28th July 2015.
We’re in Beppu, Japan. This show has a lot of pressure to live up to Day Five. A day of action, excitement and drama that totally overshadowed every other G1 show. Everything from the early news that Shinsuke Nakamura had an elbow injury to the phenomenal AJ Styles-Kota Ibushi match to the Tetsuya Naito fully blown heel turn assault on Hiroshi Tanahashi’s neck. It was a day that turned the blocks on their head and dispelled almost everything we knew about the structure of this year’s G1. The first four nights featured a lot of good wrestling but Day Five was ridiculously good. There’s still plenty to look forward to on this show with Nakamura making his return from injury, hopefully of sound body, to face Michael Elgin. Plus Okada vs. Kojima and someone’s 100% record must go as Tomohiro Ishii faces Karl Anderson. Here are the blocks before we get underway: BLOCK A: AJ Styles 4 Hiroshi Tanahashi 4 Tetsuya Naito 4 Kota Ibushi 4 Bad Luck Fale 4 Katsuyori Shibata 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Togi Makabe 2 Toru Yano 2 Doc Gallows 0 BLOCK B: Karl Anderson 4 Kazuchika Okada 4 Tomohiro Ishii 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Hirooki Goto 2 Satoshi Kojima 2 Shinsuke Nakamura 2 Yujiro Takahashi 0 Tomoaki Honma 0 Michael Elgin 0 Ryusuke Taguchi, Jay White & David Finlay vs. Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Captain New Japan Ok, this is wrong. This was supposed to be Taguchi & Finlay vs. Liger & Tiger Mask. Jay got bumped off the card when Nakamura was injured so it might just be an apology to him for that. Captain New Japan is a strange addition however as he was tagging with Tanahashi and Naito against the Bullet Club. Keeping me intrigued by just swapping undercard tags around are we, NJPW? This is definitely Liger Country. This is evident from the reaction to him at the opening bell. Liger spends most of the match putting young boys in their place and ignoring the pleas of Captain New Japan for a tag. He’s seen this useless twat wrestle before. If it was just young boys vs. Liger & company it’d be a decent match. Unfortunately Taguchi and his obsession with asses ruins everything. Liger stomping Captain New Japan because of his failure made me laugh though. Liger is a strict disciplinarian. Taguchi’s attempts at mimicking Nakamura made me sad. Why is Taguchi so bad at everything? Taguchi aside the match works effectively because of Liger’s discipline and Tiger Mask remembering that the Tiger Driver is his finisher and not doing it at some random point before the end of the match. I want to see Liger vs. Captain New Japan where Liger beats the piss out of the Captain to show him how to work. Final Rating: **1/2 Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Cody Hall) vs. CHAOS (Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) Gallows vs. Yano is on the card for Day Seven. Yano has some serious facial damage from Tenzan’s headbutt. A plaster covers the cut on his forehead but he’s sporting a horrific looking black eye too. His source of amusement here is slapping Doc on his bald head before hiding in the ropes. “BREAK, BREAK, BREAK, BREAK. BREEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK. BREEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKK”. Doc takes it out on poor YOSHI-HASHI. Yano’s secondary approach is bashing Doc into the exposed buckle, pointing at himself repeatedly and working Gallows’ ears. He might be a rubbish wrestler but Yano is a born entertainer. YOSHI-HASHI has Cody’s number, pinning him for the second time on this tour. TACOS has actually won three pinfalls on undercard tags now. This match wasn’t very good but at least the characters made sense and I love Doc giving the rookie Hall a dressing down after the match. Final Rating: *1/4 Katsuyori Shibata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yohei Komatsu vs. Kota Ibushi, Togi Makabe & Mascara Dorada Shibata vs. Ibushi is probably the pick of the contests for Day Seven, even if the headline match is AJ vs. Naito. I’m really looking forward to Shibata vs. Ibushi. Tenzan vs. Makabe, less so, although that’s a match with more interest than the already hyped Gallows vs. Yano. Tenzan also has a plaster and a black eye. He needs to work on the diving headbutt, it seems. In order to not brain himself and others. Tenzan and Togi absolutely wail on each other from the bell, making me want to see their singles match tomorrow. Neither man is willing to back down an inch and that could be a sleeper hit. Shibata-Ibushi starts out with intrigue attached. They miss with kicks both ways before Shibata hooks and maintains a headlock. As if to say, “I’m going to out-wrestle you tomorrow and there isn’t a god damn thing you can do about”. Shibata’s elbow is still taped up and he’s sporting a bruise by his eye and Ibushi has fingers bandaged together. The G1 has been a damaging affair and we’ve barely even started. Shibata is terrific throughout the match, constantly looking at ways to beat Ibushi. To the point where he virtually ignores strikes from Dorada, to see how it phases Kota. Komatsu has a good match too, eager to test Dorada’s ability and paying for it with a series of careless bumps from the luchadore. Combine this with the battling Tenzan-Makabe duel and it all ties together quite nicely. Dorada ends up getting the pin on Yohei and Ibushi noticeably got the biggest pops. Final Rating: *** Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito & Michael Elgin vs. Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga) I’m watching this on a delay, so I can’t confirm anything but this is extremely bad news. Elgin, due to face Shinsuke Nakamura, is in an undercard six man tag. That’s bad, as it probably means Nakamura’s tournament is over. One thing that does do is blow the whole tournament wide open as Block B looked pretty cut and dry. AJ yells something to Tanahashi about it being “just you and me now”. It’s entirely logical that one of those two gentlemen will now be winning the G1. AJ also notes that Naito is unlikely to help Tanahashi in this match. Ain’t that the truth. Naito turned heel on Tana on the last show. Tana has to forcibly tag Naito in, as he’s not really interested in the concept of tag team wrestling. You can’t blame him really, competing in tags diminishes his strength and energy levels for the big G1 matches. It’s wise to just conserve energy and sit these out. Seeing as Tana can’t work alone Elgin totally babyfaces his way through the match as Tanahashi’s mate. They don’t do much of a job of selling tomorrow’s matches as Tana vs. Fale is just heat and AJ vs. Naito barely even happens due to Naito’s indifference. Tranquillo, Japoneses! There’s a brilliant moment where Naito tags himself in and wipes out all of Bullet Club in about thirty seconds flat. It’s Naito’s way of saying; I could win this match by myself, if I could be bothered. Naito picks Tama off with his new finisher and that’s the end of Bullet Club’s interest in tonight’s tag action. Naito’s character is really starting to click now, after a few poor showings. Turning him full-blown heel makes him a better personality. I still find him hard to get invested in because he looks so lazy. Naito seems more interested in his hat than the match. Final Rating: **3/4 Tangent: I quickly looked up a news site to see what the deal was with Nakamura’s injury. He’s had to forfeit tonight’s match but he’s not out of the tournament as they want to see how serious the injury is before making a decision. That sounds suspiciously like a work. They needed to get some better heat onto Nakamura’s tournament as everyone just considered him a banker, after dropping the IC belt. Due to New Japan’s past issues surrounding tournament injuries I think they’ve spotted an opportunity to work one. Especially with the match Nakamura was ‘injured’ during being so innocuous and without dangerous spots. G1 Climax Block B Yuji Nagata vs. Yujiro Takahashi Pre-match pick: Yujiro. I’m doing everything I can to play down Yujiro’s involvement in this tournament and yet he has to win a few matches and he’s been blanked so far. Criticism of Yujiro’s tour skank means he turns up with just Cody Hall in tow. Bring back Mao! You’d think given Yujiro’s amateur experience that he’d be able to contest the match on the ground with Nagata. But that’s not the kind of wrestler that Yujiro is. Instead he bites Nagata’s hand. Also Cody interferes for the second time in the tournament. That doesn’t sit well with me and is met with absolute silence from the crowd. They’re so mad, they won’t even react to it unless it’s considered heat by the office. Instead meeting the return to the ring with a smattering of applause. Logically Yujiro needs that outside interference so it’s not a massive issue, especially as Yujiro is shit, but the fans aren’t keen on it. Seeing as Yujiro gets a massive chunk of this match on offence, I’m not keen on it either. The only upside is that Yujiro works over Nagata’s ribs and Yuji sells this by being unable to hit suplexes. It’s some of the best selling of the entire tournament. One of the other highlights is how Cody bangs the mat to get support for Yujiro, it’s the Terminator theme music. Yujiro wins with Miami Shine, after spending the entire match working the midsection. So I’m strangely ok with that. Nagata was the BUSINESS with his selling here. Wonderful work from a wonderful professional. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 16/26 G1 Climax Block B Tomoaki Honma vs. Hirooki Goto Pre-match pick: Goto. Come on! Usually when someone important goes down injured, that means it’s time for Honmania to shine and Honma to lose a big match. It looks as if they’ve been asked to fill extra time as they start slow with Goto controlling a lot on the mat, where Honma struggles. It does give us a great chance to check out how shiny all Goto’s new gear is though. Those kneepads are awesome. When Goto changes to strikes we see Honmania start to run wild. It’s been rather disturbing how many Kokeshi’s have landed during this G1, as if Honma is making serious inroads toward an actual win. This does take away from him somewhat BUT he looks so goddamn happy when he hits that Kokeshi it makes everything worthwhile. Honma gets to look pretty clever too, seeing Goto’s more obvious deceptions for what they are and springing into counters for them. Usually Goto ends up countering back and taking over again but that’s beside the point. Honma’s epic struggle to overcome his own inability to hit a big move in a big match is a staggeringly simplistic storyline and yet one of the most gripping in years. He has everything else. The counters, the toughness and never-say-die attitude. But he just can’t hit his finish when it matters. Instead he gets some plucky roll up’s that pop the hell out of the crowd. This really feels like Honma’s first shot at winning a match this year and the feeling intensifies with each kick out and near fall. That is until Goto flattens him with Shouten Kai. Another chance gone for Honma. Final Rating: ***3/4 KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 3 hit. SUPER KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. Picks: 17/27 G1 Climax Block B Karl Anderson vs. Tomohiro Ishii Pre-match pick: Ishii (totally flipped a coin). I want Ishii to win, the whole thing if possible, so my heart says Ishii. But my head says Karl Anderson because he’s undefeated, as is Ishii, and they’ll surely want a gaijin target for everyone else in the Block to gun for. Anderson seems very calm, as if he feels he’s prepared for G1 better than anybody else and his hot start reflects that. Karl’s intention during this bout is to neuter Ishii and eliminate his strengths. So he grounds Ishii and takes all those strikes out of the equation. Constantly working at Ishii’s cardio by making him kick out and fight his way back into the ring. Meanwhile Anderson is expending a minimal amount of effort to dominate the match. Karl’s down fall is his braggadocios nature. He can’t just beat a man down, he has to stand around lauding it over the fallen opponent. This is what gives Ishii a route back into the match. Heels, when will they ever learn? Ishii’s selling is outstanding again in this one, constantly making me think he’s broken his shoulder. He’s not even got the shoulder taped this year and it’s still injured. Anderson hits Ishii with a couple of awesome neckbreakers, a combination of Anderson flying into the move with reckless abandon and Ishii bumping with incredible snap. At one point Ishii abandons a charge across the ring to favour dropping to the mat holding his shoulder. It’s terrific selling, on a par with the outstanding work of Nagata earlier. That gives Ishii something to rise above and overcome. To show his true fighting spirit by marching into elbow strikes. Nobody does it better. Not even Honma. This match develops into the same finishing streak as the last, with near falls that draw the crowd in and clever counters. The best being Anderson ducking one of Ishii’s trademark defensive headbutts into a fireman’s carry. Ishii lands another headbutt, the lariat and a magnificent brainbuster to finish. Ishii is 3-0! Go Ishii! Good countering and hard-hitting action all round. I’m a bit surprised they put Ishii over here but he’s my boy. I hope he goes all the way. Final Rating: **** Picks: 18/28 G1 Climax Block B Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Michael Elgin. Pre-match pick: Elgin. Because Nakamura is injured. They don’t even bring Michael out to accept his two points. How rude. Final Rating: N/R Picks: 19/29. Yes, I’m taking that freebie point as it’s been offered. G1 Climax Block B Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima Pre-match pick: Okada. If the IWGP champion can win his match I’ll have gone a perfect 5/5 (with a bit of help from Shinsuke Nakamura’s elbow). Crowd is very pro-Kojima. They must surely be aware that Okada won’t win the G1 and give himself Wrestle Kingdom off. Something I’ve noticed about Okada’s selling that’s become more pronounced during G1 this year; it looks like he’s trying to recreate William Regal’s facial after the Rikishi stinkface. It’s very distracting. When he’s in control Okada exhibits moments of genuine heeldom, not unlike Naito, only more focused. Okada is arrogant and not past stretching the rules of wrestling to win. Their match is fairly conventional, by Western standards even, apart from a barrage of strikes as the match continues, taking it up a gear. From there it’s all about who can take the most abuse and keep kicking out. They’re both well versed in taking punishment but it becomes a war. Which it needed to because coming into the match the idea that Kojima would be on Okada’s level, consistently, was pretty laughable. But it’s the G1 and people raise their game. They do oversell a bit too much, with Kojima failing to mount the buckles for his elbow because of fatigue and Okada just collapsing with a lariat imminent. It tells a story of a much longer match than they’re having (18 minutes in total), although the striking did take a lot out of both guys. When Kojima finally does hit the lariat he stays down selling fatigue and the move is rendered ineffective. Kojima tries the lariat block to the Rainmaker but Okada has seen that once, Satoshi having given it away in a tag, and Okada ducks before connecting with the real Rainmaker for the win. Final Rating: ***3/4 Picks: 20/30. 5/5 tonight…sort of. Let’s see the Block updated before we hit the summary and get some sleep. BLOCK B: Tomohiro Ishii 6 Kazuchika Okada 6 Karl Anderson 4 Hirooki Goto 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Satoshi Kojima 2 Shinsuke Nakamura 2 Yujiro Takahashi 2 Michael Elgin 2 Tomoaki Honma 0 Ishii and Okada are the only unbeaten guys in this Block. We thought pre-tournament that Block B would belong to CHAOS but I think everyone was of the opinion that Nakamura would top it. But that’s G1 for you. It’s never that straightforward. Summary: The absence of Nakamura hurt the big main events a touch but the last three matches were all really good. Goto-Honma, Anderson-Ishii and Okada-Kojima all told decent stories and even Nagata-Takahashi had a logical storyline. Now the tournament will unfold a little more. Tomorrow has a couple of huge matches; Naito vs. AJ and Shibata vs. Ibushi. Both key to how Block A will develop going forward. The next round in Block B could see Nakamura’s return match…against Block co-leader Tomohiro Ishii! Plus Okada faces Goto in big test for both men and Honma has his best chance yet to record a win when he faces NJPW new boy Michael Elgin. That’s in Osaka so don’t count Honma out! Verdict: 87
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29th July 2015.
We’re in Fukuoka, Japan. The main talking point of G1 so far is the injury to Shinsuke Nakamura, which has seen one of the tournament favourites miss two nights of action. Seeing as he was scheduled in tag action tonight his six-man tag has been turned into a straight up tag. No need to hype a match with Tomohiro Ishii. Meanwhile the puroresu world waits with baited breath to see if Nakamura will make it back into the tournament. The focus is on Block A tonight with Shibata-Ibushi, Fale-Tanahashi and AJ-Naito. Here’s the Block before we get underway; BLOCK A: AJ Styles 4 Hiroshi Tanahashi 4 Tetsuya Naito 4 Kota Ibushi 4 Bad Luck Fale 4 Katsuyori Shibata 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Togi Makabe 2 Toru Yano 2 Doc Gallows 0 Everyone that’s wrestling in those top three matches has four points. That makes this a huge night for block positioning. By the end of the night we’ll have three clear cut top guys in this block. BLOCK B: Tomohiro Ishii 6 Kazuchika Okada 6 Karl Anderson 4 Hirooki Goto 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Satoshi Kojima 2 Shinsuke Nakamura 2 Yujiro Takahashi 2 Michael Elgin 2 Tomoaki Honma 0 Tiger Mask IV & Mascara Dorada vs. Jay White & David Finlay This is the second young lions match of the tour. First one saw them dominated by Liger & Tiger Mask but Jay White is developing into a serious talent, almost in front of our eyes. He even seems to be running the matches for those around him. Here he yells “get him grounded” to Finlay, when he’s struggling with Tiger Mask’s kicks. Last night I noticed him yell “attack, attack” to his teammates when he was going for a pinfall. This chap is going to be a ring general. Finlay isn’t developing at the same rate but his basics are strong. His combination of mat work and striking will be ideally suited to Japanese wrestling. My one complaint about Jay to this point is that he talks too much and he’s a bit too obvious about it. Tiger Mask is up to his old tricks here and randomly inserts a Tiger Driver where it has no place being. I don’t understand his logic at all. Dorada generally steals the show with his flashy move set, popping the crowd and he pins Finlay for the win. Not bad at all and as I mentioned earlier Jay White is advancing a lot quicker than expected. There’s a moment after this match where he bows to Tiger Mask and gets a handshake. The Japanese guys respect him. Final Rating: **1/2 Bullet Club (Karl Anderson, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga & Cody Hall) vs. Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Ryusuke Taguchi & Yohei Komatsu This is to set up Anderson vs. Nagata and Kojima vs. Yujiro, both taking place on Day Eight. Anderson’s confidence has taken a dent from defeat to Ishii and he plays a lot of this for comedy. As if his role in the tournament has dramatically changed. The useless Taguchi gets picked off for Bullet Club heat and because of his stupid gimmick, it’s hard to get any sympathy going for him. Mainly because I want to see him get beaten up. Even by Yujiro, my second least favourite wrestler in New Japan. Kojima putting a beating on Yujiro is also good fun, which perhaps bodes well for their match…as long as Yujiro doesn’t win. Anderson brings some more comedy and mockery, irritating Nagata and causing Kojima to get violent. Komatsu looks good here too, flying into his spots and looking like a genuine competitor rather than a young boy. Tama hooks him with the double arm DDT for the win though, just to reinforce that Komatsu is the low man on the totem pole and will be for a while. Another decent match, good effort all round and both Nagata and Kojima look seriously motivated going into the middle of G1. Always a good sign. Final Rating: **1/2 Tomoaki Honma & Michael Elgin vs. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) This was due to be a six-man tag until Nakamura was ruled out with injury. It’s a bit of a weird way to build to Day Eight as Elgin faces Honma there, while Ishii faces Nakamura. No prizes for guessing YOSHI-HASHI’s role in this one. Even if he has won three matches on this tour. His role this evening is to be thrown around by Michael Elgin, like a small child. Ishii vs. Honma was MOTY for me, or if not it’s definitely *****. Seeing them clash again brings some of that magic back. They do not pull any punches. I love how Honma goes for Kokeshi only to turn around and see Ishii standing again. That block match is going to be brilliant. Elgin gets to look strong again here, bossing CHAOS with his double Samoan drop spot and he looks strong elbow duelling with Ishii too. I sense two very good Ishii matches in our future. The match has wonderful flow and bags of effort. It’s probably my favourite undercard tag match of the entire G1 so far. It culminates in me thinking YOSHI-HASHI might actually get a pin on Honma, because he’s such a loveable loser. Honma gets the duke with the SUPER KOKESHI though and look at how goddamn happy he is about it. Great match. An unbelievable amount of effort for a throwaway tag to shill a match in a few days time. Final Rating: **** KOKESHI COUNT – 2 missed. 2 hit. SUPER KOKESHI – 1 hit. Hirooki Goto & Jushin Liger vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Gedo) Okada vs. Goto headlines Day Eight. Interesting choice of partner by Goto, selecting a veteran junior to take on Okada’s own veteran junior. Okada vs. Goto is usually pretty good with them having similar strengths and solid chemistry. It’s Okada’s match to control and he seems comfortable with Goto. As if he’s not a threat but more of a warm up for another match. Gedo is brilliant in his quasi-heel role as Okada’s cheerleader. “FUCKING LIGER!” he screams before trying to punch Jushin in the face. This is right after a little show of respect handshake. Okada vs. Liger is actually quite wonderful. Why do they not have Liger interact with the top heavyweights more often? That heavyweight/junior divide is even more unsettling in Japan than it is in the WWE. Okada and Goto have their usual match, and it’s pretty darn good. Nothing exceptional and nothing like the effort levels present in the last match. Liger busts out some classic stuff on Gedo and ends up pinning him for the sneaky veteran win. Okada and Goto make a big deal about how they’re both champions and wave belts around. Okada wins that dick measuring contest because he’s the IWGP champion. Final Rating: **3/4 G1 Climax Block A Doc Gallows vs. Toru Yano Pre-Match pick: Gallows. Because he hasn’t won yet. Their tag interactions were quite funny so hopefully they’ll go the comedy route. Gurning troll Yano seems upbeat despite his bashed up face. Yano tries for a power handshake (“I’m gentle, I’m gentleman!”) and gets beaten down (“BREEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK”). Gallows is in no mood to play this for laughs and goes after Yano’s injured face, which makes for somewhat uncomfortable viewing. Their timing is way off on some of the spots, including the big YTR pointing spot so Yano goes back to working Doc’s ears (because Gallows has no hair to pull). Bullet Club get involved with Karl Anderson flat out jumping into the ring for Magic Killer and Gallows gets the pin for his first points. Hey, I got that right through logical deduction! Final Rating: ** Picks: 21/31 G1 Climax Block A Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Togi Makabe Pre-Match pick: Makabe. This is another close call. If Tenzan loses he can always blame the head injury sustained against Yano. These two had a great little brawl in their set-up tag match last night so it might be a sleeper hit. That said I’ve never really been a fan of either of them. Naturally there is extensive clubbering. Tenzan has head damage from destroying Yano’s skull. You’d think Tenzan would have come away unscathed as his head resembles one of the rock sculptures from Easter Island. Togi is equally hard, resembling a granite gorilla. Togi, subtle as a fucking brick, spends the entire match bashing Tenzan in the head. Which would make sense, if he was working the cut but he’s not. He’s just doing his usual punching thing and can’t even dislodge Tenzan’s cut-covering plaster with his ‘punches’. Tenzan gets pissed off with Makabe’s tactics and straps him in the Anaconda Vice. Togi’s response is an half-assed powerslam where he almost drops Tenzan on his dome. Oh sure, work the punches but then nearly cripple the poor guy! The match works better when they’re just wailing away on each other and Togi looks a bit the worst for wear, in terms of energy and lack of it, so he takes it home with the King Kong Kneedrop. Totally wasn’t feeling this one. Both guys looked exhausted after a few minutes. Final Rating: **1/4 Picks: 22/32 G1 Climax Block A Kota Ibushi vs. Katsuyori Shibata Pre-Match pick: Shibata. This is a tough match to call. Shibata has been on fire and Ibushi just took out AJ Styles. Both guys are capable of winning the tournament and the crowd see this as a hugely important match for both guys and their ambitions. Effectively the loser will struggle to make the final. The opening kick-fest is gorgeous as they test out their speed and strength. Kota finds himself getting the sympathy after his opening gambit goes wrong and Shibata takes over. Shibata is ruthless, grabbing Kota by the hair and just smashing his face with forearms. But Ibushi isn’t just a pretty boy, he’s one of the most gifted wrestlers in the world and he proper winds Shibata up by stealing his corner dropkick. Shibata’s reaction is amazing, grabbing his jaw and then marching headlong into a few elbows. Oh, you pissed him off! Shibata starts unloading his A game and Ibushi struggles to stay in it. In terms of speed, aggression and excitement it’s one of the matches of the tournament. I love the way Shibata starts shaking his head to tell Ibushi his kicks aren’t shit. It’s brilliant. Even Ibushi’s usual tricks, like his overhead kick, are countered by the speedy and creative Shibata. Then they start no selling and kicking out of shit at one. The energy levels and destructive forces at play are sick and the crowd LOVE IT. They run a sequence that’s so good I don’t want to put it into words because you need to see it. There’s a bit after that where Shibata covers up with Ibushi just peppering him with punches. It’s great. Sleeper. PK! Shibata wins! Holy shit. Fantastic match, not quite as good as Ibushi vs. AJ but the second best match of the G1 so far. Kota came after Shibata with Shibata’s strengths; full-on Strongstyle, which is exactly how he attacked Nakamura at Wrestle Kingdom. Noticeably; same outcome. Ibushi loses but looks incredibly badass in the process. Final Rating: ****1/2 Picks: 23/33. Not wanting to blow my own trumpet but that’s eight picks in a row I’ve got right. I’ve totally jinxed myself by even thinking about it. G1 Climax Block A Bad Luck Fale vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi Pre-Match pick: Tanahashi. Always Tanahashi. He has his hair tied up here, so you know he means business. Plus Fale sucks. I worry that NJPW plans to have Fale feud with another top heavyweight after ‘successful’ series against Nakamura and Okada. After the thrills and spills of Ibushi vs. Shibata this match delivers little. Tana spends most of the match bouncing off the big man and hitting the odd Hogan vs. Andre spot. Bullet Club get involved, as they’ve been doing a little too much for my liking. It’s ok against Yano but against a genuine contender like Tana, it’s unwelcome. The match grinds along until the Slingblade. High Fly Flow press. High Fly Flow. That’ll do it but where’s the ref? Bullet Club pulled him of the ring? Oh, fuck this shit. Fale teases Bad Luck Fall a couple of times, making me extremely anxious as I don’t want big fat Fale to go over anyone, even if it’s just because NJPW need a spoiler in the tournament. Fale then hits the High Fly Flow (of sorts) to win clean. Urgh. Final Rating: * Picks: 23/34 G1 Climax Block A AJ Styles vs. Tetsuya Naito Pre-Match pick: AJ. Well, after that last match I hope to Christ that AJ wins but this being Gedo and his wacky booking you never know. Naito is wearing his stripper suit and silver mask so you know he means business. “He looks like an idiot anyway. He’s even worse. PUT THE MASK BACK ON!” – AJ is not a fan of Naito. Because Naito is such an unbelievable asshole the crowd chant “AJ Styles”. The leader of the Bullet Club, NJPW’s biggest heel faction, is getting cheered over Naito. Now, that is a heel turn. AJ revels in the spotlight, as he’s got plenty of babyface offence that he can throw out there and he generally works face on the Indies. It’s always a bit weird seeing the American heel getting popped over the Japanese wrestler in Japan but AJ is a special wrestler. He demonstrates this with some great strike combos. Meanwhile Naito runs heat like he’s contemplating having a nap. Naito still has moments of explosive offence, left over from his babyface run, but there’s just something about his languid pacing that winds me up. It has transformed him into a completely different, and less effective, worker. AJ is the one who forces the pace, which is his role as the pseudo babyface. But the match never feels special like Naito vs. Tanahashi did. Then Naito finishes with Destino out of nowhere and that’s that. Didn’t enjoy this one much. I haven’t been into Naito since his change in Attitude and the break-through Tanahashi match was better than this. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 23/35. 3/5 tonight, thanks to Fale and Naito. Bastards. Let’s take a look at the Block before we leave. BLOCK A Tetsuya Naito 6 Bad Luck Fale 6 Katsuyori Shibata 6 AJ Styles 4 Hiroshi Tanahashi 4 Kota Ibushi 4 Togi Makabe 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Toru Yano 2 Doc Gallows 2 Some drastic changes in the last two contests. Naito, Shibata and Fale have come on strong. They now share the lead in Block A, while favourites AJ and Tanahashi go 0-2 and drop into the mix. Ibushi’s defeat isn’t as bad as I first thought as he’s still only one win off the top. Block A has become genuinely intriguing. Could they actually pull the trigger on fresh heel Naito? Or permanently over ass-kicker Shibata? The push for Fale is the most underwhelming thing about Block A and I’d rather he’d stayed stuck in the mire with Gallows and Yano. You can’t always get what you want. Summary: Obviously Shibata-Ibushi is the one to watch, an absolute blow-away contest with breathtaking exchanges. The Elgin & Honma vs. CHAOS tag was also a cracker. Some of the G1 matches were quite poor though. Tenzan vs. Makabe wasn’t too good, with both guys looking winded. Togi in particular. Also, Fale vs. Tanahashi wasn’t good. Largely because of Fale, who’s been pretty awful during this tournament. He’s just carrying too much weight. The main event didn’t come across too well either, with Naito’s usual issues taking all the heat out of things. I’m well aware other people like Naito more than me but I just don’t get him. It wasn’t a bad match, by any stretch of the imagination, but it wasn’t great. Verdict: 73 25th July 2015.
We’re in Takamatsu, Japan. Last night saw action in Block A, with the standings starting to mean something. Here is how Block A looks after two rounds of matches: BLOCK A: AJ Styles 4 Hiroshi Tanahashi 4 Tetsuya Naito 2 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Togi Makabe 2 Kota Ibushi 2 Bad Luck Fale 2 Katsuyori Shibata 2 Doc Gallows 0 Toru Yano 0 Only AJ and Tana, the two block favourites went 2-0. Of the two blocks this is the one I’m already least interested in, despite the potential for Shibata to go on a career-defining run and Kota Ibushi being in there. Having three guys like Yano, Gallows and Fale in the same block makes it tough to be consistently good. Block B doesn’t have the same issues. Ahead of tonight’s Block B action here’s how Block B stacks up after the first round of matches: BLOCK B: Karl Anderson 2 Kazuchika Okada 2 Yuji Nagata 2 Hirooki Goto 2 Tomohiro Ishii 2 Satoshi Kojima 0 Yujiro Takahashi 0 Tomoaki Honma 0 Michael Elgin 0 Shinsuke Nakamura 0 Tonight’s card is shaping up nicely with Nakamura hoping for a rebound win against Nagata, a man he bested in defence of the IC title earlier in the year. Okada faces off against plucky underdog Honma and all five matches look like potential winners on paper. However it’s another fixed camera show, which takes me out of the action somewhat. Bullet Club (Doc Gallows, Tama Tonga & Cody Hall) vs. Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Captain New Japan An odd choice to kick the show off with only Gallows competing in the G1. The reason for that is that Gallows’ opponent tomorrow is Bad Luck Fale. Also a Bullet Club member. That’s a match I really don’t want to see. There will be clubberin’. It is quite unusual to see three heavyweights against two juniors, even if they’re veteran juniors. Bullet Club, rather predictably work heat and as the low man on the totem pole it’s Tiger Mask who gets abused. Captain New Japan, as a heavyweight, actually gets automatically considered as higher up. Although in any combination of heavyweights he’s the bottom rung. Liger smacking Tama around makes me wish he got booked in with the big hitters more often. What he’s done for junior heavyweight style is remarkable and he’s raised the game of that division for so long. But I have this nagging desire to see him mix it up with the real big stars in the promotion. Gallows picks off CNJ and finishes with the Mehshugganator. This was inoffensive. Final Rating: **1/4 CHAOS (Toru Yano, Gedo & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Mascara Dorada & David Finlay The young boys are all over the place on this show. Each in different tag matches. This CHAOS team makes me chuckle because it’s the weakest possible combination of CHAOS guys. The opposition team is a bizarre combination. Despite all the bells and whistles, the match exists to promote Yano vs. Tenzan on Day Five. I suspect this match will be longer than the actual G1 contest. I figure Yano in Tenzan’s block is an excuse for Tenzan to have a really short match. Finlay is a guy I’ve not spoken about much. He’s Fit Finlay’s son and he’s green but shows promise. On the young boys tree he’s more advanced than Cody Hall but needs matches with good opponents to improve himself. He comes across as a bit too eager but that’s something he’ll improve on with experience. All of the young lions have improved this year, such is the method involved in training them. I really dig what they’ve done with them on this show by splitting them all up into different matches. YOSHI-HASHI singles out Finlay and gets his second pin of the tour. Perhaps this is some sort of apology for not putting him in the G1 this year. Final Rating: ** Bullet Club (AJ Styles & Bad Luck Fale) vs. Kota Ibushi & Jay White Three guys in the G1 and a young lion. I wonder who’s taking the pinfall in this one? Predictably AJ vs. Kota is great and their match tomorrow should be top dollar. What’s really cool is how good AJ vs. White is. AJ gives Jay a chance to prove he can match AJ for speed and timing and he can. The match focuses mainly on AJ too, which means Fale can take a breather on the apron and I don’t have to watch him wrestle. A double winner. When Fale does eventually lumber into the ring White gives him a shoeing in the corner. Jay White is looking better by the show and I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks so. The crowd seem to like him too. Fale doesn’t much care for his babyface pluck and floors the young lion with the Grenade. Good match all round. Final Rating: **3/4 Tetsuya Naito, Togi Makabe & Yohei Komatsu vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata & Ryusuke Taguchi Whose dick did Taguchi suck to get into these prime tag matches? He seems to be in every big undercard tag match. Naito looks pretty indifferent to his partners…and everything else. I would say he’s starting to annoy me but he did that on Day One and everything from then on is just a continuation. I must be missing something. Shibata made a few comments on Naito after Naito’s controversial “has-been” crack at Tenzan, calling Naito a “never-was”. Tana has Naito tomorrow while Shibata is wrestling Togi. Naito is so sulky that he won’t tag in, which is fine by me, and Makabe & Komatsu work as a team instead. Togi seems unimpressed with the Ingoberanable attitude. Especially as Komatsu looks great against Tana. Taguchi’s mission during G1 seems to be to pop the crowd with his DDT-esque butt obsession. It makes me actively despise him. His move set has subtly changed into a load of shit. Interesting to see Shibata’s arm is healing up. My evidence of this is his right arm elbow session on Makabe’s head. In the first three days of G1 he didn’t strike with his right arm at all. Be interesting to see if they play up on his worked leg injury instead. The best part of this match is Taguchi doing all his stupid theatrics and Komatsu constantly rolling him up for near falls. Taguchi gets the pin eventually because Komatsu is still in black trunks but give it a year, two tops, and this will not be the case. This was a decent match in spite of Taguchi’s ass-based offence and Naito’s refusal to tag in. Final Rating: **1/2 G1 Climax Block B Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi Pre-match pick: Ishii. I just can’t see Yujiro beating him again, after the NEVER debacle last year. The good news is that Ishii’s matches with Yujiro were really good. Yujiro has a random chick with him instead of Mao. She’s wearing too much make-up. Yujiro knows he can’t take Ishii clean and bullshit ensues, like his bodyguard Cody Hall interfering. In the hallowed world of G1, this is unacceptable! As with last year Ishii does a fine job of making Yujiro look like a threat before beating the tan off him. The presence of Cody is what allows Yujiro to be a contender here. I think without Razor Jr., Ishii would just crush Takahashi and it wouldn’t make for much of a contest. Although I’d probably enjoy it. Yujiro actually manages some nice late kick-outs to tease an earlier finish and doesn’t embarrass himself. Ishii steals the match with his headbutts, which are ridiculously brutal. Thankfully common sense prevails here and Ishii wins with the brainbuster. 2-0, come on Ishii! Final Rating: *** Picks: 11/16 G1 Climax Block B Michael Elgin vs. Satoshi Kojima Pre-match pick: Elgin. Both guys lost their first match but Elgin looked more impressive in doing so. I thought Kojima would start the tournament a lot hotter than he has but if forced to choose this is what I’ve gone for. Kojima has only one game plan too, to smash his way through an opponent. It didn’t work against Ishii and it doesn’t work here either with Elgin having such a big power advantage. Watching it live the stream went to shit during this match, with constant buffering. I figure that’s the weight of demand. It didn’t improve after dropping in quality either. I missed entire spots with lag. It’s horrible. I’ve had a few issues with it before but never quite like this. Elgin gets to demonstrate his power again only for Kojima to get wise to it and find a few counters. Satoshi has experience of both American Indies style and bigger opponents. Elgin isn’t one dimensional though and this is what catches Kojima unaware in the second phase of the match. Kojima heads up and Elgin Enzuigiri’s him back down. It’s a good hard-hitting back and forth where they keep it snug and there are minimal issues. Elgin jumps right into the lariat to go 0-2. Kojima records the win I thought he’d get on his first outing and this was a good battle. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 11/17 Tangent: the streaming issues may have been a fault on my PC, as another window was trying to do something and I hadn’t noticed, which was probably causing the stream to slow down. Normally the streams are very good and I rarely have trouble, even live. G1 Climax Block B Hirooki Goto vs. Karl Anderson Pre-match pick: Goto. Anderson made his point by beating Nakamura. Goto still has the air of an underachiever about him so getting him out front will be good for the bigger picture. For those relatively new to New Japan, these guys used to team as “Sword and Guns”. Goto’s new robe is so swanky the cameraman zooms in on his entrance, a rarity during this show. Both guys are probably red herrings in Block B and will be kept in the running as such. That makes it doubly hard to figure out who’s going over. Giving Karl that big win in his first match makes anything resembling a near finish all the hotter in this match and will be an ongoing tactic, certainly. Anderson has a swagger about himself during G1 that he doesn’t seem to have the rest of the year. It does make his matches, both of them so far, a little slower paced though. He’s very deliberate about what he does and while it’s fine for storytelling purposes it was a bit disappointing in a main event against Nakamura. In the midcard, with Goto, it’s less disappointing but hopefully he doesn’t work every match the same way. Anderson isn’t lazy or anything and when the pace is forced, he’s every bit Goto’s equal. Anderson gets a great counter out of Shouten Kai to get the pin with the Gun Stun. They did this last year with Shelton Benjamin, had him pick up a tonne of early wins to scare the opposition. It gives the Block B favourites someone to chase. I thought Goto was going to be one of the favourites so this came as a bit of a surprise, even after Anderson beat Nakamura. Final Rating: ***1/2 Picks: 11/18 G1 Climax Block B Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yuji Nagata Pre-match pick: Nakamura. He might have lost the first match but Nakamura will be contending Block B. I’m sure there’s a temptation to have him lose here, to give him an uphill struggle to get out of the group but fighting from one down is fine. Maybe another defeat at a crucial moment later, which I’ll probably get wrong. One of the irritations among New Japan noobs is the female fans yelling out the names of the wrestlers. In particular “SHINSKAY!” over and over again, something we’ve gotten used to hearing but at a quiet venue it grinds at some people. I actually find it quite endearing. These guys decide to go to the mat, rather than kick the crap out of each other. There are a lot of shows coming up soon, in front of bigger crowds. There’s a frustration to that, as they’re capable of having a blinding match but feel the urge to conserve energy instead. I know this will pay off on later, better shows but that doesn’t help the poor citizens of Takamatsu. The presence of both men goes a long way to off-setting the lack of classic. That said they work hard as the match progresses, keen to continue the story that Nakamura was telling in his first match with Nagata working the neck. Yuji is a motherfucker when it comes to dissecting a body part too. He has so many ‘locks’ it’s hard to keep track of them. I really appreciate them doing the neck work with Nakamura because every time he gets his knees worked over he refuses to sell it. The neck allows him to barely modify his offence and it’s fine. The match, as it grinds on, becomes exhausting to watch but I mean that as a complement. It’s a war. It might be a slow build up but it’s well worth the journey. The match ends up a better story than the IC title match from earlier in the year and that headlined a PPV. Here Nagata isn’t out to prove he belongs, he’s out to beat Nakamura. The false finishes and near misses are beautifully done, especially as Nakamura looks like ending Nagata only for Yuji to get one last kick in before falling to Boma Ye. Takamatsu are serious Nakamura marks and there’s a massive “YEAOOOOOH” to go along with his little salute to Blue Justice. Final Rating: **** Picks: 12/19 G1 Climax Block B Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomoaki Honma Pre-match pick: Okada. As much as I’d love to see Honma win here, or at any point, the build to his victory needs to be on a big show. This is a hard-cam and won’t look good in a highlights package. He’ll get the big win on a big show. That said, at some point Okada will have to start losing because everyone else is losing in Block B. Apart from Ishii…I hope it’s Ishii’s year. Despite the presence of the IWGP champion and New Japan’s biggest star, the crowd immediately latch onto Honma. Where Honma has been getting stuck into his opponents on the tour so far, Okada is where he comes unstuck. Okada is too fast, too clever and too aware of the issues he’ll face. Plus he’s quite happy taking shots from Honma and just biding his time, waiting for an opening. But even Okada gets hit with a Kokeshi. It almost loses its charm when it connects so frequently. The reason I love Honma, and everyone else does, is because he always comes so close to hitting stuff and then misses. It’s the miss that’s joyful. He’s hitting Kokeshi’s at an astounding rate in this tournament. When he goes after the Super Kokeshi, he’s cut off with the Too Awesome Dropkick and Heavy Rain. Honma does have one last fantastic counter ready though; bashing Okada in the chest with Kokeshi to prevent the Rainmaker and the pinfall is so close I forget to breathe. Okada leaves his kick-outs ridiculously late in this match, intent at stunning the crowd with how close Honma is to winning. Then Okada flattens Honma with the Rainmaker and the dream is over for another night. Final Rating: **** KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 3 hit. SUPER KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. Picks: 13/20. Another 3/5 night, ruined by the likes of Kojima and Anderson. What is their deal? This tournament will prove how mediocre I am at predicting stuff in wrestling. With that out of the way, here is the block after the second round of Block B contests. BLOCK B: Karl Anderson 4 Kazuchika Okada 4 Tomohiro Ishii 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Hirooki Goto 2 Satoshi Kojima 2 Shinsuke Nakamura 2 Yujiro Takahashi 0 Tomoaki Honma 0 Michael Elgin 0 Anderson and Ishii continue to start strong while the three guys I picked to struggle pre-tournament are all blanked. So maybe I do know what I’m talking about. Summary: Two big matches at the end delivered. It seems I’m rather alone in liking the Nakamura-Nagata match but I’m old school so a slow burn followed by a frantic finale is right up my street. I thought it was pretty good. I generally enjoyed this whole card, even if I developed some streaming issues during Elgin-Kojima. My rating might be off based on that but I think it was good. I couldn’t really see some of the moves being performed. Verdict: 78 26th July 2015.
We’re in Hiroshima, Japan. There’s a definite feeling that despite some quality matches, the G1 hasn’t quite kicked into higher gear just yet. However tonight’s show hails from a bigger location and sees two main event matches that could easily headline a PPV plus an intriguing third between Shibata and Makabe. Thanks to HoWs patented scoring system, I can give you a run-down on the quality of the shows thus far; Day 1: 79 Day 2: 84 Day 3: 71 Day 4: 78 Certainly it’s not been a bad tournament, with plenty of high scores and snowflakes falling but you expect some big blow-away shows during G1 and we’ve not had one…yet. Before we begin this evening’s entertainment here are the Block standings; BLOCK A: AJ Styles 4 Hiroshi Tanahashi 4 Tetsuya Naito 2 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Togi Makabe 2 Kota Ibushi 2 Bad Luck Fale 2 Katsuyori Shibata 2 Doc Gallows 0 Toru Yano 0 This is the block being contested tonight. AJ and Tanahashi both put their undefeated streaks on the line, against Kota Ibushi and Tetsuya Naito, respectively. Those are two big matches for the block’s structure. In particular for Ibushi, who will have faced Tana and AJ in his first three matches. A win tonight would definitely catapult him into contention. BLOCK B: Karl Anderson 4 Kazuchika Okada 4 Tomohiro Ishii 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Hirooki Goto 2 Satoshi Kojima 2 Shinsuke Nakamura 2 Yujiro Takahashi 0 Tomoaki Honma 0 Michael Elgin 0 No action in Block B tonight but Goto vs. Honma, Nagata vs. Yujiro, Anderson vs. Ishii, Elgin vs. Nakamura and Okada vs. Kojima will be taking place on Day Six and be hyped during tag team contests this evening. Which means either Anderson or Ishii’s 100% record will go. It also looks like a very strong line up for Day Six. Tomoaki Honma, Mascara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay vs. Hirooki Goto, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Yohei Komatsu Taguchi is in the wrong match, he’s supposed to be in the 4th match, partnering Elgin and Kojima. Perhaps Gedo got as sick of his ass-antics as me and bumped him down to the opener. As will be revealed when the 4th match rolls around this was actually a move to accommodate Shinsuke Nakamura, who’s nursing a sore elbow. Goto vs. Honma might be the G1 focus but the juniors are out here to impress and work a blistering pace. Apart from Taguchi. Same shit, different day, from the Funky Weapon. As for the G1 participants; Goto is keen to leave a mark on Honma, perhaps already starting the beatdown of his opponent. It’s a fun opener with Finlay getting to show a little personality before being manhandled by Tiger Mask. NJPW generally make good use of multiple person tags, providing the participants are game. It’s perhaps a bit too brisk and is finished leaving me wanting more. Highlights included Finlay mocking Goto, which is just fantastic, and Liger getting love from ringside fans in his hometown. He’ll be back later to commentate. Final Rating: *** KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 1 hit. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall) vs. Yuji Nagata & Captain New Japan Yujiro has a poor replacement for Mao for the second night running. Is he just using local girls or something? Regional Mao’s. If that’s not bad enough, NJPW’s dubbed music doesn’t do anything to drown out the live music and the audio is a massive mess because of it. I keep thinking there’s music playing on Twitter or BBC Sport or whatever other window I’ve got open. The audio becomes an even bigger disaster as someone comes onto the air doing MIC CHECKS. “Ichiban des, ichiban des”. SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU IDIOT. I look forward to hearing this madness again on Botchamania. The match has one massive positive; Nagata kicking the fuck out of Yujiro and throwing him around like a sack of spuds. If that’s the match on Tuesday, it should be pretty good. Highlights in this one include Captain New Japan incapacitating Yujiro with an armbar and Nagata being manhandled by Cody Hall. Not very well, but manhandled nonetheless. Nagata puts Cody away with the armbar. This might have been better than ** but the production issues made it hard to focus on the match. Final Rating: ** Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga) vs. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) The audio assault continues with both Ishii’s normal theme and his dubbed theme playing in competition with each other, something that happened with Tiger Mask’s earlier. Ishii’s leg is taped, which is a nice change for him. He’s normally all about the shoulder injuries. Karl Anderson has had the number of two of NJPW’s top guns and he’s got Ishii in his sights. Strange as it may seem, with Anderson having beaten Nakamura already, Ishii is the biggest threat to his unbeaten streak yet. Because Ishii doesn’t take any loss lightly and battles like a motherfucker to ensure he doesn’t get into trouble in this midcard tag match. If anything it’s Anderson who should be worried about YOSHI-HASHI, who’s been on fire in the tags and gets Anderson into trouble during their one-on-one segment. But Tama also raises his game and you’ve got two guys who must have been close to being selected for the G1 tournament, determined to prove their point. YOSHI-HASHI eventually falls afoul of the Gun Stun and Ishii immediately gets into it with Karl to test his jaw out. Another tidy little tag match. Block B are rocking the tags on this tour. Final Rating: *** Michael Elgin & Satoshi Kojima vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Gedo) Shinsuke Nakamura is out with an arm injury, which is yet another issue for him in his pursuit of G1 glory. It’s really not working out too well for him so far. Missing a tag match with injury isn’t a big deal but what it does do is paint a bulls-eye on that arm for future opponents. Okada has been very keen to demonstrate his superiority over everyone he wrestles by doing a very deliberate clean break on the ropes early in the matches. As if to say ‘I don’t need to take short cuts to beat you’. It’s prime psychological warfare from the IWGP champion. Elgin continues to impress by doing the same spots as in his first tag match but nailing them. Okada is at a distinct disadvantage by teaming with lightweight Gedo and the opponents take full advantage. Elgin seems to enjoy himself and employs BEAST MODE. His lack of interaction with Nakamura ahead of their match is a disappointment but in a way it’s a bonus for him. Elgin can take this match to look strong and set himself up for Nakamura in a different way. Okada finds himself overwhelmed at having to face two G1 contenders and Kojima gets a lot of joy out of him. Especially when Okada goes for the Rainmaker and Kojima batters him with the lariat. Gedo gets one too and Kojima scores the pin. This was great fun. Probably the best undercard tag match on the tour so far. Final Rating: ***1/2 G1 Climax Block A Bad Luck Fale vs. Doc Gallows Pre-Match pick: Gallows. No reason, other than I don’t like Fale and I suppose Gallows is due because he’s been blanked so far. The Bullet Club collide in a battle of the big men. Oddly enough Cody Hall comes out with Gallows to wave the Bullet Club flag. Oh god, don’t turn Fale face. One of the commentators has the nerve to shout “dream match” as they’re coming out here. They do the TOO SWEET Wolfie high bite, so this should be a friendly affair. The commentators massive overreaction to any collisions makes this match more entertaining, despite it being a typical WWE style hoss match from 1988-1991. Jushin Liger in particular attempts to get over the size deal with enormous overreactions to everything. They brawl around outside for an eternity, making me think we’ll get a double count out. There is certainly no shortage of effort with both big boys barrelling into each other. It’s not good but it’s not actively bad. Doc even has a few counters lined up for Fale’s lumbering high spots. Gallows does all the hard work, including mounting the buckles to set up Fale for the Bad Luck Fall and throwing himself into the finishing Grenade. This wasn’t terrible. So that’s a bonus. Much better than Fale-Makabe for example. The Japanese commentators put the win down to Fale’s increased weight, giving him extra power. It sure looked like it when he needed Gallows to do all the damn work. Final Rating: **1/4 Picks: 13/21 G1 Climax Block A Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toru Yano Pre-Match pick: Yano. He’s been blanked so far and Tenzan isn’t going to win the tournament. Yano’s pre-match water bottle assault is on a par with the Brahman brothers from DDT, among other places. Yano’s wacky tactics this evening include taping Tenzan to the guardrail for the potential count out victory and lifting the Mongolian chops. When Tenzan hits his own the commentator screams “MONGOLIAN, MONGOLIAN, MONGOLIAN”. That would have been an insult back in the early 90s when I was in school. Tenzan gets colour from the exposed turnbuckle (or possibly the diving headbutt), giving Yano’s spots added evil intentions and they both bleed a gusher. Yano gets a low blow and rolls Tenzan up for the win. The colour made this one. It looked accidental. As expected the match was short and served a purpose. Replays confirm it was Tenzan’s diving headbutt that busted both men open. That’s one intense headbutt. There’s a possibility this one finished early on an audible for blood loss but I didn’t have it booked as a long match anyway to protect Tenzan. Final Rating: **3/4 Picks: 14/22 G1 Climax Block A Katsuyori Shibata vs. Togi Makabe Pre-Match pick: Shibata. Always Shibata. Last year Togi carried a jaw problem through the early stages and it cost him. This year it’s Shibata who came in injured but his arm seems to be healed after the first few matches and his movements are much more natural. There are now bloodstains all over the mat, showing just how much Yano and Tenzan just bled. Makabe looks like he means business, not giving Shibata time or space to operate in. His secondary tactic is wearing out Shibata’s arm with his face. It’s not quite as successful. However he’s not willing to back down and this results in a biblical effort. Two guys determined to beat the shit out of each other. It is STIFF AS FUCK. Not only that they start refusing to stay down for longer than ONE on the pins. It’s a MANLY, MANLY MATCH. Shibata gets the sleeper and finishes with the PK. I realise I didn’t write much about this one because I was gripped at the idea of these two just beating on each other. Final Rating: **** Picks: 15/23 G1 Climax Block A AJ Styles vs. Kota Ibushi Pre-Match pick: AJ. Although this one is tight and could go either way. I have every suspicion that AJ stays strong to give the natives something to chase. I basically have AJ winning every match until Tanahashi. Never back against Tana. These guys are fairly evenly matched with Kota always feeling like a younger AJ Styles to me. AJ has the experience and has developed into a better storyteller as he’s gotten older. He’s the guy who controls the pace and feel of this match. AJ is only four years older than Kota (37 to 33) but his experience in so many different promotions gives him a wrestling edge. They have some slick counters lined up, including a brilliant piece where they dodge potential dives and Ibushi kicks AJ’s legs out from under him. AJ’s bumps are intense, as if his reputation depends on how hard he lands. AJ uses some rest holds to control but that makes Ibushi looks more dynamic in his comebacks. When the pace quickens, AJ quickly switches to bigger moves with high impact to them. There are few wrestlers on the planet with better move sets than AJ Styles. He has a good blend of flying, technical skill and submissions. His strong style isn’t bad either and his kicks are solid. Not as good as Ibushi’s though. Kota goes after his German off the apron into the ring and they counter into a batshit crazy flying headscissors to the floor. Was AJ considering a jumping Tombstone off the apron? From there the match gets crazy good with insane counters, at speed, and massive teases. This culminates in AJ hitting a kneeling piledriver to stop Kota trying to escape a Styles Clash. They throw in a bunch of cool spots and last gasp kick-outs. The best of which is from Bloody Sunday where it looked over, with Ibushi having taken so many spots on his neck. Their first match was good but this is on another level. Ibushi heads up top and gets the massive win with the Phoenix Splash! What a result, what a match! Final Rating: ****3/4 Picks: 15/24. I really don’t care that I got that one wrong. What a great fucking match! G1 Climax Block A Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi Pre-Match pick: Tanahashi. Always Tanahashi. As always with Naito, everyone on Twitter seems really into him and I have no idea why. Since his heel turn I’ve had no interest in him whatsoever. He shows signs of actually giving a shit here, seeing as he’s in the main event and actually shoves a cameraman away. That’s all I want from him; something beyond apathy towards everything. He ups his game by hitting a neckbreaker on the timekeeper’s table, which is more like it. It’s a pity this match had to follow AJ-Ibushi, which was such a blow away contest. Naito’s lackadaisical approach does not make for an interesting match. Tana does what he can; absorbing Naito’s half-baked offence and trying to make him interested in the match by belting Naito with slaps. With every slap you see Naito considering it a victory, like he’s riled Tanahashi into losing his cool. One school of thought is that Naito figures he can beat Tanahashi, having bested him in the 2013 G1 Final, which is a fair point as they’ve not had a singles match since then. Naito is positively calm and hooks the Pluma Blanca. Tana escapes and starts taking apart from Naito’s knee. As a heel, who doesn’t need to flip about, this allows Naito to do some selling…if he bothered with such things as emotions nowadays. Eventually he does, because Tanahashi won’t relent. Naito even throws in a few little sells in between spots. Tana has the match won with Slingblade and a High Fly Flow press but just has to go up for another one, which Naito blocks. The story Naito is telling, beyond the fact he’s a jerk, is regarding Tanahashi’s neck, which he’s targeted throughout. After the war of the body parts is over the match picks up considerably, with some slick countering before an odd finish where Naito flips into an inverted DDT for the win (like a standing Sliced Bread #2). Hmm. Naito tries to claim some bonus heel points by decking the ref and Jay White after the match but that’s the kind of fire he needs to show DURING a match. Naito’s post match interview includes his declaration of independence from New Japan. He is now “ingobernable”. Actually, the whole second half of the match and attitude afterwards was much better from Naito and made me more interested in his storyline arc. Now he’s switched finishers he needs to a) do the new finisher properly and b) get new music. A more storyline based match than the spot-heavy AJ-Ibushi contest but another cracker and a fine way to finish the show. Final Rating: ****1/4 Picks: 15/25. Terrible night for predictions, 2/5. Worst yet. We won’t have too many nights where AJ Styles and Tanahashi lose, in my opinion. Here’s the Block before we leave: BLOCK A: AJ Styles 4 Hiroshi Tanahashi 4 Tetsuya Naito 4 Kota Ibushi 4 Bad Luck Fale 4 Katsuyori Shibata 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Togi Makabe 2 Toru Yano 2 Doc Gallows 0 Two upsets on Day Five, with AJ and Tana both losing. This opens the Block way up with everyone on four points potentially in contention (apart from Fale). Naito’s change in attitude and Ibushi’s big victory put them in a category as two of the most intriguing wrestlers in Block A. Plus there’s always Shibata. It’s gone from being a very deliberate looking two horse set up to a competitive block. As we go to leave the post match analysis Liger yells “let’s get wasted” at the crowd. And why not, there’s no G1 tomorrow. It’s an off day before we get back to business on Tuesday. Summary: What a night this was. When we rolled into Day Five, Block A seemed cut and dry after only two matches. Naito’s ridiculous, full-bore heel turn and Ibushi’s dramatic victory over AJ Styles changed all that. With the main event, most people seemed to like that better than me. I’m not really into Naito, as a heel, but it was still a good match thanks to the body part storytelling and the pick up at the finish. AJ-Ibushi was an amazing display of athleticism and the best match of the G1 so far. Perhaps forgotten in the write-ups will be the excellent and super-manly strike-fest between Shibata and Makabe. This was a perfect demonstration of how much better G1 would be if they didn’t keep putting scrubs like Fale and Gallows in it. Three excellent top end matches, all completely different. Top recommendation; best day of the G1 thus far. Verdict: 100 24th July 2015.
We’re in Kyoto, Japan. Yesterday saw Block B kick off. After the wins and losses were tallied here’s how the Block looks: BLOCK B: Karl Anderson 2 Kazuchika Okada 2 Yuji Nagata 2 Hirooki Goto 2 Tomohiro Ishii 2 Satoshi Kojima 0 Yujiro Takahashi 0 Tomoaki Honma 0 Michael Elgin 0 Shinsuke Nakamura 0 Nakamura’s defeat, in the main event no less, was a big upset but the plan must surely be to have Nakamura on a slow burn. It’s likely he’ll lose again before he starts on the road to redemption. That’s how Gedo usually books. Seeing as we’re going back over to Block A, here’s a reminder of how that looks. BLOCK A: Hiroshi Tanahashi 2 AJ Styles 2 Tetsuya Naito 2 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Togi Makabe 2 Doc Gallows 0 Toru Yano 0 Bad Luck Fale 0 Katsuyori Shibata 0 Kota Ibushi 0 Tonight’s big matches have Tanahashi against Tenzan. Both winners on Day One. Shibata vs. Naito, with Shibata anxious to kick Naito’s ass after their tag contest on Day Two. The other matches expose the weakness of Block A with Gallows, Fale and Yano all in different matches. With the exception of Yujiro Takahashi, the three weakest wrestlers in the G1. Like Day Two this a show with no commentary, presumably being added later when it airs on Samurai TV, but unlike Day Two it’s a proper shoot with multiple cameras and it looks like someone is actually paying attention to the broadcast. Michael Elgin, Mascara Dorada, Jay White & David Finlay vs. Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Yohei Komatsu Elgin vs. Kojima is one of the Block B matches tomorrow, so they face off amongst a bevy of juniors. Both men had a decent showing but lost. They’ll be keen to set down a few markers to try and get inside their opponents head for their second bout tomorrow. There’s a good sign right off the bat; the crowd is rowdy and there’s a buzz around the venue. This was not the case at all during Day Two. It’s a pity last night’s card didn’t get this night’s crowd but on paper last night was better. Tiger Mask employs some totally weird psychology and hits the finish he used on Jay White last night in the first sequence in this match. That makes no sense, at all. He stays down selling afterwards, perhaps aware he’s erred. Liger is crazy over. The same way he is in America and the UK. Kyoto must not get to see him too often. The juniors always get multiple man tags during G1 but rarely get booked into the tournament. How’s about this for an idea; winner of the Super Juniors gets a spot in G1? That would certainly give that tournament a bit more weight. And also, we’d get KUSHIDA all over these shows. There’s no downside to that. As Kojima and Elgin start to leather each other the crowd erupts, they’re going to be wonderful tonight. I love a good crowd. Elgin gets put over big time, double suplexing TM and Liger and making Komatsu look like a small child. If his pedigree was in doubt, in Japan, before this tournament that’s certainly changed already. Kojima gets the better of him with the Koji Cutter and Finlay takes the lariat for the loss. Elgin and Kojima looked seriously motivated here, which means good things for their match tomorrow night. Final Rating: **3/4 Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall) vs. CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) If anyone can get a good match out of Yujiro it’s Ishii, who worked wonders during their NEVER title feud last year. They’ll be working a Block match tomorrow night, hence this tag. For those who don’t follow NJPW all that closely, Yujiro used to be in CHAOS before defecting to Bullet Club during AJ Styles IWGP title victory. CHAOS have not been fans of him since and he’s worked series with Ishii and YOSHI-HASHI. The only good thing about Yujiro is he can make it believable that anyone can beat him. Cody works the match like he’s Yujiro’s bodyguard and that’s an ongoing angle I could get behind. Cody didn’t get the memo where you’re not supposed to get over on anyone who’s in the G1 and tries to bully Ishii a bit, which gets him a kicking. Cody is showing signs of improvement, one of the benefits of working in New Japan where the standard is so high. He’s still making mistakes, big ones at that, but his persona is coming across much better than before and he’s gaining in confidence. I don’t think the Japanese fans get the Razor Ramon references so much but they tickle me. Cody’s blunders continue with a botched spot with YOSHI-HASHI, which he forgets to kick out of. YOSHI-HASHI finishes moments later with a corkscrew senton, which makes me think Cody just forgot what move the finish was. This wasn’t very good. Ishii vs. Yujiro should be better tomorrow. Final Rating: *3/4 Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga) vs. Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan Karl Anderson is the talk of the puro world after beating Shinsuke Nakamura in Day Two’s main event. It’s a logical upset, as Nakamura will always contend and Gedo’s booking always sets out with the intention of sewing seeds of doubt. Next for Anderson is another favourite for Block B; Hirooki Goto. The current IC champion and 2008 G1 winner. Goto has spent most of his career hitting his head on the glass ceiling so there will always be question marks as to whether he can hang with the top guys. Beating Nakamura twice recently seems to have removed the stigma I always felt Goto had. Tagging with Shibata, he always looked like a weak link. Interesting to note that despite his transformation into confident main eventer, he’s carrying an injury and has taped ribs. Will that come into play as the tournament progresses? Anderson has been stuck in the tag ranks for some considerable time but come G1 he’s always able to hang with the big stars. Anderson has too much for Captain New Japan and batters him into submission before finishing with the Gun Stun in short order. In the early stages of this year G1 he’s been a big deal. Final Rating: **1/4 Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura & Gedo) This is in the spot where so far in the tournament we’ve had our best tag team matches. The line up for this one is great, apart from the insufferable Taguchi who seems to have wheedled his way into teaming with people who are genuinely good. Nakamura, if he wasn’t already a favourite of mine, would go up in my estimation by booting the foolish Taguchi in the stomach for fucking around during the King of Strongstyle’s introduction. As if to try and out-do that Honma puts Okada on notice! Honma’s intention is to claim his first G1 win by beating the IWGP champion tomorrow night. It’s not impossible and it would be a magnificent result…but I can’t see it happening. Okada is brilliant in opposition, slipping by Honma when he sets up for the Kokeshi and catching the confused opponent in the Rainmaker, only for Honma to duck under it. That match headlines Day Four with good reason. It will be quite sensational. Honestly, the only part of this match that isn’t great is Taguchi and how much of my time he wastes with his butt-based offence and stupid mannerisms. He is quite dreadful. Honma more than makes up for it, with perfect reactions to everything. The Nakamura-Nagata stuff is a bit muted as they had a feud for the IC belt earlier in the year and already laid any groundwork for a rematch. When they do clash, Nagata dominates Nakamura. Perhaps suggesting a Nagata victory is imminent to give Nakamura a proper uphill struggle, going 0-2. Increasingly Block B is the place to be. It has the better stories and the better matches. Seeing as Okada comes in with bags of confidence, as IWGP champion and having beaten Elgin on Day Two, he takes a knock or two. He gets trapped in Nagata’s armbar and gets whacked with Kokeshi too. Speaking of which; Honma’s Kokeshi connection rate is insane during G1 and he hits the Super Kokeshi on Gedo for the pin. A marked contrast to the million misses last year. Final Rating: ***1/4 KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 3 hit. SUPER KOKESHI – 1 hit. G1 Climax Block A Doc Gallows vs. Kota Ibushi Pre-match pick: Ibushi. His opening night loss was to Tanahashi but he looked like a genuine threat to one of the favourites. It’s unlikely Ibushi will win the whole thing but you’d want him to be a contender at least. Gallows is there to make up the numbers. The story they go for is an obvious one; Kota’s agility vs. Gallows sheer mass advantage. Gallows is very deliberate, throwing big hands in the corner in particular, reminiscent of the Undertaker. Ibushi isn’t used to working against bigger opponents and doesn’t really modify his approach to wrestling to suit. Hopefully this match will give him some ideas for the Fale match. Gallows certainly tries hard here, in a better showing than Day One, and throws in a combination of strikes and big spots. Some of the ideas are perhaps a bit ambitious and the set up to Ibushi winning with a sunset flip is all a bit contrived. At least the right guy went over. Final Rating: *** Picks: 7/11 G1 Climax Block A Bad Luck Fale vs. Togi Makabe Pre-match pick: Makabe. I think they’ll keep Makabe strong to start with. His third match is against Shibata, which is where the Block will start to get really intriguing. Fale offers very little by comparison, and lacks the conditioning he had last year. Togi’s idea of getting the match over is to take an enormous amount of heat, which Fale is ill equipped to dish out. He really is in horrible condition and the difference between Gallows effort in the last match and Fale’s total lack of effort in this one is noticeable. Several spots don’t work at all, even worse than the last match, and Togi’s answer to everything is a big overhand punch. Fale wins with a surprisingly safe Bad Luck Fall. I couldn’t get into it at all. Will probably end up being the worst match in the G1 this year. Unless Gallows vs. Fale is even worse. Final Rating: * Picks: 7/12 G1 Climax Block A Toru Yano vs. AJ Styles Pre-match pick: AJ Styles. Yano will probably win some matches here and there but surely AJ is going to be kept strong all tournament long and be there or thereabouts at the end. Even if it’s just as a target for someone else to overcome. Losing to Yano isn’t part of those plans. Surely. Yano goes into the ropes to start with. “BREAK. BREEEEEAAAAAAAAAK. BREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKK. BREEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK”. Yano’s whole gimmick is making fun of people who take themselves seriously. AJ’s certainly a contender for that and he eats a chair doing the rail hurdling spot. AJ probably feels he’s too good to get suckered by Yano but Yano’s magic has worked on everyone. Red Shoes isn’t keen on AJ’s muscle pose pin and won’t count it. “I’m trying to be entertaining here!” – AJ. Yano somehow has this ability to be faster when he’s cheating, and his timing is uncanny. AJ plays along with all the spots, including Yano’s RVD style pointing, smacking Yano in the back of the head with the springboard elbow after being made to look foolish one time too many. AJ’s block of the low blow into the Pele Kick is outstanding business too. Yano is a creative guy, who always seems to be one move ahead, usually illegally. For AJ to match him, he has to get creative. Yano gets caught in the Calf Killer, bang in the middle of the ring, and that’ll do it. This had several memorable moments and Yano definitely shouldn’t have gone over AJ. He’ll upset somebody in this tournament but when the time is right. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 8/13 G1 Climax Block A Tetsuya Naito vs. Katsuyori Shibata Pre-match pick: Shibata. This is the most intriguing match of the night and easily the hardest prediction. I ended up flipping a coin but basically Naito has started strong and Shibata is injured so that would be the logical call. However, logic goes out the window with Shibata and myself. I keep picking him to win everything. I still secretly hope he wins G1. The reactions to Naito’s new Ingobernables character have been indifferent so far but he gets booed soundly in Kyoto (which is near Osaka, a typical hotbed of Naito hatred). The tag match last night did a good job of building to this match as Shibata got some genuine hatred going and he jumps Naito before he’s taken off his mask and suit. Part of the tactic is defensive as Shibata is carrying that arm injury and doesn’t want to get into trouble. If he dominates, he protects his arm. When Naito does get into the match he doesn’t just go after the arm, he uses the arm to set up the leg, which Shibata had worked over by AJ Styles on Day One. A lot of the folks on Twitter seem really into Naito’s new character but it does nothing whatsoever for me. I just find it frustrating that one of NJPW’s more entertaining workers now has weird ticks that make him look lazy. Shibata knows how to please me, and Kyoto, and destroys Naito’s face with the sole of boot. Then he refuses to go down for Naito’s corner legsweep spot, by holding the ropes and double stomps Naito when he slingshots in. It’s good stuff, using Naito’s trademark spot and Shibata’s wrestling ability. He’ll have prepared a game plan for all of Naito’s spots. It’s Naito who kills the spirit of the match with his usual glassy-eyed stare into the middle distance. If he doesn’t give a shit, why should I? Shibata puts the wanker in a sleeper and then finishes with a PK. Good! Some decent limb work from Naito but his character is the worst. People who don’t care about anything are impossible to care about. Final Rating: ***1/2 Picks: 9/14 G1 Climax Block A Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi Pre-match pick: Tanahashi. I’m pretty much picking him to win every match he’s in as I’ll be right 90% of the time. Tenzan won his opening match but he’s not on Tanahashi’s level, despite having three times as many G1 wins as New Japan’s ace. The crowd get Tana all pissed off during the opening exchanges by loudly chanting for Tenzan. Don’t they know they only get a star like Tanahashi once in a hundred years! It says so on his knee pads. It must be true. Tenzan gets lots of love for the Mongolian Chops and Tana starts getting a bit of heat. Tanahashi throws the kind of strop about it that you wish John Cena would do every once in a while. He gets so angry he stops off to play some air guitar. Have you ever gotten that mad? That’s Kevin Bacon anger dancing in a barn from Footloose levels of pissed off. Tanahashi wisely keeps the pace slow so Tenzan can keep up and not drop dead from exhaustion. Tanahashi never really seems in trouble and Tenzan’s domination of certain sequences seem to be Tana simply biding his time. Tana is content to simply wear Tenzan out by drawing the match out and hooking holds that cripple Tenzan’s cardio. The one spot that feels like Tenzan might get somewhere is when he hooks the Anaconda Vice bang in the middle of the ring and Unno is all over it, checking that Tanahashi hasn’t quit or passed out. Red Shoes has phenomenal false finish teases on submissions. He hints at ringing the bell, as if he heard an audio submission and then goes back to check again. It’s the work of a master. When the finish comes there’s a hint of inevitability. Tenzan is worn out from his attempts at getting a tap out and gets caught with the Slingblade. He kicks out of that but gets beaten with the High Fly Flow moments later. The crowd were really hoping for a Tenzan win but, despite the lengthy Anaconda Vice spot, it was never really on the cards. Final Rating: ***3/4 Picks: 10/15. Best night yet for me on picks as I went 4/5. Only that son of a bitch Fale wrecked everything. Before we go, here’s the new Block A standings. BLOCK A: AJ Styles 4 Hiroshi Tanahashi 4 Tetsuya Naito 2 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Togi Makabe 2 Kota Ibushi 2 Bad Luck Fale 2 Katsuyori Shibata 2 Doc Gallows 0 Toru Yano 0 No hopers Gallows and Yano are the only two blanked after two matches, which will make absolutely no difference come the end. As predicted it’s AJ Styles and Hiroshi Tanahashi that are setting the pace. Expect those two to go to the wire. Shibata and Ibushi both picked up their first wins after losing to AJ and Tana, respectively, on Day One. I suspect both will still be in the running come the last couple of shows. Summary: The least thrilling G1 show so far this year. A couple of decent matches but even the better matches didn’t deliver like the best matches on the other nights. Some of the undercard tags were quite fun but there’s a definite feeling that Block B has the better matches lined up. Still it worked fine as a show and kept me interested throughout. It was quite pleasing that they whole thing ran three hours instead of the bulging three and half hours of the other two shows. Avoid that awful Makabe-Fale match like the plague though. Verdict: 71 23rd July 2015.
We’re in Shizuoka, Japan for Day Two of the G1. Day One focused on Block A where Hiroshi Tanahashi and AJ Styles, the pre-tournament favourites, both racked up victories. After one night here’s the standings: Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi 2 AJ Styles 2 Tetsuya Naito 2 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Togi Makabe 2 Doc Gallows 0 Toru Yano 0 Bad Luck Fale 0 Katsuyori Shibata 0 Kota Ibushi 0 Tonight the focus switches over to Block B. Day One rather cunningly set these matches up. Kojima vs. Ishii featured heavily in a tag match, which resulted in a pull-apart brawl. Everyone else faced each other in tag action also, and the headline event is Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Karl Anderson. While it’s not the stacked card that Day One was those two matches should be great and Honma vs. Nagata as well. Plus it’s the first singles match in NJPW for Michael Elgin…against Kazuchika Okada. No pressure. This show differs from the first one, in terms of production. While the first show was a multi-camera deal, this one is very much a tour set up with just the hard-cam. Sometimes that takes away from the action and it’s very odd if you’re used to watching WWE but sometimes it helps to intensify the feeling that you’re at a wrestling show. Today I face my first major challenge since G1 started…eye strain. I woke up and could barely see anything. Perhaps a down side to last nights Brit Wres Roundtable Podcasting and possibly nothing to do with the Wild Turkey I drank afterwards. Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Yohei Komatsu & Jay White You’ll have to excuse a lack of details on this match as I was still eating breakfast while it was happening. You cannot beat a well made BLT. It is food of the gods. The contest pits junior veterans Liger and TM against young boys Komatsu and White. It’s interesting to see the young boys in this environment. The hard-cam is a bit odd. It feels like you’re sitting in the audience at the show, which has pros and cons. The young boys don’t get much, generally given a shoeing as Liger tests their resilience before Tiger Mask finishes. This was really basic stuff. Both Liger and TM looked a bit disinterested. Final Rating: ** Kota Ibushi, Togi Makabe & Captain New Japan vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows & Cody Hall) The lights on the entrance rig are ridiculous here. To the point where I cannot see anything and I can understand why Bad Luck Fale is wearing shades. Normally only two kinds of people wear sunglasses indoors; blind people and assholes. Ibushi, perhaps forgetting he got himself injured last year, goes ahead and throws high spots into this one to stop the crowd getting bored. Otherwise it’s a bit of a grind with a lot of samey workers doing clubbering. Togi polishes Cody off in about five minutes flat with the King Kong Kneedrop. There was suckage here. Lots of it. Final Rating: ¾* Bullet Club (AJ Styles & Tama Tonga) vs. Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI Yano demanding a clean break is a definite highlight of his act. It makes me chuckle. Before anything even happens here he’s into the ropes. “BREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK. BREEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK”. Genius. Then he gets completely wigged out by Tama sliding around the mat, which is cool as Yano is normally not fazed by any of the tough guy acts in NJPW. It’s nice to see that something unnerves him. AJ Styles understandably takes this match easy. Most of it is heat on YOSHI-HASHI before Yano brings the usual comedy cheating and flukes a win by rolling up Tama. This was ok but the undercard has been brisk so far. Not that I’m complaining. The shorter the undercard the better. Especially if it’s just a bunch of tags. Although there is a concern here that they’re not building anything. Not like the tag matches on Day One where stuff was built up for this show. Yano and AJ were hardly involved with each other. Final Rating: **1/4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Katsuyori Shibata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito & Mascara Dorada This is more like it. A far better, and more intriguing, mixture of talents. Tana vs. Shibata is the big feud in there, even if they’ve made it a friendly feud now. With Tenzan and Shibata teaming up there are two opportunities for someone to beat the shit out of that sulky bastard Naito. There’s every chance he won’t get along with Tanahashi either, seeing as they’re in the same block. Naito called Tenzan washed up in the pre-tournament hype, which is ok because he’s a heel and Shibata just hates everyone so there’s a very strong chance of Naito getting his ass handed to him. Naito, because he’s an asshole now, goes after Shibata’s bad arm, which confirms there are two guys in Block A that will want to beat the crap out of Naito. His heel persona allows for a lot of cheap short cuts, like running away. Or Naito’s laid back version of running away. When Tenzan finally traps him Shibata tags himself in because he wants to kick Naito’s ass more! Shibata’s aggression levels makes me think the Naito match on Day Three will be solid. Naito shows some strong psychology too by not only working Shibata’s legitimately injured arm but also the leg that AJ worked over on Day One. Even Dorada and Taguchi have fun in this one with Dorada hitting some fun dives and Taguchi his usual butt-based offence. Unfortunately he smacks Dorada in the face with his bottom for the win after some stupid posing that makes me despise him. First really good match on the show, much like Day One where they saved a good multi-person tag for right before the intermission. Final Rating: *** G1 Climax Block B Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii Pre-Match pick: Kojima. It pains me to go against my boy Ishii but Kojima’s big lariat tends to end him. Also there’s logic here. Their last three singles matches have gone: Ishii win, Kojima win, Ishii win. There’s a pattern emerging. The build for this one, with them having a pull apart that busted Ishii’s lip on Day One, has me primed for this match. They carry on where they left off by wailing on each other from the bell. It’s the kind of contest where neither man wants to back down or show weakness. It’s the kind of wrestling that defines Japan. Ishii is, for me at least, the definitive Japanese worker for that very reason. In your face and gutsy. While the match mostly consists of back and forth brawling there are some tasty big spots too. Ishii takes a wonderful bump off the Koji Cutter and headspikes a DDT and the impact from an Ishii stalling superplex is intense. They even get a bit of psychology in there with Koji and Ishii going after lariats and working each other’s arms to stop it. Kojima is forced to switch arms and because it’s his weak arm Ishii kicks out. It’s good use of trademarks and common sense. Ishii brings his great selling too, where you’re not sure if he’s really injured because of how he holds himself. Ishii’s defensive headbutts are immense. Brainbuster puts Kojima down and gets Ishii off to a winning start. I love Ishii so I’m not even upset about him ruining my predictions. Great little match. Intense. Ishii is going to have a good tournament this year, I can feel it. Final Rating: **** Picks: 3/6 G1 Climax Block B Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi Pre-Match pick: Goto. He’s the IC champion and Yujiro is dreadful. At least he brings Mao with him and the perverted cameraman finally discovers the zoom function to check out her rack. The match is about as good as you’d expect. Goto even puts a fucking chinlock in it so Yujiro can do his bullshit thumb biting spot. At least they run it back the other way so Goto can lift it and get a few chuckles. The rest of the match sees Goto giving Yujiro way too much respect and hardly ever dominating the punk-ass bitch. The match improves down the stretch with some nice counters, Goto especially sliding out of stuff. Shouten Kai finishes Yujiro off and gives us the inevitable conclusion. This did not start at all well but the last couple of minutes picked up nicely. By that point they had pretty much lost the audience though. Final Rating: **1/2 Picks: 4/7 G1 Climax Block B Tomoaki Honma vs. Yuji Nagata Pre-Match pick: Nagata. Because Honma always loses. Part of the joy of watching Honma is hoping that he’ll win. These guys tag together quite often, and as recently as 11th July, so they know each other quite well. Honma gets the biggest reactions of the night too, getting chants going at regular intervals. Given how quiet the crowd as been tonight, it’s probably in their best interests to save a Honma win for a bigger venue. Especially as Nagata’s aims are surely higher than Honma in this tournament. He wants to push toward the final, Honma wants to win a match. Honma shows a lot of resilience and Nagata beats the crap out of him. As per usual a lot of the story revolves around Honma’s desire to hit Kokeshi’s. He hits one standing and gets overconfident. Part of his charm is the combination of pluck, tenacity and uncertainty. You can see him thinking if he’ll be able to get that Super Kokeshi and costing himself time with the procrastination. He ends up scoring an unusually high number of Kokeshi’s, two of the torpedo variety, before being felled by not one but two Backdrop Drivers (the first one being of the release variety and a hideous looking head drop). This didn’t quite have the vibe of some of Honma’s matches from last year, where he was a late replacement. Very strong wrestling though with Honma showing testicular fortitude and Nagata showing his continued resistance to the aging process. I think I lost a little enjoyment during this as I developed indigestion. This was the only match effected and I tried to go back to it and re-watch but it just reminded me of the indigestion. Damn you, body, co-operate! We’re only one Day Two. Final Rating: ***3/4 KOKESHI COUNT: 1 missed. 3 hit. SUPER KOKESHI COUNT: 1 missed. Picks: 5/8 G1 Climax Block B Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin Pre-Match pick: Okada. The IWGP champion vs. a guy who’s never had a singles match in New Japan? Normally that would be easy but AJ Styles beat Okada under similar circumstances in his first match in New Japan. Elgin is out to shock the world and beating Okada would certainly do that and probably guarantee him a title match between now and Wrestle Kingdom because that’s how Okada rolls. He does not take G1 losses lightly. Elgin is freakishly powerful, which gets him over with the crowd pretty quickly. He can’t get reactions for his near falls though because nobody buys him as a threat. Perhaps Okada wasn’t the best idea for his first match. Having him beat someone first might been a better idea. Elgin is a touch sloppy, not connecting cleanly on his flip on the ropes or a double stomp. I’m a big believer in sticking to your strengths and Elgin is out to impress in ways he doesn’t need to. He’s fine by doing all the big power moves, like jacking Okada up deadweight for a suplex. These little irritations take the sting out of the match but it remains a solid contest. Mainly because of Okada’s presence but also because of Elgin’s freaky power moves. Elgin knows Okada from working with him ROH so he recognises the set up to a few of his trademarks, not just the Rainmaker. Okada getting the Tombstone on the big man is very impressive and that’s enough to set up the Rainmaker for the finish. Surprisingly good contest, with Elgin growing in front of the crowd as the match continued. It’s a good way to catch his footing before more challenging matches roll around. Final Rating: **** Picks: 6/9 G1 Climax Block B Karl Anderson vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Pre-Match pick: Nakamura. Come on, it’s Nakamura. I have him winning every match. Seeing as his record will be very strong in the tournament I think that’s a fair bet. Karl does have his support out here (Fale and Cody included) but normally G1 means no interference. Even the IWGP title doesn’t get that kind of respect. Anderson is gifted enough to have a quality match without any help and his understanding with Nakamura allows for some tidy near miss sequences. Karl’s tactics lean toward illegal with hair pulling and eye rakes. I’m fine with heels being heelish, as long as we don’t get too much interference. Especially when good wrestlers are involved. Anderson does some top work on Nakamura’s neck, including a wicked diving neckbreaker. It’s better than working over Shinsuke’s legs as he won’t sell that. The neck allows Nakamura to do some selling without it drastically effecting his move set. It is a pretty slow paced match up because of this. Spending time building up to bigger spots, like the TKO off the top. Logically all this neck work would lead to Anderson getting a pin, seeing as his finish the Gun Stun works the neck, but in the main event? Surely the native babyface goes over. No sooner did I type that Anderson floors Nakamura with the Gun Stun to win. Holy shit. Ok, I didn’t see that coming. Good use of logic and body part psychology in this one. Karl earned the W. Not the most thrilling of main events though. It’s very weird seeing Karl close out the show with an interview, referencing his 2012 G1 Final. This win certainly puts him in contention and the interview, in Japanese, is a babyface move. Final Rating: ***1/2 Picks: 6/10. Damn you, Karl! Three right and two wrong, the exact same thing that happened on Day One. Summary: A very strong second day. Almost all the tournament matches delivered. The one disappointment coming from the Yujiro Takahashi match and that’s entirely expected. The hard cam and lack of commentary was a bit odd but most of the action took place in the ring so it wasn’t really an issue. Four of the five tournament matches were over *** so that’s arguably better than Day One where only two matches clocked in as ‘good’. But Tanahashi vs. Ibushi remains the best match in G1 so far. Verdict: 84 This year I’m trying something a little different for G1. Normally I watch the shows that I like the look of and if anything else gets good reviews I’ll check that too. This year I’m going full bore. I’m watching everything. Yes, every fucking thing and I’m going to busting those reviews out right after the shows (or as soon as I can, what with work and such). That means 19 shows in less than a month. It is the longest G1 in history. All other projects are going on the back-burner for this one. In order to full prepare you, and me, for such a momentous tournament here are the line up’s complete with some serious analysis of the individuals chances. I’ll be listing the blocks in the order that I think they’ll finish so you can laugh at me in a month’s time when I’ve made a complete arse of it.
BLOCK A: 1. AJ Styles. This in itself is wishful thinking because I’m off the opinion that we’ll get Nakamura vs. AJ as the final, which is being hotly debated on Twitter. Nakamura is the big favourite, having dropped his IC belt to contest the G1. Nakamura and AJ have almost zero history so the big hope is a dream final between those two. In order to get there AJ has to fend off Hiroshi Tanahashi, who seems to have AJ’s number in fair fights and Kota Ibushi, winner of the New Japan Cup and showstealer at Wrestle Kingdom. Given AJ’s reactions during last year’s G1, the tournament that *made* him in New Japan and his IWGP title match with Kazuchika Okada, the fans are ready to accept him as the top dog. My primary thinking is that Nakamura vs. AJ is a hot ticket for the final though. Rather than the oft repeated Nakamura vs. Tanahashi. I’m very torn over this pick. 2. Hiroshi Tanahashi. Tana is the big spoiler, potentially, for AJ (especially as they wrestle each other right at the end). He’s not won G1 since 2007 and considering he’s been NJPW’s biggest star for that entire time, it’s a bit of a surprise he’s only got the one win. Plus a victory would almost ensure another Okada-Tanahashi Wrestle Kingdom showdown. A match that Okada struggles with. Could they give Tana an elusive second G1 only to fall to Okada, ending the curse of the Rainmaker at WK? It’d be one hell of a story. I personally see them saving that for next year, hoping the dream match of Okada vs. Nakamura (many people’s MOTY for 2014 and G1 Final) will sell WK10 big time. Whichever match they go for, it’ll be huge. I’d watch the shit out of both of those contests. Or indeed Okada vs. AJ, seeing as their last match was the mutts nuts. The more I think about it, the more I think Tana could squeak into the final, at AJ’s expense. Thus saving AJ vs. Nakamura for another time. 3. Kota Ibushi. A strong showing for Ibushi would be nice, seeing as he’s been a big deal this year but not on the same level as the really top guys. Defeats to AJ and Nakamura have reflected this and he’s not beaten any of the big names. Kota missed last year’s G1 with injury and surely has a point to prove. It’s a tournament he’s perhaps considered a little too lightweight to win outright. Maybe in years to come he can change perception of himself. I’m not seeing it this year, although Okada-Ibushi would be another terrific match. New Japan have tonnes of them lined up. 4. Katsuyori Shibata. He was in the hunt last year until a dubious count-out loss to Bad Luck Fale. I can see him being the bridesmaid once more thanks to a pre-tournament arm injury. Expect a slew of opponents to work that arm and him to incur early set backs because of it. Especially as he’s wrestling AJ Styles tonight (more on that later as I stupidly pick Shibata to win). They’ve also got him working Doc Gallows on the last day, which suggests another cheap finish as Doc is a guy they’re happy to put over anyone as he’s big. So expect a poor start, remarkable comeback and cheap finish from Shibata (and despite saying all this I go ahead and pick him to beat AJ, which is why my predictions will fail. I think it through and then pick Shibata to win everything because he’s Shibata). 5. Togi Makabe. New Japan generally treat their champions quite well and Togi is carrying the NEVER belt into G1. For that reason alone he should finish in the top half. He’s generally put over most midcard guys anyway so he shouldn’t be losing to Yano or Tenzan or even Fale. He’s the kind of guy who should contend until the last few nights at the very least. I don’t see him winning but he already has one G1 win from back in 2009. It does happen. 6. Hiroyoshi Tenzan. At one point it looked like Tenzan was heading towards replacing Masa Chono as Mr August. He’s won G1 three times, closing in on Chono’s record of five. He has no chance of winning this one but is carrying the NWA title, which needs to be kept fairly strong if he’s to draw anything in defending the belt. For this alone I see Tenzan getting a good run and his nostalgia pops should be fun. “SSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH”. 7. Tetsuya Naito. Placing Naito is hard because his new found attitude (he looks like he doesn’t give a fuck about anything) could result in a lot of defeats. The weird part of his new persona is he still wrestles exactly the same but only without any interest in wrestling, people or life in general. Like some sort of zombie robot. He could potentially come in last if he starts taking count outs against the likes of Doc or Tenzan. His very first match is with Fale. If he loses that…he could be in for a long, long tournament. He does have a tournament pedigree however winning G1 back in 2013. His resultant title match with Okada got bumped off top though and resulted in him being turned heel (eventually). He’s not yet been rebuilt to a winners circle level. 8. Bad Luck Fale. Fale was a spoiler last year and finished very high up but was also involved with Nakamura around the tournament and was being booked strong so they could finish their series. This year he’s due no such protection and he doesn’t deserve it. 9. Toru Yano. I suspect he’ll probably finish higher but Yano’s sole purpose is to provide the wrestlers with an off night. Last year his matches were routinely short and inoffensive. The idea being that it gave everyone in the block a night where they didn’t have to bust ass. I’m sure Tanahashi and Tenzan will appreciate working Yano. Look for their matches to be especially short. Yano will probably go 50-50 throughout the tournament so I’ve probably got him a bit low. 10. Doc Gallows. While he’ll probably pick up a few unexpected wins to keep people guessing who’ll win the overall prize, I don’t see Gallows over anybody in a straight up match. Maybe Yano. The match with Fale will be skippable. He could potentially be spoiler for Shibata right at the end and could inflict an early defeat on Tenzan this evening but ultimately he’ll be nowhere. BLOCK B: 1. Shinsuke Nakamura. It’s hard to look past Nakamura. The only other major player in Block B is Kazuchika Okada and he’s already the IWGP champion. The tournament exists to set up the number one contender for Wrestle Kingdom. While IWGP champions have won in the past that was before it was such a deliberate set up for something else. Like how Hulk Hogan won the Royal Rumble when he was WWF champion. Kensuke Sasaki was the last man to win G1 while holding the title so it’s highly unlikely. Nakamura on the other hand is free of IC title issues, having lost the belt to Goto and lost the re-match, and already has a terrific match with Okada in the books. They’ll face each other again in the Block here in what could, potentially, be a preview of WK10’s main event. 2. Hirooki Goto. Most people have Okada as #2 in this Block and I would totally understand that but G1 is never that cut and dry. I don’t see Nakamura and Okada being the only guys capable of winning going into their match at the end of the tournament. I can see Goto winning to go top before their match leaving us to wonder whether Nakamura or Okada can overcome him. Ultimately I see Goto as a red herring but he’s been making overtures toward the big belt, one he challenges for sometimes (and loses), claiming he’ll unify NJPW’s big two belts. I can’t see either of those things happening but beating Nakamura twice sets him up for the hat trick and to be taken seriously as a main eventer. 3. Kazuchika Okada. The IWGP champion coming into G1, which virtually guarantees he won’t win but New Japan will want people to think he’ll win so he’ll be up there all Block long. Probably in the lead for most of the tournament. His first big match is against Elgin. Unless they’re looking to break Elgin in big, that’s a win for Okada. His next big match is Honma and, no offence to Honma, he won’t lose that either. Honma was blanked last year and it’ll all be about Honma getting a big win. He won’t get it against Okada. He just won’t. So Okada will contend the whole way and lose to Nakamura in the last match to miss out. Whether Nakamura wins the Block based on this is debatable but most people think he will. 4. Karl Anderson. A former runner up, in 2012, the Machine Gun is a legitimate singles threat and they usually have one of the gaijin have a good run to contend. AJ is the obvious choice but Karl is the other guy capable of a good run. I see him getting a few upsets and possibly beating Okada, as he has done before (like last year). 5. Yuji Nagata. This is another guy I’d love for NJPW to push but it seems to rarely happen. His IC title shot at Nakamura came after he contemplated retirement after being left off the WK9 show. He’s back to being on the pre-show and you wonder how long they’ll carry on sticking Nagata into tournaments they’ve no intention of having him compete in. With that in mind I’m hoping he has a good showing. To prove he belongs and next year they can put him back into having great matches and finishing in the bottom half. 6. Tomohiro Ishii. I’m a massive Ishii mark. My Twitter avatar at the moment is me standing next to, and towering over, New Japan’s diminutive Stone Pitbull. I’m always hoping he pushes for the big win and I’m constantly crushed he comes up short in big matches. He should at least steamroller the likes of Yujiro but won’t upset any of the big guns. Unless Shinsuke is feeling generous. He loves #141. 7. Satoshi Kojima. Another veteran and it seems like an eternity since Kojima won the G1 back in 2010. He certainly won’t be in contention here and will probably be the cause of much frustration regarding selling and inconsistencies during this G1. He’ll still finish above Honma because Gedo is mean. 8. Michael Elgin. I’m not sure how well Elgin will be received. Mainly because of his lack of experience in NJPW. The crowd were notably silent at his name being announced in previous tours. I can see him getting a few wins and being given the opportunity to prove himself. He’ll hope for a long term gain of future tours by throwing a tonne of effort in. The match with Nakamura alone should be worth his inclusion. His opening match, against Okada, should be a fine demonstration of how well he’ll do. 9. Tomoaki Honma. The loveable loser was blanked at last year’s G1. I’m expecting a wait during this one for Honma to break his duck but I can’t see him going 0-9. I have him winning at least twice, if not more frequently and staying out of last place. The fans will love him regardless and I can’t face the prospect of Yujiro beating the poor guy. 10. Yujiro Takahashi. I hate this guy. So that’s the preview. Should be a fantastic 19 shows. Day one alone boasts Tanahashi vs. Ibushi and AJ vs. Shibata. It promises to be one wild ride. The anticipation of not only seeing G1 live but also paying a minimal amount for it on the outstanding New Japan World is a genuine thrill. New Japan are bringing the best value for money in the world. Even better than the WWE’s $9.99 Network. Tomoaki Honma, Mascara Dorada, David Finlay & Jay White vs. Yuji Nagata, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Yohei Komatsu I actually ate my dinner during this match. That’s not a metaphor or anything. It was a baguette. I had fries with it and JR’s BBQ sauce. The hot one. Bangin’. Anyway, the guys to watch here are Honma and Nagata. Two massive crowd favourites with differing goals during G1. Honma just wants to win one match and land as many Kokeshi’s as possible. Nagata wants to prove he belongs at the top end of the card, despite his advanced years. They leave the legwork to the juniors. Jay White, and his shitty new Mohawk, looks eager to make an impact and looks smoother than usual. As if his training has kicked up a gear. He’s very impressive. There are moments where he hesitates, perhaps giving himself a second of thinking time that a veteran wouldn’t require and some of his movements are quite mechanical and deliberate but he’s improving. Nagata singles out Finlay Jr. for abuse and finishes with the Backdrop Driver. Final Rating: *** KOKESHI COUNT – 1/4 Tangent: Nagata and Honma had the best preparations for G1. Nagata did some work on limboing to avoid the Rainmaker. Meanwhile Honma perfected his Kokeshi by doing a Kokeshi bungee jump. This is the kind of thing they show on New Japan World when you’re watching Swerved or Total Divas. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall) vs. Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan) Scott Hall’s boy is starting to progress up the card and feature in matches with no other young boys. This has nothing to do with his ability and everything to do with how tall he is. One day he will be a monster. Yujiro doesn’t bring Mao with him so he’s completely worthless. Cody on Twitter joked “what’s yellow on the outside but white on the inside…Yujiro Takahashi”. I see political correctness runs in the family. Goto’s stock has raised of late and he’s wearing a new robe to the ring for G1, a sign he’s likely to do well. It’s at times like this I wish that New Japan didn’t put on such big shows. This one is three and a half hours and this match is completely unnecessary. Captain New Japan opts to take the joke route, pretending he has mind powers and missing stuff. It’s all very silly and it’s a bit early in the show for a comedy break. The result of this half-assed approach is a house show level event, which only picks up when Goto decides to impose himself on Yujiro as an early marker in Block B. All the tag matches involve Block B participants, with Block A open for business in singles in the second half. Cody throwing Goto around is pretty surprising. He is a beast. If the WWE catch wind of him they’ll be calling. He’s 6’ 8”. He’s second generation. Vince must surely want him. Goto pins Cody with a cheeky roll up, which is a bit odd. You’d expect the IC champion, and a guy in G1, to murder the young boy with his finisher. Match was filler. Final Rating: *1/2 Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga) vs. CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura & YOSHI-HASHI) You don’t get Nakamura and TACOS tagging often. Y-H usually tags up with Okada. Likewise Anderson & Tama as the Machine Gun usually tags with Doc Gallows. Doc is in G1 action tonight though and Tama seems to be working a buddy gimmick during G1. Nakamura might be the most entertaining wrestler in the world right now. His entrance alone is something else. All he has to do is walk into a room and you can’t take your eyes off him in case he does something awesome. Karl knows him well so they have great counters lined up and their G1 match should be really good. The mockery alone makes it entertaining but they can work too. The match is divided in half. The Nakamura half is full of inventive counters and ridiculous showmanship. The YOSHI-HASHI half is meaningless heat. Nakamura gets Tama alone, YEAOOOH, and the BOMAAAA YEEEEE finishes. Tonga had a decent showing but it was all about Nakamura vs. Anderson. Their Block match should be a belter. Final Rating: **1/2 Satoshi Kojima, Ryusuke Taguchi & Michael Elgin vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo) This is Elgin’s first match in New Japan. They haven’t got his name right though. “Michael Elgar” according to the announcers. Interesting that Kojima and Taguchi come out together and Elgin comes out alone. He does face Kojima in the Blocks so that might factor into how well they operate as a team. That’s true of Okada and Ishii but they’re normally teammates so it’s less of an issue. Ishii gets right in Kojima’s face from the get-go. That’s going to be a hard-hitting contest. I mark out hard for Okada’s blinged out entrance. He has that same X-factor that Nakamura has, only without doing anything ridiculous to achieve it. Elgin wants to start his first match, rather than watch to see how it’s done. Okada obliges. It’s great to see Ishii’s reaction to an early Elgin powerslam. He steps down the apron toward Elgin, sizing him up. As if to say “I’m going to beat the shit out of you”. And he will. And I’ll love it. Kojima provokes the Stone Pitbull further and Ishii full on jumps in there to attack him. Ishii is in the kind of mood that will result in some serious snowflake action during G1. Elgin rather steals the match with a ridiculous stalling suplex, which both Ishii and Okada fail to break up. Okada’s look of disbelief is great. Ishii’s bad mood eventually spills into the ring and we get another prize reaction from him when Taguchi tries that stupid hip attack and then he NO SELLS KOJIMA’S SHITTY CORNER CHOPS! I don’t think Ishii realises he’s supposed to take the tag matches lightly. They’re rest days, mate. NO! Ishii’s determination raises every else’s game, apart from Okada who’s too clever for that. Perhaps the idea is for Ishii to act as Gatekeeper for Okada, wearing out his future opponents. Elgin drops Ishii square on his face, during an ambitious spot where he lifts Okada and Ishii and that takes the starch out of his performance. Okada steps it up to finish off Taguchi but it was Ishii and Elgin who stole this match. Elgin must be thrilled with how his debut came off, despite dropping Ishii on his head. Final Rating: ***1/2 Tangent: Some good stuff after the bell too where Elgin eyeballs Okada and Ishii full on belts Kojima in the face. Those are going to be two fucking awesome matches. I love Okada here. He just kicks back and watches Ishii and Kojima fighting. Ishii even gets a bloody lip during the ruck but Okada is way too cool to get involved. I would say G1 turns Ishii into a maniac but he’s like this ALL THE FUCKING TIME. That takes us up to the break with the G1 matches to follow. The break sees clips from the NJPW presser with various suited competitors making comments on the forthcoming tournament. Okada looked remarkably dabber. Champions are men who know their way around a waistcoat. G1 Climax Block A Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Doc Gallows Pre-match pick: Tenzan, because he’s NWA champion and he’ll get tired as the tournament progresses. Start him out strong. Doc is likely to win whenever it suits the booking and winning here would start us out on a downer. No one likes downers. Speaking of which, they work really hard to avoid having a stinker to open G1. I’m not really into either guy, which makes it a tough one to sit through. You need a degree of investment to really get into a match. Gallows looks in poor shape, carrying a paunch and being rough around the edges. It’s not as noticeable when he’s working tags but in singles he’s exposed. Tenzan is even more random, selling a knee for no apparent reason (unless he’s really hurt, which would be terrible for him). Maybe they’re going for an injury angle with him, like they did with Makabe and his jaw last year. In which case, I change my pick! Tenzan decides to ground the match, to work around the injury, and hooks the Anaconda Vice. Doc can’t get out and taps. Let me just revel in my 100% predictions accuracy to this point. Final Rating: **1/4 G1 Climax Block A Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano Pre-match pick: Makabe, because he’s NEVER champion and Yano’s wins and losses will be nights off. Togi doesn’t need one of those yet. Plus Yano upset an injured Togi in the Blocks last year. I’m sure the unchained gorilla hasn’t forgotten that. Togi looks angry, but often that’s Yano’s aim. He winds you up so you lose your focus while he’s laughing at you. Yano tries that here and gets a roll up inside a second, which freaks the crowd out. Yano’s insistence at hiding in the ropes yelling “BREEEAAAAAAAAAAKKKK” is incredibly endearing. I find myself smirking before he’s even started doing it. Yano brings an assortment of the usual, loveable, cheating (chair shots, crowd brawls, exposed turnbuckle, low blow). Togi kicks his ass and finishes with the King Kong Kneedrop. My 100% predictions record remains in tact! Yano isn’t supposed to have good matches but this was actually a welcome break. I feel suitably refreshed ahead of the final three bouts. Final Rating: *1/4 G1 Climax Block A Bad Luck Fale vs. Tetsuya Naito Pre-match pick: Fale. He won an awful lot last year and Naito’s sulky gimmick doesn’t seem to involve effort. Both these guys are into hats all of a sudden. The Underboss has a Blues Brothers hat, and sunglasses. Naito brought a baseball cap back from Mexico as a souvenir and has started sulking because no one complemented him on it. Naito actually comes out here in a Skeletor mask and a suit. He can’t see properly and trips on the ring apron. Twat. Despite Naito looking like getting up in the morning is a massive effort for him (is he bipolar?) he goes hell for leather when he’s on offence and Fale is in the mood to impress. He’s also looking tubby around the waistline. Maybe Bullet Club should cut down on the buffets. Either that or Fale has been dining at Chez Paul to try and get the band back together. Naito’s new personality is hard to get a read on. He’s a morose nihilist. I’m really not sure how I feel about that. It sucks a lot of the fun out of his character and regresses his personality to that of a glum teen. Some of his facials are borderline psychotic and it’s hard to get a handle on what he’s going for. Naito ends up working the leg and going after submissions. It’s a ballsy tactic. Especially as Fale isn’t known for selling limbs (not that anyone does nowadays). He’s known for accidentally avoiding assassination attempts by Carrie Fisher. Naito and Fale have some really nice counters, especially when going after big moves. They make a royal fucking mess of the finish with Naito going for some sort of jack-knife pin and Fale selling his groin. Naito doesn’t even bother staying on top for the full three count. I think I hate Naito’s new gimmick, which means it works? He’s supposed to be a heel after all. Incidentally, there goes my 100% predictions record. I feel like Fale must feel when he saw Blues Brothers 2000 and realised the dream was over. Final Rating: **3/4 G1 Climax Block A AJ Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata Pre-match pick: Shibata. This is a ballsy call, considering I think AJ will either win Block A or finish second. Shibata is injured and that could count against him. I remember talking about the potential for this match up late in 2014. Thinking it would be a strong contest. They’re both great on the mat with AJ capable of countering Shibata’s range of strikes. They’ve hardly encountered each other at all before this match, which makes it all the more intriguing. Shibata’s arm is a cause for concern, after he missed the lead in shows with an injury, and it’s heavily taped. It looks like the elbow that was causing him problems. He’s eager to avoid that being an issue, using kicks to keep AJ at a distance and giving up his left arm for AJ to work over rather than his injured right arm. As expected the match is technically excellent with strong countering and great proficiency from two mat masters. It’s nice to see Shibata switching to the left arm for his elbows, out of sheer necessity. His kicks are firmly on point and one of them knocks AJ over the rail with the impact. It’s a great mixture of AJ’s willingness to bump and Shibata’s raw aggression. As expected they click like nobodies business. They have an absolutely killer spot too where Shibata kicks the ring post, with AJ ducking, and the brutal CLUNK noise is horrific. It’s one of the most organic spots I’ve ever seen with someone ducking and someone else hitting the ring post. AJ had Shibata chasing him to set the spot up. From there AJ works over the leg, which at least offers respite for Shibata’s bad arm but probably doesn’t make him feel any better. “You’re crazy, man” yells AJ at Shibata as he gets in AJ’s face, asking for more abuse. It’s a great moment of AJ realising how nuts Shibata really is. AJ is a composed wrestler though and knows when and how to pick his fights. He won’t go toe to toe, not if he can bait Shibata into a move that he can counter. His speed is sufficient to get Shibata into trouble and he uses the Styles Clash as a distraction to set up the Calf Killer, on that injured leg. Naturally Shibata gets the ropes but then AJ springs up and kicks the injured arm too. He’s dissecting Shibata and all the guts in the world won’t get you through busted limbs. AJ goes to those injured body parts to counter just about everything. Shibata has to alter his sleeper by BITING HIS OWN HAND instead of using the bad arm. It’s awesome stuff. AJ ducks the PK though and flattens Shibata with Bloody Sunday and the Styles Clash finishes. The psychology in this one was off the page. Some genuinely brilliant selling and limb work. I’m a little disappointed the Calf Killer wasn’t the finish after all the set up work but the big storyline is that Shibata’s injuries will hinder his run. Final Rating: **** G1 Climax Block A Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi Pre-match pick; Tanahashi. If there’s one thing I’ve learned watching New Japan is that if you bet on Tanahashi you’ll be right more often than not. That said, I can totally see Kota going over to establish himself as a threat to this Block. Tana is just starting to look a bit haggard, showing his aging rock star good looks more than in the past. Ibushi is keen to show he belongs in the ring with New Japan’s ace (is he still considered the ace? He still beat Okada this year). Kota is younger, faster and possibly hungrier. Kota misses a standing moonsault to set the story of the match in motion; a knee injury for Tana to work over. Kota isn’t the best at selling an injury. He’s in the school of thinking where you can sell a bit but then stop and carry on like nothing happened. It’s a popular school nowadays. Besides Ibushi is far more fun when he’s hitting moonsaults to the floor and flipping around like a lunatic. I had similar issues with KUSHIDA vs. Omega a few weeks ago. Tana is relentless with that knee deal too, going back to it after Kota has moved on. When Kota bails to avoid more abuse he gets himself a HIGH FLY FLOW TO THE FLOOR! It does become a battle, of sorts, where Ibushi is determined the limb work segment of this match is over and Tanahashi won’t let him forget it. Kota is in the mood to take big bumps though and everything Tana throws at him is met with Ibushi landing his neck on the mat. This includes the Slingblade, which he takes a huge concertina bump on. The match takes a turn as Ibushi javelins Tana into the buckles. It’s a fucking sick bump and Tanahashi looks absolutely fucked after flying head first into the middle of the buckle. Tana tries to sneak out under the ropes but Kota hauls him back into the ring with a German suplex off the apron. It’s batshit crazy. Tana’s neck must be destroyed after those two moves. Both guys attempt their top rope finisher but both times they take too long and allow the opponent to move. A little too much showboating before finishing the contest. The match hits a flow of big bumps, creating a fantastic atmosphere, drawing the crowd in. Tana eventually messes Ibushi’s leg up so bad he can’t stand and finishes with the High Fly Flow. The limb work didn’t work for me but Tanahashi’s persistence was eventually rewarded. The crowd helped to create the big match atmosphere they wanted here. Final Rating: ****1/4 Picks; 3/5. Not bad. I should have gone with my gut on AJ Styles rather than my heart and should have realised that Naito’s new character wouldn’t be jobbing in his first singles match. Otherwise a grand victory for logic. Summary: The undercard was a bit patchy but we’re one night in and we’ve already seen two terrific matches. Shibata’s sleeper where he couldn’t use his one arm and had to bite his hand was amazing. Some of the best selling and improvisation I’ve seen all year long. Tanahashi made the main event special. The veteran took a couple of sickening bumps and told a story, forcing Ibushi to go along with it whether he liked it or not. Those two matches are worth the price of admission alone. Obviously thumbs up. Fuck Battleground. See you for Day Two on Thursday! Verdict: 79 5th July 2015.
We’re in Osaka, Japan. Dominion has a stacked card, the biggest since Wrestle Kingdom with the main event being the unpredictable AJ Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada contest. Without further ado, because this is a five hour show, let’s get down to business. Dark Match Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada & Sho Tanaka vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Yohei Komatsu Taguchi looks like an absolute tool with his yellow t-shirt and his sparkly green sunglasses. He pisses Nakanishi off a treat by not doing the pre-match chest bashing and instead doing his Funky Weapon pose. If you could read Nakanishi’s thoughts it’d basically be “fuck you Taguchi”. Nakanishi looks like he genuinely hates Taguchi, which makes me like him more than usual. I love Tanaka’s aggression as he wants to start the match and ushers everyone else out of the ring. His personality is starting to come together, albeit as a largely generic Young Boy. Given the ten participants they all get to insert a few trademarks and not much else. Tenzan’s Mongolian chops get a lot of love, as does Kojima’s crappy chop rush. The star of the match is the evergreen Nagata, which makes me wonder why they keep putting him in the opening match when he shows no signs of slowing down like every other veteran in this contest. The match is tremendous fun with each wrestler getting to switch the pace accordingly with their tags. It’s the kind of match where I could quite easily watch for 20 minutes as they’re able to keep the action incredibly fresh. Mascara Dorada picks off Komatsu for the win. This sort of thing is nothing new but I am a sucker for the multiple person throwaway openers. Final Rating: *** IWGP Tag Team Championship The Young Bucks (c) vs. Roppongi Vice vs. reDRagon This is rapidly becoming the new Bucks vs. Time Splitters vs. Forever Hooligans. Sadly Rock Singer announcer is back and he is as hard to understand as ever. When the Japanese announcer is easier to understand than the English language one that’s a problem. The Bucks have adopted Cody Hall in a Masterblaster piece of business. “He’s just a boy”. More pre-match goodness sees Beretta try to intimidate Matt, who completely ignores him. The Bucks have taken over this division. Making the matches about their quirky heel antics and insane moves. The matches have skewed toward comedy, although not when reDRagon are in there. They don’t do the funny. They only time they do anything funny it’s because they’re being serious and no one else is. The story of the match is how manipulative the Bucks are and how desperate they are to hold on to the belts. Frequently they make blind tags and tag out when it suits them. They play the rules, which they’re very familiar with, in their favour. When it’s a fair match reDRagon destroy everyone with their hard-hitting offence but more often than not the Bucks manage to position the other two teams for their benefit. There are plenty of high spots and exciting double teams. The one big surprise, for me anyway, is how over Rocky Romero is now. He’s been getting that way for a while but he has serious love in Japan. There’s a Superkick Party and More Bang For Your Buck allows the Bucks to retain. Given the tactics they employed, it’s not a surprise. On their way out the Bucks yell “what’s up Finn, great match last night” as a shout out to former Bullet Club leader Prince Devitt. Increasingly the Bucks just do whatever the hell they want. It works in small doses. Final Rating: ***1/4 Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Tetsuya Naito & Tomoaki Honma The build up to this one has seen Naito act like a complete dick. He’s had issues with the Osaka crowd in the past so chances are they will not like him during this match. I honestly thought they were going to try and rebuild Naito as a blue-eye and had been going that way since his failed Wrestle Kingdom 8 main event. With CHAOS having drifted into babyface territory, not that they were ever evil heels, the bad guy side of the roster is perhaps a little lacking, so I can understand the turn. Naito leaves Honma to get his ass kicked in this match, which is what happens in most Honma matches anyway. He is the ultimate underdog. When Naito finally does take a tag the crowd HATE him and he’s working against Bullet Club, who are the top heels in the promotion. He doesn’t even eliminate his flashy offence. He just inserts more posing in between. His whole demeanour says ‘I cannot be bothered with entertaining you, Osaka’. He seems indifferent to everything. It’s so effective that the crowd cheer Fale over him. However the structure of the match makes no sense with Naito playing the plucky babyface role and still getting heat. It needed to be better structured. There’s one moment that totally wins me over; Honma finally hits a Kokeshi, with assistance from Naito, and Tetsuya just sits there in the ring with the pinfall going down. He looks bored out of his mind. Honma hits the Super Kokeshi to get the pin and Naito, having done the bare minimum to help, just walks off. An odd match, given Naito’s circumstances. Not sure where he’s going with this act. At least he’s going somewhere. Final Rating: **1/4 Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Katsuyori Shibata Laughter7 explode! These two were tag team partners when they came into New Japan from the world of MMA a few years back but took different paths. The crowd seem happier with Shibata, who’s adapted to strongstyle and become a crowd favourite in the process, whereas Sakuraba was more popular when he first arrived. Some of the lustre has come off him in the past two years. One thing you know you’re going to get from these guys is mat excellence. It’s shoot-style done with just enough puroresu thrown in to make it entertaining. The great thing about this match is Shibata takes it really personally and hammers Saku with almost every spot, including a pair of vicious hanging shotgun dropkicks in the corner. The emotion is there, which is a rarity for Shibata. What I really dig about Shibata is he doesn’t make little slap noises on his thigh when he kicks someone, he makes those noises by kicking the crap out of people. As they kick the hell out of each other I’m absolutely riveted. The balance between puroresu and MMA is perfect and makes for an enthralling contest, better than Saku vs. Suzuki from Wrestle Kingdom 9. While Shibata is better at striking, Sakuraba frequently catches him on submissions. The one that Shibata breaks by biting the rope is amazing. The fact that he’s continually caught in submissions reflects why Shibata had such a poor MMA record. The fact he’s able to escape shows why he’s such a showman. It’s a belter of a contest, one that surpasses my already high expectations for atmosphere alone. Shibata’s short strikes often draw a reaction from me and for a jaded old bastard like myself that’s impressive. Shibata ends up using his weight to lean on Saku during a sleeper, a rare opportunity for him to showcase his wrestling skill, and with Sakuraba going out Shibata pelts him with the PK for the win. Great fucking match, I hope they do it again. Final Rating: ****1/4 IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Kenny Omega (c) vs. KUSHIDA “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”. You have to love a man who takes his inspiration from wrestling and Back to the Future. This match is all about KUSHIDA and his boyhood dream coming to fruition, finally getting the chance to challenge for the junior title on a big show. (Ignoring his brief 2014 run with the belt that was completely unmemorable, defeating Kota Ibushi at Kizuna Road and losing in his first defence to Taguchi). He’s watched a lot of other guys come through the junior division and get shots ahead of him but now he’s earned his moment. Will The Cleaner oblige by losing to him? KUSHIDA was the outstanding performer in the Super Juniors tournament and indeed captured victory in it. There’s a feeling it’s now or never for KUSHIDA. Kenny Omega’s habit of marching to the ring with a broom makes him look like an even bigger doofus. His character needs a personality tweak before he becomes a joke. KUSHIDA is one of the best technical wrestlers in the junior division, mixing submissions into his flying and strongstyle. It makes him a great all-rounder. Compared to most junior guys. The Young Bucks are ringside to aid the champion and do so by banging out the Terminator theme music, which Omega uses to turn into a cyborg killing machine…who does topes. KUSHIDA has a taped up knee, which Omega targets with the kind of ruthlessness he rarely displays. I’m generally not keen on limb work as the selling of it is a forgotten art. It used to be that if you worked the leg then the guy getting his leg worked would be screwed. Now it’s just an exercise in killing time before a comeback that usually involves a Shooting Star Press and cartwheel dives. The idea behind Omega destroying KUSHIDA’s legs is to limit his offence but also it gives KUSHIDA even more of an underdog position as he struggles around on one leg. KUSHIDA does try to sell the leg, using the ropes as support and his immobile legs as weapons. But what’s his next move? A fucking springboard dropkick. So, as per usual, the limb work was just a way of killing time that achieved nothing. I’m used to it by now but I expect more of top technicians like KUSHIDA. The second half of the match, after the leg stuff has gone nowhere, would be pretty good as a stand-alone. They do far better work on Omega’s arm, which KUSHIDA focuses on. At least this leads to genuine submission attempts as KUSHIDA’s finish is the kimura but why not just do leg vs. arm? Why include a bunch of flying spots after the knee has been worked over? It doesn’t make any sense to me. The one moment where it does resurface is on a dragon suplex where KUSHIDA can’t hold the bridge because of his knee. Omega goes for the One Winged Angel but is countered into the Kimura and KUSHIDA wins the title. The title switch was almost inevitable and I was pulling for KUSHIDA to get the win but the knee stuff was frustrating. They barely paid lip service to it in the second half of the match. KUSHIDA winning is a feel good moment but they had a much better match in them than this. With minimal changes required. Final Rating: ***1/2 NEVER Openweight Championship Togi Makabe (c) vs. Tomohiro Ishii Being a big Ishii fan, I was disappointed NJPW chose to job him out to Togi not once but twice in the first half of 2015. Will it be third time a charm for the Stone Pitbull? Spastic ring announcer goes completely nuts over Togi. It’s possibly the worst ring announcement in the entire history of wrestling. Ishii means business and hits a lariat from the bell and follows up with a senton to the floor, which hits Togi with a glancing blow. It’s a ridiculous bump for a guy with a permanently injured shoulder to take. Ishii’s aggressive start is a marked contrast to the last two matches. As if he came in with a very deliberate game plan, to eliminate Makabe as a threat from the start. It’s a powerful showing from Ishii, who bullies the champion. It’s a shame they go from there to trading, where Togi’s awful gimmicked punches all miss. Here’s a hint; if you’re aiming punches at someone, aim below the top of their head. The lack of good strikes from Togi is the principle reason why the Makabe-Ishii matches can’t live up to the other great Ishii contests. Honma springs to mind. As per usual Ishii brings legendary selling. The kind where I’m convinced this is the match where he’s broken something and will be sidelined for six months to recover. Only for Ishii to pop back up and start into another elbow duel. When they’re battering each other with lariats and elbows it’s a much better match. A regular war of attrition. They have a few timing issues, which is disappointing. It seems mainly due to poor communication. Togi gets a big run up for one spot only to find Ishii bent over double and in no position for any spot he has in mind. The match works better when it’s purely about the striking. Ishii takes a few big bumps, including the Spider German and the King Kong Kneedrop finishes. This wasn’t quite as good as the previous matches and with the same disappointing outcome. Ishii’s insistence at selling the bejesus out of his neck/shoulder made it convincing at the very least. Final Rating: ***1/2 Video Control takes us to the official announcements of the Blocks for G1. Excited! BLOCK A Togi Makabe Hiroyoshi Tenzan Toru Yano Doc Gallows Bad Luck Fale Tetsuya Naito Katsuyori Shibata Kota Ibushi Hiroshi Tanahashi AJ Styles BLOCK B Hirooki Goto Satoshi Kojima Yuji Nagata Tomoaki Honma Michael Elgin Karl Anderson Yujiro Takahashi Tomohiro Ishii Shinsuke Nakamura Kazuchika Okada Interesting to see the CHAOS overload in Block B. Elgin is a surprise, seeing as he’d basically been overlooked by NJPW to this point. It’s a big role for him. The lack of Suzuki-gun confirms they’re staying in NOAH for a while. Block A has four potential winners in Shibata, Ibushi, Tanahashi and AJ. It’s really strong. Glad to see Honma getting in to the G1 without someone else getting injured first. If I had to pick now I’m going with AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura in the finals. Nakamura to win. It’s the biggest match out there that’s not been done as yet. Nakamura vs. Okada in the group stage takes place on 15th August, right at the end of the block matches so you’d better believe that will be the decider in Block B. IWGP Tag Team Championship The Kingdom (Michael Bennett & Matt Taven) (c) vs. Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) After the six-person tag back at Dontaku both Maria Kanellis and Amber Gallows are at ringside. Earlier they had a video package where Anderson’s machine gun entrance played over Maria firing kisses at the camera. Top production work. Karl seems to have gotten over being smitten with ROH’s first lady of wrestling. The Magic Killer on Maria at Dontaku suggested as much. The Kingdom’s initial tag title win was a big upset but served to show how few actual tag teams are in NJPW at the moment. As per usual the NJPW cameramen have no shame whatsoever and film Maria’s ass like it’s a long lost species, thought to be extinct. This is not a match that interested me when it was announced but seeing as it’s a title match on a stacked card I felt I should pay attention to it. That said, the NJPW guys pay more attention to Maria and her surprised facial expressions. At one point they give up on the ring and shoot the action over Maria’s shoulder, with the camera aimed low enough to capture her moneymaker. The crowd even chant her name. She’s definitely left an impression on the Japanese audience. A beautiful butt shaped one. Both ladies interfere but unfortunately Gallows clocking Maria for her role comes off camera. It must have been bad because she’s got a medic holding ice on her neck. Bennett gets all chivalrous, gets laid out and Taven eats the Magic Killer for Bullet Club to get their straps back. Michael Bennett is pissed off and swears revenge. Specifically he tells Doc “I’ll fucking kill you”. Final Rating: ** Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi This is a break from all the seriousness as Yano is incapable of having a serious match. He’s pretty much in the G1 to provide a rest night for the participants in his Block. His role here is to allow Tanahashi to appear on a PPV and do very little. Yano’s idea of working hard is hiding in the ropes and screaming “BREAK, BREAK, BREEAAAAAAAAKK” at every opportunity or removing the turnbuckle pad. It allows them to tell an easy story and preserve Tanahashi’s broken body. He needs to be healthy for a busy G1 where he’ll be forced to compete with the likes of AJ and Shibata. No one ever accused Yano of being a good wrestler but he’s entertaining and a welcome break in the show’s intensity. Tanahashi plays along and sells a shot to the groin for longer than usual, eager to not allow Yano to monopolise the laughs. To give you an idea of the seriousness, and lack thereof, there’s a ref bump in this match. It goes a lot longer than I was expecting (12 minutes, about 7 minutes longer than expected), featuring much Yano cheating and several of his patented cheeky roll up’s. Tanahashi finishes with the Slingblade and the High Fly Flow to put this feud to bed before G1 kicks off. Final Rating: *1/2 IWGP Intercontinental Championship Hirooki Goto (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura This match is perhaps the most intriguing on the show. If Nakamura wins it says a lot about the long term ambitions regarding Goto and indeed about where the IC title belt is going. Nakamura has made it a legitimate top belt. But do they want him involved with the actual IWGP title going forward? Nakamura comes out here dressed as a sparkly red ninja. There are few human beings on the planet that could pull the look off. Nakamura has a presence that few human beings on the planet have. Goto imposes himself in the early going, keen to prove his title win was no fluke and he’s capable of dominating a big star. Hirooki has a history of coming up short so perception of him will not change overnight, just because he won one big match. There’s a feeling this match isn’t as important as the first one, as it sits beneath the IWGP title match on the card. The way they’d been doing PPV’s suggested a parity between the two main belts but as soon as Goto gets the secondary one it’s no longer a headline belt. That’s the way the crowd react too. Remaining quiet and detached, especially with Goto controlling the pace. When Nakamura takes over, with knees and theatrics, the match gains a sense of importance that Goto cannot provide. Instead Goto gets his thrills from countering big Nakamura spots. The action gets more violent as the match builds and that’s when Nakamura takes over. His strikes are sharper, his ideas are brighter. They have some killer sequences down the stretch where the counters get more animated. Goto finally steps up to the plate and meets Nakamura head on, literally at times. This is the proving ground. After blocking with a headbutt he hits Shouten Kai to retain. I’m still not convinced by Goto as a champion, and although it’ll take time to accept him as such, back to back wins over Nakamura will go a long way to building his reputation. Goto goes into G1 as the secondary champion. He’s having a big year. Final Rating: **** IWGP Heavyweight Championship AJ Styles (c) vs. Kazuchika Okada “He will be an icon…when I’m done” – AJ Styles, of Okada. AJ certainly has the advantage in their matches to date and has beaten Okada several times with the belt on the line including ending the Rainmaker’s year long run with the big strap in 2014. Previous AJ-Okada contests have been blighted by outside interference, usually by Yujiro Takahashi, and AJ doesn’t help matters by bringing out the Bullet Club to support him. It doesn’t fill me with confidence that today will be any different. They start out with basic counters but done at speed. It helps to establish parity. Okada is on the championship level, something you could have argued against during his crisis of confidence post-Wrestle Kingdom. He’s as cocksure as ever in this match. AJ’s advantage, besides his champion’s advantage, is the numbers game and it doesn’t take long for that to play into proceedings. When Okada gets in charge Bullet Club simply distract and interfere. It’s the same crushing over-reliance on interference that ruined previous contests between them. There’s potential, in their interactions, for a brilliant match between AJ and Okada. One day we’ll see it. My frustration with AJ having this kind of support is that he simply doesn’t need it. After a while Red Shoes gets sick of the interference, tells AJ to “suck it” and ejects Bullet Club from ringside. Quite why they let them out here to begin with is a mystery. Anyway, with that bullshit sorted out we can have an actual match. Some of AJ’s execution in this match is flawless. The quebrada inverted DDT is the cleanest and most fluid I’ve ever seen him hit it and his dropsault is perfection. Which makes it all the more frustrating that they killed so much time with the Bullet Club angle. Okada seems to be on his game too and when they run the AJ springboard elbow smash spot Okada nails him in mid-move with the dropkick. It’s beautiful. RAINMAKER POSE! The countering continues out of the top draw, showcasing both men’s incredible talent. It’s really hard to make a cooperative situation look like a struggle but several times they absolutely nail it. AJ looks especially impressive when he’s pounding Okada with elbows. He’s developed a pure style for Japan and he’s exceptional at it. The fight over the Tombstone is great, as they pull out four counters before it’s delivered. This leads right into AJ’s springboard 450 Splash. It’s a message from AJ. He’ll pull out all the stops to retain this title and he’s not just about a numbers game. Okada steps it up too with a ridiculous DVD out of the ring onto the apron and a precision missile dropkick across the ring, where he seems to injure himself on landing. Tombstone! But AJ ducks the Rainmaker and hits the Pele Kick. They’re really hitting a top groove at this point and I’m still steaming over the misuse of the opening ten minutes because this is so good. Okada kneeing out of the Bloody Sunday is one fine example. They continue to counter and roll through stuff and AJ gets planted with the RAINMAKER! Okada doesn’t pin, goes for another, gets countered but it’s countered back again and Okada belts AJ with another RAINMAKER! Okada wins the title! Skip the first ten minutes and this is pushing for MOTY territory. Everything after the Bullet Club were ejected was solid gold. The counters in the finishing sequence are so incredible that it makes Okada and AJ look like the best in the world. Just sensational wrestling. There are three NJPW matches I like better than this already this year but regardless this was great storytelling and execution. Very high recommendation. Final Rating: ****1/2 Summary: Great show from New Japan. The only big discrepancy between my thoughts and everyone else’s is that most people seem more prepared to forgive the selling in the KUSHIDA title win. Mainly because there are subtle bits of selling in the second half. I just didn’t dig it as much. If you take all the persistent leg work out of the first half it’s a top match. Even with me not liking that match as much there are still three matches at **** or higher and they’re all different. The main event has a wonderful big match feel, Nakamura & Goto just worked their socks off and Shibata & Sakuraba had one of the most technically proficient matches you’ll see all year. It probably falls short of Wrestle Kingdom 9, thanks to that card finishing with two ***** matches, but it’s a solid second for best show of the year. Strong recommendation to check this out and to subscribe to New Japan World immediately because G1 Climax 25 is coming and you’re about to buried under an avalanche of snowflakes. Verdict: 97 |
AuthorArnold Furious Archives
April 2016
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