28th July 2015.
We’re in Beppu, Japan. This show has a lot of pressure to live up to Day Five. A day of action, excitement and drama that totally overshadowed every other G1 show. Everything from the early news that Shinsuke Nakamura had an elbow injury to the phenomenal AJ Styles-Kota Ibushi match to the Tetsuya Naito fully blown heel turn assault on Hiroshi Tanahashi’s neck. It was a day that turned the blocks on their head and dispelled almost everything we knew about the structure of this year’s G1. The first four nights featured a lot of good wrestling but Day Five was ridiculously good. There’s still plenty to look forward to on this show with Nakamura making his return from injury, hopefully of sound body, to face Michael Elgin. Plus Okada vs. Kojima and someone’s 100% record must go as Tomohiro Ishii faces Karl Anderson. Here are the blocks before we get underway: BLOCK A: AJ Styles 4 Hiroshi Tanahashi 4 Tetsuya Naito 4 Kota Ibushi 4 Bad Luck Fale 4 Katsuyori Shibata 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Togi Makabe 2 Toru Yano 2 Doc Gallows 0 BLOCK B: Karl Anderson 4 Kazuchika Okada 4 Tomohiro Ishii 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Hirooki Goto 2 Satoshi Kojima 2 Shinsuke Nakamura 2 Yujiro Takahashi 0 Tomoaki Honma 0 Michael Elgin 0 Ryusuke Taguchi, Jay White & David Finlay vs. Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask IV & Captain New Japan Ok, this is wrong. This was supposed to be Taguchi & Finlay vs. Liger & Tiger Mask. Jay got bumped off the card when Nakamura was injured so it might just be an apology to him for that. Captain New Japan is a strange addition however as he was tagging with Tanahashi and Naito against the Bullet Club. Keeping me intrigued by just swapping undercard tags around are we, NJPW? This is definitely Liger Country. This is evident from the reaction to him at the opening bell. Liger spends most of the match putting young boys in their place and ignoring the pleas of Captain New Japan for a tag. He’s seen this useless twat wrestle before. If it was just young boys vs. Liger & company it’d be a decent match. Unfortunately Taguchi and his obsession with asses ruins everything. Liger stomping Captain New Japan because of his failure made me laugh though. Liger is a strict disciplinarian. Taguchi’s attempts at mimicking Nakamura made me sad. Why is Taguchi so bad at everything? Taguchi aside the match works effectively because of Liger’s discipline and Tiger Mask remembering that the Tiger Driver is his finisher and not doing it at some random point before the end of the match. I want to see Liger vs. Captain New Japan where Liger beats the piss out of the Captain to show him how to work. Final Rating: **1/2 Bullet Club (Doc Gallows & Cody Hall) vs. CHAOS (Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) Gallows vs. Yano is on the card for Day Seven. Yano has some serious facial damage from Tenzan’s headbutt. A plaster covers the cut on his forehead but he’s sporting a horrific looking black eye too. His source of amusement here is slapping Doc on his bald head before hiding in the ropes. “BREAK, BREAK, BREAK, BREAK. BREEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK. BREEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKK”. Doc takes it out on poor YOSHI-HASHI. Yano’s secondary approach is bashing Doc into the exposed buckle, pointing at himself repeatedly and working Gallows’ ears. He might be a rubbish wrestler but Yano is a born entertainer. YOSHI-HASHI has Cody’s number, pinning him for the second time on this tour. TACOS has actually won three pinfalls on undercard tags now. This match wasn’t very good but at least the characters made sense and I love Doc giving the rookie Hall a dressing down after the match. Final Rating: *1/4 Katsuyori Shibata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Yohei Komatsu vs. Kota Ibushi, Togi Makabe & Mascara Dorada Shibata vs. Ibushi is probably the pick of the contests for Day Seven, even if the headline match is AJ vs. Naito. I’m really looking forward to Shibata vs. Ibushi. Tenzan vs. Makabe, less so, although that’s a match with more interest than the already hyped Gallows vs. Yano. Tenzan also has a plaster and a black eye. He needs to work on the diving headbutt, it seems. In order to not brain himself and others. Tenzan and Togi absolutely wail on each other from the bell, making me want to see their singles match tomorrow. Neither man is willing to back down an inch and that could be a sleeper hit. Shibata-Ibushi starts out with intrigue attached. They miss with kicks both ways before Shibata hooks and maintains a headlock. As if to say, “I’m going to out-wrestle you tomorrow and there isn’t a god damn thing you can do about”. Shibata’s elbow is still taped up and he’s sporting a bruise by his eye and Ibushi has fingers bandaged together. The G1 has been a damaging affair and we’ve barely even started. Shibata is terrific throughout the match, constantly looking at ways to beat Ibushi. To the point where he virtually ignores strikes from Dorada, to see how it phases Kota. Komatsu has a good match too, eager to test Dorada’s ability and paying for it with a series of careless bumps from the luchadore. Combine this with the battling Tenzan-Makabe duel and it all ties together quite nicely. Dorada ends up getting the pin on Yohei and Ibushi noticeably got the biggest pops. Final Rating: *** Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito & Michael Elgin vs. Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Bad Luck Fale & Tama Tonga) I’m watching this on a delay, so I can’t confirm anything but this is extremely bad news. Elgin, due to face Shinsuke Nakamura, is in an undercard six man tag. That’s bad, as it probably means Nakamura’s tournament is over. One thing that does do is blow the whole tournament wide open as Block B looked pretty cut and dry. AJ yells something to Tanahashi about it being “just you and me now”. It’s entirely logical that one of those two gentlemen will now be winning the G1. AJ also notes that Naito is unlikely to help Tanahashi in this match. Ain’t that the truth. Naito turned heel on Tana on the last show. Tana has to forcibly tag Naito in, as he’s not really interested in the concept of tag team wrestling. You can’t blame him really, competing in tags diminishes his strength and energy levels for the big G1 matches. It’s wise to just conserve energy and sit these out. Seeing as Tana can’t work alone Elgin totally babyfaces his way through the match as Tanahashi’s mate. They don’t do much of a job of selling tomorrow’s matches as Tana vs. Fale is just heat and AJ vs. Naito barely even happens due to Naito’s indifference. Tranquillo, Japoneses! There’s a brilliant moment where Naito tags himself in and wipes out all of Bullet Club in about thirty seconds flat. It’s Naito’s way of saying; I could win this match by myself, if I could be bothered. Naito picks Tama off with his new finisher and that’s the end of Bullet Club’s interest in tonight’s tag action. Naito’s character is really starting to click now, after a few poor showings. Turning him full-blown heel makes him a better personality. I still find him hard to get invested in because he looks so lazy. Naito seems more interested in his hat than the match. Final Rating: **3/4 Tangent: I quickly looked up a news site to see what the deal was with Nakamura’s injury. He’s had to forfeit tonight’s match but he’s not out of the tournament as they want to see how serious the injury is before making a decision. That sounds suspiciously like a work. They needed to get some better heat onto Nakamura’s tournament as everyone just considered him a banker, after dropping the IC belt. Due to New Japan’s past issues surrounding tournament injuries I think they’ve spotted an opportunity to work one. Especially with the match Nakamura was ‘injured’ during being so innocuous and without dangerous spots. G1 Climax Block B Yuji Nagata vs. Yujiro Takahashi Pre-match pick: Yujiro. I’m doing everything I can to play down Yujiro’s involvement in this tournament and yet he has to win a few matches and he’s been blanked so far. Criticism of Yujiro’s tour skank means he turns up with just Cody Hall in tow. Bring back Mao! You’d think given Yujiro’s amateur experience that he’d be able to contest the match on the ground with Nagata. But that’s not the kind of wrestler that Yujiro is. Instead he bites Nagata’s hand. Also Cody interferes for the second time in the tournament. That doesn’t sit well with me and is met with absolute silence from the crowd. They’re so mad, they won’t even react to it unless it’s considered heat by the office. Instead meeting the return to the ring with a smattering of applause. Logically Yujiro needs that outside interference so it’s not a massive issue, especially as Yujiro is shit, but the fans aren’t keen on it. Seeing as Yujiro gets a massive chunk of this match on offence, I’m not keen on it either. The only upside is that Yujiro works over Nagata’s ribs and Yuji sells this by being unable to hit suplexes. It’s some of the best selling of the entire tournament. One of the other highlights is how Cody bangs the mat to get support for Yujiro, it’s the Terminator theme music. Yujiro wins with Miami Shine, after spending the entire match working the midsection. So I’m strangely ok with that. Nagata was the BUSINESS with his selling here. Wonderful work from a wonderful professional. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 16/26 G1 Climax Block B Tomoaki Honma vs. Hirooki Goto Pre-match pick: Goto. Come on! Usually when someone important goes down injured, that means it’s time for Honmania to shine and Honma to lose a big match. It looks as if they’ve been asked to fill extra time as they start slow with Goto controlling a lot on the mat, where Honma struggles. It does give us a great chance to check out how shiny all Goto’s new gear is though. Those kneepads are awesome. When Goto changes to strikes we see Honmania start to run wild. It’s been rather disturbing how many Kokeshi’s have landed during this G1, as if Honma is making serious inroads toward an actual win. This does take away from him somewhat BUT he looks so goddamn happy when he hits that Kokeshi it makes everything worthwhile. Honma gets to look pretty clever too, seeing Goto’s more obvious deceptions for what they are and springing into counters for them. Usually Goto ends up countering back and taking over again but that’s beside the point. Honma’s epic struggle to overcome his own inability to hit a big move in a big match is a staggeringly simplistic storyline and yet one of the most gripping in years. He has everything else. The counters, the toughness and never-say-die attitude. But he just can’t hit his finish when it matters. Instead he gets some plucky roll up’s that pop the hell out of the crowd. This really feels like Honma’s first shot at winning a match this year and the feeling intensifies with each kick out and near fall. That is until Goto flattens him with Shouten Kai. Another chance gone for Honma. Final Rating: ***3/4 KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. 3 hit. SUPER KOKESHI COUNT – 1 missed. Picks: 17/27 G1 Climax Block B Karl Anderson vs. Tomohiro Ishii Pre-match pick: Ishii (totally flipped a coin). I want Ishii to win, the whole thing if possible, so my heart says Ishii. But my head says Karl Anderson because he’s undefeated, as is Ishii, and they’ll surely want a gaijin target for everyone else in the Block to gun for. Anderson seems very calm, as if he feels he’s prepared for G1 better than anybody else and his hot start reflects that. Karl’s intention during this bout is to neuter Ishii and eliminate his strengths. So he grounds Ishii and takes all those strikes out of the equation. Constantly working at Ishii’s cardio by making him kick out and fight his way back into the ring. Meanwhile Anderson is expending a minimal amount of effort to dominate the match. Karl’s down fall is his braggadocios nature. He can’t just beat a man down, he has to stand around lauding it over the fallen opponent. This is what gives Ishii a route back into the match. Heels, when will they ever learn? Ishii’s selling is outstanding again in this one, constantly making me think he’s broken his shoulder. He’s not even got the shoulder taped this year and it’s still injured. Anderson hits Ishii with a couple of awesome neckbreakers, a combination of Anderson flying into the move with reckless abandon and Ishii bumping with incredible snap. At one point Ishii abandons a charge across the ring to favour dropping to the mat holding his shoulder. It’s terrific selling, on a par with the outstanding work of Nagata earlier. That gives Ishii something to rise above and overcome. To show his true fighting spirit by marching into elbow strikes. Nobody does it better. Not even Honma. This match develops into the same finishing streak as the last, with near falls that draw the crowd in and clever counters. The best being Anderson ducking one of Ishii’s trademark defensive headbutts into a fireman’s carry. Ishii lands another headbutt, the lariat and a magnificent brainbuster to finish. Ishii is 3-0! Go Ishii! Good countering and hard-hitting action all round. I’m a bit surprised they put Ishii over here but he’s my boy. I hope he goes all the way. Final Rating: **** Picks: 18/28 G1 Climax Block B Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Michael Elgin. Pre-match pick: Elgin. Because Nakamura is injured. They don’t even bring Michael out to accept his two points. How rude. Final Rating: N/R Picks: 19/29. Yes, I’m taking that freebie point as it’s been offered. G1 Climax Block B Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima Pre-match pick: Okada. If the IWGP champion can win his match I’ll have gone a perfect 5/5 (with a bit of help from Shinsuke Nakamura’s elbow). Crowd is very pro-Kojima. They must surely be aware that Okada won’t win the G1 and give himself Wrestle Kingdom off. Something I’ve noticed about Okada’s selling that’s become more pronounced during G1 this year; it looks like he’s trying to recreate William Regal’s facial after the Rikishi stinkface. It’s very distracting. When he’s in control Okada exhibits moments of genuine heeldom, not unlike Naito, only more focused. Okada is arrogant and not past stretching the rules of wrestling to win. Their match is fairly conventional, by Western standards even, apart from a barrage of strikes as the match continues, taking it up a gear. From there it’s all about who can take the most abuse and keep kicking out. They’re both well versed in taking punishment but it becomes a war. Which it needed to because coming into the match the idea that Kojima would be on Okada’s level, consistently, was pretty laughable. But it’s the G1 and people raise their game. They do oversell a bit too much, with Kojima failing to mount the buckles for his elbow because of fatigue and Okada just collapsing with a lariat imminent. It tells a story of a much longer match than they’re having (18 minutes in total), although the striking did take a lot out of both guys. When Kojima finally does hit the lariat he stays down selling fatigue and the move is rendered ineffective. Kojima tries the lariat block to the Rainmaker but Okada has seen that once, Satoshi having given it away in a tag, and Okada ducks before connecting with the real Rainmaker for the win. Final Rating: ***3/4 Picks: 20/30. 5/5 tonight…sort of. Let’s see the Block updated before we hit the summary and get some sleep. BLOCK B: Tomohiro Ishii 6 Kazuchika Okada 6 Karl Anderson 4 Hirooki Goto 4 Yuji Nagata 2 Satoshi Kojima 2 Shinsuke Nakamura 2 Yujiro Takahashi 2 Michael Elgin 2 Tomoaki Honma 0 Ishii and Okada are the only unbeaten guys in this Block. We thought pre-tournament that Block B would belong to CHAOS but I think everyone was of the opinion that Nakamura would top it. But that’s G1 for you. It’s never that straightforward. Summary: The absence of Nakamura hurt the big main events a touch but the last three matches were all really good. Goto-Honma, Anderson-Ishii and Okada-Kojima all told decent stories and even Nagata-Takahashi had a logical storyline. Now the tournament will unfold a little more. Tomorrow has a couple of huge matches; Naito vs. AJ and Shibata vs. Ibushi. Both key to how Block A will develop going forward. The next round in Block B could see Nakamura’s return match…against Block co-leader Tomohiro Ishii! Plus Okada faces Goto in big test for both men and Honma has his best chance yet to record a win when he faces NJPW new boy Michael Elgin. That’s in Osaka so don’t count Honma out! Verdict: 87
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AuthorArnold Furious Archives
April 2016
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