NJPW G1 Climax Nights 12-15 Review 1/8-5/8/18

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By Tokyo Wrestling Fan @twf87, Laura Mauro @LauraMauro, and Mike Grindle @mikegrindle

In its third week the G1 Climax began heading back east, starting in Kagoshima and then ending in a double-header at the Edion Arena in Osaka.  There were a lot of marquee matchups this week, including Naito vs. Ibushi, Okada vs. Suzuki, and (spoiler) what turned out to be arguably the best of them all, Omega vs. Ishii.  This week I was joined again by my colleagues Laura Mauro and Mike Grindle to analyse all of the G1 matches.

G1 Climax Night Twelve, Kagoshima Arena, Kagoshima (3,490 attendance)

Tama Tonga def. Tomohiro Ishii, 10:32

Juice Robinson def. SANADA, 12:36

Tetsuya Naito def. Toru Yano, 8:28

Kenny Omega def. Zack Sabre Jr., 15:14

Kota Ibushi def. Hirooki Goto, 18:09

Night twelve opened with Tama Tonga taking on Tomohiro Ishii, and this was another Tama match that I didn’t totally hate.  It had the usual intereference and referee bumps, but Ishii tried his best to pull a decent match out of Tama, and nearly overcame all the interference from Tanga Loa and Bad Luck Fale.  The crowd really didn’t like the interference, so I suppose it’s working as a way to get heat for the Firing Squad.  One thing I didn’t understand is why the referee didn’t disqualify Tama when Tanga Loa pulled him out of the ring during a pin count, but at any rate Tama moved level with Ishii with this win on four points.  In the second match Juice Robinson defeated SANADA in a fun match, which featured a lot of inventive reversals and attempts by both men to do the other’s moves.  Juice caught SANADA in the Skull End at one point, then attempted a moonsault in the same fashion that SANADA defeated Ibushi last week.  Mostly this match was smooth, but in the closing sequence the punch that preceded the final Pulp Friction looked like it was wide of SANADA’s head by a good way.  Still, a definite improvement on match one.

In the third match of the night Tetsuya Naito defeated Toru Yano in a fun match, in which Naito ended up cheating more than Yano did.  Naito tried to beat Yano with one of his main tactics – he taped his hand to the guardrail outside the ring and tried for a countout victory.  Yano managed to separate the guard rail and dragged a piece of it back into the ring with him to just about beat the count.  Yano tried some impressive amateur wrestling, but ultimately Naito beat him after a low blow and a Destino.  The semi-final match saw Kenny Omega defeat ZSJ with a quick rollup at the end of an entertaining match that featured Sabre punishing Kenny with submissions and come close to forcing the champion to tap out.  ZSJ disrupted Kenny’s normal rhythm, and he was only able to hit two V-triggers as he struggled to get his offence going.  Sabre seemed to have the upper hand, but then Kenny rolled him up for a surprising three count.  ZSJ has seen his confidence rocked in this G1 as he has been outwrestled by SANADA and now Kenny beat him at his own game to stay undefeated.

The main event featured the home-town hero Kota Ibushi, who faced off against Hirooki Goto.  The Kagoshima crowd were heavily behind Ibushi, but Goto was able to hold his own in this match, and came close to pinning Ibushi with a Shouten Kai.  Goto initially had Ibushi’s number, and was able to dodge an early Golden Triangle moonsault, but Ibushi continued to show his strong style side and stood up to Goto’s strikes, before responding with his own vicious kicks.  Once Ibushi got into his stride Goto found it hard to keep up with the pace that Ibushi set – a Last Ride powerbomb got a close fall, before Ibushi hit what looked like a Bomaye and finally a Kamigoye for the win.  After the match Ibushi told the Kagoshima crowd that he would return next year as a G1 winner.  Night twelve finished with Kenny Omega still undefeated on 12 points, Naito on 10 points, Ibushi on 8 points, SANADA and ZSJ on 6 points, Juice, Goto, Ishii, and Tama on 4 points, and Yano now bottom on 2 points.

 

G1 Climax Night Thirteen, Fukuoka City Gymnasium, Fukuoka (3,580 attendance)

Michael Elgin def. Bad Luck Fale, 11:13

Hangman Page def. Togi Makabe, 9:10

Jay White def. YOSHI-HASHI, 9:48

Tanahashi Hiroshi def. EVIL, 12:57

Kazuchika Okada def. Minoru Suzuki, 18:20

The opening match of night thirteen in Fukuoka saw another DQ finish to a match between Bad Luck Fale and Michael Elgin.  Elgin tried his best to make the match interesting by selling his injured right arm and fighting mainly with his left, but Fale hasn’t been great this G1 and it wasn’t a particularly engaging match.  A ref bump allowed Tanga Loa to get involved, and after Elgin fought off Loa his brother Tama Tonga interfered in the match and started attacking Elgin for a DQ finish.  The highlight of the match was the post-match beatdown in which Tama laid waste to all the Young Lions with a chair.  Match two featured two of the top performers in A Block going head-to-head in Hangman Page and Togi Makabe.  Both wrestlers haven’t scored many points, but they’ve been putting everything into their performances, and tonight was no different.  Makabe has lost a step with age, but he still hits hard, and his spider-German suplex on Page looked great.  Makabe missed with a King Kong Knee Drop attempt, and that allowed Page to capitalise with a Buckshot Lariat and Rite of Passage for the victory.  The victory clearly meant a lot to Page, and I could see him picking up points in his match against YOSHI-HASHI.  Suzuki on the other hand might be a bridge too far for the Bullet Club debutant.

In the third match CHAOS members YOSHI-HASHI and Jay White faced each other.  In his new role as self-proclaimed CHAOS leader, Jay didn’t just attempt to beat YOSHI-HASHI, he tried to hurt him.  Outside the ring he smashed YOSHI-HASHI into the railings, and continued his punishment in the ring with a methodical attack on YOSHI-HASHI.  Jay came close to hitting a Blade Runner twice, including once after a low blow, but YOSHI-HASHI managed to escape and even managed to get a near fall after a fisherman’s buster.  Ultimately, Jay caught YOSHI-HASHI with a Blade Runner for the victory, solidifying the sense that he can hit the move at any time, and that it is a definitive matchwinner.  The semi-final match saw Hiroshi Tanahashi take on EVIL, in a very good match that featured a lot of great counters and near falls before Tanahashi won with a High Fly Flow.  EVIL focused his attack on Tanahashi’s previously injured bicep, and looked to have the upper hand when he dodged a High Fly Flow and Tanahashi landed hard on his arm.  EVIL came close to a win with Darkness Falls, and very nearly hit an STO, but instead Tanahashi was able to hit EVIL with an STO, then followed up with a High Fly Flow for a victory.  This was a strong showing from both men, and it really seemed that EVIL was about to hand Tanahashi his second defeat of the tournament, before the Ace rallied to the delight of the Fukuoka crowd.

The main event was Kazuchika Okada against Minoru Suzuki, in a rematch from Suzuki’s 30th Anniversary show in June.  That match ended in a time-limit draw, but this match was finished decisively by Okada with his rolling Rainmaker-Rainmaker combination.  Suzuki began this match with a brutal beatdown of Okada outside the ring, including two very close teased countouts.  When Okada made it back into the ring, Suzuki continued his brutal offence, punishing Okada with both strikes and submissions.  Okada managed to find his feet as the match progressed, but Suzuki had clearly taken him out of his comfort zone.  When Suzuki did the Rainmaker pose himself, Okada tried to up his offence, but struggled from the damage that he had suffered earlier in the match.  There was a particularly vicious Rainmaker counter as Suzuki just slapped Okada in the face with a palm strike.  In the finishing stretch Suzuki attempted a tombstone, but it was reversed into a Gotch-style tombstone by Okada and then the Rainmaker sequence.  Given the way that this G1 is playing out, it didn’t surprise me that Okada won this match, but the manner in which he did it was more definitive than I expected.  The results of night thirteen saw Tanahashi on 12 points, Okada and Jay on 10 points, Suzuki and EVIL on 8 points, Page, Fale, and Elgin on 6 points, Makabe on 4 points, and YOSHI-HASHI still on 2 points.

 

G1 Climax Night Fourteen, Edion Arena, Osaka (5,500 attendance)

SANADA def. Toru Yano, 5:22

Hirooki Goto def. Tama Tonga, 11:15

Zack Sabre Jr. def. Juice Robinson, 13:39

Tomohiro Ishii def. Kenny Omega, 22:42

Kota Ibushi def. Tetsuya Naito, 25:09

On night fourteen he G1 arrived in Osaka for the first of two shows at the Edion Arena.  The tournament matches opened with SANADA against Toru Yano in a quick but fun match.  Yano attacked SANADA as he entered the ring, but it was SANADA who was able to use arguably underhanded tactics to win by tying Yano up with the Paradise Lock around a guardrail so that he was counted out.  The second match saw Hirooki Goto take on Tama Tonga, in a match that featured the usual shenanigans.  These matches have broken down into a first instance of interference, when Goto was able to fight off Tanga Loa, and a second instance, when Bad Luck Fale interfered.  This match got even weirder than usual, because after Fale pulled the referee out of the ring to break up the pin it seemed like the bell was rung for a no contest, but then Fale gestured for Red Shoes to come out and count a pin on Goto.  Red Shoes ran to the ring, but just as he was about to count, he flipped off the Firing Squad and disqualified Tama.  Is this leading to a Red Shoes vs. Firing Squad feud?

In the third match Zack Sabre Jr. took on Juice Robinson, in a good match that saw ZSJ aggressively target Juice’s injured left hand.  Juice fought through the pain, and late on in the match voluntarily removed his own cast, but ultimately ZSJ was able to tie him up in a vicious looking submission that started as a Jim Break’s armbar, but ended up with all four of Juice’s limbs contorted by the submission master.  Juice is a great babyface, and he sold Sabre’s submissions really well, as well as his comeback hope spots.  After the match ZSJ posed with the US title, so presumably he will be getting a title shot in the future.  The semi-final match was an absolute war between Kenny Omega and Tomohiro Ishii, that finished with Ishii handing Omega his first loss of the tournament.  In the opening stages of the match it was clear that Omega didn’t respect Ishii, but that attitude was soon dispelled when Ishii refused to be cowed by any amount of damage from Kenny.  Kenny threw everything he had at Ishii, although he was unable to hit the One Winged Angel, and Ishii gave it all back to the IWGP Heavyweight Champion.  Kenny definitely spammed V-triggers a bit too much for my liking, but it played into the flow of the match since Ishii just absorbed a tremendous amount of punishment from Omega.  The crowd was heavily behind Ishii in this match, and every time he kicked out of a pin there was a huge pop.  By the end of the match both competitors were bleeding from the mouth, and when Ishii finally got Kenny up for a brainbuster and a three count his face was smeared in blood, a fitting image for this brutal match.  This was a great match, with a red hot crowd, and might have become my favourite match of the tournament so far.

The main event saw Kota Ibushi defeat Tetsuya Naito to keep himself in contention for B Block.  Naito got a very mixed reaction in Osaka with boos drowning out a lot of his cheers, and Ibushi was clearly the crowd favourite in this match.  Naito approached the match in a similar manner to Kenny in the previous match, clearly quite cocky as he targeted Ibushi’s knee throughout.  This disrupted Ibushi’s rhythm a bit, but once they got going the match kicked up into a very high gear, and by the end of this match too both men were bleeding from the mouth.  They did a call-back to their match last year with a top-rope piledriver spot that failed, and Ibushi hit Naito with a deadlift German suplex from the ring apron back into the ring.  There were some fairly gruesome neck and head bumps in this match, which was tough to watch especially after Hiromu’s recent injury.  Naito came very close to a pin when he hit Ibushi with a Destino, but Ibushi kicked out, and channelled Nakamura to hit Naito with a Bomaye and finally a Kamigoye for a three count.  After the match Ibushi took the microphone and made a promise to the Osaka crowd that he would win the G1 and return next year as champion.  After night fourteen, Omega remained top with 12 points, Naito and Ibushi were tied on 10 points, SANADA and ZSJ on 8 points, Goto and Ishii on 6 points, Juice and Tama on 4 points, and Yano on 2 points.

 

G1 Night Fifteen, Edion Arena, Osaka (5,480 attendance)

YOSHI-HASHI def. Bad Luck Fale, 8:31

Hangman Page def. Minoru Suzuki, 12:05

Jay White def. Togi Makabe, 10:22

Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Michael Elgin, 16:03

Kazuchika Okada def. EVIL, 18:27

The opening match of the second show in Osaka featured Bad Luck Fale against YOSHI-HASHI, in a battle of underwhelming performances against good performances but few wins.  This match followed the same formula as all the Firing Squad matches – a bit of wrestling from YOSHI-HASHI, some interference from Tanga Loa, a near fall by YOSHI-HASHI, and finally Tama Tonga interfered with a chair for the DQ.  The most interesting part of this match was Tama going after a fan who tried to remonstrate with him.  Match two saw Hangman Page, fresh off his second win of the tournament, take on Minoru Suzuki, who lost to Okada in Fukuoka.  Page got the drop on Suzuki and they brawled outside, which culminated in an impressive Page moonsault off the entrance ramp onto Suzuki and El Desperado.  There was a lot of brawling outside the ring, and at one point Suzuki even put the referee into an armbar, which apparently isn’t a disqualification if it’s outside the ring (or Suzuki gets special dispensation).  Once this got back into the ring it developed into a good match, and Page was clearly very motivated to build on his previous win.  Suzuki looked to have the match won when he caught Page with a choke hold, but as he tried to go for the Gotch-style piledriver Page reversed it into a Rite of Passage and got a shock three count for his third tournament victory.  My prediction was wrong, but this was a really good match, and clearly a statement win for Page.

In the third match Jay White took on Togi Makabe in a match that had been preceded by Jay taunting Makabe about his decline in status now that he has aged out of the main event scene.  Makabe had his hackles up in this match, and even as he absorbed a lot of punishment from Jay, he made sure to pay it back in the form of stiff lariats and a belly-to-belly spider German suplex that forced Jay to drag the referee in front of him to avoid a King Kong Knee Drop.  Jay got the advantage after another ref bump allowed him to hit Makabe in the face with a chair, and then get the pin after a Blad Runner.  The crowd was pretty dead for this match, and they didn’t seem to react much to Jay’s win either.  The semi-final match saw former tag-team partners Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin go head to head.  Elgin has been putting some good matches during this G1, but failing to pick up many points, and this was similar although the finish was unfortunately botched.  Elgin tried to overpower Tanahashi, who was able to use his arsenal of Dragon Screws and Slingblades to largely counter Elgin.  The crowd popped when Elgin caught Tanahashi’s attempt at a standing High Fly Flow and reversed it into a power slam, as well as when Elgin got a near count with a Splash Mountain Bomb.  The match finished with Elgin lifting Tanahashi up for an Elgin Bomb, which Tanahashi reversed into a quick rollup for a three count.  This match started slowly, but picked up steam from about halfway in, although the botched ending hurt it.

The main event saw Kazuchika Okada take on EVIL, with the Rainmaker needing a win to keep pace with Tanahashi.  The Osaka crowd was split quite evenly in their support of Okada and EVIL, who scored an upset victory over Okada in last year’s G1 tournament.  This was another very good match, with EVIL holding his own quite handily against the former IWGP Heavyweight champion.  EVIL controlled the early part of the match, but as it went on Okada began to make a comeback, and started punishing EVIL with dropkicks and forearms.  Both men got near falls with the other’s finishing move, and EVIL came very close to hitting Okada with an STO, but finally it was Okada who hit EVIL with a rolling Raimaker and a full Rainmaker to get the three count.  EVIL really turned up for this match, and I bought into the idea that he might be able to beat Okada, despite the Rainmaker’s current run.  Okada’s victories have started to become a bit predictable, but the crowd in Osaka was very much behind him when he cut a post-match promo.  His next match against Tanahashi will be anything but predictable at this point.  After night fifteen Tanahashi remained top of the block with 14 points, Okada and Jay kept pace on 12 points, Suzuki and EVIL on 8 points, Fale and Elgin were joined by Page on 6 points, and Makabe and YOSHI-HASHI on 4 points.

Current Standings

A Block                                                                         B Block

Hiroshi Tanahashi – 14 pts.                                            Kenny Omega – 12 pts.

Jay White – 12 pts.                                                        Kota Ibushi – 10 pts.

Kazuchika Okada – 12 pts.                                             Tetsuya Naito – 10 pts.

Minoru Suzuki – 8 pts.                                                   SANADA – 8 pts.

EVIL – 8 pts.                                                                 Zack Sabre Jr. – 8 pts.

Hangman Page – 6 pts.                                                  Tomohiro Ishii – 6 pts.

Michael Elgin – 6 pts.                                                     Hirooki Goto – 6 pts.

Bad Luck Fale – 6 pts.                                                    Tama Tonga – 4 pts.

Togi Makabe – 4 pts.                                                      Juice Robinson – 4 pts.

YOSHI-HASHI – 4 pts.                                                    Toru Yano – 2 pts.

Final Thoughts

LM: I don’t think it’s an overstatement, at this point, to say that Ishii has been the MVP of the G1 as far as sheer in-ring entertainment goes. His matches with Goto and Ibushi were superb; his match with Kenny Omega is a frontrunner for Match of the Year. It was brutal, exciting and completely unpredictable – it seemed inevitable that Kenny’s streak would be broken at some point, but I hadn’t guessed that Ishii would be responsible. I’ve talked before about the guilty thrill of blood in the ring, but the state of Kenny’s mouth at the end of the match was a new level of gruesome.

A hard act to follow, but Ibushi and Naito were up to the task. Since Hiromu Takahashi’s neck injury I’ve found myself flinching at head and neck bumps and I think I spent most of this match watching through my fingers as both Naito and Ibushi endeavoured to test the flexibility of their necks to the limit. Big to the match’s detriment, though, as despite my squeamishness I was on the edge of my seat til the end. There was also Sanada vs Toru Yano, which reminded me of how subtly brilliant Sanada is at comedy – a genuinely entertaining match.
Meanwhile, in A block, Jay White continues to absolutely kill it as perhaps the best heel in wrestling whose name isn’t Ciampa. His post match promos are well worth checking out (not least for the ongoing saga of the chair). Hangman Page’s shock victory over Suzuki provided a nice bit of character development – Page is getting a chance to shine, and he’s doing a great job – while Evil continues to steadily churn out solidly good matches. But B block is still where all the best action is happening, and with Ibushi/Omega imminent, I can’t see that changing anytime soon.

MG: As we head into the final stages of this year’s G1, my two biggest takeaways from this tournament continue to be very much the same: the B-block has completely outclassed the A-block and Ishii is the best wrestler in the world right now. Still, all will be forgiven for the A-block when Tanahashi and Okada have their semi-final showdown, either with or without Jay White peeping round the curtain to see how the points finish up. Having a wild card in each block has certainly made things a bit more interesting going into the final days this year (last year it was just the four competitors that remained), though it’s unlikely that either White or Naito play a factor in the end. This is especially true when it comes to Naito, since a G1 win for him now would require a minor miracle.

So what should and what does happen on the final days now? We saw earlier this year at Wrestling Dontaku, that Tanahashi can no longer straight up beat Okada or survive a rainmaker like he used to, so it’s unlikely that he High-Fly Flow’s his way to the final. However, his new found habit of winning matches via rollups, might just see him edge one over Okada. Also, there’s always the chance he hangs on for a thirty minute draw, since that’s all he requires to get through now. A Tanahashi final certainly sounds appealing, and I’d love to see him win the whole thing and have one last Tokyo Dome main event. It’s not like it wouldn’t work either, since Tanahashi is arguably still the most beloved member of the roster, perhaps even more so now than he ever was. Jay White going through to the final, with the help of Okada no-less, is certainly an intriguing story, and an Ibushi/White final seems incredibly appealing due to their contrasting personalities if nothing else. As good as the early part of his G1 was, and as much of a star he now is as a result, I just can’t see White main eventing the Tokyo Dome this year… well ok, I could, but I don’t really fancy the idea, not quite yet. Okada meanwhile still seems the most likely to go through to the finals and would be my pick for most likely to win the whole thing. However, it must be said, that it seems a bit too soon for Okada to be seeking his retribution on Omega just yet, and the idea of a ‘care-free’ Okada winning the G1 doesn’t make all that much sense storyline wise. I’m not of the thinking that Okada needs another multi-year journey to get back to the top, but for him to go straight from losing the title after a record breaking reign, to winning the G1 seems a bit overkill.

As I said before, a Naito final is incredibly unlikely this point, and there’s a good chance he’s mathematically eliminated before the block finals anyway. Omega you would assume doesn’t go through because he’s the champ, which leaves us with Ibushi. Ibushi has always been popular enough to be a breakout star in New Japan, but his desire to remain freelance and do his own thing has seemingly stopped New Japan from going all in on him. The fact then that despite that, he seems poised to make it to the finals of the G1 is a real testament to just how popular he is. I would still bet against him actually winning the tournament, but if it was ever going to happen, then now might just be the perfect time. At the end of the day though, it’s hard to complain whoever New Japan decides to crown the G1 Climax winner, since we’re surely in for a lot of great wrestling on route to that moment.

TWF: The G1 is getting near to the end now, and the field has narrowed down significantly – A Block is between Tanahashi, White, and Okada, and B Block is between Omega, Ibushi, and Naito.  The path to the final is harder for White and Naito, but still possible (assuming Naito beats SANADA on August 8th), although a win for Tanahashi or Omega would guarantee them a place in the final.  I don’t imagine that New Japan would want to rerun Okada vs. Omega again so soon, but I could see a Tanahashi final against any of the three potential B Block winners, or even a Jay White final against Ibushi or Naito.  If Okada wins A Block then I think it’s very likely that Omega will not be winning B Block, but an Okada vs. Ibushi final sounds intriguing.  The champion has never won the G1 since the Wrestle Kingdom title shot has been on the line, so even if Omega gets to the final I wouldn’t expect him to win.  Still, in the G1 it’s always best to expect the unexpected.

There have been some absolutely great matches on these shows, primarily on the B Block shows, but A Block has stepped up as well.  Kenny vs. Ishii may be my new favourite match of the entire tournament, as I went from being certain that Kenny would win to amazed by Ishii’s performance.  That match even managed to overshadow what was a great match between Naito and Ibushi on the same show.  A Block redeemed itself somewhat this week with very good matches in Okada vs. EVIL, Page vs. Suzuki, and Okada vs. Suzuki.  I’ve found Okada’s constant winning streak in main events a bit cliched, but at least he has started to get back to his old level of match quality in recent shows.  Suzuki and Page continue to deliver good matches, but EVIL has also stepped up in his recent matches, especially against Okada and Tanahashi.  The Bullet Club/Firing Squad storyline still hasn’t really built up much interest for me, although Tama Tonga’s recent fan interaction has piqued my interest somewhat, especially if the fan wasn’t a plant.  Still, it’s hardly been a great success in this G1.

Looking ahead to the last few days, the Naito vs. SANADA match easily stands out on the 8/8 show.  I’d expect Naito to beat his LIJ stablemate, but the potential of an upset win is intriguing.  Yano takes on Omega on the same show, and I have a sneaking suspicion that YTR may actually beat Omega – there’s no way he finishes the tournament on 2 points.  The last two nights of the blocks are all about Tanahashi vs. Okada and Omega vs. Ibushi, with White and Naito needing to win and hope that results go their way for them to get to the final.  If I had to predict who I think will get to the final, I would say Tanahashi from A Block and Ibushi from B Block.

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