NJPW G1 Climax 2018, Week 3: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best

14. Tetsuya Naito Vs. Hirooki Goto (28 July)

Tomohrio Ishii Kota Ibushi
NJPW

Rating: ***

A match cursed by its position on the card, tournament standouts Tetsuya Naito and Hirooki Goto couldn’t reignite a crowd briefly burned out by the instant classic assembled just minutes earlier by Kota Ibushi and Tomohiro Ishii.

What followed was better-than-average battle that couldn’t excel beyond itself. Goto kicking out of The Destino offered momentary mayhem, but it quickly dissolved as Naito finished the job. Another ‘Tranquilo’ display from the LIJ leader left him in touching distance of B Block leader Kenny Omega.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. 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