NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Night 14 (August 4) - B BLOCK: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best
3. Tomohiro Ishii Vs. Toru Yano
A decent-ish battle between Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano ultimate underwhelmed, as much due to its refusal to commit to either trope it chased throughout.
Last year, Yano dropped the ‘Sublime Master Thief’ act for his tournament opener against the ‘Stone Pitbull’, pulling his weight in one of the 2018 G1’s first major surprises. It was a thriller - Ishii, ever-ready, seemingly couldn’t quite believe the task in front of him and worked harder than most to topple his Chaos colleague. Yano’s mask gradually slipped that year, but it was half-on/half-off here, which was very much the problem.
Punctuating his sh*thouse spots with suplexes and earnest pinning attempts, Yano ended up in his longest match thus far, and subsequently outstayed his welcome.
Pragmatically, it was at least as close to a night off as Ishii would ever want to take. He absorbed more punishment than every other Yano foe thus far, but less than he would have in any other clash in the Block. This (and his two points in victory) can be considered positive, if nothing else.