First of all, let me say that this isn't some perfect method of determining who had the best tournament, but it is a helpful guide. It's not going to necessarily tell you who the best wrestler is, but it is meant to show who had the best matches on average, and thus, the best tournament. But that's just one way of doing things. Some wrestlers lower on the list will peak higher than some on the list above, but that's just how it goes. Consistency is the name of the game here.
I also shouldn't have to say this, but some people get mad if you don't disclose that anything you say about this completely subjective art form is just personal opinion. And it is! It's using my subjective match scores to try and create an objective ranking for myself, but of course it's not perfect. Sometimes the numbers do lie and I'm given a list that makes me recoil (like in the 2020 G1 when I had Ospreay, a wrestler I don't like, ranked in 2nd place behind Tanahashi), but the numbers are what they are. It's just data!
Boltin Oleg and Yuya Uemura were robbed of a final match due to Uemura's injury. I added up the scores of their other eight matches to get an average rating, to attempt to fairly give them some closure. Oleg's average came to 3. Oleg's adjusted score is 27, putting him at tied for 6th in B Block and tied for 9th overall. Uemura's average came to 3.18, which I rounded up to 3.25. Uemura's adjusted score is 28.75, putting him at third in B Block and tied for 5th overall.
The list w/ adjusted scores for Oleg and Uemura
- KONOSUKE TAKESHITA – 29.75
- Great-O-Khan – 29.5
- El Phantasmo – 29.5
- Shingo Takagi – 29
- Yuya Uemura – 28.75
- Gabe Kidd – 28.75
- Hirooki Goto – 28.25
- HENARE – 27.5
- Jeff Cobb – 27
- Boltin Oleg – 27
- Zack Sabre Jr. – 26.75
- David Finlay – 26.75
- Yota Tsuji – 26.5
- Jake Lee – 25
- Shota Umino – 24.25
- Ren Narita – 24.25
- Tetsuya Naito – 23.75
- SANADA – 23.25
- Callum Newman – 23
- EVIL – 21.25
Things were intensely competitive, and 1st place changed hands multiple times. O-Khan held it for most of the tournament, but Shingo caught him and even overtook him at one stage, but O-Khan got the A Block crown back with raw consistency. Zack's placement (in the bottom half!) is surprising to me, but his terrible match with Shota Umino dragged him down (through no fault of Zack's own, as the blame for that lies entirely with Shota) and did irreparable damage. B Block trends much higher overall, and indeed had the higher peak, but in terms of match quality things were generally quite even. A Block was great when it was any pairing of Gabe/Zack/Shingo/O-Khan but EVIL, SANADA, Jake Lee, and to a lesser extent, Naito and Newman were a very, very rough other half. B Block was much more well balanced overall, with only Narita's matches being particularly rough on average.
Top 10 Block Matches (my rating in parenthesis)
- B Block: Yuya Uemura vs HENARE (4)
- A Block: Gabe Kidd vs Shingo Takagi (4)
- B Block: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs Yuya Uemura (4)
- A Block: Gabe Kidd vs Zack Sabre Jr. (3.75)
- B Block: Ren Narita vs El Phantasmo (3.75)
- A Block: Gabe Kidd vs Great-O-Khan (3.75)
- A Block: Shingo Takagi vs Great-O-Khan (3.75)
- A Block: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Tetsuya Naito (3.75)
- B Block: El Phantasmo vs KONOSUKE TAKESHITA (3.5)
- B Block: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs Hirooki Goto (3.5)
HM: A Block: Zack Sabre Jr. vs Great-O-Khan (3.5)
Bottom 10 Block Matches
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A Block: Gabe Kidd vs Tetsuya Naito (2)
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A Block: EVIL vs Tetsuya Naito (2)
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A Block: Jake Lee vs Tetsuya Naito (2)
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B Block: Yuya Uemura vs David Finlay (1.75)
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B Block: Ren Narita vs Jeff Cobb (1.75)
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B Block: Ren Narita vs Yota Tsuji (1.75)
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A Block: EVIL vs Shota Umino (1.5)
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A Block: Shota Umino vs Zack Sabre Jr. (1.5)
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A Block: EVIL vs SANADA (1.5)
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A Block: Callum Newman vs Jake Lee (1.5)
Each Person's Best Block Matches
A Block
- Great-O-Khan: Gabe Kidd
- Shingo Takagi: Gabe Kidd
- Gabe Kidd: Shingo Takagi
- Zack Sabre Jr.: Gabe Kidd
- Jake Lee: Gabe Kidd
- Shota Umino: Great-O-Khan
- Tetsuya Naito: Zack Sabre Jr.
- SANADA: Zack Sabre Jr.
- Callum Newman: Great-O-Khan
- EVIL: Gabe Kidd
Half of the block had their best matches with Gabe Kidd. Very impressive from him!
B Block
- KONOSUKE TAKESHITA: Yuya Uemura
- El Phantasmo: Ren Narita
- Yuya Uemura: HENARE
- Hirooki Goto: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA
- HENARE: Yuya Uemura
- Jeff Cobb: El Phantasmo
- Boltin Oleg: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA
- David Finlay: Hirooki Goto
- Yota Tsuji: El Phantasmo
- Ren Narita: El Phantasmo
Each Person's Worst Block Matches
A Block
- Great-O-Khan: SANADA
- Shingo Takagi: EVIL
- Gabe Kidd: Tetsuya Naito
- Zack Sabre Jr.: Shota Umino
- Jake Lee: Callum Newman
- Shota Umino: Zack Sabre Jr.
- Tetsuya Naito: Jake Lee
- SANADA: EVIL
- Callum Newman: Jake Lee
- EVIL: SANADA
B Block
- KONOSUKE TAKESHITA: Ren Narita
- El Phantasmo: Yuya Uemura
- Yuya Uemura: David Finlay
- Hirooki Goto: HENARE
- HENARE: David Finlay
- Jeff Cobb: Ren Narita
- Boltin Oleg: Ren Narita
- David Finlay: Yuya Uemura
- Yota Tsuji: Ren Narita
- Ren Narita: Yota Tsuji
There's the data! I know some of this stuff differs from common consensus (like I'm guessing most people would have TAKESHITA vs ELP higher in best match? And certainly wouldn't have some like Shota vs Zack and Finlay vs Uemura in worst?) but that's what makes opinions so interesting. This is only the third time I have watched literally every single G1 match and rated them (2020, last year and this year) and I enjoy gathering data. At some point I'll rewatch and re-rate every other G1, but that's obviously quite the undertaking. A multi-decade project, even! But this is just one year of many. I won't comment on the G1 overall, as obviously the playoffs are a crucial part of the feeling of an overall G1, but my feelings are positive on this G1. Discuss the data, let me know what you think. Ask any questions you might have.
by SSJ5Gogetenks