70. Taichi vs. Tomohiro Ishii – NJPW G1 Climax 10/5/20
Their G1 Climax match last year was outstanding so I had high hopes for this one. At first, it seemed like Taichi would take the Jay White route and just kick back and relax for a while. Then, he came out with a kick that angered Ishii and let you know that this would be something of a war. It reminded me a lot of what they did last year and I mean that in the best possible way. I wanted more action like that and they gave it to me. It felt like Taichi was again out to prove that he was tougher and better than Ishii. It was only when they started to fail that he opted to go a different route. He hid behind the referee and hit a low blow but that was mostly it for his cheating. Ishii’s determination to never back down or go down remains incredible. Taichi doing what he could to match that was great. In the end, they traded big blows with Ishii finally scoring the win with the Brainbuster after 18:42. That proved to be great. A notch below last year’s outing but still one of the better tourney bouts. [****]