{"id":9680,"date":"2018-07-23T13:45:07","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T13:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=9680"},"modified":"2018-07-23T13:49:02","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T13:49:02","slug":"njpw-g1-climax-nights-3-7-review-16-7-22-7-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/23\/njpw-g1-climax-nights-3-7-review-16-7-22-7-18\/","title":{"rendered":"NJPW G1 Climax Nights 3-7 Review, 16\/7-22\/7\/18"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Tokyo Wrestling Fan @twf87<\/a>, Laura Mauro\u00a0@L<\/span>auraNMAuro<\/span><\/a>\u00a0, and Mike Grindle @mikegrindle<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The G1 Climax has continued at a fast pace – now we’re over a third of the way through the tournament – and some big matches have happened this week.\u00a0 Apart from night three, which took place in Hokkaido, all of the G1 events were in Tokyo this week.\u00a0 To help me provide some thoughts and analysis I enlisted the help of two colleagues this week, the very talented Laura Mauro and Mike Grindle.<\/p>\n

G1 Climax Night Three \u2013 Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Centre Hokkai Kitayell, Sapporo (6,489 attendance)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Elgin def. Hangman Page, 17:17<\/p>\n

EVIL def. YOSHI-HASHI, 12:37<\/p>\n

Togi Makabe def. Minoru Suzuki, 14:58<\/p>\n

Bad Luck Fale def. Kazuchika Okada, 13:38<\/p>\n

Jay White def. Hiroshi Tanahashi, 24:02<\/p>\n

Night three of the G1 Climax saw the second round of A Block matches in Sapporo.\u00a0 In the opening tournament match, Hangman Page and Michael Elgin put on a really good match, with a lot of near falls and top rope action.\u00a0 Clearly, they had both seen the B Block matches from the previous day and tried to reach those heights.\u00a0 Elgin hit very hard, and Page bumped like a champion to sell Elgin\u2019s moves.\u00a0 Despite losing here, Hangman Page will surely win a lot of Japanese fans during this tournament.\u00a0 In the second match EVIL defeated YOSHI-HASHI with an STO, in a pretty average match.\u00a0 YOSHI-HASHI\u2019s gimmick this G1 seems to be his resilience as an underdog, which is fine, but I wish there\u2019d been less of his comeback in this match \u2013 he does nothing for me.\u00a0 In the third match Minoru Suzuki and Togi Makabe battered each other, in a match that spent a lot of time on the outside.\u00a0 A particular highlight was when they ended up duelling each other with chairs in the crowd.\u00a0 Makabe may be getting on in years (and Suzuki is 50) but he\u2019s always good for a brawl, and neither wrestler took it easy in this match.\u00a0 Makabe pinned Suzuki after two King Kong Knees, to leave Suzuki pointless after two matches.<\/p>\n

In the semi-final match, mid-life crisis Kazuchika Okada lost to Bad Luck Fale after a run-in by Tama Tonga, who hit Okada with a Gun Stun.\u00a0 I appreciate that they\u2019re doing this to further the story of the split in Bullet Club between the OGs and The Elite, but I\u2019m not a big fan of interference in G1 matches.\u00a0 Okada\u2019s slump continued as well, although the last two matches he\u2019s lost due to interference or cheating.\u00a0 In the main event Jay White took on Hiroshi Tanahashi in a rematch from Wrestle Kingdom 12.\u00a0 This match was definitely better than their previous encounter, and just like the Okada match Jay controlled much of the tempo.\u00a0 He focused his attacks on Tanahashi\u2019s injured knee, which drew a lot of heat from the crowd, especially when they went to the outside of the ring.\u00a0 Once again, Jay\u2019s victory came via ref bump and use of a chair before he hit a Blade Runner, which I\u2019m not a big fan of, although it\u2019s effective in drawing heat.\u00a0 Jay might be the only heel in New Japan right now who really gets booed.\u00a0 The standings in A Block after night three saw White, Makabe, and Elgin on 4 points, Tanahashi, Fale, Page and Evil on 2 points, and shockingly Okada, Suzuki, and YOSHI-HASHI (less shockingly) on 0 points.<\/p>\n

G1 Climax Night Four \u2013 Korakuen Hall, Tokyo (1,730 attendance)<\/strong><\/p>\n

SANADA def. Tama Tonga, 10:46<\/p>\n

Zack Sabre Jr. def. Toru Yano, 10:34<\/p>\n

Kota Ibushi def. Juice Robinson, 13:03<\/p>\n

Tetsuya Naito def. Tomohiro Ishii, 19:13<\/p>\n

Kenny Omega def. Hirooki Goto, 19:29<\/p>\n

For night four the G1 Climax returned to Tokyo, to a sold-out and raucous Korakuen Hall.\u00a0 In the first tournament match of the night, SANADA overcame the cheating of the Bullet Club OG\u2019s to beat Tama Tonga.\u00a0 This was another pretty underwhelming showing by Tama Tonga, and there were plenty of Bullet Club shenanigans.\u00a0 Tanga Loa was ordered to the back by the referee after he attacked SANADA outside the ring, but then when the ref took a bump from Tama, Fale and Tanga Loa ran back out to attack SANADA.\u00a0 Tama got a near fall from a Tanga Loa powerbomb, but SANADA stole the win with a rolling back clutch for the three count.\u00a0 Tama hasn\u2019t done any great wrestling yet, which hopefully will change, whilst SANADA will surely have better matches coming up in the tournament.\u00a0 The next match saw Zack Sabre Jr. take on Toru Yano, after a series of tag matches in which ZSJ had become particularly annoyed with Yano\u2019s cheating antics.\u00a0 ZSJ spent a lot of this match trying to hurt Yano with his elaborate submissions, but Yano got a few good hits in, and showed off more of his amateur wrestling background.\u00a0 Showing how well the two know each other, at one point Yano attempted a low blow, which Zack blocked with his legs, but Yano expected that to happen so he countered that into a roll up for a near fall.\u00a0 Zack finally won with a modified European clutch, to end a very entertaining match.<\/p>\n

The third match pitted the two biggest babyfaces of B Block, Kota Ibushi and Juice Robinson, against each other.\u00a0 The crowd was really hot for Ibushi, although there were some pockets of support for The Flamboyant Juice Robinson.\u00a0 This was another high quality match, in which Juice tried to use his heart to overcome Ibushi\u2019s high flying moves.\u00a0 Juice managed to avoid being caught by Ibushi\u2019s moonsault to the outside once, but eventually the Golden Star was able to catch him with a wicked looking Frankensteiner from the apron to the floor, and the momentum shifted.\u00a0 The finishing sequence saw Juice nearly hit a Pulp Friction, but Ibushi escaped, and managed to hit Juice with a straight jacket German suplex for a near fall, then hit the Kamigoye for a three count.\u00a0 After the match Juice and Ibushi hugged, and Juice raised Ibushi\u2019s hand in victory.<\/p>\n

The semi-final match between Naito and Ishii was my favourite match of the night.\u00a0 Before the match started the crowd enjoyed the site of Naito telling a rowdy foreign fan to be\u00a0tranquilo<\/em>.\u00a0 Ishii withstood an enormous amount of punishment from Naito, and demonstrated his fighting spirit as he came very close to getting a victory, whereas Naito had to really dig deep to overcome Ishii\u2019s power.\u00a0 Naito has been in a bit of a slump since losing to Okada at Wrestle Kingdom, and after losing his first match of the G1 to Kenny Omega it seems like he is going to have to work very hard in this tournament if he wants to win matches.\u00a0 These two know each other very well, which was apparent from the numerous counters and reversals of their trademark spots. \u00a0Ishii nearly hit Naito with a brainbuster, but Naito reversed it into a Destino, then hit another Destino for the win.\u00a0 The main event saw Kenny Omega defeat the NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, which could set up a title match later in the year.\u00a0 This was a clash of styles between Omega\u2019s fast pace and Goto\u2019s heavy hitting, but the two worked well together, and Goto refused to give up despite everything Kenny threw at him.\u00a0 The fight spilled into the crowd at one point, and Kenny body slammed Goto onto the wooden bleachers, then moonsaulted off the barrier onto him and the Young Lions who were trying to protect the crowd.\u00a0 Back in the ring, Omega maintained his advantage over Goto, and punished him with V-triggers, but Goto managed to hit a reverse GTR and get a near fall of his own.\u00a0 Omega finally won with a V-trigger followed by a One Winged Angel.\u00a0 The crowd tonight was very split between Goto and Kenny, as well as Ishii and Naito.\u00a0 After the match Kenny cut a promo in Japanese praising the competitors in B Block but promising to be the winner.\u00a0 At the end of night four Kenny and Ibushi led B Block with 4 points; Tama, SANADA, Naito, ZSJ, Goto, and Ishii all had 2 points; Yano and Juice had 0.<\/p>\n

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#NJPW<\/a> #g128<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/4ULitIni5Z<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/1Z662deXlA<\/a><\/p>\n

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) July 20, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n