We’re in Nagoya, Japan. I probably shouldn’t have joked about receiving any more injuries or unpleasantness during G1 as the very next day I put my back out during a horrendous 12 hour shift at work. The last two hours of which I was trying to be in denial about. So I couldn’t sleep properly and now it hurts to breathe. I must compile a list of damage come the conclusion of G1, just to see how mentally and physically draining the whole thing is. Although a lot of it is down to having a full time job at the same time I feel as if I’m incurring damage at a similar rate to the G1 performers. Before we get underway here’s what the Blocks look like after eight days of G1 action:
BLOCK A: Tetsuya Naito 6 Bad Luck Fale 6 Katsuyori Shibata 6 AJ Styles 4 Hiroshi Tanahashi 4 Kota Ibushi 4 Togi Makabe 4 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 2 Toru Yano 2 Doc Gallows 2 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 Perhaps predictably there’s no run-away favourite as NJPW like to keep the Blocks tight and leave people guessing. Seven people tied on three wins a piece and you could argue that none of them will be in the final. Time will tell. Naito remains the most intriguing story, even if I don’t care for his heel act like others do, as he’s been up against all the big hitters already and still has a share of the lead. Also, before we get underway, here’s a list of injuries so far that the competitors have sustained. Shibata: elbow and knee. Tanahashi: neck. Ibushi: hand. Tenzan: head. Yano: head. Ishii: shoulder and thigh. Nakamura: elbow. Nagata: ribs. I’ll give an update on this later in the tournament, although I’m already missing small issues as there are various body parts taped up that weren’t nine days ago. Tomoaki Honma, Mascara Dorada & David Finlay vs. Satoshi Kojima, KUSHIDA & Ryusuke Taguchi This bout originally featured Yohei Komatsu and Tiger Mask IV but both have been scrubbed due to Tiger Mask IV injuring his neck yesterday. The match exists to set up Koji vs. Honma on Day Ten. With the anticipation of a potential Honma win rising as the tournament progresses, that could be a belter. They don’t spare the horses just because this is a meaningless tag and go full tilt with chops. Kojima makes a hilarious mistake just after that, bailing into Honma’s corner and expecting someone to tag in. He realises his mistake when no one does and casually strolls across the ring to get a tag from, fuck’s sake, Taguchi. The crowd seems lively and they’re really into Dorada’s high spots. They also get a laugh out of Taguchi accidentally hitting the Kokeshi on Honma. Kojima seems to have Honma’s number, regularly countering and bossing Honma with strikes. The whole match is filled with solid action and everyone looks good. Finlay gets caught out by KUSHIDA and beaten with the kimura. No shame in that. Good interaction between the G1 guys and KUSHIDA’s arrival into the undercards has freshened matters up nicely. Final Rating: *** KOKESHI COUNT – 2 missed. 2 hit. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Cody Hall) vs. Michael Elgin & Jay White No girl at all for Yujiro this evening, thus rendering him completely useless. Naturally this is to help shill the Elgin vs. Takahashi match on Day Ten. Given Yujiro’s recent G1 disasterpieces (thank you, Heidenreich) I’m not terribly looking forward to it. The preview doesn’t do much to alter that with Elgin looking a little rough around the edges when leaving his powerhouse base. Plus Yujiro sucks. Jay vs. Cody isn’t much fun either with them making a royal mess of the timing on some spots. Cody looks clumsier than usual. The whole thing is a drag but at least they don’t kill the crowd, who clap along for the babyfaces. Jay continues his very worst habits, and gets caught talking on camera quite a bit. I wouldn’t feel bad, Jay, it happens to John Cena every week and he’s an icon. The good thing, for me, is that Jay is developing into a ring general at a very early age. Elgin really gets the crowd going by doing his double Samoan drop spot, which the crowd love because of Cody’s size. A dead-lift powerbomb is considerably less successful but the crowd are getting into Elgin, which is a good sign for his later matches in the G1. The match gets better as it progresses, although there’s still too much talking and the Elgin & White team is entertaining. Yujiro finishes Jay off. Hopefully Elgin can work miracles with Takahashi but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Final Rating: *3/4 CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Hirooki Goto, Yuji Nagata & Captain New Japan This match is to set up two Block matches on Day Ten; Nakamura vs. Goto (a re-match of two recent IC title bouts) and Ishii vs. Nagata (which was brilliant last year). This crowd is seriously into the show, which makes it a pity their main event matches are so poor. A couple of shows from earlier on the tour could have used a crowd this hot. Goto and Nagata target Nakamura’s ‘injured’ leg arm, which Shinsuke sells like death. If you weren’t convinced this was a worked injury this should convert you. You’ll notice nobody worked Shibata’s arm extensively as it was really hurt and they didn’t want him to miss matches. Nagata and Ishii clearly didn’t get the memo about taking it easy in the tags as they wail on each other full force. Save some for the singles match! CHAOS target Nagata’s ribs, although it’s interesting to note Ishii isn’t interested in that. He wants to pound Nagata into defeat on Day Ten. That doesn’t preclude Nakamura from softening Nagata up with knee strikes. The match has a tasty sequence involving the jobbers as YOSHI-HASHI and Captain New Japan attempt to fluke pin each other. YOSHI-HASHI is less jobbery during G1 and takes CNJ with the senton. Good little contest, plenty of effort from the G1 guys. Final Rating: ***1/4 Bullet Club (Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga) vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Gedo) Another G1 match set up here with Anderson facing Okada on Day Ten. Anderson beat Okada during G1 last year, although one of Okada’s two G1 wins came at Karl’s expense (2012). So they’ve already got plenty of history. Based on previous encounters they have decent chemistry and Okada is comfortable doing moves with Anderson that he only uses when he’s comfy in his environment. It bodes well for Day Ten’s match. Tama is actually quite frightening when he’s mocking someone. His mock Gedo chant where he’s doing a Monty Burns thing with his fingers is freaky weird. Anderson’s Stonecold Steve Austin impression is rather lost on the fans, even when he does the double digit salute and yells “I’m stompin’ a mudhole in somebody’s ass”. Gedo plays the role of junior in peril, getting a BC beatdown. After Okada’s hot tag he and Anderson run some effortless counters. They have an understanding and it makes for smooth wrestling. Tama picks off Gedo though and finishes with the Headshrinker DDT. This was solid and made me remember how good Okada vs. Anderson usually is. Final Rating: *** G1 Climax Block B Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kota Ibushi Pre-Match Pick: Ibushi. Kota’s performances so far have been dynamite and he’s been in the three best matches (vs. AJ Styles, vs. Katsuyori Shibata and vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi). All that effort will surely lead to him being at the top end when it’s all said and done. Tenzan meanwhile is already looking weary. If Tenzan wins they’d be level on points and that’s not right. Tenzan has these weird circles on his back, like he’s been attacked by a giant squid. Perhaps that’s part of his training regime? Clearly whatever he’s doing in training has worked as he becomes the first man to dodge the triangle moonsault during G1. Both guys seem out to prove a point. Kota that he can hang with true legends in the business and overpower Tenzan. While Tenzan wants to prove he can still hang with the young guys, despite his advanced years. So he uses everything in his arsenal, including headbutts with his busted up skull. Tenzan looks hurt and tired so Kota doesn’t use his speed as much, to keep Tenzan involved. When he does hit another gear it becomes apparent just how slowly he’s moving to make Tenzan look good. It’s all about respect. Ibushi manages to flip out of the Anaconda Buster, which Tenzan looks bemused by. He’s from a different time to these moves. Phoenix Splash finishes. Ibushi did what he had to here, making Tenzan look like a threat before taking it up a gear. In reality Tenzan just wasn’t on Ibushi’s level but in creating that illusion it made it more of a contest. Final Rating: ***1/2 Picks: 28/41. G1 Climax Block B Bad Luck Fale vs. Katsuyori Shibata Pre-Match Pick: Shibata. Anything else would be a god damn travesty. Of course Shibata’s share of the lead might get derailed by a silly loss at some point (like his count out loss to Fale last year) or he might be on course for the G1 win. I can but hope. As much as I like Fale’s entrance music, since he switched to wearing his Blues Brothers hat all I can hear is She Caught the Katy. And left me a mule to riiiiide. Hopefully Shibata will send him back to Joliet. Shibata decides on the Inoki-Ali defence but Fale proves himself smarter than one of the greatest boxers of all time by refusing to have anything to do with it. Fale would rather pummel Shibata and use his size to dominate. It’s not much of a contest but that’s on Fale rather than Shibata as the big man grinds through his offence. His clubbing forearms neutering one of the most realistic wrestlers of this or any other generation. They tease a repeat of last year by having Shibata almost counted out. There’s less set up than last year, no Grenade on the apron, merely Fale dropping him on the rail. Fale is cumbersome and is carrying too much weight so Shibata plays that into his favour by getting the Princess Bride sleeper. It works on Andre the Giant but not on Bad Luck Fale. He’s getting a ridiculous reputation in this contest. They manage one awesome counter where the Bad Luck Fall is countered, in mid-air, into the sleeper. PK! Shibata scores the big win that he so richly deserves for his performances in G1 so far. Glad to see both Ibushi and Shibata being rewarded for their efforts. I’ve seen this rated quite highly but it was sluggish despite being short and only had that one amazing spot to bring it back up. Final Rating: **3/4 Picks: 29/42. G1 Climax Block B Doc Gallows vs. AJ Styles Pre-Match Pick: AJ. It would be a massive shock if Doc beat his Bullet Club running buddy in this match after losing to Fale. There’s a structure to Bullet Club and Gallows is under AJ in it. AJ gives Doc the old ‘Too Sweet’ salute, showing this will be a friendly contest between the two Bullet Club members. They go with a power vs. speed story, which AJ is familiar at and did a lot against TNA’s bigger guys. Abyss springs to mind. AJ is able to use Doc’s strength against him by dodging the big man’s spots and wearing him out. AJ’s pseudo babyface act gets him a fair bit of support with Doc landing the odd move to keep it competitive. It’s not unlike Shawn Michaels in the mid-90s. Except AJ wants to take shortcuts as to not turn himself face, so he takes Gallows’ leg. Like with Ibushi earlier when AJ brings his most explosive offence, the size difference melts away and Styles looks unbeatable. AJ’s leg work is to set up the Calf Killer and you sense that’s AJ’s best shot at winning as Doc is probably too big to take either the Clash or Bloody Sunday. Having said that AJ pops off Bloody Sunday for the win. Using a secondary finish shows where Gallows belongs on the Bullet Club totem pole but also puts over Bloody Sunday as a legitimate finisher. There is respect after the match as Gallows endorses AJ as the potential G1 winner. AJ will turn himself face if he’s not too careful as he’s content to Too Sweet people on his way out, a marked contrast to many of NJPW’s top babyface stars who won’t even touch the fans. Final Rating: ***1/4 Picks: 30/43. G1 Climax Block B Tetsuya Naito vs. Togi Makabe Pre-Match Pick: Naito. Based on the booking, Naito is sure to win but I still hope Togi upsets him. Naito is wearing his suit and Skeletor mask and I don’t think he’s lost when wearing his full gear. The crowd despise him in Nagoya. I assume they’re yelling the Japanese equivalent of “HURRY THE FUCK UP” when Naito takes forever to take his damn suit off. Naito inserts more dramatic poses than William Shatner and Red Shoes gets so sick of it that he rings for the bell with Naito still unbuttoning his shirt. It’s old school heel stuff and it works on me because I can’t stand Naito. He’s doing a new age Ric Flair thing with the disrobing and the strutting. It’s a radically different gimmick to anything in NJPW and I can see, now, why people like it. But I can’t stand him. Which is, of course, the whole point. For years wrestlers have been aiming for good performances rather than negative reactions, which has taken a degree of heat out of wrestling. Sometimes you just want to hate someone. I think what really irks me is that Naito was a good wrestler before his heel turn. Another irritation is the treatment of referees in G1. They’ve getting shoved over and not calling DQ’s. Are they trying to be babyfaces? If a wrestler puts his hands on a ref, it’s a DQ. If you have no rules, how can people get heat by breaking them? I have the same issue with punches, especially in America, where strikes mean nothing. When someone gets punched in Japan it means something. Apart from with Togi Makabe, who has Americanised punches. When he needs to Naito handily outwrestles the clumsy Togi, countering his blunt offence with educated moves. Naito is the much better technician. That and his cockiness alone should be enough for his heel turn to work. What I don’t like is the Memphis levels of stalling. Jerry Lawler would be proud. Naito settles into a rhythm of actually wrestling before stopping off for a nap in the middle of the ring. That shit drives me nuts. Togi opts for the King Kong Kneedrop and Naito moves. The match starts to get a bit on the long side, for a guy like Makabe with a limited move set and ideas. I do enjoy him unloading with stiff lariats and suplexes though. Naito gets his head bounced off the ring post, is busted open and the Spider German sets up the King Kong Kneedrop for the surprise Togi win. Seeing as Naito had already bested a lot of the top guys I think he probably needed to lose here, in retrospect. The blood gave the finish the gravitas it required and the final stages of this were really solid. Final Rating: ***3/4 Picks: 30/44. G1 Climax Block B Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi Pre-Match Pick: Tanahashi. My tactic of always picking Tana hasn’t quite paid off but he’ll surely defeat Yano, following the culmination of their lengthy series this year; a blow off win by Tana. Yano’s busted head looks to be recovered as he’s not wearing a plaster anymore, instead opting to put some grease across it. He’s still worried about it though and hides in the ropes immediately. “BREAK, BREAK, BREEAAAAAAAAAK. BREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKK”. Yano continues the chuckles by failing to skin the cat. He’s a funny guy. He knows his limitations. Tanahashi is a crazy man for approaching the match with the tactics he takes in. Like attempting a crossbody against the ring post. What manner of madness is that, against a troll like Yano? Tana doesn’t modify his moves to reflect an injured mid-section and he doesn’t take Yano seriously at all. Should he? Probably not but it is the main event. Yano’s tactics in this one include hiding under the ring, trying to hold Tanahashi out of the ring so they both get a point for a double count-out and repeatedly using the exposed buckle. Yano’s low blow backslide is a remarkable near fall and both the pacing and intensity of the match make it far superior to the others in their series. They do a cute YTR pointing/skin the cat spot, which shows how in sync they are. That’s followed by a dragon screw spot with a chair and a ref bump that’s just beautifully orchestrated. Yano catches his own chair, which opens his head up again (should have kept the plaster on). High Fly Flow finishes. More colour! Plenty of hardway juice in G1 this year. This might be the best Yano singles match I’ve ever seen. Everything clicked and there was lots of fun and effort. Final Rating: **** Picks: 31/45 Here’s the updated Block A. 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 Does that ever make sweet reading! Shibata takes the lead by himself with everyone else who can possibly win the Block still in contention, just one win behind him. My guys are all in the running still. If I had to pick three favourites here it would be Shibata, Ibushi and AJ. Those are three of my favourite workers anywhere at the moment. Summary: Before the show I was highly sceptical of NJPW putting on a good card with this line up but I’ll be damned if they didn’t deliver an extremely solid three hour show (7 matches over *** on my count). All the Block matches were better than they had any right to be, especially the closing Tanahashi-Yano match, which was nothing short of brilliant. Add in a series of strong tag team matches, a hot crowd and the entire night lived up to expectations and exceeded them. It might just be that I went in expecting very little that this show delivered so strongly but every G1 show has been at the very least ‘good’. Can they keep it strong for all 19 shows? Only time will tell but history is on their side. The last two years of this tournament has been magnificent and there’s plenty of stories still to come. Verdict: 89
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AuthorArnold Furious Archives
April 2016
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