These two had one of my favorite matches of 2019 at last years G1, so naturally this one was one of the most appealing looking matches for me in this years tourney. The starting dynamic is very different compared to that of the bout from last year -- now KENTA is a full-blown asshole who loves to be a prick any & every chance he gets. He largely was on top for majority of the match, and I thought his work doing that was really good; the legwork was awesome, especially with his always vicious looking & sounding kicks. Tana of course absolutely rules when he has to fight from underneath; his charisma shines so much with that pride & emotion showing in every comeback bit he gets. Really liked the Cloverleaf finish too! It was a very nice little "screw you" to KENTA whose main gameplan was to target Tana's knee, but in the end it was him who had to tap out to a submission targeted towards his legs. Made all the sense in the world too, since Tana's best flurries started with those Dragon Screws. A real good piece of business all around, and a highlight thus far in the tournament. ***3/4

One of the rare instances where the overbooking didn't take away from the match and actually added to it. Tanahashi is just such a terrific babyface and KENTA can be a great jerk. Smartly-worked and highly effective.

****