Best Show of 2014: NEW JAPAN G1 CLIMAX 24 DAY 8

August 3rd from Osaka, Japan

Maybe it was because WWE buried Daniel Bryan and pissed off its fans this past year or maybe it was because New Japan finally started offering their shows live in the U.S. online on UStream. Whatever the reason, NJPW became the wrestling promotion to watch, talk about, and love this year. The style is different (no comedy gimmicks, for one) but the wrestling is top notch. Two guys, one fight, no run-ins, no screw-job finishes, no fluff. Just entertaining, dramatic, intense wrestling. And there was nothing better in wrestling than the G1 tournament this past summer. Twelve shows between July 21st and August 10th (21 days). Every show had at least one classic match, but Day 8 had the most. The show opened with another great Ishii match (against Davey Boy Smith, Jr.). Goto and Naito had a terrific match. AJ Styles and Lance Archer was a great match. Makabe and Suzuki was awesome. Honma (my, and the crowd's, personal favorite) and Shibata was stellar. And Tanahashi and Nakamura had an excellent match to end the show. This show was loaded. It was insane how many great matches were on this one show. The thing about NJPW matches is that they just build and build until the final flurry of intense, back and forth action. After seeing and feeling this roller-coaster ride of emotion and suspense and action match after match you just have to sit back and take a breather. One of the best shows ever in the greatest wrestling tournament ever. Legendary indeed.