Did the NJPW-ROH promoted G1 Supercard live up to the hype?
The NJPW-ROH produced G1 Supercard was a watershed moment in professional wrestling. It was the first non-WWE wrestling event to be held in the iconic venue of Madison Square Garden.
We always refer to MSG as WWE's home, as the promotion has close ties to the city of New York, with Vince McMahon Sr. running shows at the Garden during the territory days. The arena has hosted numerous WWE events, including the inaugural WrestleMania and SummerSlam.
But things started souring between WWE and MSG when the company decided to hold shows at the Barclays Center whenever they came to the New York-New Jersey area.
Although the company tried to stop the G1 Supercard from happening after it was officially announced, there wasn't much the company could do after the MSG management decided to greenlight the very first non-WWE wrestling event in the Garden's six-plus decades history.
It was New Japan's biggest show in the North American market and the very first time that Ring of Honor was running a show in such a large building. This show ended up being the highest attended ROH show ever. The show had a lot of buzz and hype around it. So let's see whether or not it managed to live up to the humungous expectations.
If one were to sum the G1 Supercard in one word, it would most probably be 'underwhelming'. Despite the massive buzz and the humongous expectations, the G1 Supercard failed to live up to the hype and while it wasn't necessarily a bad show, it wasn't the stellar show which many were expecting it to be.
While the New Japan matches on the card were the highlight of the show, ROH's felt a little bit underwhelming, with the exception of the Triple Threat Ladder Match for the ROH World Championship.
The segment involving the Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) was something totally unnecessary and could've been done on ROH TV. The less said about the Mega Ran-Bully Ray segment, the better.
Although ROH and New Japan aren't exactly known for their high production value, the production was sub-par even by their standards. The match of the night was Okada Vs Jay White for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, followed by Naito Vs Ibushii for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.
Overall, the G1 Supercard is an event that will be remembered for years to come due to it's importance to the wrestling world and not necessarily for the wrestling itself, which was quite underwhelming.