16th August 2015.
Here we are, the final day of G1 25. It’s been an exhausting review experience and one I’m not sure I’m ever likely to repeat. But seeing as I put the hours in, here’s some G1 Round-up stuff. First up is a comparison between the Blocks as I predicted them and the Blocks as they finished up. Here’s my pre-tournament Block A: 1. AJ Styles 12 2. Hiroshi Tanahashi 14 3. Kota Ibushi 8 4. Katsuyori Shibata 8 5. Togi Makabe 8 6. Hiroyoshi Tenzan 6 7. Tetsuya Naito 10 8. Bad Luck Fale 10 9. Toru Yano 8 10. Doc Gallows 6 As you can see I got this quite badly wrong in places. AJ and Tana were up top and Gallows was bottom but the middle of my Block is all wrong. I didn’t realise what Naito’s gimmick change meant for him, in terms of push and I rather stupidly didn’t expect Fale to get any joy out of this year’s tournament. On the flipside, here’s my Block B: 1. Shinsuke Nakamura 14 2. Hirooki Goto 12 3. Kazuchika Okada 14 4. Karl Anderson 12 5. Yuji Nagata 6 6. Tomohiro Ishii 10 7. Satoshi Kojima 6 8. Michael Elgin 8 9. Tomoaki Honma 2 10. Yujiro Takahashi 6 I got the top end of this pretty close. My top four and the G1 top four were all the same guys. Some of the booking regarding the old timers surprised me in both Blocks and I had Tenzan, Nagata and Kojima all higher than they actually finished. Another fun statistic to follow those; the total stars I’ve handed out to G1 participants during the G1. Not including the tags, sadly. Otherwise I’d be here all night. Seeing as both Elgin and Nakamura missed a night each I ended up doing the table based on average snowflakes. I can’t punish #BigMike. So here are the wrestlers from G1 ranked according to average snowflake rating… 1. Tomohiro Ishii **** (4.13) 2. Kazuchika Okada **** (4.00) 3. Michael Elgin ***3/4 (3.78) 4. Hirooki Goto ***1/2 (3.69) 5. Yuji Nagata ***1/2 (3.63) 6. Tomoaki Honma ***1/2 (3.61) 7. AJ Styles ***1/2 (3.58) 8. Shinsuke Nakamura ***1/2 (3.56) 9. Karl Anderson ***1/4 (3.36) 10. Katsuyori Shibata ***1/4 (3.47) 11. Hiroshi Tanahashi ***1/4 (3.41) 12. Tetsuya Naito ***1/4 (3.30) 13. Satoshi Kojima ***1/4 (3.25) 14. Kota Ibushi ***1/4 (3.22) 15. Hiroyoshi Tenzan **3/4 (2.83) 16. Togi Makabe **1/2 (2.66) 17. Yujiro Takahashi **1/4 (2.48) 18. Doc Gallows **1/4 (2.27) 19. Toru Yano ** (2.13) 20. Bad Luck Fale *3/4 (1.80) Some staggering results there. Ishii averaged, AVERAGED THAT IS, over **** and Okada was on **** dead even. That’s damn impressive for an average over nine matches. #BigMike had a hugely impressive G1, finishing third with an average snowflake rating that was pushing ****. You can see a clear cut advantage for those in Block B where there was less dead wood. Even Yujiro benefitted from this by being dragged up above guys he’s normally on a par with for match quality, like Fale. The one that really shocked me was Kota Ibushi coming in at #14. Considering how often he stunned the crowds and had great matches that position looks extremely low. But the average is cut into by his unrated sub-60 second bout with Yano. Take that one fluke out and he averages 3.62, enough to beat AJ Styles and be the best performing wrestler in Block A. We’re in Tokyo, Japan at the Ryogoku Kokugikan for the final night of the G1 Climax 25. It’s been a rare old tournament and one that’s eaten into puro fans lives for the past month. Before we kick off Delirious is here and there’s an “ROH” chant. Here’s here to shill Ring of Honor and get the crowd into their agreement to work together with NJPW. It’s very odd. Just hearing Delirious speak coherent English is quite startling. It would have been better if he’d been incoherent and the Japanese translator, translated it into coherent Japanese. Delirious promises ROH will tour Japan next year. Not quite as big as last year’s announcement of co-promotion with GFW, which resulted in Jim Ross calling Wrestle Kingdom. They need to do that again. Indeed New Japan could benefit from having an English language commentary team for their PPV events. Puro is becoming very popular outside of Japan and would be more so if an English language option was available. I know this from personal experience where I’ve tried to get people into New Japan and the language barrier stops them. Jushin Liger, Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka vs. Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada & David Finlay It’s too goddamn early for Taguchi’s bullshit. At least there are a wonderful crop of Young Lions out there to keep things civil. I’ve seen a lot of a multiple person tags during this tour and a lot of the guys in this match have been highlights. The Young Lion’s especially but Dorada has also been entertaining with his love of flippity high spots. Liger gets mentioned that he’s off to WWE after this show. Liger is the one guy in wrestling who gets bored during his own submission attempts. Why does he keep giving up on the Surfboard? Everyone has plenty of energy in this so they keep tags going and the action fresh. My favourite part is Komatsu recognising the set up for Dodon and nearly pinning Taguchi. That would have got me marking out on a Sunday morning. Butta Ye wins it for Taguchi. Damn it. Final Rating: **3/4 Tangent: At this point my friend Redje turned up to watch his first New Japan PPV so my report might get a bit sketchy as I wasn’t taking notes. I was spending more time explaining who people were and their history with each other. This is the kind of experience that helps him into a puro show, which an English language commentary team could achieve. I’m sure if I just told him he had to watch this show he wouldn’t, because of a lack of experience of the promotion. Not everyone can find the right jumping on point. I’m hoping this will work as his. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & Jay White vs. TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) & Captain New Japan Jay White continues to amaze during his move up the card. He slotted nicely into this contest, easily outshining the good Captain. The effort levels were no lower from the veterans with Nagata and Kojima both looking suitably energised. Perhaps the weakest of the final day undercard tags though with Tenzan looking a little on the tired side. He still had enough to put Jay away with the Anaconda Vice. I must admit I spent most of the match explaining elements of NJPW and G1 so I didn’t go into much detail on recapping. Redje knew Nagata from WCW and was pleased to learn he was still good after all these years. Final Rating: **1/4 Michael Elgin vs. YOSHI-HASHI YOSHI-HASHI put up a really good fight and it was a solid match. Elgin bossed it with power and won with the Elginbomb. YOSHI-HASHI has been pimped during this tour, winning undercard tag pins left, right and centre. That continued by being the only undercard guy to get a singles match on the final day and showed how highly NJPW rate him, despite YOSHI-HASHI’s frankly abysmal singles record over the last two years. Having Elgin win was definitely the right decision as #BigMike had a killer tournament, culminating in a worldie against Ishii yesterday but the fact TACOS came so close to scoring a pin, only due to a missed Loose Explosion senton, puts him over big time too. I would love to see Elgin back and I’m sure New Japan will book him again. I can’t think of another gaijin who’s paid off so well and so quickly. Even AJ Styles took about three months to bed into NJPW and he was the fucking champion at the time. Top performance from Elgin and great showing from Y-H as he continues to press for a claim to be involved in G1 next year. Just put him in for Gallows…or Fale…or Yujiro. Final Rating: *** Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. CHAOS (Kazushi Sakuraba, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) Disappointed that both Sakuraba and Ishii were wasted here. Most of the match was Yano making everyone laugh with his fantastic trolling and Ishii finished Tama with the brainbuster. Fale and Yujiro are a recipe for disaster. If I see them both in the same match I usually run screaming. This contest was largely saved by Tama, who’s been excellent during G1 and indeed has been showing improvements as a tag guy over the summer. His personality tweaks and weird mannerisms were winning me over and will continue to do so. Interesting to note this was basically Redje’s introduction to Yano and he was cracking up along with me for the silly spots. I pre-warned him about the turnbuckle spot and marvelled at Yano whipping that sucker off in about three seconds again. Basically everyone on the CHAOS team was brilliant here. I wish they’d been better utilised. Who was Saku going to tease a ***** match with on the other team? There’s no one worthy of his time. Final Rating: **1/2 Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata & Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito, Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma Best undercard tag of the show. Shibata wanted to murder Naito, big time. They had a few sequences but nothing compared to the post match brawl where Shibata kicked the absolute fuck out of Naito and boot scraped his face. Wonderful stuff. The Naito-Shibata storyline is quite sensational. Shibata hates Naito for being such a slacker and Naito’s response is to tell him to chill out. Gedo implied during this match that Shibata and Naito have never liked each other and the Tranquillo business was enough to make Shibata lose his shit. Shibata feels like the guardian of all things pure in NJPW. If you don’t live up to his ideal of puroresu strongstyle then you will face his wrath. The secondary story was Makabe and Ibushi, where Togi seemed genuinely hot about Kota working his knee and kept going after the Golden Star. Kota’s response, again after the match was over, was to high kick Togi in the head and KO him. Final Rating: ***1/2 Tenryu, on his retirement tour, comes out to challenge Okada for the November PPV. Gedo tells him no but Okada comes out to accept. “As long as you accept the consequences”. The suggestion being that if Tenryu realised he was going to die, Okada would be ok with killing him. Tenryu is on his retirement tour but he’s 65 years old. This is not going to be a good match. I’ve been saying Tenryu needs to stop wrestling for years. He can barely stand let alone wrestle. People marking out for this announcement clearly haven’t been watching Tenryu wrestle recently. It’ll be a spectacle though. No doubt about that. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship The Young Bucks (c) vs. reDRagon The Bucks never fail to deliver on the entertainment stakes. There are still those who don’t warm to their hijnx and spotty nature but for me they’re always so much fun that I can overlook any failings on their part. Putting them in with reDRagon, again, is a shrewd move as Fish & O’Reilly are savvy technicians and capable of covering up the spotty nature of the Bucks, turning a spotfest into something more delightful and easier to consume, with a better flow and feeling to it. Don’t get me wrong, I dig a spotfest and there were times when this resembled one as they couldn’t be bothered with tagging in and out, but reDRagon’s execution made this feel like a more coherent version of the Bucks normal multi-person clusterfucks. Interesting bout from Redje’s reaction too, as he hated the Bucks but hadn’t seen them in New Japan where they’re a little more carefree and fun to watch. He enjoyed this one. Fish & O’Reilly’s victory here gives them their second IWGP Junior tag title run. The first one lasted three months with only one successful title defence. The Bucks latest run also featured only one successful title defence. In fact there have only been two successful title defences of the junior tag straps all year. That’s less than Time Splitters managed during their run with the belts in the second half of 2014 put together. Are the belts jinxed? Final Rating: **** IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship KUSHIDA (c) vs. Ricochet I expected big things of this match, due to the general lack of big matches on the card. A surprising lack, compared to last year’s G1 Finals where the card was significantly heavier in terms of big matches. They certainly delivered on a lot of the ambition, although never quite at the level of their Super Juniors final from 2014 (****1/2). I appreciate KUSHIDA doing so much work to set up the Hoverboard Lock by going after the arm throughout the contest and using a combination of strikes, grappling and attempts at his finisher to put Ricochet on notice. Ricochet brought the kind of excellence we’ve come to expect from him. Lots of high flying, flipping and insane dives, like the dive over the ring post to the floor. There was a tidy piece of accidental psychology in that spot, even, as Ricochet hit his wrist on the guardrail when he landed. It could easily have broken the wrist and he spent the rest of the match in discomfort. It helped Ricochet to remember he needed to sell that arm and brought an incredible focus to proceedings. Both guys worked a clean, crisp match that delivered plenty of thrills and spills and speaks volumes of both men when I was a smidge disappointed with a ****1/4 match. That’s where the bar was set coming in. They certainly delivered on the vast majority of the promise in a pressure filled situation. Why isn’t Ricochet booked more frequently? I know he’s in demand but surely he’s good enough to be a NJPW regular. Final Rating: ****1/4 Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) vs. Kazuchika Okada & The Kingdom (Michael Bennett & Matt Taven) I was hoping AJ and Okada weren’t going to tag out at all during this match, thus giving us an unofficial third place tiebreaker that New Japan seemed reluctant to book this year. I sort of got my wish as they took the majority of the match. AJ looked to be on top form but Okada also delivered a sensational performance at times. The best work from the others came from the usual Karl Anderson reaction to Maria Kanellis but with an added twist where AJ tried to get Karl to stop only to become mesmerised by Maria as well (after Karl brushed AJ’s hair out of his eyes = a brilliant piece of business). AJ Styles has had such a wonderful G1 tournament, becoming more playful when working with his Bullet Club buddies and taking the edge off his serious persona. However when it came to the business end of this match it the serious AJ who tackled Okada head on and pinned him clean with the Styles Clash. So AJ comes in third overall and sets himself up to challenge for the IWGP title at some point between now and Wrestle Kingdom. Most likely at King of Pro Wrestling in October with Okada already busy during November, accepting the challenge of Genichiro Tenryu. This match was a lot better than I was expecting but that was largely due to a minimal involvement of the secondary tag teams that made up the six-man format. Final Rating: ***1/2 G1 Climax 25 Final Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Pre-Match Pick: Tanahashi. I want Nakamura to win but as with the Block stage, betting against Tanahashi is just foolish. What a story these two gentlemen told in their pursuit of G1 glory. Pre-tournament the feeling was that one of them would win but it was really hard to tell which one NJPW were going for and what their reasoning would be. A lot of the building blocks of this match were traditional Tana-Nak match traits like Tana working the knee or Nakamura throwing his iron-clad knees in response to that. I enjoyed Tanahashi’s work especially as he was keen to stay face and didn’t lift Shinsuke’s Vibration taunt like Okada did. The moment where he teased it showed what his personality was like. He considered it but dismissed it. The building during the match was leading into an epic conclusive sequence where the near falls began to mount and the tension became unbearable. Tanahashi’s focus on the leg allowed him to work in the Texas Lion Tamer and Red Shoes did a sterling job of making me think Nakamura wanted to quit. However a submission was never likely with Nakamura having battled through the “hell” of a damaged elbow just to get into the final. He wasn’t going to let a few dragon screws get the better of him after all that struggle. Once they got into the hot streak towards the conclusion this bout entered into another gear. Nakamura has been accused of not building well towards his epic conclusions of late and just delivering the final five minutes. Well, this match delivered a stretch that was way over five minutes and more like fifteen. The Boma Ye’s came from all angles, the High Fly Flow was delivered in every conceivable fashion (to the floor, to the back, the press, the normal kind) and Nakamura even worked in the flying armbar that beat Okada. The match was emotionally draining for the fans and during the contest I could see Tanahashi fans crying, then afterwards the Nakamura fans experiencing the same pain. Another key element to the match was the ties to the history of the feud. Tanahashi at one point using the dragon suplex, the move he beat Nakamura with when they first met. A sign of how much they’d changed, and improved. Nakamura used the Landslide. Tanahashi’s kickouts were just incredible. The one was so late that it had to be over. This wasn’t just a match. This was a vital step for one man to claim he’s better than the other. When their careers are over, they’ll look back on this match and call it a win for Tanahashi. One that catapulted him into legendary status. Only his second G1 win but it sets up yet another WK main event between Okada and Tanahashi. They’re destined to do this forever, it seems. Final Rating: ***** Summary: I think yesterday blew me away more than the Final day of G1, because the expectations were a little lower. Plus I was less keen on today’s line-up. Most of my favourites were squandered in meaningless tag bouts, or in Shibata’s case a meaningful tag bout. The focus switched a little alarmingly across to the juniors, and while they delivered, the build of the last 18 shows was surely worth more of a pay-off than just one singles match pitting G1 guys against each other? Perhaps the worry was a lack of focus on the final, but it didn’t hurt Nakamura vs. Okada last year, and that it was preceded by AJ vs. Tanahashi. Or any of the solid singles matches on last year’s undercard. Throwaway tags have been a staple of this year’s G1 undercard (and indeed virtually every NJPW undercard) but did there have to be so many of them today? Perhaps a minor nagging irritation when the show delivered six matches over *** and three above the **** barrier, including an definite MOTYC in Tanahashi vs. Nakamura. Hell, it might even be their best singles match, ever. Verdict: 99
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15th August 2015.
We’re in Tokyo, Japan for our second evening in Sumo Hall. Block A concluded last night with Hiroshi Tanahashi winning the Block by defeating AJ Styles. This evening sees the conclusion of Block B and things aren’t quite so simple there. BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada 14 Karl Anderson 12 Hirooki Goto 12 Shinsuke Nakamura 12 Tomohiro Ishii 8 Michael Elgin 8 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 4 Tomoaki Honma 2 The key matches are as follows: Okada vs. Nakamura, Goto vs. Nagata and Anderson vs. Kojima. If Okada wins the Block is over. If Nakamura beats Okada it opens up a chance for the other two. Both Goto and Anderson must win to stand a chance to capturing the Block and need a favour from Nakamura as well. Should Nak, Goto and the Machine Gun all win their bouts we’ll have a four-way tie. This is highly unlikely but, as far as I can reckon, it will mean Karl Anderson advances to the G1 Final. This is based on the records the wrestlers have against each other. Goto and Okada would be both 1-2 against the other contenders while Nakamura and Anderson would be 2-1. And who won their match? Anderson. Goto can still make the Final too but only if Anderson loses and Nakamura wins. This would open up an unprecedented three-way tie where everyone would be 1-1. Presumably this would result in a tie-breaking three-way dance on Sunday’s show. Got all that? Good. “Yo-yo, start wres!” Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) The Young Lions are rewarded for hard work throughout the tour by being included in undercard tags. I’m aware Tanaka has spent most of this tour in NOAH but if he had been around he’d have been as good as the rest. If you’re wondering how he did; he won one match…against Kumano, NOAH’s in-house youngest of young boys. Komatsu has grown in stature during G1. He was good to begin with but now he shows no fear whatsoever and looks content to square off with O’Reilly. Komatsu’s improvement has been such, both physically and mentally, that I would totally buy him winning matches against regular roster members. Sho Tanaka is looking significantly more muscular too. Those Young Lions have been blasting the weight machines by the looks of it. There’s a sensational spot in this one where O’Reilly is wailing away on Komatsu, who’s got Fish in a half crab, with slaps and Tanaka German suplexes him. As O’Reilly is going over he’s still hitting those slaps. Obviously reDRagon have an enormous advantage in terms of experience and quality and Chasing the Dragon finishes but both Young Lions looked terrific. Final Rating: *** The Young Bucks vs. Jay White & David Finlay We must be running short on time as the Bucks jump reDRagon and White & Finlay run in for the save to start match #2. Matt manages to get a “that was awesome” chant going during the match. He’s a heel people, don’t cheer him! Matt goes on to call Finlay a “job boy”. If the roles were reversed, I’d have put Komatsu & Tanaka over the Bucks. That’s how far advanced they are. Jay continues his progression here, showing off his definition and personality. The Bucks put Jay away with the Indytaker. Was the show running long already? This whole match and sequence around it felt rushed. O’Reilly & Fish run back in after the match to help sell the Junior Tag Title match tomorrow night. Final Rating: **1/4 The Kingdom (Michael Bennett & Matt Taven) & CHAOS (Toru Yano, Kazushi Sakuraba & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows, Tama Tonga & Cody Hall) The Kingdom have a green theme this evening, which is even better than the red outfit that Maria wore last night. This is the first of two ten-man tags tonight as NJPW tries to squeeze the entire roster onto the card. Bullet Club have shown some dissention during G1 but they’re on the same page here, even if the crowd are totally into AJ Styles above all others. Tama continues his excellent work during G1, slithering around and doing some freaky mannerisms. His character has grown so much and it’s been down to his delivery. AJ vs. Saku is teased during this match and it looks all kinds of great. The counters are amazing. Is that on the cards for an upcoming PPV? NJPW seem to keep forgetting about Sakuraba. His run hasn’t had enough great moments, considering his incredible skill set. YOSHI-HASHI picks off Cody for the senton and the hodge-podge team of Kingdom and CHAOS pick up the win. The big story here is AJ vs. Sakuraba. At some point that *must* happen. Saku needs to be booked better by New Japan. Final Rating: **1/2 Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi, Manabu Nakanishi, Ricochet & Captain New Japan vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe & KUSHIDA This bout features a big chunk of the competitors from the completed Block A, including Block winner Tanahashi and breakout star Naito. For me the moment I’m waiting for is Shibata vs. Ibushi as their match was amazing in the Blocks. KUSHIDA & Ricochet decide their match tomorrow needs more shilling and they go at it. It’s smooth, slick and crazy fun to watch. Their match tomorrow is going to rock. Shibata and Ibushi is amazing, again, and they do a boxing style kick-fest before going to the mat and it’s all so fucking fantastic. One of them needs to win a title so they can feud over it. Any title, don’t care. To keep matters fresh there are plenty of tags and everyone gets match time. As the match breaks down everyone runs in for spots and it becomes absolute carnage. The only guy not involved is Naito, who stands on the apron looking bored…so Shibata kicks him in the face! CNJ gets picked off for the High Fly Flow and that’s it. Lots of fun action during this. Shibata tries to murder Naito for his disrespectful attitude and hammers him with the PK before returning to the ring. Tenzan’s supporting slap on the back is wonderful. Then Shibata sits there in the ring, as if to say ‘this is my house, bitch’ and Naito walks off holding his throat. Message sent! Final Rating: ***1/2 G1 Climax 25 Block B Yujiro Takahashi vs. Tomoaki Honma Pre-Match Pick: Honma! Let the winning streak begin. Yujiro has Mao with him and she’s wearing next to nothing. If this was a bra and panties match it’d already be over. Yujiro grinds away throughout the match, as he has done throughout the tour. Honma tends to time his comebacks when the crowd are at their most bored. The comebacks include a slew of Kokeshi’s. Not the barrage that Ishii received nor is this match anywhere near that one for quality or atmosphere. Honma starts kicking out at one and no selling. HONMANIA IS RUNNING WILD! Yujiro goes low and finishes with Miami Shine. Oh, fuck you Gedo. Final Rating: **1/2 KOKESHI COUNT – 3 missed. 3 hit. SUPER KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. Picks: 62/86 G1 Climax 25 Block B Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii Pre-Match Pick: Ishii. This is more like it as Ishii and Elgin wash the bad taste of that last match out of our collective mouths with a strongstyle display of two big muscular guys bouncing off each other. Two sides of beef colliding in the squared circle. Elgin has taken to throwing punches but not like Makabe, not Western punches, but shoot-style punches. Ishii sells them like a motherfucker too, slumping to the mat with each one. Elgin wows the crowd with his power, then with his strongstyle, then with his ability off the ropes. The commentators compare him to Bam Bam Bigelow and the fans love the guy. Normally Ishii, when outmatched, can throw enough lumber to keep him in it but Elgin’s variety of skills makes it very hard for the one-dimensional Ishii to get into it. I mean ‘one-dimensional’ in a nice way as Ishii covers the best dimension with his violent approach. The match is a belter, with both guys going full-tilt into business. Lots of power moves, lots of striking. It’s my kind of match. When Ishii decides to stop selling and marches into Elgin’s elbows it makes me happier than almost anything in the entire tournament. Then ELGIN DOES IT BACK TO ISHII! I’m getting goosebumps. They absolutely wail on each other. It’s fucking brilliant. Elgin even gets in a sneaky piece of psychology by working Ishii’s neck and shoulder with all his spots. Ishii has a history of injuries in those areas and because the tournament is nearly over Ishii can afford to take a few sickening bumps, including a borderline careless powerbomb into the rail. It’s a war of attrition. The strikes are just amazing, combined with both guys desire to sell the importance of the match, even though it’ll count for nothing other than pride. Elgin kicks out of the lariat at one after completely no selling a superplex and this match has me, hook, line and sinker. Ishii goes to the HEADBUTTS and another LARIATOOOOO but Elgin kicks out again! BRAINBUSTAAAAAAAAAA and #BigMike finally stays down. This was fucking brilliant. There have been a few complaints about this year’s G1 and that they’d not had one of those ‘blow-away’ Block matches like in the previous two years. Well, fuck you guys. This was it. Full boat. A blizzard in August. Final Rating: ***** Picks: 63/87 G1 Climax 25 Block B Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto Pre-Match Pick: Nagata, the spoiler. Otherwise Goto might actually sneak into some sort of tie-breaker match and that’s probably not going to happen. After the last match and the blistering pace they established, Goto and Nagata sensibly start out quite slowly. Just to give the crowd a chance to recover. Nagata has a story built in thanks to his injured ribs and Goto ends up slipping into that match without thinking about it. I love Nagata’s consistency in selling the ribs. He always reaches for the same spot. The match is less about thrills and spills and more about the outcome as we’re into the business end of the Block now. Goto has a shot at winning but has to beat Nagata. The story they tell is one of a cagey contest. Goto isn’t ruthless enough, cautious he doesn’t want to make a mistake and get trapped in an armbar (like he did against Nakamura). Goto seems in perfect control of the situation, wearing Nagata down and controlling the pace, using Nagata’s ribs to his advantage. But Nagata always has that armbar and he uses kicks to help set it up. Kicks and subterfuge. Goto can always go to the ribs if he gets into trouble, which gets him out of the Backdrop Driver. Despite this Nagata kicks Goto in the head a few times and finishes with the Backdrop Driver. This took ages to get going, probably due to them having to live up to the last match but when it did it got pretty good. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 64/88 G1 Climax 25 Block B Karl Anderson vs. Satoshi Kojima Pre-Match Pick: Kojima. Another spoiler veteran. Otherwise Karl is on the verge of another G1 Final. If he wins this, Nakamura is eliminated. That’s big stakes. Anderson looks at Kojima as being in his way and hopes he can polish Satoshi off in record time. When that doesn’t pan out for him, Karl goes to work on Kojima’s lariat arm to eliminate the threat. It doesn’t work and Kojima is soon unloading with the Machine Gun chops on the Machine Gun. Kojima came in hurt and has tape on that right arm but he’s not past switching to his left arm for certain spots. Karl gets fed up with that approach anyway and opts to start working over Kojima’s neck instead, thus setting up his own finish. It’s a shrewd tactic. The arm stuff was going nowhere and he was never getting a submission with it. Kojima ends up battering Anderson with the lariat, bad arm or not, and getting the pin. Anderson’s psychology was fine during the match but there are question marks over Kojima and selling in general during this tournament has been suspect (Nagata’s ribcage aside). Final Rating: *** Picks: 65/89 G1 Climax 25 Block B Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuchika Okada Pre-Match Pick: Nakamura. The winner of this match wins Block B and goes on to face Tanahashi to contest this year’s G1 Final. Two CHAOS brothers battling each other in a repeat of last year’s G1 Final. A match won by Okada, the current IWGP champion. Okada goes for his normal ‘clean break’ spot and the look on Nakamura’s face is that of a man who’s incredibly unimpressed. Okada had trouble doing poses because of injuries just yesterday but breaks out his Rainmaker pose to show Nakamura something, he’s 100%, or as near as you can be on Day Eighteen of the G1. This leads right into Nak ducking an early attempt at the Rainmaker and a glimpse of how amazing this match could get. It’s not about what lands, it’s about what doesn’t as they show their familiarity with each other. It’s Okada who begins true hostilities by putting Nakamura in holds that indirectly put pressure on Nak’s bad arm and follows that with Nakamura’s “Vibration” taunt. Oh, it’s on now! The crowd turn on Okada for that. Fickle fans. I thought it was great. Nakamura steps his game up after that, finding different angles to assault Okada from, throwing kicks and knees to keep the champ off-guard. Okada is not easily phased and takes every opening to hit spots. Heavy Rain, the top rope dropkick and finally a Tombstone on the floor. Any time the opening arrives, he takes it, regardless of situation. Savage Elbow… RAINMAKER POSE! Nakamura kicks his way out of that and then knees Okada in the jaw to stop a counter. Both guys take a break and they’ve been busting a gut out there. When they get back up it’s time for the striking section of the match and Okada looks fresher. He’s younger and he’s been carrying less injuries around during G1. Despite this Nakamura is desperate for the win and throws everything at Okada, disrupting Okada’s usual calm approach. Nakamura’s weakness is feeling the need to create distance to enhance the Boma Ye and that gives Okada an opening for the dropkick. Rainmaker is blocked by Nak grabbing the arm. TOMBSTONE! Another RAINMAKER POSE! RAINMAKER INTO THE FLYING ARMBAR! The spot of the year from last year’s G1 is repeated expertly. Okada should have seen that coming. He fights to his feet but Nakamura takes him back down and cranks the shit out of the armbar for the tap out. And I can breathe again! What a fucking main event. What a fucking show! Final Rating: ****3/4 Picks: 66/90. One match remaining. Let’s check out the final standings in Block B: BLOCK B: Shinsuke Nakamura 14 – Winner! Kazuchika Okada 14 Karl Anderson 12 Hirooki Goto 12 Tomohiro Ishii 10 Michael Elgin 8 Yujiro Takahashi 6 Satoshi Kojima 6 Yuji Nagata 6 Tomoaki Honma 2 Sad that Honma lost to Yujiro, what a crock of shit that was. Nice to see wins for both the veterans to improve their standing to six points and Ishii advancing to a deserved ten points. He was out-fucking-standing at times during G1. Including his last three or four matches. They’ve all been great. Summary: The best show of the tour so far. Two MOTYC’s for the crowd who’ve been moaning about a lack of them and what matches they were. Ishii vs. Elgin was the hardest hitting of all the hard-hitters in this year’s tournament. Nakamura vs. Okada, a dramatic masterpiece in storytelling. The rest of the card was pretty good, barring Honma’s agonising defeat to Yujiro. You don’t have to keep jobbing him. Having him lose to Yujiro made the Ishii win look like a fluke. Otherwise a fine evening of wrestling. One night to go and G1 isn’t done yet. Verdict: 100 14th August 2015.
We’re in Tokyo, Japan at the Ryogoku Kokugikan. Or Sumo Hall for those who have difficulty spelling that. Before we head into the conclusive night of Block A action here are the Blocks after Day Sixteen: BLOCK A: AJ Styles 12 Hiroshi Tanahashi 12 Tetsuya Naito 10 Bad Luck Fale 10 Katsuyori Shibata 8 Togi Makabe 8 Kota Ibushi 6 Toru Yano 6 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 4 Doc Gallows 4 BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada 14 Karl Anderson 12 Hirooki Goto 12 Shinsuke Nakamura 12 Tomohiro Ishii 8 Michael Elgin 8 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 4 Tomoaki Honma 2 Block A is really simple. Whoever wins the AJ Styles-Hiroshi Tanahashi main event tonight is going to the G1 Final. Both guys were runners up last year and Tanahashi scored a decisive pinfall victory over AJ in their unofficial third place play off. Tana is 3-1 over AJ (in New Japan) although lost his prestigious IWGP title to AJ earlier in the year in their last meeting. Block B is a bit more complex but we’ll get to that tomorrow. Bullet Club (Karl Anderson, Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga) vs. Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma & Mascara Dorada Anderson has Kojima tomorrow night, which is a match that has huge ramifications. If Karl wins that contest he could sneak into the G1 Final by virtue of a strong record against the other contenders. There’s another G1 match being hyped here as Honma faces off against Yujiro in an attempt to extend his winning streak to TWO matches. Honma’s victory has not effected his popularity and he’s greeted by a gigantic “Honma” chant. HONMANIA is runnin’ wild! I’m pretty sure the Kokeshi Count gimmick is getting over with the announcers too as it sounds like they say “one hit” when Honma lands his first Kokeshi. Anderson vs. Kojima is a bludgeoning session and Kojima looks in fine form ahead of his final Block contest. Even Tama vs. Dorada is all kinds of great. Dorada bringing reckless abandon and Tama his usual weirdness. Honma accidentally bashes Dorada with a Kokeshi though and Tama wins with the Headshrinker DDT. So much for Honma’s winning streak! Hopefully he’ll do better in singles tomorrow. Final Rating: **3/4 KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 2 hit (1 on a team mate, accidentally) Michael Elgin & reDRagon vs. The Young Bucks & Cody Hall ROH and Razor Ramon’s son in the house! Matt Jackson has words for Jim Cornette, right into the camera, telling him to “suck it”. Cornette has been quite outspoken in calling the Bucks “spot monkeys”. Part of me agrees with him, part of me thinks Jim hasn’t quite moved with the times and wrestling isn’t wrestling anymore. It’s more about showmanship and executing difficult moves and that’s where the Bucks excel. I think the Bucks just about do enough to keep their work the right side of business exposing. There’s a lot of comedy miscues and high-pitched yelling of “suck it” during this before Elgin freaks everyone out by hitting a dive. They fucking LOVE Elgin in Tokyo. He’s had a career making tour. The ROH guys work a great spot where reDRagon double suplex Cody and Elgin takes the Bucks over by himself. There’s a tidy sequence later on too where O’Reilly thinks he’ll take Cody to school, only to discover Hall has been working hard in the NJPW Dojo and he knows a few counters now. Combine that with his size and he’s become a threat to bigger name guys. Nobody can compete with #BigMike though. Elgin is outstanding throughout this match as he has been all tour long. Not sure why he’s not wrestling Ishii here as that’s the Block B match tomorrow. They hyped it earlier in the tour and made me very excited at the prospect so maybe they figure it’s job done. The Bucks end up double teaming Elgin but even that doesn’t get them anywhere, although Cody gets a surprising about of offence in against Elgin. They manage to get the deadlift powerbomb they botched earlier in the tour and the Elginbomb finishes. Seriously good little tag match and arguably the best match of Cody Hall’s career to date. Final Rating: ***1/2 Hirooki Goto, Captain New Japan & Ricochet vs. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi & KUSHIDA Tour debuts for part-timer Nakanishi (who’s not wrestled in the G1 tournament since 2010) and Junior title contender Ricochet. This is his chance to get one over on KUSHIDA. Goto and Nagata meet in G1 action tomorrow. Nagata looks to be playing the part of spoiler but also winding down his G1 career. How many more of these can he wrestle? Especially at the pace he seems to enter into every match; eager to wail on his opponent and Goto is equal to everything Nagata brings in this match. You could be forgiven for thinking it was Nakanishi who’s competing in the G1 as he throws everyone around with consummate ease. Presumably because he’s well rested after three weeks of kicking back and watching everyone else bust a gut. I don’t think Nakanishi could bust his gut, it looks like it’s made of iron. Ricochet hasn’t been in New Japan for a while (not since his last bout with Kota Ibushi at Dominion in June over a year ago), after starring in last year’s Super Juniors tournament, and he quickly reminds the crowd of how awesome he is. His speedy counters are ridiculously innovative and yet high-impact and KUSHIDA looks out-matched for once. They do enough cool stuff in this match to sell their title bout in two days time. Likewise Nagata and Goto go hell for leather to sell their match tomorrow, even though for Nagata there’s only pride at stake. I sense they will have a war. For a throwaway tag this is also really good with even the weaker elements working hard. Nagata ends up submitting Captain New Japan for the win. Final Rating: ***1/4 CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, Kazushi Sakuraba & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Kazuchika Okada, Gedo & The Kingdom (Michael Bennett & Matt Taven) Well, this is unusual. Okada vs. CHAOS! Throughout the G1 the hype matches have not included tag contests between faction members…until now. That’s how key the Nakamura-Okada match is tomorrow night. The New Japan cameramen get very feisty at the sight of Maria Kanellis and her dress allows the commentators to perve over her arse. The whole CHAOS colliding deal here has Nakamura in pensive mood. Should he fight Okada to get an upper hand in the tournament or should he put their brotherhood in CHAOS first? Ishii is completely different and looks like he wouldn’t need paying to punch Gedo in the face (THAT’S FOR JOBBING ME TO HONMA. HONMA!) Gedo also has no compunctions about wrestling his CHAOS buddies, and cheating. This winds Ishii up a treat! He clearly believes that CHAOS should stick together through thick and thin and shouldn’t work each other in this match. But as soon as that line is crossed it’s on and Nakamura vs. Okada is on! Okada comes across as sensible and he uses the tag environment to soften up Nakamura. It’s not a babyface move but Okada doesn’t care about any of that crap, he just wants to win. CHAOS set Okada up for the Boma Ye though and Taven has to save. It’s a very dramatic moment for a throwaway tag. It shows where everyone’s loyalty lies. The big swerve is that Sakuraba finds Maria attractive…to the point where he’ll release a submission hold on Gedo to check her out. He still beats Gedo but there was a moment of tension created by Maria. Some good storytelling all round during this one. I’m pleased to see Ishii go and check on Gedo after the match and Nakamura to show those same signs of ambivalence toward Okada after the match. Final Rating: *** G1 Climax 25 Block A Doc Gallows vs. Katsuyori Shibata Pre-Match Pick: Shibata. Gallows was here to make up the numbers and he got his spoiler win over Naito. Shibata is already eliminated after several catastrophic losses (Yano was bad, Tenzan unfortunate and Tanahashi heartbreaking). There’s no logical reason for Gallows to beat Shibata. The Wrestler’s first order of business is removing Gallows’ facepaint…with his boot. Take away the mystery of the faceless man. After all, he’s just a man. The main crux of Gallows strategy is to try and win by count out, like Shibata lost to Fale last year. We’ve not had a count out, despite a lot of teasing, this year. Due to the relative clash of styles (Gallows clubbering and WWE big spots vs. Shibata’s hardcore love of Strongstyle) the match is a bit of a clunker. At least Katsuyori has a nice time kicking the fuck out of Doc and Gallows gets to hit a few meaty power moves. It’s not a bad match, by any stretch. Gallows kicks Shibata in a face a lot and finishes with the Mehshugganator. Holy shit. I guess he didn’t have enough points or something? There was no need for this. Unless this is specifically so Shibata and Ishii finish level in the Blocks so they have an excuse for them to wrestle each other in two days. In which case…I approve. Final Rating: **1/2 Picks: 58/81 G1 Climax 25 Block A Bad Luck Fale vs. Toru Yano Pre-Match Pick: Yano. Does it really matter who wins this match? One would hope Fale doesn’t win because the higher up he finishes the more likely he’ll feature during the G1 Finals show. Yano trolls the hell out of Fale with the water bottle spots before the bell. DDT should book Yano to tag with the Brahmen brothers. Fale’s idea of assault is hitting Yano with the YTR VTR CHAOS DVD. Then Tama shows him the true meaning of heeldom and smashes the DVD up. Seriously though Fale, who hits someone with a DVD case? Yano manages to punch Fale in the balls on the outside and wins on count out. Ah, the count out victory! Long overdue. Final Rating: * Picks: 59/82 G1 Climax 25 Block A Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan Pre-Match Pick: Tenzan. Naito is in trouble as he disparaged Tenzan before the tournament calling the G1 veteran a “has-been”. Like Nagata, there’s a feeling that Tenzan is winding this stage of his career down and he might not be in the G1 next year. He’s out to make one last point against young punk Naito. Skeletor is painfully slow undressing so Tenzan just starts the match. Naito doesn’t think much of Tenzan’s stuff and spits on him while stealing the Mongolian Chops and smirking. He is insufferable. The constant gobbing on opponents is perhaps even worse than the languid performances. Naito is trying hard to symbolise everything that I hate about humanity. The match has almost nothing to do with Naito, as the fans rally behind Tenzan and it becomes about an old timer fighting against the odds and the disrespect of youth. The storyline is so overwhelming they can sit in submissions for longer and both the Anaconda Vice and Pluma Blanca work as rallying near finish spots. Tenzan hits a headbutt on Naito that’s so vicious, so brutal, I can’t breathe. The *CLUNK* noise when it connects is absolutely sickening. It leads right into the finish via Anaconda Vice and old man Tenzan gets another win to go out on. This was more about storyline than action but the storyline worked fine. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 60/83. Quite pleased with this as 60 was what I was hoping to hit pre-tournament. A two-thirds accuracy overall… and the tournament isn’t finished yet. G1 Climax 25 Block A Kota Ibushi vs. Togi Makabe Pre-Match Pick: Ibushi. Kota has had a disastrous tournament in terms of wins and losses and yet his performances have been unparalleled. Surely he won’t finish the Block in a tie with Doc Gallows and in joint last place? Makabe is tough but Ibushi is tough and fast. Kota is a lot smarter than people give him credit for too and he targets Makabe’s heavily taped left leg. Another injury in a string of them during G1. Wear and tear alone sees most guys develop an injury during G1. It’s exhausting. Togi and Kota have similar weaknesses too, both unable to tell a storyline that involves an injured body part. Togi’s selling is slightly better than Ibushi’s but that’s not saying much. At least Togi leans heavily on his healthy side when moving around the ring. Togi’s inability to flee also sets him up for Ibushi’s more dramatic flying spots like the Triangle Moonsault. It makes sense that Togi is just standing there because he can’t evade it with one leg. Kota can also bump like a maniac to make Togi’s wild swinging, from his motionless base, look more effective than it is (it’s a bit like watching Ken the Box, PWG fans. YouTube it!). Ibushi takes more bumps on his neck than I would in a match that essentially means nothing. Another Ibushi strength is his ability to escape the inescapable and he flips out of the Spider German Superplex. That’s generally a killer. Makabe’s lack of mobility finds him floored for the Phoenix Splash and Ibushi finishes his tournament with a well earned win. Final Rating: ***1/2 Picks: 61/84 G1 Climax 25 Block A AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi Pre-Match Pick: Tough as I picked AJ to win the Block but I’ve also developed a policy of always picking Tanahashi to win because it pays off more often than not. I went with Tanahashi. Regardless; this is the big one. Winner takes Block A and advances to the G1 25 Final. The crowd are noticeably into AJ Styles, as if his attitude during G1 has shown slight babyface inclination. That’s evident in the early going where he flat out challenges Tana to out-wrestle him, if he can. As they miss each other at speed before an Indy Stand Off, the match develops a big match feel that you can’t fake. It’s also a very defined slow burn. This won’t be a ten-twelve minute match. They’re in it for the long haul. As per usual Tana works the knee. That’s his big match crutch, one it’d be nice to see him vary from every once in a while. Mainly because his finisher is a top rope move. Work the back, the ribs maybe? I understand the knee stops his opponent from getting up on the HFF but the impact is all on the torso. AJ is never usually grouped together with the guys who don’t sell effectively (like Kota or Shinsuke) but that’s very true of him. He sells the knee when Tana is working it over and then forgets about it. The match is starting to drag and Tana must sense that as he inserts a clearly pre-planned HFF to the floor. It gives the match a little boost. Not that Tana can take advantage with AJ springboarding back into the ring with the quebrada inverted DDT. That doesn’t make much sense to me, in terms of the bigger story they were going for. Have we switched gears? Nope, Tana goes right back to the leg. Following that is a ref bump and AJ making sure he’s a heel with a low blow. Another irksome occurrence is the ‘fatigue selling’ that the WWE main eventers are so fond of. Staggering around in between spots or, even worse, lying on the mat doing nothing. You’d think Tanahashi and Styles had better conditioning than that. AJ gets the Calf Killer and Red Shoes does an epic job of teasing Tanahashi having quit. Being a Superman babyface Tana gets into the ropes and it’s merely a false finish. Tanahashi isn’t going to submit to lose a place in the G1 final. The match continues to grind on with both guys selling fatigue in a big way and yet still capable of hitting big moves like Tanahashi’s snap neckbreaker or AJ’s springboard forearm smash. Things get interesting as Tana tries to showboat and steal the Styles Clash only to get countered by AJ, who obviously knows the hold. This doesn’t put Tana off and he drags AJ out of the corner; STYLES CLASH…FOR 2. HIGH FLY FLOW…GETS KNEES! AJ hanging on by a thread there and up he goes; HIGH FLY FLOW…for 2. No Spiral Tap? BLOODY SUNDAY! They’re really going all out down the stretch, having dragged the match kicking and screaming into it. AJ’s bad leg eventually pays off as Tana hits a few spots on it and finishes with the High Fly Flow to advance to the G1 Final! A lot of folks are calling this “great”, which I disagree with. The last couple of minutes were a thrill ride but I’d question the need for all the stuff that got us there. Fatigue selling rubs me up the wrong way when it’s not done well and neither of these guys are good at it. Not that many people are. At least all that legwork paid off. This was a good match but not the showstealer I thought it would be based on their previous contests. Final Rating: **** Picks: 62/85. Here’s the Block as we wave goodbye to Block A for good, with Hiroshi Tanahashi perched on top permanently now. BLOCK A: Hiroshi Tanahashi 14 – Winner! AJ Styles 12 Tetsuya Naito 10 Bad Luck Fale 10 Katsuyori Shibata 8 Togi Makabe 8 Toru Yano 8 Kota Ibushi 8 Doc Gallows 6 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 6 Summary: How much you get out of this show depends on how much you enjoyed AJ vs. Tana and for me it was their worst match together, to date. There are several better matches out there between them. The finishing sequences were fine and the way they built up to it was fine but the stalling at the start and the overselling killed it for me. It was a very American match and I don’t watch Japanese wrestling to see that sort of style. It’s a smidge disappointing for them to go this route but, like I said before, most people liked it more than me (consensus being around ****3/4, I’m not seeing it). Unlike other irate NJPW fans, I’m not that bothered that Tanahashi won because that makes it very hard to predict the final. If AJ made the final, he’d have lost. Tanahashi being there makes the whole thing a little harder to predict. Regardless of who he faces. Verdict: 82 12th August 2015.
We’re in Tokyo, Japan in the Korakuen Hall. Last of three Korakuen shows before the tour takes refuge in Sumo Hall for a dramatic three night conclusion of G1 25. Before we check out this evenings entertainment, here’s how the Blocks look after yesterday’s show… BLOCK A: AJ Styles 12 Hiroshi Tanahashi 12 Tetsuya Naito 10 Bad Luck Fale 10 Katsuyori Shibata 8 Togi Makabe 8 Kota Ibushi 6 Toru Yano 6 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 4 Doc Gallows 4 BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada 12 Karl Anderson 10 Hirooki Goto 10 Shinsuke Nakamura 10 Tomohiro Ishii 8 Michael Elgin 8 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 4 Tomoaki Honma 0 Block A is now cut and dry. Whoever wins the match between AJ Styles and Hiroshi Tanahashi is the Block A winner and will face the winner of Block B. That’s where the focus is this evening with Okada, Anderson, Goto and Nakamura still in the hunt. Ryusuke Taguchi, Sho Tanaka & Yohei Komatsu vs. Jushin Liger, Jay White & David Finlay Sho Tanaka has been noticeably absent during G1 as he’s been off in NOAH competing in their junior league. Now he’s back to goof around with Taguchi and wear his stupid sunglasses on the undercard. Still better than wrestling in NOAH. Actually NOAH’s junior division is totally badass. NJPW could do with borrowing Daisuke Harada for next year’s Super Juniors and Zack Sabre Jr. while we’re about it. The Young Lions take this opening match as an opportunity to showcase their worth. I spent ages trying to figure out which of them was my favourite but it’s virtually impossible to decide. They’re a great crop of kids. I think Jay White has shown the most improvement of late but Komatsu and Tanaka were already pretty darn great. Finlay and White bring the funny by mocking Taguchi’s firing guns between his legs pose, which in itself is a mockery of Shinsuke Nakamura. The whole thing is getting a bit ridiculous now. But in a good way. Jay ends up eating Dodon and that finishes. Great little contest and once again the Young Lions looked good. The future of New Japan is in good hands. Final Rating: **3/4 Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga) vs. CHAOS (Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) Fale vs. Yano on Day Seventeen in a largely meaningless match. Both men already eliminated. As is the case with most of the Block competitors. Hopefully it’ll be over quick. Yano brings the funny by selling Fale’s size (“SHAAAAAAKE”), bailing and tagging YOSHI-HASHI in. Tama and YOSHI-HASHI have had superb win/loss records during G1. They’ve been the guys picking up pins in tag matches all tournament long. The idea being they were on the cusp of selection and were being rewarded for being close with good results. Either of them would have been better than Yujiro…but then no Mao. It’s a tough one. For once I’m genuinely intrigued as to who will take the pin. Will one of the G1 guys actually lose for once? Tama does some wonderful slithery stuff with Yano and actually wigs out the master troll. Yano’s response is the nut shot/roll up combination that put pay to Ibushi in 50 seconds yesterday. Followed by a backwards slither out of the ring. You can’t freak Yano out! Final Rating: **1/4 Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi & Mascara Dorada vs. Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & KUSHIDA Naito’s tournament has been a revelation and yet he’s not contending the G1 going into the final day. However his match with Tenzan should have some heat as Naito called Tenzan a “has-been” before the tournament started. Ibushi vs. Makabe doesn’t have a lot going for it and both have been on the shitty end of a few big defeats. Ibushi has been one of the stars of the tournament though, having three of the four best matches to date. Naito is bedecked in a t-shirt. Tenzan wants him. Naito doesn’t give a fuck. Even less so than usual. Somehow he manages to look bored while Tenzan beats him up. It’s incredible. “Gaaaaaawd, your stomps are sooooooo old fashioned”. Kota is the same, in a way, but he sees old-timey moves and just wants to do them quicker. His Mongolian Chops are badass. Ibushi handily flips around Togi, leaving the former IWGP champion looking flustered and hungry for a fight that just involves punches. As per usual the juniors stick to wrestling each other and popping the crowd with flippity spots. Dorada briefly looks as if he’ll catch a pin on KUSHIDA but it’s reversed and the IWGP Junior champ scores the pin. Naito brings some obscene taunting after the match, after dodging a few strikes from Tenzan, waving his t-shirt around like a bullfighter. Unreal heel work. Makabe looks so pissed off with the whole thing and takes it out on Kota’s face with some wild haymakers. Ibushi looks mad because Togi messes up his hair. That’s no-go territory for New Japan’s pretty boys. And two otherwise meaningless matches take shape for Day Seventeen! Final Rating: *** Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Doc Gallows & Cody Hall) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata & Captain New Japan Shibata concludes his G1 campaign against Doc Gallows and it’s been the kind of campaign we’ve come to expect. Early thrills, potential winning and block leadership, followed by horrible choking and failure against the most unlikely sources. If Shibata had been leading the Block at this point he’d lose to Gallows. He cannot win a tournament. The big match being hyped here is AJ vs. Tanahashi. The winner of which will be representing Block A as Block winner at the G1 finals. They decide to give a little showcase of what to expect; fast counters and mat excellence. They’ve had a few great matches, including one at last year’s G1 Finals as runners up of their respective Blocks. Shibata looks a smidge upset about his performance recently and takes it out on Doc’s face. And also Cody Hall’s face. He’s not best pleased. Neither is Tanahashi, who has to yell “ready?” at Cody Hall a few times to set up a Slingblade. Obviously Captain New Japan is the weak link in their team and Doc kills him with the Mehshugganator. AJ and Tana opt to sell their match on Friday by having a stare down. It’s nearly over in Block A! Final Rating: **3/4 G1 Climax Block B Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro Takahashi Pre-Match Pick: Anderson. He’s still up for one of the top spots and Yujiro is worthless. They come out together, flanking Mao. The Bullet Club boys sitting around watching Mao dance is strangely charming, like they’re school kids rather than big tough wrestlers. AJ is particularly funny, wearing a broad smile throughout. Issues erupt when Karl dances with Mao and takes the whole thing too far. I’ll give it to them; the Bullet Club knows how to cause issues between their guys that can be immediately sorted out. This escalates into hand biting. Yujiro has heavy taping on his shoulder and neck, another injury from G1. The Bullet Club dissention continues as AJ Styles stops Karl Anderson hitting a dive and they get into a heated discussion. Once again, it looks as if the Bullet Club is heading to splitsville. It’ll never happen. Unless they have two Bullet Club factions to shift even more merchandise! Anderson targets Yujiro’s neck. Bullet Club being aware of each other’s injuries. Karl is seen as the heel for targeting his mate’s known injury. The other guys do the majority of the selling, showing how badly they think Yujiro is hurt. It’s collective selling! It’s also the first match in years where Yujiro plays a plucky underdog. Miami Shine is countered into the Gun Stun though and all that neck work pays off for Karl. Yujiro apologises for a low blow and everyone hugs it out post match although Karl makes a point of molesting Mao on his way out. Another good storyline from the Bullet Club guys and AJ Styles in particular was great during this match. Final Rating: **1/2 Picks: 55/76. Anderson’s win puts him level with Okada. G1 Climax Block B Michael Elgin vs. Hirooki Goto Pre-Match Pick: Goto. With Block A being so cut and dry, I think they’ll keep all the contenders alive in Block B until the conclusion. The crowd start a hearty “Elgin” (“Ellergan”) chant to kick things off, showing what a massive success G1 has been for him. Elgin shows a little finesse to go with his power and striking, showing he’s got more strings to his bow than the average grappler. He certainly flummoxes Goto and gives the IC champ more to think about than he’s expecting. Goto was probably expecting something tonally similar to the Ishii match; most strikes wins! Not that the match is without strikes and Elgin throws the best worked punch of the entire tournament. Followed by a dropkick. He’s an enigma and the NJPW fans are totally invested in him, at Goto’s expense. I feel bad for Goto, who’s coming off his best match of the year but I can totally relate to the crowd. When Elgin out-Goto’s Goto’s rope-running spot you can see his popularity grow. He’s become a sensation and he’s sure to get rebooked. As Elgin is destroying Goto with deadlift spots Gedo is seeing YEN signs floating in front of his eyes. I bet they’re wishing they had that Nakamura match that Elgin missed out on. It’s remarkable really, Elgin’s popularity has risen in an extraordinarily short time. Massive reactions for everything he does in this one, including another out-Gotoing of Goto’s rope-running where Elgin hits the lariat. It’s blistering heat in the Korakuen. Goto ends up improvising a pinning combination as he can’t get any big moves away on Elgin. This match was all kinds of fucking great. If he’d not had a great tournament, this would have been enough by itself to get Elgin over and the crowd LOVE him. Final Rating: ****1/4 Picks: 56/77. Goto is also now level on points with Okada. G1 Climax Block B Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Satoshi Kojima Pre-Match Pick: Nakamura. Otherwise the whole block makes no sense. It would be one hell of a swerve if he lost though. Kojima decides to work the knee, which is not a good strategy against Nakamura, who never sells it. So Kojima swiftly gives up and goes for mockery instead, which gets him an ass kicking and a severe amount of taunting in response. Nakamura is the king of taunting, as well as Strongstyle. Naturally they throw a lot of lumber. Both men probably consider it their strength and their best way of winning. The veteran Kojima finds himself solidly out-gunned. There’s just no answer for those knees and all Koji can do is hang in there and hope Nakamura burns himself out. Nak looks to have gotten cut during this match, just above his left eye. It’s not a bad cut and there’s hardly any blood but a big shot could open it up. Something for Okada to look at. Nakamura manages that insane flying armbar, reminding us that’s in his locker after he used it to escape the Rainmaker in last year’s final. He also beat Goto with it but not Kojima, despite losing his lariat arm, who finds a way out. Damaging the lariat arm is a good silver medal considering Kojima cannot find a lariat in the following sequence and Nakamura belts him with the flying Boma Ye to get the win. Final Rating: ***3/4 Picks: 57/78. Nakamura also joins Okada on 12 points. G1 Climax Block B Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuchika Okada Pre-Match Pick: Okada. Although, this should be an interesting match as it’s *the* match that Nagata prepared for by learning limbo pre-tournament. Will he limbo under the Rainmaker? If he does be prepared for a typically Japanese “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHH” reaction. Okada does his ‘clean break’ thing and for the first time in the entire tournament doesn’t clean break. It’s getting serious in the G1. Okada goes for a clothesline and NAGATA LIMBO’S UNDER IT!!! YES!!! That’s fucking awesome. Even Okada breaks out a smile at that. One of the moments of the tournament. Nagata then instigates a strike fest and destroys Okada with elbows and kicks. Okada looks genuinely rattled, as if he was expecting an easier contest from a guy who’s gone all tournament without looking like threatening anybody. Based on some of the action, I hope Nagata wins so he can get a title shot in between now and WK. Eventually Nagata’s ribs let him down and you can see the crushing disappointment on his face when Okada enters this phase of the match. Nagata wanted as long as possible on an even footing. This is all Yujiro’s fault. The crowd is so pissed off they turn on Okada! The IWGP champion is booed! Do you see what you’ve done Takahashi? Was this the plan all along? Unlike in previous contests where the ribs equalled defeat, Nagata makes a point of getting back into it with more stern kicks. This match is not like the others. This is the match that Nagata wanted to impose himself on. When the Rainmaker comes Nagata opts to throw Okada with an Exploder. Was the limbo thing all a ruse? Nagata certainly gives Okada something to think about with an extended armbar, one that will certainly leave Okada prone for anyone else who happens to like doing impromptu armbars out of nowhere….like Okada’s final opponent. Nagata manages another block on the Rainmaker; a kick to the arm although Okada’s injured arm would have struggled to connect, surely. BACKDROP DRIVER! Okada lands on his neck but Nagata is too slow pinning. This whole match brings into perspective Okada’s move set. What happens when he can’t hit the Rainmaker? He can’t even hit the Tombstone, blocked by another suplex. Tombstone! Okada is so hurt he can barely manage the Rainmaker but hits it, denying us the all-time awesome limbo escape, and scores the pin. This was epic! Not sure I like Okada manning up for the finish after all the work Nagata did on the arm, nor the obvious awesomeness of the limbo escape not being touched upon. Final Rating: ****1/4 Picks: 58/79. Okada now moves 2pts clear and Okada can win the Block by beating or even drawing with CHAOS stable-mate Shinsuke Nakamura. G1 Climax Block B Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma Pre-Match Pick: Ishii. Although I’m sure the temptation is there to put Honma over based on his incredible match with Ishii for the NEVER title earlier in the year. Ishii clearly learned one thing from the earlier match; he’s not going to take Honma seriously. That makes Honma’s attempts to win even more heroic. Ishii understands Honma. He needs to be a massive underdog to make his act better. So many guys have given Honma way too much respect during G1. Ishii treats Honma like dirt. When he’s down and not moving, Ishii just kicks him in the head. There’s a reason Honma’s best matches have come against Ishii and Shibata. Ishii’s absolute refusal to sell for Honma’s strikes is perfect. Both men have a pleasant habit of barrelling into each other at full pelt, not wanting to give an inch. It’s a style that makes Big Japan tremendously watchable and these two are experts. The chop contest is FIERCE! It goes on for AGES until Honma collapses and Ishii subtly drops moments later. Finally able to reveal the extend of his pain when Honma’s eyes were averted. Ishii doesn’t get enough credit for his selling. It is amazing. Ishii’s neck gets destroyed in every match he’s in and he’s developed a DDT bump that makes it look like he’s broken his neck. All those thick neck muscles working overtime as he lands bang on the top of his dome. Honma has a pleasingly evil habit of dropping Ishii on his head in this match. I’m sure it’s not pleasing for Ishii but it makes the crowd believe Honma can win. Speaking of winning; Honma keeps going for Kokeshi’s, convinced it’s the only way he can win and leaps into more here than in any other tournament match. It’s the work of a desperate man. His best tactic is landing Ishii on his neck, and nearly killing the poor guy in the process but he just can’t see that. As the Kokeshi count grows the fans start to REALLY believe Honma can win. Can he? It’s a brilliant match, again. SUPER KOKESHI…GETS THE PIN! Honma actually wins. Holy shit. It was in a barrage of Kokeshi’s too. This was a step down from the MOTYC but was an amazing spectacle. Final Rating: ****1/2 KOKESHI COUNT – 4 missed. 7 hit. SUPER KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 1 hit Picks: 58/80. A look at the Block before we leave the Korakuen for this tour. Honma is finally off the mark. Four horses in the race for the final day of Block matches, which should make Block B more interesting than the one vs. one Block A set up. If Goto, Anderson and Nakamura all win, I have no idea who tops the group. All these guys have beaten each other. I think Nakamura and Anderson would have to have a tie-breaker. So Karl is losing on Friday’s undercard! BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada 14 Karl Anderson 12 Hirooki Goto 12 Shinsuke Nakamura 12 Tomohiro Ishii 8 Michael Elgin 8 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 4 Tomoaki Honma 2 Summary: Look at the ratings, this is one of the best shows of the G1. Hell, it’s one of the best shows of the year. The final four matches all hit with me, big time. Even the underplayed Kojima-Nakamura match. Elgin was magnificent, Nagata turned back the clock and Honma finally won the big one. It was wonderful seeing him get a speech to close the show. Three matches on this show are genuine contenders for the best match of the tournament and even after rating them I find it hard to separate all three in terms of which match I liked best. When I saw Elgin-Goto I thought they’d stolen the show but Okada-Nagata was great and Ishii-Honma was my kind of match. It was all just so good. The G1 is disappointing this year? Get the fuck outta here! Verdict: 100 11th August 2015.
We’re in Tokyo, Japan in the Korakuen Hall. The latest issue facing this year’s G1 coverage is a severe lack of time to get the last week of shows done in. My boss is off at work, which means more days and longer hours for me. Have no fear though, as insomnia has struck. This means I’m writing at 4am on Wednesday, the day after Day Fifteen. I worked all of yesterday and missed the show completely. Seeing as I’ve been awake since 2am, I figured I might as well watch some wrestling. Here are the Blocks going into Day Fifteen. BLOCK A: Tetsuya Naito 10 Bad Luck Fale 10 AJ Styles 10 Hiroshi Tanahashi 10 Katsuyori Shibata 8 Togi Makabe 8 Kota Ibushi 6 Toru Yano 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Doc Gallows 2 BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada 12 Karl Anderson 10 Hirooki Goto 10 Shinsuke Nakamura 10 Tomohiro Ishii 8 Michael Elgin 8 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 4 Tomoaki Honma 0 Still six people vying for Block A. That will change tonight. If either Shibata or Makabe fail to win this evening they are eliminated. Togi has the main event, opposite Tanahashi. Even a win for either guy may not be enough. Meanwhile AJ vs. Fale could be an eliminator this evening also. We’re getting into the business end of the G1 and every match is a ‘must win’ for anyone serious about winning. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall) vs. Mascara Dorada & Jay White Yujiro has Bullet Club buddy Karl Anderson tomorrow night so his warm up match is this throwaway contest. I like the idea of getting Yujiro out of the way by putting him on first and this might actually be the impetus to send me back to sleep where I belong at 4am. Certainly a Cody Hall heat segment on Jay White does nothing to stimulate my senses. Cody gets more joy manhandling Mascara Dorada, where his power advantage works just fine and Dorada still pops off moves, despite being a junior as Cody is still a young boy. Dorada is out to prove himself and has spent most of this tour popping the crowd for his amusement. Jay White has grown in stature during G1 and he’s great again here, countering Takahashi spots and making Yujiro seem worthwhile. Eventually Jay falls to Miami Shine but he out-shone Yujiro. Final Rating: ** Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga) vs. KUSHIDA & Captain New Japan You know the scene in Fight Club where the narrator has insomnia and just lies there staring at the TV? That’s me right now. Anderson goes for a rare move on CNJ; the old unmasking attempt. Maybe he was watching Dragon Gate’s PPV last week. Tama continues his personality improvement, slinking around the ring like a lunatic. His face-paint helps as he’s covered most of his beard with it. He looks completely insane. During G1 he’s really improved his approach to wrestling and made himself stand out. If it wasn’t for Naito it’d be the most dramatic change in NJPW. This match is really short, just over five minutes, as Bullet Club don’t get paid by the minute and it’s always hilarious when Captain New Japan gets cut down in rapid fashion. He takes the Gun Stun and surprisingly Tama doesn’t get a pin. Final Rating: *3/4 Michael Elgin & David Finlay vs. Hirooki Goto & Yohei Komatsu #BigMike has Goto on Day Sixteen. That should be a slobberknocker. Elgin has excelled during G1 and Goto has been consistent. They’ve got no experience together so this should be a chance to get acclimated. We get a precursor to Wednesday’s match with both guys throwing lumber. Like Goto’s match with Ishii only less crazy. The Young Lions have a decent contest too, with Finlay eager to prove he’s on a par with Komatsu (arguably the top of the class for this pack of lions). Their presence is very much to reduce the amount of work the two G1 participants need to do, on what is essentially an off-day. Not that Goto needs off-days. He’s got a ridiculous engine and never seems to tire. His cardio is beyond reproach. Elgin just destroys poor Komatsu. The young boy looking stunned at Elgin’s power. Komatsu goes for a rana and Elgin just stops the move and counters into the Bucklebomb. Komatsu is like a training dummy to him. Elginbomb finishes and Goto looks upset but he’ll probably go over tomorrow and forget all about this. Final Rating: **1/2 Satoshi Kojima, Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) We’re on hype mode for Day Sixteen now with Kojima-Nakamura, Okada-Nagata and Ishii-Honma being shilled. The Ishii-Honma match is actually the main event of Day Sixteen and they had a ***** belter earlier in the year for the NEVER belt so we’re expecting big things from that one. Nakamura seems to have caught on to Taguchi mocking him recently (telling him to shut up on Twitter) and the potential joy in this one comes from Nakamura teaching him a lesson. Nagata, he of the injured ribs, seeks to troll Okada in this one. To make him suitably angry that he makes a rare mistake tomorrow. How does he achieve this? By booting Okada off the apron, taunting him and forcing the champ to wrestle Taguchi. Then he beats the shit out of the champ for good measure. I love Nagata. It’s a shame he’s been booked as a weak old man in this tournament. The Okada match should be good based on one thing; will Nagata be able to limbo under the Rainmaker? Not with those bad ribs, you’d think! Nakamura storyline injured his arm against Nagata so the second layer of this match is him taking it out on Yuji’s ribcage. You’d be forgiven for thinking CHAOS are using team work to soften up their opponents for tomorrow. Not that Ishii is all that bothered about softening up Honma as they’ll just batter each other regardless. Which is exactly what they do here. The great thing about NJPW is you don’t notice them building up to something really fun; here it’s Taguchi’s Nakamura thing actually paying off as they wrestle each other. Taguchi even hits a butt version of the Rainmaker on Nakamura. It’s brilliant. Eventually Taguchi eats the Boma Ye because anything else would be crazy but the sly way they made me want that match and then delivered it was great. The match ending doesn’t end the fun as Ishii decides he can’t wait until tomorrow to punch Honma in the face a load and they have a big old brawl through the crowd. I had this as the second best undercard tag on the entire tour. The only one I rated higher also featured Ishii and Honma. No coincidence. Final Rating: ***3/4 KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 2 hit. G1 Climax Block A Doc Gallows vs. Tetsuya Naito Pre-Match Pick: Naito. He should go into the last show with a shot at winning the Block. The Tenzan match might be a different story. Doc isn’t keen on Naito’s sexless striptease. “He looks like a dick”. “Come on, asshole!” “TAKE THEM OFF!” Doc sounds like a really aggressive patron at a gay strip club. Heel Naito even gets a bit of babyface love in this one, even though he’s always been more over in Tokyo than in other areas of Japan. It’s not a good match with the styles clashing and them never clicking, even in the slightest. Doc is mostly to blame, lumbering his way into spots at half-speed. When he’s clearer on the spots, like his strikes, the match is way better. Naito picks his moments and never looks troubled. Pluma Blanca would probably finish if Doc’s legs weren’t so long. Naito attempts something weird off the top so Doc counters into the UNHEARD OF SUPER MEHSHUGGANATOR for the pin. Obviously Naito’s career is over. His back shattered into a million pieces. Not a good match but the finish was pretty cool. Clearly Naito won’t even be in contention going into the final day. Somewhat of a shocker. Final Rating: **1/4 Picks: 51/71 G1 Climax Block A Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan Pre-Match Pick: Shibata. He must win or he’s done. This starts out with tremendous promise as they wail on each other with strikes. Tenzan hasn’t been great at any point during G1 but he’s been pretty solid. Shibata has been outstanding. Neither guy wants to back down from the opening scrap so Shibata takes Tenzan’s bad leg. Then he bootscrapes that head injury from earlier in the tournament. Shibata is a motherfucker. This provokes Tenzan into working in brutal responses. It’s like watching an angry young Tenzan in action, hauled out of the past by Shibata’s aggression. Tenzan hooks Anaconda Vice on Shibata’s arm, which was injured pre-tournament. There were question marks over Shibata’s involvement, the injury was so severe. Shibata wrestles his way out, because that’s what he does. Shibata even sees the opening during a series of Mongolian chops and slips under into the sleeper. However Tenzan catches Shibata with a few headbutts and hooks the Anaconda Vice again. This time Shibata passes out from the pain and Tenzan gets the spoiler win. Shibata’s run of defeats toward the end of this G1 has been disheartening but entirely predictable. Except I keep getting the predictions wrong, damn it! The match was short but brutally fantastic. Probably the best performance Tenzan has mustered all tournament long. Final Rating: ***3/4 Picks: 51/72 G1 Climax Block A Toru Yano vs. Kota Ibushi Pre-Match Pick: Yano. Kota is already out of contention. Yano tries to sell one of his CHAOS DVD’s to Kenta Kobashi. He’s not buying. Fortune Dream can’t be drawing that well. Kota does some fun stuff with Yano, ever the mimic master and steals a load of Yano’s stuff including the turnbuckle pad bit. Yano nut shots him and gets the roll up in no time at all. You can’t out-troll the ultimate troll. Yano steals Kobashi’s drink to celebrate a ‘hard-earned’ victory. They were probably out there for 50 seconds. Final Rating: SQUASH Picks: 52/73 G1 Climax Block A AJ Styles vs. Bad Luck Fale Pre-Match Pick: AJ. It might have been a night of upsets but surely AJ goes over to set up him vs. Tana for the Block on Day Seventeen. Bullet Club come out together to show unity. “Too sweet”. Fale even teases lying down for AJ before having a change of heart and kicking out. That in itself is a better story than any straight up match they could have told. Fale deciding he was worth more than being AJ’s job-boy. I’m not keen with Fale playing the babyface in all this but I do like Karl Anderson playing peacemaker. Or trying to anyway, considering he did something very similar to AJ last year. AJ decides he’s going to take some enormous rag doll bumps to get the match over and make the monster Fale into a legitimate threat. His bump over the rail is sensational. Both guys try to cheat but the rest of the Bullet Club continue to stop this from going too far. Part of me hopes that they’re running a Bullet Club self destruction angle but that won’t happen for one very serious reason and it’s the same reason the WWE won’t turn John Cena heel; merchandising. Those Bullet Club shirts are worth keeping the group around. Hell, even I have a Bullet Club shirt and I don’t even like the Bullet Club, it’s just a cool shirt. They try and make this a different match and brawl into the stands. I recognise a lot of the Korakuen from DDT shows, and having been there myself, so it’s nice to see the familiar bleachers in action during G1. Fale teases a Bad Luck Fall into the crowd, which would be completely unacceptable…even in Japan. AJ is simply too slick, too fast and too good for Fale. The one issue remaining is; how does AJ beat Fale? The big impact moves are likely out so AJ goes after the Calf Killer. They have a few fun finisher counters, with the BLF being teased continually until AJ goes the old Flair heel route and pins using the ropes. Hey, a win’s a win. Good match, especially considering Fale was in it. I like the storyline they told. AJ shows a little fear post match but they hug it out and all is forgiven…thank God. I have no interest in seeing a Fale vs. AJ feud. Very interesting storytelling in this match though. It was different to anything else in G1. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 53/74 G1 Climax Block A Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe Pre-Match Pick: Tanahashi. I’ve gone with him all tournament long and it makes sense he wins here to set up vs. AJ for the whole hill of beans on Day Seventeen. Although that would also work if he lost here, as long as Naito lost on the last day too. They set out for the long haul in this contest with early counters at a methodical pace. Tana is the better technician of the two but it’s nice to see Togi even attempt half of the stuff they go for. It shows he’s no slouch, something people tend to forget because he does so much smashmouth stuff. Tana plays the match with a touch of heeldom about his work, playing air guitar, like a dick, while standing on Togi’s knee. As the match progresses I keep looking at the Block standings and mentally trying to figure out where NJPW is going with the booking. Which is one of the problems with tournaments, you get into the maths of the thing rather than the action sometimes. In the match Tanahashi works the knee over at length, including a number of Dragon Screw legwhips and a tasty Texas Cloverleaf. Not only does this stop Togi’s momentum but it outright slows him down to a snail’s pace. He has to grab Tana to do any damage. Makabe doesn’t sell the knee on any major spots, a German suplex has a perfect bridge for example, but he does a fine job of conveying the struggle outside of that. He’s certainly better at selling than Nakamura or Ibushi in similar situations. Tana flattens him with High Fly Flow regardless and that’s that. This was a bit sluggish but a decent way to end the night. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 54/75. I got caught out with a few upsets this evening but I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that Gallows would lose to Naito and Tenzan to Shibata. Oh well. Here’s the Block before we leave: BLOCK A: AJ Styles 12 Hiroshi Tanahashi 12 Tetsuya Naito 10 Bad Luck Fale 10 Katsuyori Shibata 8 Togi Makabe 8 Kota Ibushi 6 Toru Yano 6 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 4 Doc Gallows 4 Losses for Shibata and Makabe confirm they’re out. The fact that AJ and Tana both won means Naito and Fale are done too. AJ vs. Tanahashi headlines Day Seventeen. The winner is in the G1 final. The maths was easy in the end. Summary: Not one of the better shows from this year’s G1. An underwhelming show with various wrestlers jockeying for position as the tournament comes to a conclusion. One great undercard tag, second only to that one with Honma, Ishii and Elgin, and a couple of decent G1 matches. I liked Tenzan-Shibata more than most but it was honestly a strong performance from Tenzan. A few people have commented that it might be his last G1. If it is, he’s trying to go out strong. Verdict: 66 7th August 2015.
We’re in Hamamatsu, Japan. My time is severely limited today. I barely have any time to get a review done. So chances are it’ll spill over into tomorrow and the whole weekend will be a disaster. But hey, it’ll be a disaster with quality wrestling. I’ve had a few beers on my way home from work (train beers, nectar of the gods themselves) so this might not be as clear as usual. Here are the blocks! BLOCK A: Katsuyori Shibata 8 Tetsuya Naito 8 Bad Luck Fale 8 AJ Styles 8 Hiroshi Tanahashi 8 Kota Ibushi 6 Togi Makabe 6 Toru Yano 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Doc Gallows 2 BLOCK B: Tomohiro Ishii 8 Kazuchika Okada 8 Karl Anderson 6 Hirooki Goto 6 Shinsuke Nakamura 6 Michael Elgin 6 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Tomoaki Honma 0 No time for analysis Dr. Jones! It’s right into Day Twelve of G1 action. Block B is the focus this evening with Okada vs. Ishii as the bad-ass main event. This is the final fixed-cam show, I think. It’s not really what you want on a Friday night after a long day. Yohei Komatsu vs. Jay White Both these guys have entertained in undercard matches during G1 and now are rewarded with a singles bout. As you might expect this is quite basic and you’d think the young lions get their matches played back to them and critiqued. The only thing I’m not keen on is Yohei’s stomp, which looks like one of Yujiro Takahashi’s. If you’re going to do something, base it on someone good. Both guys give a really good account of themselves and Jay is looking very strong but still gets caught by the Maple Leaf and Yohei scores the win. His tag performance with Shibata was arguably the best Young Lion turn on the entire tour so I can understand him going over but for me, Jay White is advancing at a rate above the other youngsters in NJPW. Still both guys looked good. Solid opener. Final Rating: **1/2 CHAOS (Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Tetsuya Naito & David Finlay The prospect of Yano trolling super-serious, super-sulky Naito makes me positively giddy. They’re wrestling each other on Day Thirteen. Naito needs new music. Why is it that everyone is basically wrestling in their pants but only Finlay makes it look like he’s working in his undies? He might as well be wearing y-fronts, like the kid who forgot his P.E. kit. Yano’s attempts to troll Naito fail miserably as the Ingobernable barely cares about the match and when he does tag in he counters everything and is just too fast for Yano to cope with. Finlay spends far more time in there and gets picked off by YOSHI-HASHI for the pin. Entirely predictable and lacking in any kind of build for Yano vs. Naito. Final Rating: *1/2 Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows & Tama Tonga) vs. Kota Ibushi, Togi Makabe, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Captain New Japan Ibushi vs. Fale, AJ vs. Tenzan and Doc vs. Makabe all feature on Day Thirteen. I don’t really see any of those being good matches but maybe AJ can pull something out of Tenzan. Obviously tomorrow’s big match is Shibata vs. Tanahashi. Interesting to note that not only does AJ Styles pose before the match but he also, by some distance, the biggest pop. Of the Bullet Club, that is. The crowd are wet for Kota Ibushi. Tama’s lunatic heel act is actually getting good to the point where I think Vince will poach him. Just because he has that presence. I spent most of this match swigging on Dorothy Goodbody’s Golden Ale (a fine beverage, ladies and gents) but I was still capable of enjoying the action presented to me. Tama, AJ and Kota starred, although Captain New Japan cleaning house made me chuckle. Headshrinker DDT finished the good Captain off. Final Rating: **1/4 Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA & Mascara Dorada vs. Katsuyori Shibata, Ryusuke Taguchi & Jushin Liger Obviously this is preparing us for Day Thirteen’s main event of Shibata vs. Tanahashi. It doesn’t have the same animosity of last year, seeing as Shibata basically said he was sorry for smacking Tana around during G1 (BACKFIST MOTHERFUCKER!) when they had a re-match after the tournament. Liger is subbing in for the injured Tiger Mask. The one good thing about the hard-cam is watching how various wrestlers react to others and Shibata is leaning against the ropes warming up as Tana comes out here. He’s not looking at all. Then when Tanahashi gets closer to the ring he turns around, ready to fight. I love this guy. The opening 30 seconds of Tana-Shibata switches is better than the rest of the tag matches put together. The story of the match is the juniors trying to one-up each other while Shibata & Tanahashi provide violent cameos. There’s too much Taguchi though and he drags the match down into mediocrity by doing stupid things (like falling over while attempting to apply the anklelock) and despite him being a cretin he still goes over. Whose dick did he suck to get these plum roles during G1? Shibata and Tana have a bit of an eyeball to eyeball conversation about tomorrow night and Shibata stands in the ring watching Tana as he leaves. You can feel the tension. Final Rating: **3/4 G1 Climax Block B Michael Elgin vs. Yuji Nagata Pre-Match Pick: Elgin. Of all tonight’s Block matches this was the hardest to make a prediction on. Basically because neither of these guys are winning G1, or even coming close, so it’s hard to decide who gets two points. Elgin’s showmanship continues to earn plaudits from the NJPW crowd. They love his stalling suplex and all his old timey strongman spots. He should start yelling “EEYYYYY OOP” before every big power lift. Interesting to see Nagata varying his spots in this one, perhaps due to the rib injury. Elgin imposes himself on Nagata and the old man shows Big Mike that it’s not a simple thing to do. Yuji has plenty of Blue Justice left in the tank, despite his advanced years. I love Nagata trying to make the deadlift Falcon Arrow easier by climbing the ropes and Elgin absolutely refusing the help. It’s a display of toughness and professionalism. It’s actually quite touching. Elgin is really gentle with Nagata afterwards and Bucklebombs him to set up the Elginbomb. I feel bad for Nagata, he’s getting waxed in this tournament. Far worse than last year. At least Elgin showed him some respect on the way. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 39/56 G1 Climax Block B Karl Anderson vs. Tomoaki Honma Pre-Match Pick: Anderson. Honma has zero wins so far, I don’t expect that to change this evening. A lot of Anderson’s matches have been relatively slow paced during the G1. This contest is no different. I personally think Honma is at his best when he’s fighting someone who’s hitting him frequently and hard. Karl is more interested in grinding Honma down and taking away his crowd support. Honma’s rallies are still effective but not as much fun as when he’s coming back from a severe beating. The same could be said of the majority of the NJPW roster. They tease the Gun Stun a few times and then tease Honma winning a few times. Based on his track record it comes across as unlikely. At least they have a cool finish where Honma comes off the top for the big Kokeshi and gets planted with a mid-air Gun Stun. Poor Tomoaki. Another day, another loss. Final Rating: *** KOKESHI COUNT – 2 missed. 2 hit. SUPER KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. Picks: 40/57 G1 Climax Block B Satoshi Kojima vs. Hirooki Goto Pre-Match Pick: Goto. Kojima is having a stinker of a tournament. Not as bad as Nagata but only two wins and Goto is a big contender. I’m not sure how many people see Goto as a big contender but from the way he was hyped pre-tournament (the IC title win, the talk of unification day, and the new gear) it certainly seemed to me that New Japan had decided he’d be a contender. As you’d expect this is a solid contest with plenty of back and forth striking. The crowd seems more into Kojima, because his spots are more fun. Kojima falls for Goto’s rope running spots, showing his lack of pace, but when they’re duelling it out Goto looks surprisingly lightweight. As if the tournament’s abuse is starting to take a toll on the IC champion. The strapping on Goto’s back, something he’s had for a while now, is another potential sign of weakness. One that prevents him going to the Shouten Kai early in the contest. Goto is too aware of Kojima’s lariat to fall to it and it seems as if this might go on for some time until Goto musters enough strength to flatten Kojima with Shouten Kai to dispel any back issues. Kojima has been looking quite tired since the tournament began (not unlike the other veterans; Tenzan and Nagata). G1 is a young man’s tournament. This year more than ever with the expanded format. Final Rating: ***1/2 Picks: 41/58 G1 Climax Block B Yujiro Takahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Pre-Match Pick: Psssht, Nakamura. This is the biggest lock in the entire tournament. Yujiro is useless, Nakamura is one of the companies biggest stars. Yujiro at least has the common sense to jump Nakamura during his Yeaaaaoh pose on the ropes during the introductions. Something Ishii took advantage of last year. Also Yujiro has help from Cody Hall. Many things are written about Nakamura but one of the often overlooked qualities of the King of Strongstyle is how LOUD his selling is. You know when he’s injured because he yelps and shrieks with the best of them. This is how he generates sympathy in a contest that screams MISMATCH. Yujiro has had a few decent matches thanks to the generosity of his opponents but this isn’t one of them. It’s just simply not believable. Nakamura basically wrestles himself, setting up all his predicaments and allowing Yujiro to just hit one move after another. Which would be fine if Yujiro wasn’t sloppy and boring. Takahashi won’t even get his head in position for the Boma Ye. Nakamura looks less than impressed and cleans Yujiro out with another one, which more closely resembles a shin across the jaw. No more solid food for you, fuckface! Final Rating: ** Picks: 42/59 G1 Climax Block B Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kazuchika Okada Pre-Match Pick: Okada. This is the must-see match on tonight’s card. Not only are they both in CHAOS but they’re tied for the lead in Block B with eight points and only one of them can advance to ten points this evening. Or neither of them if they go to an unlikely thirty minute draw, earning them one point each. Ishii doesn’t take too kindly to Okada’s ‘clean break’ and nails him with an elbow. You don’t want to upset Ishii and he can smell the disrespect in that spot. Okada is very much in his comfort zone wrestling Ishii. Everything flows nicely and he looks relaxed. Ishii takes Kazuchika to the woodshed by running Ishii 101; a beating. Okada has many different ways to win a match and starts to dominate by switching gears. Using counters and submissions and keeping Ishii guessing. When Okada goes for strikes that’s when it goes wrong for him. Ishii just marches into elbows like they’re nothing and lays Okada on his back with one strike. Okada takes over again and tries for the Rainmaker but three times Ishii counters it. The third time decisively with a headbutt. From there Ishii unloads with the heavy artillery and Okada just barely hangs in there until one of his trademark precision dropkicks gets the champ out of trouble. It’s a good storyline, as he’s familiar with Ishii and Ishii just doesn’t modify his approach at all. He just batters you. If he wins, he wins. If he loses, he loses. Here…he loses. Okada allows Ishii one more Rainmaker escape before catching him with one final throbbing lariat across the Stone Pitbull’s barrel chest. Final Rating: **** Picks: 43/60. Holy shit, 5/5! We won’t see too many of those during the tournament so I’ll kick back and savour it, although booking-wise this was one of the easiest nights to call (with the possible exception of Elgin-Nagata). Here’s Block B before we leave Hamamatsu. BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada 10 Tomohiro Ishii 8 Karl Anderson 8 Hirooki Goto 8 Shinsuke Nakamura 8 Michael Elgin 8 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Tomoaki Honma 0 The Rainmaker heads into Day Fourteen with more points than anyone else although the chasing pack are just one win back. Interesting to note that only Goto has beaten Okada from the chasing pack. If they finish level, Goto will finish above Okada (in theory). The other interesting aspect is the spoiler for Okada could be Nakamura. Now he beat Goto, which would leave us with three guys level on points (potentially) who all have a win over the other. So…who would go to the Final? I sense a play off. Summary: This felt like the calm before the storm. The last couple of shows have featured a few matches where people were taking it easy. At least this one had a little more consistency on the undercard. Four of the five G1 matches clocked in at ***+ and the main event is a genuinely good match. That makes it a better card than the disappointment of Day Eleven, although not by much. A solid show. That’s all I really expect from the hard-cam shows. Verdict: 72 8th August 2015.
We’re in Yokohama, Japan. Here are the Blocks as we go into the thirteenth day of exciting G1 action. BLOCK A: Katsuyori Shibata 8 Tetsuya Naito 8 Bad Luck Fale 8 AJ Styles 8 Hiroshi Tanahashi 8 Kota Ibushi 6 Togi Makabe 6 Toru Yano 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Doc Gallows 2 BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada 10 Tomohiro Ishii 8 Karl Anderson 8 Hirooki Goto 8 Shinsuke Nakamura 8 Michael Elgin 8 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Tomoaki Honma 0 It’s all about Block A tonight and the focus is on two guys who had an epic battle during last year’s G1, which over spilled into the following PPV Destruction. Katsuyori Shibata beat Hiroshi Tanahashi during G1 only to lose a match at the PPV after G1. Both matches were on the list of MOTYC. They’ve got quite a lot to live up to and those matches were contested under hostile circumstances. The angle suggested both guys HATED each other. Interviews had them criticising each other’s style and career decisions. It was personal stuff. After the re-match Shibata shook Tana’s hand and thanked him for saving NJPW from the dark days. Ever since then they’ve co-existed and have barely had a crossed word. However, almost a year later, they’re locking horns again to decide the direction of Block A. Whoever wins has ten points and is one step closer to the G1 finale. Incidentally this is the last show to take place outside Japan’s capital before a staggering SIX NIGHT stand in Tokyo. Three in the Korakuen and three in Sumo Hall! Satoshi Kojima, Jushin Liger, Ryusuke Taguchi & Yohei Komatsu vs. Yuji Nagata, KUSHIDA, Mascara Dorada & David Finlay It’s a big group of guys to sell the prospect of Kojima vs. Nagata. Both guys are probably getting a bit desperate as their G1 campaigns have gone badly. Only three wins between them. They won’t learn anything new about each other this evening but both men have looked rather fatigued, perhaps an eight man tag is a chance for them to catch a rest night, on the sly. The juniors have a chance to steal the show and KUSHIDA and Dorada seem keen on doing so. Nagata and Kojima don’t take their night off, instead insisting on working a segment, which culminates in poor Nagata getting a kicking in the ribcage again. Nagata softens up Kojima’s arm in response and that’s a clue as to how tomorrow’s match will go. Around this interaction it’s a fun enough opener with the juniors and Young Lions proving points by doing entertaining stuff. Taguchi picks off Finlay for Dodon. That’ll do it. Final Rating: **1/2 Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Cody Hall) vs. Michael Elgin & Jay White Anderson vs. Elgin on Day Fourteen. I’m not quite sure what to make of Elgin’s NJPW run so far. He’s fitted in well but being a gaijin there’s always the danger that NJPW will lump him in with Bullet Club. I hope to see him aggressive against Anderson. Cody is on his A-Game again, ducking the invisible machine gun bullets. He’ll go far. The crowd are into Elgin and his strongman rep. Anderson treats him like a “bad son of a bitch” so that’s good news. There is a reoccurring problem in wrestling where newcomers are treated badly by people looking to protect their spot. Anderson does the opposite of that here, which is probably why he’s so highly valued by New Japan to begin with. Anderson is the guy who can hang with the main eventers but also put over new guys. It’s nice to have him available to do this vital work in building a promotion. There should be more good pros like him around. The match doesn’t do much but it does get me interested in tomorrow’s match so it did what it set out to do. Considering they all speak English there are a surprising number of communication issues. Mainly surrounding Cody. Jay, once again, doesn’t look out of place working with a G1 guy, although he gets more interaction with Cody. There’s one thing about Karl Anderson’s move set that bugs me. Why is the Gun Stun more effective than the TKO? Surely the latter has more impact? But he never wins with it! Gun Stun puts Jay away after he kicks out of the TKO. See? Final Rating: **1/4 CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomoaki Honma & Captain New Japan Two matches being hyped; Nakamura vs. Honma and Ishii vs. Goto. Both taking place tomorrow in Tokyo. You’d think they’d both be pretty entertaining match ups. Plus another opportunity for Ishii and Honma to butt heads. They’ve already snuck one of these in, earlier on the tour, and there will surely be another one before the Ishii vs. Honma match. That match is going to be amazing. Nakamura clearly wants to have fun with Honma here before it gets serious tomorrow so he does the Kokeshi, only with a kneedrop. Nakamura is a sensational piss-taker. Ishii’s approach to beating Captain New Japan down reminds me of a time where we were goofing around before an Indy show. Low-Ki was on the card and he comes out to see what all the noise is about and he’s there about two seconds before yelling “YOU THINK THIS IS A FUCKING JOKE?”* That’s what Ishii does to Captain New Japan. In forearms. Ishii vs. Goto is pleasingly violent and I have big hopes for their match tomorrow. The bits and pieces with Honma’s Kokeshi and Captain New Japan’s near misses is terrific and this is an easy pleaser. YOSHI-HASHI picks up yet another win with the senton. I probably don’t need to tell you who he pinned. Final Rating: *** KOKESHI COUNT – 2 missed. 3 hit. *Low Ki is a good guy by the way. He’s just really serious about wrestling. I can totally imagine his disdain for certain gimmicks. I’d love to see him wrestle Captain New Japan. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Gedo) Okada vs. Yujiro tomorrow. That’s not the main event right? That wouldn’t be good (it’s not, it’s Goto vs. Ishii!). Okada tries to make Yujiro look convincing by selling for him but it just doesn’t work. I’ve never known anyone look less convincing, in a major promotion, than Yujiro Takahashi when he’s dishing out offence. I just don’t buy into him as a worker. Everyone else out there is totally convincing. Gedo as the cheating veteran, Tama as the unhinged lunatic who thinks he’s a reptile of some sort and Okada as the confident star. Yujiro? What is Yujiro? He’s a sleazeball but his move set is generic. It doesn’t reflect the character and his timing is dreadful. He drags this match down and it never recovers. Even with Tama’s bizarre interpretation of Randy Orton’s whole stalking routine. His character has improved a lot recently. Tama even gets the pin here, as he’s done frequently during G1, by planting Gedo with the Headshrinker DDT. Final Rating: *1/2 G1 Climax Block A Bad Luck Fale vs. Kota Ibushi Pre-Match Pick: Ibushi. I couldn’t take another Fale win over one of the big guns. Beating Tanahashi was bad enough. Kota has been the star of this tournament. He deserves to win. Generally Ibushi tends not to wrestle the big hosses. It’s not a good match so G1 gives him a chance to switch it around a bit. He doesn’t change his style, nor does he for anything. Fale rather plods through the match. The only good thing about this tactic is it makes Ibushi’s comeback more dramatic. Lots of flippity flips and kickity kicks. It doesn’t help to offset the large chunks of Fale boredom. Ibushi might improve in this sort of match given sufficient time and experience but he’s had so little time slaying monsters, coming from DDT where everyone is short, that he finds it hard to come up with ideas. Fale hits a sloppy, awful looking Grenade and finishes, after several counters, with the Bad Luck Fall. Well, fuck me. I think I might have to go and grab a few beers to finish this show off with if that’s where Gedo is going with the booking. Final Rating: *1/4 Picks: 43/61 G1 Climax Block A Toru Yano vs. Tetsuya Naito Pre-Match Pick: Naito. I hope Yano wins, because it’d be as hilarious for me as I’m sure Fale winning was for internet trolls who don’t like Ibushi. Speaking of trolls; Yano is one. I find this hilarious when he’s upsetting people I don’t like but in NJPW they’re few and far between. By the time Skeletor has finished fucking around and actually taken his mask off I’ve scored myself a bottle of Mad Goose (Purity). A fine ale from a fine brewery. Yano’s chuckles start out by putting his robe back on to show Naito how wearing a robe when the match is supposed to be starting can be quite annoying. Then he beats Naito down before the twat has taken his shirt off and chokes Naito with the robe. It’s a pleasing start, showing that Yano has learned you cannot give Naito time and space to do his thing. Yano’s next tactic is imitating Naito’s poses. That gets him a dropkick in the spine. It was pretty funny though. Next comes the turnbuckle and they nail the YTR pose bit with Naito’s flying forearm going clean over the top. It’s beautifully executed. Not all the match can live up to that one spot with other counters being off-centre. Naito kicks Yano in the balls to stop the inevitable ball-shot receipt and finishes with Destino. A hit and miss match that sometimes clicked brilliantly and at other was clunky. Yano played his role to perfection and Naito cheated to win because he’s the heel. No problems with that. Final Rating: **3/4 Picks: 44/62 G1 Climax Block A AJ Styles vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan Pre-Match Pick: AJ. He’s a contender, whereas Tenzan has struggled. AJ has been a quasi-face for much of the G1 but gets fed up with the crowd loving Tenzan and heads back to the dark side. Even then the crowd chant his name. He’s garnered a lot of respect over the last year. Probably more than the entire of Bullet Club put together. AJ tries like hell to get some booing by pulling Tenzan’s hair and still gets cheered. AJ’s trash talking is glorious. In North America it came across as tame and dated but in Japan it’s perfect. As is his selling where AJ stumbles around after getting clocked with the heel kick. AJ is one of the best in the world at selling a head injury. Not for long but for long enough. AJ accidentally wings Red Shoes, for checking on Tenzan when AJ was in mid-air with a dropkick and the Bullet Club’s main man takes Unno to task for his error. The crowd STILL chant his name. “Oh shut up, I know who I am.” AJ’s leg work is building toward the Calf Killer, which makes perfect sense but he also utilises the Figure Four. He did used to pal around with Ric Flair so he probably picked up a few tips on that one. AJ even lifts the Mongolian Chops and does a better job of it than anyone else on this tour. Tenzan hits a headbutt in this match, probably the first time he’s really used that busted up dome as an offensive weapon since opening himself up against Yano. They run the Anaconda Vice spot, which Tenzan has used against just about everyone during G1. Mainly as a false finish. It’s the part of the match where everyone thinks Tenzan has a shot at winning. As soon as they’re out of it AJ hooks the Calf Killer again for the tap out. This made sense and there were only a few communication issues that hurt the flow of the match. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 45/63 G1 Climax Block A Doc Gallows vs. Togi Makabe Pre-Match Pick: Togi. This will not be pretty. Both guys throw a lot of gimmicked punches. One of the reasons why I watch Japanese wrestling is to get away from matches with lots of gimmicked punches. And that’s all they’ve got going on from a storyline and a workrate perspective. At least Togi takes a couple of mean bumps into the rails but AJ and Tenzan did that…and a lot more too. Doc inserts a chinlock and the match just dies. It’s dull. Togi seems to have marginally more enthusiasm but Doc is on a list of guys I’m hoping aren’t in the G1 next year. It needs to be more elite. Doc casually throws his finish in the middle of the match for no reason (has he been watching Tiger Mask?) and Togi just kicks out. DVD and a King Kong Kneedrop later and this is mercifully over. It was a short match but they did nothing useful with their time. Final Rating: *3/4 Picks: 46/64 G1 Climax Block A Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi Pre-Match Pick: Honestly, I think it’ll be a draw. If I was forced to pick one way or the other I’d go with Tanahashi though. There is a thirty minute time limit but no matches finished even last year and there are none so far this year either. But this is a rubber match on their most recent series and I get the feeling they’ll want to extend that. They go to the mat, as they did yesterday in the tag, and it’s great. Tanahashi is capable on the mat, more than most give him credit, and Shibata is amazing. I could watch them do thirty minutes of amateur switches. The slow burn on the early going, with strenuous countering of simple holds like headlocks, reflects my suggestion it might be going broadway. The whole thing is a battle. A complete throwback. Tana is really aggressive, keen to not fall into the same defeat he suffered last year but Shibata seems very calm. He doesn’t want to get drawn into a slugfest, which is how he won last year, instead wanting to school Tanahashi in the ways of mat wrestling. Will that cost him? When it does get into striking, that’s where Shibata gets even more dominant. Although Tanahashi has specific counters in mind for trademark Shibata spots. In particular the corner dropkick, where he wipes out Shibata’s knee. Shibata is in a rare mood. He wants to control. Tanahashi has to use his wily veteran moves to try and stop Shibata. They re-run the corner dropkick, in reverse with Shibata pulling out an insane double stomp counter, then re-run the earlier counter spot with Shibata turning to casually batter Tana back into the corner before hitting the dropkick. Sensational stuff. Some of the striking is world-beating stuff. Shibata’s kicks are insane and Tanahashi isn’t past throwing a slap that’s strong enough for a takedown. They work so hard in the first ten minutes that I think my draw is off the cards. The sheer effort seems aimed at a shorter match. Tanahashi has a game plan and that’s to work the knee. Whether that’ll have an effect on a former shootfighter remains to be seen. Will Shibata give up to Tana? It’s unlikely. But limiting Shibata’s movement will also buy time for the High Fly Flow. The competiveness in this match is wonderful. Both guys give the impression that a win here means everything. Last year was about ideologies but now they’ve gotten past that (who has the better style?) it’s all about an even more competitive friendly rivalry. Who is the better wrestler? Styles be damned. Tana gets the first big shot at finishing but his High Fly Flow gets knees and Shibata goes right into the sleeper. Surely he hurt his knees in the process though and Tana has worked them all match. A minor criticism. PK misses and they head into an insane sequence where Shibata becomes so obsessed with getting the sleeper that Tana pins him defensively, kinda like Bret Hart over Roddy Piper. Final Rating: ****1/2 Fuck, I thought that was going to be a draw. Picks: 47/65 Let’s see what that momentous victory does for Block A: BLOCK A: Tetsuya Naito 10 Bad Luck Fale 10 AJ Styles 10 Hiroshi Tanahashi 10 Katsuyori Shibata 8 Togi Makabe 8 Kota Ibushi 6 Toru Yano 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Doc Gallows 2 Well, it’s a friggin’ disaster for my boys Shibata and Ibushi. Shibata has gone from sole leadership to dropping back into the middle of the deck with two back to back losses. Damn it, I was hoping it would be his year. Next year, man, next year! Four guys on ten points, of which both AJ and Tana, my pre-tournament picks, are there. Naito has been a revelation during G1, even if he’s not been brilliant in the ring and Fale mysteriously keeps winning too. Summary: Essentially the only reason for turning up was Shibata vs. Tanahashi and it was excellent…even if the wrong guy won (from a certain perspective). AJ vs. Tenzan was pretty good, as expected and everything else is a pass. But hey, we’re in Tokyo tomorrow and the G1 starts to get super, super serial. Sadly my boys probably won’t be involved at the conclusion. Verdict: 68 9th August 2015.
We’re in Tokyo, Japan at the Korakuen Hall. Here are the Block standings as we head into the final six shows of the G1 this year. All of them will take place in Tokyo. Three here in Korakuen Hall and then three in Sumo Hall after that. It promises to be one hell of a finale to a series that has slightly underwhelmed to this point but has still delivered some excellent wrestling and done so consistently. BLOCK A: Tetsuya Naito 10 Bad Luck Fale 10 AJ Styles 10 Hiroshi Tanahashi 10 Katsuyori Shibata 8 Togi Makabe 8 Kota Ibushi 6 Toru Yano 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Doc Gallows 2 BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada 10 Tomohiro Ishii 8 Karl Anderson 8 Hirooki Goto 8 Shinsuke Nakamura 8 Michael Elgin 8 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Tomoaki Honma 0 The focus returns to Block B this evening where Okada defends his position atop the table against Yujiro Takahashi. The big match is Goto vs. Ishii with top guys tied on eight points. Only one of them can make it to double digits today but, perhaps more importantly, the loser of that match is probably done. There’s also a little intrigue surrounding Nakamura vs. Honma as the latter is still searching for his first big G1 win. It couldn’t come against the King of Strongstyle? Could it? Another Block match with plenty on the line is Anderson vs. Elgin. As with Goto vs. Ishii, the winner will head into double digits. Again, the loser is likely eliminated. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga) vs. David Finlay & Jay White Bullet Club vs. Young Lions. No prizes for guessing the winner. Fale is wrestling AJ Styles tomorrow so there’s no need to hype that up. Terekawa calls Finlay the “Celtic Prince from Lower Saxony” (thanks to @e_key_oide for the translations). Finlay’s royal ties don’t allow him to communicate with Tama and they have a weird spot where Finlay is looking out for a move that never happens. Tama takes the lion’s share of the match and finishes with the Headshrinker DDT. Tonga has won a load of matches during this tour. Between him and YOSHI-HASHI, it seems like NJPW is apologising to them for not being included in the G1 itself. This was really short, which is the best use of Fale. Final Rating: *1/2 CHAOS (Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Kota Ibushi & Mascara Dorada Ibushi vs. Yano on Tuesday. The potential horrors of a comedy roll up are impending (although it matters little to Ibushi who can’t win the G1 now). Kota is already in the danger zone as he tries to kick the shit out of Yano. You’re walking into his trap! Yano has perfected removing the turnbuckle pad, he can whip that thing off quicker than it takes to pin someone now. YOSHI-HASHI and Dorada take the majority of the match, to keep the G1 participants fresh. Not that Yano exerts a tonne of energy in his matches. YOSHI-HASHI picks off Dorada for the senton and scores his millionth pinfall of the G1. That may be a slight exaggeration but he’s won a lot of pins. Final Rating: **1/4 Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Doc Gallows & Cody Hall) vs. Tetsuya Naito, Captain New Japan & Ryusuke Taguchi Naito must have pissed in someone’s cereals to get stuck with the Funky Weapon and Captain fucking New Japan. Doc punches Taguchi so hard in the ass he gets his hand stuck. This makes me chuckle. Doc has a keen sense of humour and Taguchi’s butt-based offence is ripe for comedy. This is the kind of match we’re dealing with though, where Doc getting his hand stuck in Taguchi’s ass is a high spot. AJ vs. Naito has already happened and neither guy is particularly keen to repeat it. The match they’re hyping is Naito vs. Gallows but because of Naito’s character we don’t get much of that either. Naito is basically quicker than Gallows and looks untroubled by the Bullet Club member. It should be a relatively easy win for him on Tuesday. Gallows picks off Captain New Japan and finishes with the Mehshugganator. I think part of the reason why I dig Gallows is because he uses Giant Bernard’s finisher. Final Rating: ** Katsuyori Shibata, Togi Makabe & Jushin Liger vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & KUSHIDA Tenzan vs. Shibata and Tanahashi vs. Makabe on Tuesday so we’re shilling those. And how! A fine combination of talent in this one. There’s a really cool moment when Shibata deliberately tags in to wrestle Tanahashi rather than shill his match with Tenzan. He’s not done with Tana! Tenzan considers this disrespect and gives Shibata a beating. Interesting to note that Shibata completely owned Tanahashi on the mat during this match. As if to say he considered Tana’s victory to be a bit of a fluke. Tenzan’s bad leg is the focus for the opposing team and you have to think Shibata will use that to his advantage. Rock star Tana seems to get plenty of joy out of Togi too and you’d think that predicts Tuesday’s outcomes. I’d be surprised if Tenzan and/or Makabe won. It’s a pity they have KUSHIDA and Liger in this match to wrestle each other. I’d rather see them mix it up with the heavyweights. Especially KUSHIDA. I don’t think that’ll ever happen but it’s a dream. KUSHIDA ends up scoring a pin on legend Liger after out-wrestling him on the canvas. KUSHIDA is an outstanding mat technician. Final Rating: ***1/4 G1 Climax Block B Karl Anderson vs. Michael Elgin Pre-Match Pick: Anderson. I’ll go with the G1 veteran. I’ll be pleasantly surprised if Elgin wins but Karl has a couple of guys in his corner if it’s getting tight. Elgin brings the strongman routine, which the Tokyoites dig. He’s gotten seriously over during G1 and has certainly enhanced his chances of getting rebooked in the future. Anderson hasn’t had a great G1 this year, largely because of his urge to remain heel. Instead of forcing the pace in his matches he’s been inserting a lot of taunting. Elgin forces the pace, using his power spots and well-timed comebacks. Karl does dominate regardless, as he has done in almost every match. Elgin’s big spots get big pops, especially the deadlift Falcon Arrow off the apron. Elgin decides he needs to eliminate Bullet Club from ringside and powerbombs Karl over the top rope onto them. It looked great because the set up for it wasn’t obvious. The finish is super awesome too with Anderson countering the Elginbomb, in mid-move into the Gun Stun to win. Final Rating: ***3/4 Picks: 48/66 G1 Climax Block B Yuji Nagata vs. Satoshi Kojima Pre-Match Pick: Kojima. Both these guys have had a bit of a sad tournament with the losses piling up. Nagata only has one win! That essentially makes this a contest for pride rather than pushing for a top finish. Because it’s about pride they pretty much just stand up and wail on each other. I’m not complaining. Kojima doesn’t vary his offence much but when he accidentally connects with the ribs Nagata sells them like a champ. To the point where you think he can’t continue and a doctor comes out here. This is all Yujiro Takahashi’s fault. When Nagata does become competitive it’s a much better contest but Kojima constantly cuts Nagata off by going to the ribs. Yano, on commentary for the second half, seems to find all of this hilarious. Nagata busts the Backdrop Hold out of nowhere, sending Shinpei Nogami into spasms of excitement on commentary and scoring the big win for Blue Justice. It makes Kojima look like a bit of a punk for being unable to modify his strategy to beat a hurt man but the two veterans put on a war for our amusement this evening. Final Rating: ***3/4 Picks: 48/67 G1 Climax Block B Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada Pre-Match Pick: Okada. Anything else would be a crime. Yujiro at least brings Mao-chan with him this evening, making himself useful. Mao is the best valet in Japan. The NJPW pervert cameraman thinks so too, focusing on her rack while the match is going on. Her little ‘thumbs down’ gesture toward Okada when he pounds Yujiro right in front of her is too cute. In order to build a hill for Okada to climb they have Cody Hall beat the IWGP champ down on the outside. Cody gives Gedo a thrashing too. Because this is Yujiro the match is a chore but it’s made easier by cutting away to Shinpei Nogami, trying to stifle a semi, interviewing Mao as the match goes on. It’s a clever way to get around a lack of interest in Yujiro. Whatever they’re paying Mao, it’s not enough. Okada tries hard to get the match over, when he’s not sitting through dull Yujiro offence, but it’s a big struggle. The interest levels in this match are Okada, Mao, Gedo, Cody….Yujiro. Botchtastic Yujiro makes a hash of the Bucklebomb and the crowd shit themselves when he follows it with Miami Shine. They very nearly put Yujiro over Okada (it would have been clean too). Yujiro doesn’t follow up, because he’s a terrible storyteller and just stands around looking surprised. It won’t be a surprise when he loses. From there the ref is bumped and Cody Hall full on gets in the ring to hit spots. Come on, Red Shoes. There has to be a DQ somewhere in this tournament. Naturally Yujiro doesn’t win. Rainmaker finishes. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 49/68. G1 Climax Block B Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomoaki Honma Pre-Match Pick: Nakamura, doy. If Honma wins it’ll be the biggest miracle in the history of sport. It would also be pretty damn awesome but in the process would ruin the Nakamura-Okada storyline they have booked in Block B. Honma wants to show he means business from the start, otherwise everyone will be waiting for the inevitable Boma Ye. Nakamura seems to pick and choose his moments and still dominates. He’s just too big and powerful for Honma to get his usual routine going. Nakamura brings the Kokeshi kneedrop (Knee-keshi) he used in the tags yesterday. Nak comes across as less than serious. Honma has to force Nakamura to take him seriously and does so with a vicious lariat and brainbuster combo (notably the finishing combo of Nakamura’s bestie Tomohiro Ishii). Honma gets such a streak of moves together, including back to back Kokeshi’s, that he starts to get big reactions for near falls. Nakamura begins his comeback a little early for my liking, not allowing Honma enough chances to tease a win before flattening him with Boma Ye. This was fun but not the showstealer it had potential to be. Final Rating: ***1/2 KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 3 hit. SUPER KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. Picks: 50/69 G1 Climax Block B Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hirooki Goto Pre-Match Pick: Goto. Just so we’re clear though, I want Ishii to win. My prediction is that Goto will. The strengths of these two is that they will wail on each other ALL FUCKING NIGHT LONG. That’s how they start. An elbow war that leaves them both lying on the canvas recovering. You could never accuse either of these two of lacking effort. The style of match they specialise in, where they batter each other with strikes, is my kind of match. Ishii knocks Goto on his ass. “What’s the matter, Champ?” Goto’s reaction is sensational. He looks up in disbelief and then comes firing back. Then they start lariating each other’s arms. It looks painful. The strike wars are a prelude to bigger bumps later in the contest and Gedo sums it up nicely when he says “they’re really not thinking about what’s ahead at all”. The next match means nothing if they don’t win this match. It’s the first time we’ve seen that level of urgency (apart from Tanahashi & Shibata last night). We’re reaching that level of the tournament. A loss could be the end for the competitors. Ishii’s neck takes a tonne of abuse here, causing Gedo to worry about it. I’m glad he’s concerned. Despite the abuse Ishii throws headbutts with reckless abandon. He can’t possibly know how it’s going to work out because his head is down, his eyes focused on the mat. We get into the stretch as Goto kicks out of the lariat at ONE! That was a statement of intent from the IC champ. He will not go down that easily. Ishii then lifts the Ushikoroshi! Sliding lariat…for 2! More striking! This is just an exhausting match to watch because they’re not giving any quarter. It’s everything you’d hope for from Ishii and Goto. A really magnificent effort. Goto gets an Avalanche Ushikoroshi and Ishii still won’t stay down. Ishii takes his turn to kick out of a lariat at one, as if this has become a game of one-upmanship. They trade with a few more strikes and Goto finally gets it done with Shouten Kai in an exhausting conclusion. Good lord, that was both brutal and fantastic. Outstanding effort from both. They are magnificent bastards. Final Rating: ****3/4 Picks: 51/70. Let’s take a look at the Block after tonight’s action. BLOCK B: Kazuchika Okada 12 Karl Anderson 10 Hirooki Goto 10 Shinsuke Nakamura 10 Tomohiro Ishii 8 Michael Elgin 8 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 4 Tomoaki Honma 0 My main man Ishii cannot make the finals now, which is a shame but entirely predictable. It’s now a four-horse race in Block B. Anderson merely exists as a spoiler but there is a distinct feeling that the Block might finish in a three-way tie with the others. REMAINING MATCHES: Kazuchika Okada: Day 16 vs. Yuji Nagata Day 18 vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Karl Anderson: Day 16 vs. Yujiro Takahashi Day 18 vs. Satoshi Kojima Hirooki Goto: Day 16 vs. Michael Elgin Day 18 vs. Yuji Nagata Shinsuke Nakamura: Day 16 vs. Satoshi Kojima Day 18 vs. Kazuchika Okada The last match for Anderson and Goto are both interesting, against underachieving veterans. The potential for either being a banana skin is very real. Obviously it’ll come down to Nakamura vs. Okada and whoever wins that match is winning the Block. Or at least forcing some sort of play-off. Summary: The tour has been exhausting at times but tonight was a really easy show to sit through and the main event was fantastic. A genuine MOTYC and top work from two hard working undercard talents in Goto and Ishii. They certainly deserved their night in the spotlight. All the Block matches were good, although Okada-Takahashi needed help due to Yujiro’s general uselessness. Thumbs up and the wrestling is getting significantly more intense as we get to the business end of the G1. Verdict: 99 5th August 2015.
We’re in Iwate, Japan. No big drama today, my back feels much better and I have returned to work after an unfortunate two day absence. It no longer hurts to breathe, which is a tremendous relief. Sneezing however, is right out. BLOCK A: Katsuyori Shibata 8 Tetsuya Naito 6 Bad Luck Fale 6 AJ Styles 6 Hiroshi Tanahashi 6 Kota Ibushi 6 Togi Makabe 6 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Toru Yano 2 Doc Gallows 2 BLOCK B: Tomohiro Ishii 8 Kazuchika Okada 8 Karl Anderson 6 Hirooki Goto 6 Shinsuke Nakamura 6 Michael Elgin 6 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Tomoaki Honma 0 Today’s show is a trim 3.03, which is about 20 minutes shorter than almost every other show on the tour. This could bode quite badly. This is also one of the last hard-cam shows on the tour, which makes the intro video look rubbish because it’s literally shot off the big screen from the hard-cam. Some of the usually excellent NJPW production has been, shall we say, ‘lacking’ during the G1. I honestly can’t remember ever watching an entire stretch of G1 shows (2010 maybe?) so I can’t remember if this has been the case beforehand. Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima & Yohei Komatsu vs. Hirooki Goto, Michael Elgin & Mascara Dorada This was originally an eight-man tag but Tiger Mask IV is still out with a neck injury, allegedly sustained during an AJ Styles piledriver, so it’s down to a six-man tag. David Finlay also misses out. Friday’s action pits Elgin against Nagata and Goto against Kojima so both matches are being hyped in this opening contest. Nagata vs. Elgin could be good but Yuji’s commitment to selling his rib injury, something I totally understand after the week I’ve had, could derail the action somewhat. Elgin targets the ribs during this match, looking to soften up Blue Justice. The crowds are definitely warming to Elgin and his powerhouse spots. The stalling suplex where the opponents kick him but can’t stop it is getting a lot of love. Goto and Kojima shows a lot of promise with both guys looking to make their mark on their opponent for Day Twelve. To round things out Dorada brings his aerial skill against Komatsu’s love of cheeky pin combinations. Part of the joy of this year’s G1 has been the set up of the tag matches, allowing bursts of excitement to build up future matches instead of endless Bullet Club tags that nobody cares about. It’s made this year’s cards easier to swallow as a whole. This was perfectly good wrestling all round. Final Rating: **1/2 Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Cody Hall) vs. Tomoaki Honma & Jay White No prizes for guessing who Karl Anderson is wrestling on Day Twelve. If the line-up here didn’t clue you in, it’s Tomoaki Honma. Cody is on his A-Game, ducking during the Machine Gun’s invisible machine gun entrance. Attaboy. Know your gimmicks! The match contains way too much heat, with Bullet Club isolating Jay for a big chunk of the contest. The interaction between Anderson and Honma is enough to sell me on the match they’ll be having on Day Twelve. They have some tidy enough counters lined up. Honma brings his first Super Kokeshi in the undercard tags during this one. Naturally it misses. When Jay gets on offence his work with Anderson is really good too. He’s showing tremendous potential during this G1 tournament. They even run a false finishes sequence where Jay looks like he might beat Karl. That would be something! Of course it doesn’t happen and Anderson floors the rookie with the Gun Stun. This one took a while to get going but finished strong. I totally buy into Jay White as being a genuine threat to heavyweights. He’s one to watch. Final Rating: **1/4 KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 2 hit. SUPER KOKESHI – 1 missed. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Tama Tonga) vs. CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii) Nakamura has Yujiro on Day Twelve. Ishii is wrestling CHAOS running buddy Okada so that requires no hype. No Mao, or girl of any kind of Yujiro. Disappointing. Tama has been developing his character of late, giving it little creepy ticks. The way he gestures toward the ropes during this match is akin to cartoon super villainy. It’s not unlike Shinsuke Nakamura, oddly enough. Nakamura’s sequences with Takahashi are not particularly good, barely salvaged by Shinsuke’s personality. Yujiro opts to work the arm, which is sensible but means a match of Takahashi controlling the pace. He doesn’t seem to have any idea what he’s doing out there. Skip ahead to Ishii’s hot tag and he just pounds the shit out of everyone and saves the day. Then Bullet Club work heat on Ishii too. Come on, guys, it’s only a three hour show. The CHAOS chaps team up to finish Tama off. This whole thing felt way too long (12 minutes) for an extended squash, which was basically all it was. The heat segments felt really forced. My least favourite Ishii match of the entire tour. No surprise it also featured Yujiro. Final Rating: *1/2 KUSHIDA, Ryusuke Taguchi & Captain New Japan vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Gedo & YOSHI-HASHI) This is an interesting concept as Okada is the only G1 guy in there (as he’s wrestling stable-mate Ishii on Friday). The next biggest heavy hitter is YOSHI-HASHI, a perennial loser who’s had a phenomenal record during G1, winning almost every time out. Of the other side only Captain New Japan is classified as a heavyweight and he jobs to literally everybody so this is all about whether KUSHIDA can take out any of the guys on the other team. I still persist KUSHIDA should have gotten a G1 berth as a reward for winning the Super Juniors. I really want to see Okada vs. KUSHIDA so of all the undercard tags this one stands out as the ‘must see’. They don’t even showcase the match I want as Okada starts out doing super stuff with CNJ (yes, really) and the match goes from there to YOSHI-HASHI desperately trying to avoid Taguchi’s ass. KUSHIDA is the one who steals the show, gleefully flying around at 100mph, regardless of how slow it makes everyone else look, including the IWGP champion. Not that he ever spends any quality time in there with the champ, instead tagging out to Captain New Japan as they’re about to face off and even more irritating is that Taguchi gets the lion’s share of abuse on the champ. Okada finishes CNJ off with the Rainmaker. Okada and KUSHIDA’s shared ring time was one back elbow off the junior and roughly ten seconds elapsed. Boo! Final Rating: **1/2 G1 Climax Block A Bad Luck Fale vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan Pre-Match Pick: Fale. I don’t particularly appreciate the way he’s been stinking up this tournament, despite his dapper hat, but New Japan seem to rate him as a big heavyweight spoiler machine. He can’t interfere with the latter group stages without beating no hopers like Tenzan. No offence to the former three-time winner but that was a long time ago and Tenzan is looking tired. The match could politely be described as ‘methodical’. It’s a plodding affair. Neither guy capable of forcing the pace nor bringing additional impact. So the fans get to “SSSSSHHHH” along with Tenzan’s Mongolian Chops and that’s about all we get. Bullet Club continue their routine of ruining matches, not that there’s much to ruin, and Tama Tonga gets involved. They run the Anaconda Vice for a bit until Fale powers out, takes an eternity climbing the buckles, and finishes with the High Fale Flow. Please tell me he’s not doing that as his regular finish? Presumably it’s just to piss Tanahashi off, which means they’re probably feuding to kill time until Wrestle Kingdom. Damn you, Gedo. Stop booking Fale into these big singles feuds! Final Rating: * Picks: 36/51 G1 Climax Block A Toru Yano vs. Katsuyori Shibata Pre-Match Pick: Shibata. Although a fluke Yano win would not be a shock. Yano’s natural instinct is to troll Shibata into getting angry and making mistakes but Shibata’s baseline is angry ass-kicker. His MMA background gives him the kind of control that’s beyond most Yano opponents (even Suzuki, with his MMA background, constantly lost his rag). This gives Shibata an upper hand and Yano finds himself reaching into the bag of tricks almost immediately. Shibata won’t play the game and elbows Yano in the face during his clean BREEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAKK spot. Psychology doesn’t work on Shibata, he’s the fucking Terminator. Yano finds himself constantly in trouble but catches Shibata with a fluke pin as Shibata catches him in an armbar. Holy shit, the ultimate troll out-does himself. This is what Yano does to badasses though, I should have seen it coming. Match was fun while it lasted and the finish popped the crowd hard. One of the tournaments biggest upsets, although one you could perhaps see coming given Yano’s habit of fluke pinning big stars. This was barely four minutes long. A virtual night off for Katsuyori. Final Rating: **1/4 Picks: 36/52 G1 Climax Block A Doc Gallows vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi Pre-Match Pick: Tanahashi. Although I did say on the Twitter that I would be quite pleased with a Gallows victory. Picking Tana is playing the percentages. It’s at times like these that Tanahashi wears his influences on his sleeve. This comes across as pure Shawn Michaels, with just a touch of puroresu bravado attached. Doc is a much more creative opponent than many of the lugs that HBK dragged to ***+ matches but Tanahashi’s days of taking that sheer number of bumps to get a match over are behind him (well, certainly matches of this importance, maybe the G1 Final or Wrestle Kingdom would be a different story). The chemistry isn’t there either, as evidenced when Doc mounts the buckles and Tana half-heartedly rolls out of the way. Another embarrassing spot seeing Doc looking over his shoulder to check Tana is about to jump him. They fuck up the spot where Tana jumps into a chokeslam too. If there was any doubt beforehand that seals the deal; this match is fucking terrible. Doc’s Mr Magoo peering toward Tanahashi as he approaches to hit the Slingblade is another goof that’s simply not good enough for G1. Perhaps the confidence was gone by that point, after the previous mistakes, and they wanted to make good and sure they didn’t botch another spot. Tana kicks out of a few spots, none of which Doc has ever used as a finish, as the crowd collectively have kittens and then wins with a roll up. This was dreadful. Final Rating: *1/4 Picks: 27/53 G1 Climax Block A AJ Styles vs. Togi Makabe Pre-Match Pick: AJ. The Phenomenal One has had a patchy tournament, in terms of success, and Togi has been pretty awful in most of his matches. AJ likes to drag great matches out of guys like Makabe. For that alone he deserves the win. Togi tries to bludgeon his way past AJ, which rather explains his position on the card in relation to Styles. AJ finds counters for everything to work around Togi’s barbarism. The story of AJ Styles in New Japan is that he reached that top tier because he was too talented to get drawn into slugfests, and that’s Togi’s A-Game. AJ’s only clinical defeats have been when he’s met someone equally talented at the very top end of the roster. They don’t click all that well and this is evident when the quebrada inverted DDT is some way off connecting as it should. Other spots are perfectly executed but there are enough that don’t work to see they’re not quite on the same page. They get me invested with some clever near misses but they stumble over the finishing line as AJ takes it with the Styles Clash. Certainly a better match than the majority of the card but not a match we’ll be talking about at the end of the G1 when we discuss the top matches. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 28/54 Tangent: I mentioned AJ turning himself a bit face by saluting the fans who offer up the Too Sweet gesture but the fans have gotten wise to it and they’re all throwing up the Wolfpack salute now, hopeful of interaction with AJ Styles. He only ever dishes out a couple but it’s more than most of the babyfaces in this promotion have done all year. G1 Climax Block A Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito Pre-Match Pick: Ibushi. Could go either way so I’ve opted for the guy I want to win, rather than the one who will. Naito is clearly up for this one, despite the fixed camera, as he arrives dressed like Skeletor. That means a ridiculous delay for him getting undressed. Perhaps they should bring him out prior to the match before his, so he can get that fucking suit off in time for his bout. Tangent: It’s during this contest, with Naito doing an assortment of cheating, that I realise the sense of burn-out and how it’s almost inevitable when you watch this much wrestling from the same promotion in quick succession. This show has not helped matters. I’m sure all would be fine with a good card but this one just isn’t delivering. When Ibushi gets a chance to entertain, the match is at its best. An example is Naito going to dropkick Ibushi’s knees only for Kota to jump over it and hit the double stomp. Kota’s flash, mixed with Naito’s big bumps make the match a wonderful experience…when Ibushi is in charge. But that’s not often enough to make it a classic. Kota’s flying alone makes this match worth seeing though. It’s so crisp and perfect. Naito has moments where he’s interested in having that match too but far too often he falls into the pitfalls of heeldom. They attempt a few things that are just insane. The reverse rana off the top from Naito looks like it went horribly wrong, with Naito coming off at the wrong angle and Ibushi trying to salvage the spot before thinking ‘fuck it’ and flying off the top rope backwards. He is a ballsy motherfucker. They have some cunning near falls lined up, that totally rope the entire crowd in, even me with my burn-out, proving that good wrestling overcomes all. Naito even kicks out of the sit-out version of the Last Ride that Kota uses as a finisher in DDT. Even Red Shoes starts to get animated by leaping up the buckles to avoid a near finish. Naito clocks Ibushi with Destino for the win and this was, by some distance the best match on the show. Final Rating: ****1/4 Picks: 28/55 Let’s check out the Block before we head out. BLOCK A Katsuyori Shibata 8 Tetsuya Naito 8 Bad Luck Fale 8 AJ Styles 8 Hiroshi Tanahashi 8 Kota Ibushi 6 Togi Makabe 6 Toru Yano 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Doc Gallows 2 Shibata’s place atop Block A didn’t last long and he’s absorbed back into the pack with four of his chasers all winning. The loss for Ibushi leaves him trailing the five big hitters by a win, although he’s got mostly scrubs left. With all the top guys still in play it’s anybodies group although Tetsuya Naito’s performances have positioned him a lot stronger now than at the start of the tournament. This is not something I was counting on. Summary: A pretty awful show until the main event rolled round. Kota Ibushi has been the shining star of this tour and continues to out-perform just about everyone. Naito’s character work is solid and they deserved to main event a show that featured all of NJPW’s other top wrestlers. Is it time for a changing of the guard in New Japan? If so, can Shibata get in on it? The basic rule of thumb is that if you’re going to put on a lacklustre show then at least finish strong and they did that. The last match (and to a lesser extent AJ vs. Togi) saved the show from being an actual, honest to God, *BAD G1 SHOW*, which is just unheard of in this day and age. Still the worst show of the tour but featuring one of the best matches. Verdict: 59 4th August 2015.
We’re in Sendai, Japan. I’m watching live today thanks to a back problem I picked up at work on Sunday, something that has royally buggered up the last couple of days. I can’t move much and when I do it hurts. The only positive regarding this incident is that I can see G1 live this morning. A perk, of sorts. Here are the Blocks before we get underway. BLOCK A: Katsuyori Shibata 8 Tetsuya Naito 6 Bad Luck Fale 6 AJ Styles 6 Hiroshi Tanahashi 6 Kota Ibushi 6 Togi Makabe 6 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Toru Yano 2 Doc Gallows 2 BLOCK B: Tomohiro Ishii 6 Kazuchika Okada 6 Karl Anderson 6 Hirooki Goto 6 Shinsuke Nakamura 4 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Michael Elgin 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Satoshi Kojima 2 Tomoaki Honma 0 The focus is on Block B tonight with a couple of huge matches. Nakamura vs. Goto continues their recent rivalry where Goto took the IC title off Nakamura and then retained it. The match has huge ramifications in Block B, with Nakamura potentially drawing level with Goto if he wins. Anderson and Okada meet tonight and they’re dead level on points at the top of the Block. Anderson has stated his intent on Twitter, saying he’ll cheat to win if necessary. David Finlay vs. Ryusuke Taguchi This was originally billed as a tag team contest but Tiger Mask’s injury was worse than suspected so he misses tonight as well. Apparently it’s a neck injury and the finger of blame is once again being pointed at AJ Styles, the man who broke Yoshi Tatsu’s neck last year. This means Jay White misses out on a tag match and we get an actual singles contest on the undercard. Not only that but a junior singles contest. Finlay grasps this opportunity to showcase his personality, by lifting Taguchi’s hip attacks. Why did Taguchi have to be the one to get this showcase? He does try and do a bit of mat work to mix up the relentless hip attacks but I really take umbrage with his approach to wrestling. The way he works is a mockery of strongstyle, which is ok because Yano mocks strongstyle and he’s entertaining, but it also makes matches mean nothing. And all his moves look awful. Taguchi at least puts effort into his contests but the sheer number of irritating spots he produces are a grind. The countering isn’t bad in this one and Taguchi manages two really slick counters into the anklelock, the second of which finishes. Final Rating: ** CHAOS (Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Yohei Komatsu This is to hype Shibata vs. Yano on Day Eleven. Yano is a world class troll who goes after people who take life too seriously…and he’s in the ring with Katsuyori Shibata. BREEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKK! Shibata gets in a few leg kicks so Yano tags out. Komatsu looks like a younger, smaller version of Shibata so they’re ideal as a team. Naturally Komatsu eats the heat, thanks to an assortment of wacky Yano cheating. Shibata helpfully kicks Yano in the side of his head that wasn’t bleeding profusely two days ago. He’s a lovely man when you get to know him. Unfortunately, despite mentoring by Shibata, Komatsu is still a young boy and gets picked off by YOSHI-HASHI’s lariat and senton finish. The real story here is how exciting Shibata and Komatsu were as a team. Komatsu would be awesome as Shibata’s protégé. A vibe I got from them here was the big brother, little brother relationship that Kenta Kobashi and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi used to have in All Japan and they had some corking matches. Final Rating: **1/2 Tetsuya Naito & KUSHIDA vs. Kota Ibushi & Mascara Dorada Naito vs. Ibushi is on Day Eleven so that match requires hyping. Miserable Naito couldn’t even be bothered to dress up as Skeletor this evening and wrestles in his t-shirt. He knows how to grind my gears. He’s dyed his hair red. For some reason that annoys me as well. Naito’s deliberate pacing grates at Ibushi too and the match ends up being more of a junior showcase with KUSHIDA vs. Dorada being about flipping excellence. Naito is in one of *those* moods but Dorada actually drags him into a few sequences including a ridiculous head spike off a tornado DDT. Tranquilo, Mascara! There are times when Naito doesn’t push the character far enough and during most of the G1 tags he could easily get away with refusing to tag in at all. I think that’s what frustrates me the most about the gimmick. It doesn’t really make sense. While Naito sulks KUSHIDA and Dorada have a genuinely good match. You’d think they were building to a match at the G1 Final. I’d completely forgotten KUSHIDA was defending against Ricochet at that show. Dorada isn’t in Ricochet’s league so KUSHIDA traps him in the kimura and gets the submission. So, I guess that was building towards nothing then! Naito, dickhead that he is, goes on a rampage post match. That’ll be three of your finest stars in anyone’s snowflake currency. Final Rating: *** Hiroshi Tanahashi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Togi Makabe & Captain New Japan vs. Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows & Tama Tonga) Tomorrow’s card has AJ vs. Togi, Tana vs. Doc and Tenzan vs. Fale. So we’re hyping three matches in one massive tag bout. We kicks things off with Tenzan going on a Mongolian Chop rampage. After that it’s about the frequent tags and introducing the various participants tomorrow to their opponents. Tanahashi brings the stupidity by trying to crossbody three people off the apron. What was he thinking? I know big babyface heroes make dumb decisions based on crowd support but that was incredibly stupid. This leads to Tana eating deserved heat off the Bullet Club. Sometimes it’s really hard to get behind a hero when he’s so dim. Togi and Gallows have a fun little aside in the middle of the match where they just batter each other. They’re not even hyping that match up yet. There’s a fun moment after that where Captain New Japan cleans house but is then massacred by the Bullet Club. Tama finishes him off with the customary Headshrinker DDT. He’s getting a lot of wins on this tour. Like YOSHI-HASHI. This was mostly filler, with far too many people involved in a short match, but it worked for what it was. Final Rating: **1/4 G1 Climax Block B Yujiro Takahashi vs. Michael Elgin Pre-Match pick: Elgin. I hope Yujiro never wins again. Mao is back so Yujiro has that going for him. His tour girls have been ultra-sleazy. Rather pleasingly Elgin absolutely hammers Yujiro from the bell. Unfortunately Cody Hall interferes and swings the match back into Takahashi’s favour. Yujiro working heat is one of the most dull and unbelievable things in wrestling, let alone the G1. It’s all so pedestrian. It makes Elgin’s comeback less thrilling. Yujiro takes over again and the transitions in the match have been pretty dire. Elgin gets some joy out of doing dead-lift spots but the crowd are totally out of it outside of those spots. Yujiro doesn’t look like he could butt heads with Elgin and any time they collide this is reflected. The Elgin bumps don’t feel right. Elgin gives it the old school try regardless and pounds Takahashi until he’s beaten him with the Elginbomb. Final Rating: **3/4 Picks: 32/46 G1 Climax Block B Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomoaki Honma Pre-Match Pick: Kojima. If Honma is to finally score a win in this tournament it’ll likely arrive near the end…or not at all. These guys get it right straight out of the gate with a barrage of elbow strikes. Kojima cannot maintain that pace, he is getting on a bit, and they have to settle for some light grappling to show Kojima is superior on the mat. When Kojima switches to Machine Gun chops Honma starts getting fired up. That shows Honma’s strength in a nutshell. He rides the plucky, leathery underdog steed into battle. The match is a decent back and forth but Honma can’t quite get the same sense of ‘almost’ into his spots that he does in his better work. The crowd is still suitably loud and it even follows the same basic formula but there’s something missing. The crowd get hotter as the match progresses because every minute he’s not losing, Honma might still win. Poor Honma goes after one of his flying Kokeshi’s but gets battered out of the air with a lariat and another one finishes. Honmania must wait for another day, victory belongs to Satoshi Kojima. Final Rating: ***1/2 KOKESHI COUNT – 3 missed. 2 hit. SUPER KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. Picks: 33/47 G1 Climax Block B Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yuji Nagata Pre-Match Pick: Ishii. Last year these guys had a belter and the only difference now is that it’s Nagata who comes in hurt, not Ishii. These guys are so intense that even the lock up’s have an epic feeling about them. Nagata, rather sensibly, goes after Ishii’s historically injured shoulder for his armbar. For starters that evens up the injuries but it also gives Nagata a big opening. They can’t really get into strike duels because of Nagata’s commitment to selling his ribs, which is unfortunate. It makes the pacing a little stodgy, but it’s a match still littered with elbows and kicks. The impacts on them are sickening too. All of Nagata’s kicks land with a tasty THUD noise that can’t be replicated by slapping the thigh. That’s the sound of shin bone smacking into chest flesh. They don’t do much in the way of resting and instead insert suplexes and powerbombs to break up the striking. It doesn’t have that ‘war of attrition’ feeling about the match but it’s tough to live up to expectations. As Nagata overcomes his rib issues, Ishii develops both knee and neck problems. He’s falling apart. Nagata’s selling in this one is less impressive than usual and he doesn’t stop himself hitting suplexes because of the ribs. Instead inserting a grimace after the move lands. Once they get into some serious FIGHTING SPIRIT, where both guys no sell only to stumble and collapse the match develops that special feeling of last year’s. A big old slap-fest follows, which is fucking glorious and Ishii wins it with a fucking headbutt. Nagata survives a few lariats but falls prey to the brainbuster. BOOM! MOTN. Final Rating: ****1/4 Picks: 34/48 G1 Climax Block B Karl Anderson vs. Kazuchika Okada Pre-Match Pick: Anderson. Okada has to lose a certain number of times or he’d just win the Block and challenge himself? I’m not even sure how that works. Anderson is someone who’s capable of beating Okada, has done before and Bullet Club can always cheat to justify it. You can tell they’ve put some thought into this match from the opening sequence where Okada does his ‘clean break’ bit only for Karl to ape it. Anderson’s tactics regarding Okada are well thought out. Anderson knows Okada’s spots and weaknesses and he genuinely looks to have out-prepared Okada. Not that Okada seems to come in to any match with a plan. He’s so self-assured he just comes in and figures he can beat anyone without much thought. When it’s a straight up fight, in the ring, that’s exactly what happens. Okada has size, strength, agility and speed. It’s very difficult to get the drop on him. The only issue I ever have with Okada, technically, is that he’s a bit obvious about his hand slaps when he’s hitting kicks. Anderson is keen to not give Okada any time and when he does the Rainmaker pose, there’s Karl trying for the Gun Stun. Anderson knows that opening is always there and went for it. The eventual Gun Stun attempt, some time later, is countered into the Tombstone. RAINMAKER! And that’s it. Holy shit. That was abrupt. The whole match was smooth and tidily constructed. I’m more than a little surprised that Okada won. I know he’s staying strong right up to the last Block match but how strong? Final Rating: ***3/4 Picks: 34/49 G1 Climax Block B Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto Pre-Match Pick: Nakamura. Although part of me thinks Nakamura could lose to give him a massive uphill struggle over the remaining shows but that would also mean Okada getting beaten by someone other than Nakamura and that boat has sailed. Nakamura decides to sell his elbow a bit in this one, which gives Goto an opening for counters that wasn’t present in either of their previous matches this year. This being Nakamura, who might be the King of Strongstyle but he’s not the King of Selling, he keeps forgetting about it. You’d think that tape around his elbow would remind him. Most of the match is Goto working heat, which is at least better than Yujiro working heat but the crowd are anxious to see Nakamura kneeing him in the ribs from strange angles. Goto eats a few kicks to the head but blocks Boma Ye. I’m not keen on the way he does that, by grabbing the knee as Nakamura approaches. It looks weird. Goto seems to have Nakamura’s number and the near falls cause some of the lady folk in attendance to have kittens. Goto gets caught in a flying armbar though and can’t get to the ropes. Goto is forced to tap and Nakamura gets the win he needed. Interesting to see Nakamura switching tactics on Goto but he could have done some work on the arm to set up the finish. Final Rating: ***1/2 Picks: 35/50. 4/5 on the night with only my own second-guessing preventing a clean sweep. Okada to lose? What was I thinking? Before we head out here’s the Block standings; BLOCK B: Tomohiro Ishii 8 Kazuchika Okada 8 Karl Anderson 6 Hirooki Goto 6 Shinsuke Nakamura 6 Michael Elgin 6 Yujiro Takahashi 4 Satoshi Kojima 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Tomoaki Honma 0 CHAOS are dominating proceedings after tonight’s results. Ishii beating Nagata pretty much confirms he’s going nowhere. Okada over Anderson makes it tough for Karl to get back into the mix and Nakamura’s win over Goto means Okada has to lose another match to allow Goto to catch him at all. Also, sad news at the bottom as Tomoaki Honma is officially eliminated. Summary: Good show, pretty much from top to bottom. Block B has generally delivered during this tournament. I suspect my problems in enjoying and rating the show stemmed from personal issues (bad back, interruptions, accusations) rather than a fault at the New Japan end. Ishii vs. Nagata was MOTN but didn’t quite live up to last year’s match between the two. There is a feeling that this year’s G1 is underperforming compared to the last two years. However, the last two years were the two best wrestling tournaments, ever, so that’s not so much of an issue. We can’t possibly expect a barrage of ***** classics during every GI. Can we? Verdict: 84 |
AuthorArnold Furious Archives
April 2016
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