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
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AuthorArnold Furious Archives
April 2016
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