Tetsuya Naito
NJPW

Rating: ***1/4

Kicking off this year's entire tournament looking like he'd already been through a full cycle of sh*t-kickings, YOSHI-HASHI's taped shoulders betrayed some incredible spirit shown against a Togi Makabe unwilling to drop points so soon in the tournament.

Togi's resilience wore HASHI down - Makabe fired back from an a exceptional series of finishers to cave his opponent's face in on the steel post ahead of a sickening spider suplex. The King Kong knee drop finished the job and dented the already-knackered 'Head Hunter's chances of snaring an unlikely place in the finals.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett