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
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AuthorArnold Furious Archives
April 2016
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