Ishii v. Shibata (G1 Day 4)

Holy hell, I wish I was independently wealthy so I could just sit at home all week and watch NJPW.  I’m obviously way behind on the G1 Climax and it’s this non-stop hedonistic celebration of ****+ matches.  Anyway, Shibata has been rocking this whole new style of pro wrestling, kind of like they took Joe v. Kobashi and built an entire genre around it, and this is his second ***** match this year by my count.  There’s two sequences here that are just mind-blowing:  The first one is where they’re DARING each other to throw the hardest shots they can and just beating the hell out of each other, and the second is where they trade german suplexes and then Ishii just FUCKS HIM UP with a lariat that’s like something out of 90s All Japan.  I have no idea how they can continue to put themselves through this kind of abuse, but it’s just awesome stuff.