NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Night 6 (July 19) - B BLOCK: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best
2. Hirooki Goto Vs. Tetsuya Naito
All the commentary talk of Hirooki Goto sharpening himself in time for this year's G1 Climax has at times felt exactly that - all talk. Here, with a Tetsuya Naito desperate for points, he finally levelled back up to the upper echelon.
A furious counter war late on lead to Goto dodging countless Destino attempts, chipping away at the Los Ingobernables de Japon leader with his reverse GTR and some neck-snapping Ushiguroshis. It took two of Naito's finishers to get the job done, which - as with the Juice Robinson/Jeff Cobb battle earlier in the night - did almost as much as for the loser as it did the winner.
Goto's story feels unfinished and likely to go unfulfilled, but this match could prove to be the turning point of Tetsuya Naito's entire life. To win A Block, he'll have to catch up with the other point leaders and keep pace with the rest of the field, but the end of that journey is in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom two years after he failed in the very same spot.
The time for taking any more losses has surely come to an end.