John Pollock ranks the 91 matches from the G1 Climax

General
1

Originally published at https://www.postwrestling.com/2018/08/15/john-pollock-ranks-the-91-matches-from-the-g1-climax/

As promised, here is my list I compiled throughout our coverage of the G1 Climax.

If you have your own top ten list (or beyond that number), please post in the comments section.

For members of the POST Wrestling Café, we produced 19 podcasts covering every day of the tournament. For members of the Café, you can access every show from our archive by joining.

  1. Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii (Day 14, Aug. 4th)

  2. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi (Day 18, Aug. 12th)

  3. Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito (Day 2, July 15th)

  4. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (Day 17, Aug. 10th)

  5. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kota Ibushi (Day 10, July 28th)

  6. Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi (Day 18, Aug. 11th)

  7. Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito (Day 14, Aug. 4th)

  8. Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Day 2, July 15th)

  9. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto (Day 6, July 21st)

  10. Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin (Day 11, July 30th)

  11. Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii (Day 4, July 19th)

  12. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki (Day 1, July 14th)

  13. Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto (Day 4, July 19th)

  14. Kenny Omega vs. Sanada (Day 10, July 28th)

  15. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Sanada (Day 18, Aug. 12th)

  16. Tetsuya Naito vs. Juice Robinson (Day 6, July 22nd)

  17. Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Day 12, Aug. 1st)

  18. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Michael Elgin (Day 15, Aug. 5th)

  19. Kazuchika Okada vs. Yoshi-Hashi (Day 9, July 27th)

  20. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tomohiro Ishii (Day 8, July 26th)


  1. Sanada vs. Kota Ibushi (Day 8, July 26th)

  2. Sanada vs. Tetsuya Naito (Day 16, Aug. 8th)

  3. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito (Day 18, Aug. 11th)

  4. Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL (Day 15, Aug. 5th)

  5. Michael Elgin vs. EVIL (Day 1, July 14th)

  6. Sanada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Day 6, July 21st)

  7. Sanada vs. Hirooki Goto (Day 2, July 15th)

  8. Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki (Day 13, Aug. 2nd)

  9. Zack Sabre Jr. vs Juice Robinson (Day 14, Aug. 4th)

  10. Kota Ibushi vs. Juice Robinson (Day 4, July 19th)

  11. Michael Elgin vs. Yoshi-Hashi (Day 7, July 22nd)

  12. Kota Ibushi vs. Hirooki Goto (Day 12, Aug. 1st)

  13. Michael Elgin vs. Minoru Suzuki (Day 9, July 27th)

  14. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Juice Robinson (Day 16, Aug. 8th)

  15. Kota Ibushi vs. Toru Yano (Day 6, July 21st)

  16. Jay White vs. Hangman Page (Day 11, July 30th)

  17. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yoshi-Hashi (Day 11, July 30th)

  18. Kenny Omega vs. Toru Yano (Day 16, Aug. 8th)

  19. Tetsuya Naito vs. Tama Tonga (Day 8, July 26th)

  20. EVIL vs. Hangman Page (Day 9, July 27th)

  21. Kota Ibushi vs. Tama Tonga (Day 16, Aug. 8th)

  22. Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White (Day 1, July 14th)

  23. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hirooki Goto (Day 16, Aug. 8th)

  24. Hangman Page vs. Michael Elgin (Day 3, July 16th)

  25. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL (Day 14, Aug. 2nd)

  26. Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Toru Yano (Day 4, July 19th)

  27. Hirooki Goto vs. Juice Robinson (Day 18, Aug. 11th)

  28. Kenny Omega vs. Juice Robinson (Day 8, July 26th)

  29. Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto (Day 10, July 28th)

  30. Minoru Suzuki vs. Hangman Page (Day 15, Aug. 5th)


  1. Minoru Suzuki vs. EVIL (Day 11, July 30th)

  2. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe (Day 9, July 27th)

  3. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page (July 20th, Day 5)

  4. Kenny Omega vs. Tama Tonga (Day 6, July 22nd)

  5. Kazuchika Okada vs. Togi Makabe (Day 7, July 22nd)

  6. Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki (Day 3, July 16th)

  7. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hangman Page (Day 7, July 22nd)

  8. Juice Robinson vs. Sanada (Day 12, Aug. 1st)

  9. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano (Day 2, July 15th)

  10. Jay White vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (Day 3, July 16th)

  11. Hangman Page vs. Yoshi-Hashi (Day 17, Aug. 10th)

  12. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale (Day 5, July 20th)

  13. Michael Elgin vs. Jay White (Day 5, July 20th)

  14. Jay White vs. Togi Makabe (Day 15, Aug. 5th)

  15. Bad Luck Fale vs. Yoshi-Hashi (Day 15, Aug. 5th)

  16. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tama Tonga (Day 12, Aug. 1st)

  17. Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale (Day 13, Aug. 2nd)

  18. Jay White vs. EVIL (Day 17, Aug. 10th)

  19. Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano (Day 12, Aug. 1st)

  20. Minoru Suzuki vs. Bad Luck Fale (Day 17, Aug. 10th)


  1. Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano (Day 10, July 28th)

  2. Jay White vs. Minoru Suzuki (Day 7, July 22nd)

  3. Michael Elgin vs. Togi Makabe (Day 17, Aug. 10th)

  4. EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale (Day 7, July 22nd)

  5. Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale (Day 3, July 16th)

  6. Minoru Suzuki vs. Yoshi-Hashi (Day 5, July 20th)

  7. Hangman Page vs. Togi Makabe (Day 13, Aug. 2nd)

  8. Jay White vs. Yoshi-Hashi (Day 13, Aug. 2nd)

  9. Togi Makabe vs. Yoshi-Hashi (Day 1, July 14th)

  10. Tama Tonga vs. Sanada (Day 4, July 19th)

  11. EVIL vs. Togi Makabe (Day 5, July 20th)

  12. EVIL vs. Yoshi-Hashi (Day 3, July 16th)

  13. Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano (Day 8, July 26th)

  14. Sanada vs. Toru Yano (Day 14, Aug. 4th)

  15. Tama Tonga vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Day 10, July 28th)

  16. Tama Tonga vs. Juice Robinson (Day 2, July 15th)

  17. Hangman Page vs. Bad Luck Fale (Day 1, July 14th)

  18. Bad Luck Fale vs. Togi Makabe (Day 11, July 30th)

  19. Tama Tonga vs. Hirooki Goto (Day 14, Aug. 4th)

  20. Bad Luck Fale vs. Jay White (Day 9, July 27nd)

  21. Tama Tonga vs. Toru Yano (Day 18, Aug. 11th)

2 Likes
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  1. Kenny Omega vs. Tomohiro Ishii
  2. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kota Ibushi
  3. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
  4. Kenny Omega vs Kota Ibushi
  5. Tetsuya Naito vs Tomohiro Ishii
  6. Hirooki Goto vs Tomohiro Ishii
  7. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
  8. Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito
  9. Minoru Suzuki vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
  10. Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kota Ibushi
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Thanks for sharing John. I probably saw less than half of the matches in total, so I’ll just call these my “favorites” of the 20 or so that I saw without purporting them to be the best.

  1. Omega vs. Ishii
  2. Ibushi vs. Tanahashi
  3. Tanahashi vs. Okada
  4. Omega vs. Ibushi
  5. ZSJ vs. Naito

Really tricky for me to rate the Tama Tonga and Bad Luck Fale matches. They weren’t very good wrestling matches, especially when comparing them to the upper echelon matches from this year’s G1, but I also don’t want to penalize them too much for telling a larger story. It’s in the same family as Lesnar/Goldberg from Survivor Series 2016. That’s nowhere near a “great match” by any Meltzer-like metric, but it’s definitely in my personal top 10 (probably top 5) WWE matches of that year.

4

You forgot Melina vs Alicia Fox.

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tyb John. Watched all the G1 matches, respect your list.

looks like I’m a much bigger Suzuki fan than you are!

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If you just look at this list without watching any of the matches, it is really misleading.

Legitimately, the only matches I would class as actively “bad” are the bottom four. If you watch #87 between Fale and Hangman Page, it’s a perfectly fine match. It shows you the depth of this tournament and for Minoru Suzuki to have four matches in the Top 50 is a solid outing.

The depth of matches was insane for this tournament and it by the end, I was looking at how low some perfectly quality matches ended up ranking and it emphasizes that depth.

1 Like
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@johnpollock Here’s my 91…

  1. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
  2. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kota Ibushi
  3. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kenny Omega
  4. Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi
  5. Tetsuya Naito vs. Kota Ibushi
  6. Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr
  7. Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii
  8. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada
  9. Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito
  10. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre Jr
  11. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Sanada
  12. Hirooki Goto vs. Sanada
  13. Kenny Omega vs. Sanada
  14. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki
  15. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tetsuya Naito
  16. Hirooki Goto vs. Kenny Omega
  17. Kazuchika Okada vs. Minoru Suzuki
  18. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Michael Elgin
  19. Hirooki Goto vs. Kota Ibushi
  20. Kenny Omega vs. Zack Sabre Jr
  21. Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr
  22. Juice Robinson vs. Hirooki Goto
  23. Hangman Page vs. Minoru Suzuki
  24. Kazuchika Okada vs. EVIL
  25. EVIL vs. Hangman Page
  26. Michael Elgin vs. Kazuchika Okada
  27. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hangman Page
  28. Michael Elgin vs. EVIL
  29. Hirooki Goto vs. Zack Sabre Jr
  30. Michael Elgin vs. Hangman Page
  31. Sanada vs. Kota Ibushi
  32. Sanada vs. Zack Sabre Jr
  33. Juice Robinson vs. Zack Sabre Jr
  34. Juice Robinson vs. Tomohiro Ishii
  35. Michael Elgin vs. Minoru Suzuki
  36. Kazuchika Okada vs. Yoshi-Hashi
  37. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL
  38. Jay White vs. Hangman Page
  39. Michael Elgin vs. Yoshi-Hashi
  40. Togi Makabe vs. Kazuchika Okada
  41. Juice Robinson vs. Kenny Omega
  42. Juice Robinson vs. Kota Ibushi
  43. Yoshi-Hashi vs. Hangman Page
  44. Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki
  45. Juice Robinson vs. Tetsuya Naito
  46. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White
  47. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano
  48. Jay White vs. Yoshi-Hashi
  49. Juice Robinson vs. Sanada
  50. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yoshi-Hashi
  51. Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito
  52. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe
  53. Kazuchika Okada vs. Hangman Page
  54. EVIL vs. Minoru Suzuki
  55. Tetsuya Naito vs. Sanada
  56. Jay White vs. EVIL
  57. Michael Elgin vs. Jay White
  58. Yoshi-Hashi vs. EVIL
  59. Toru Yano vs. Zack Sabre Jr
  60. Yoshi-Hashi vs. Minoru Suzuki
  61. Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White
  62. Bad Luck Fale vs. Minoru Suzuki
  63. Yoshi-Hashi vs. Bad Luck Fale
  64. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale
  65. Jay White vs. Minoru Suzuki
  66. Toru Yano vs. Tetsuya Naito
  67. Toru Yano vs. Sanada
  68. Togi Makabe vs. EVIL
  69. Togi Makabe vs. Hangman Page
  70. Togi Makabe vs. Yoshi-Hashi
  71. Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale
  72. Kota Ibushi vs. Tama Tonga
  73. Toru Yano vs. Kenny Omega
  74. Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tama Tonga
  75. Kenny Omega vs. Tama Tonga
  76. Toru Yano vs. Kota Ibushi
  77. Togi Makabe vs. Michael Elgin
  78. Jay White vs. Togi Makabe
  79. Hirooki Goto vs. Tama Tonga
  80. Michael Elgin vs. Bad Luck Fale
  81. Tama Tonga vs. Zack Sabre Jr
  82. Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano
  83. Tetsuya Naito vs. Tama Tonga
  84. EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale
  85. Sanada vs. Tama Tonga
  86. Juice Robinson vs. Tama Tonga
  87. Jay White vs. Bad Luck Fale
  88. Bad Luck Fale vs. Hangman Page
  89. Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga
  90. Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale
  91. Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano