NJPW G1 CLIMAX 27, 7/22/17 (Day 4)

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 27, 7/22/17 (Day 4)
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

SO MUCH WRESTLING.

G1 Climax – Block B: Satoshi Kojima [0] vs. Toru Yano [0]
Yano squirts Kojima in the face with a water bottle just as the bell rings. He gets a few quick pin attempts before Kojima returns the favor. Pretty standard Toru antics. They venture out into the crowd and Kojima gets thrown into a guardrail leading to a near count-out. Kojima hits his spots and Toru plays his game. Kojima mocks the YANO TO-RUUUU chant and rips off his elbow pad and Toru hides behind the referee. Kojima goes for the lariat anyway and Toru ducks, hitting Kojima with a nut-shot as he turns around. He lands another one and rolls him up to get the victory. **1/4

G1 Climax – Block B: EVIL [0] vs. Juice Robinson [2]
Juice waits patiently for the bell and lands a dropkick. He starts throwing his body at EVIL until he’s had enough and EVIL sends Juice flying over the guardrail on the outside with a lariat. Juice gets back in the ring after an 18 count and EVIL begins working on Juice’s neck, pulling his hair back and kicking him down to the mat, and applying a rear neck lock that lasts literally forever and a half. Punches and chops from Juice follow shortly after, and the crowd finally wakes up a little when Juice hits a spine buster. A falling head-butt from the top rope gets a near fall and after EVIL lands a suplex into the corner turnbuckle, the two go down for a 6 count. They get up and after a short exchange EVIL charges off the ropes but is met by a HUGE lariat. Juice CRUSHES him with a powerbomb that almost seals the victory and he motions that this is the end. He hooks both of EVIL’s arms, going for the FINAL JUICE but EVIL fights it off and lands a German suplex that has Juice bouncing around in the ring. He’s in the corner and the two point at each other, colliding in the middle of the ring and exchanging blows. A few reversals teasing finishers gets the crowd SUPER anxious and NOW they are WOKEN UP. EVIL drops Juice ON HIS HEAD with a Tiger suplex and I am beginning to love this. LARIATTOOOOOOOO. JUICE KICKS OUT. S-T-O. IT’S OVER! Man, this got good towards the end. The crowd needed to wake up and they effectively made that happen. I crave a match with more action right from the start and less resting like we had here towards the beginning. But regardless the last few minutes were damn good. ***

G1 Climax – Block B: Minoru Suzuki [0] vs. SANADA [2]
SANADA is NOT messing around and he goes right after Minoru from the start. He doesn’t take it for too long and he drags SANADA into the crowd, throwing him around and bashing him with a chair a few times. BUSHI even gets in on the action as the SUZUKI-GUN/LIJ feud heats up. After a brief few seconds back in the ring, Minoru takes it right back outside, laying the beat-down on SANADA. The crowd starts chanting hard for SANADA as we re-enter the ring again and Minoru yells for everyone to shut up. SANADA lands a dropkick to Minoru’s knee and then survives attempted interference from El Desperado while the referee is tending to Minoru. SANADA tries to tie Minoru’s arms up in his legs but Minoru swiftly counters into an armbar that has SANADA scrambling. He gets the ropes, drops Minoru with a dragon screw and attempts it again, but again Minoru counters. SANADA rolls out and AGAIN and this time succeeds in leaving Minoru like a pretzel to a nice pop from the crowd. Minoru wears down SANADA with the Sleeper hold and attempts the Cradle piledriver but SANADA avoids it and lands a back suplex as soon as Minoru goes to apply the sleeper for a second time. A TKO gets a near fall and just as SANADA goes for more, Minoru AGAIN counters into the Sleeper. SANADA fights it off and goes for the Skull End, but Minoru AGAIN is relentless with that Sleeper but says screw this and just CRUSHES SANADA with the Cradle piledriver to get the victory. Minoru basically dominated the entire match, SANADA only getting a few moves in. There really was not much here, other than Minoru hell-bent on submitting SANADA with the sleeper, but then just finishing him off quick and easy. **3/4

 G1 Climax – Block B: Kenny Omega [2] vs. Tama Tonga [2]
Tonga cuts a promo in the middle of the match telling Kenny that if he wants to be Bullet Club then he needs to BE Bullet Club. He’s not very happy with the ELITE shirt Kenny is wearing. Tonga works the crowd with many F-bombs, and talks to the camera a little more than he should probably be doing IN THE MIDDLE OF A MATCH. He works Kenny’s leg and Kenny sells it like a damn champ. I’m going to rant for a second because nothing of note is happening. This tournament is a great opportunity for Tama Tonga to show what he can do in the ring. A sloppy match with Elgin is one thing but save the damn promo for AFTER THE MATCH. AND WRESTLE. That kind of crap is why I don’t watch WWE. ANYWAY. Kenny is making a comeback in this and nails the V-Trigger. He lifts Tonga up but Tonga drops Kenny right down with the Tongan Twist. He goes for the Gun Stun but Kenny counters with a snap Dragon suplex and V-Trigger for a ONE count. V-TRIGGER AGAIN. KATAYOKU NO TENSHI! He done it! Meh. What I said before. Everyone kisses and makes up after the match. I get that this match was probably used for just storyline purposes but I don’t want to see promos being cut in the middle of a match. That’s not why I watch this product. There is some dissention in the ranks of the Bullet Club though and we’ve known that, but keep this damn tournament pure wrestling. **

G1 Climax – Block B: Kazuchika Okada [2] vs. Michael Elgin [0]
Elgin is fired up from the very beginning of this match. As soon as Okada gets does his clean break Elgin starts throwing down. They end up on the outside where Elgin displays his power, catching Okada in mid-air on an attempted body splash and slamming him down on the ground over the guard rail. Several hard bodyslams later Okada is in immense pain. Back in the ring Elgin pretty much dominates and doesn’t let Okada sustain much offense. The German suplexes are flowing and I’m loving it. It looks like Okada doesn’t stand a chance, fighting out of power moves but unable to launch an attack. He does finally find an opening to strike and puts Elgin down with a DDT, but Elgin ends up catching Okada off the ropes with a powerslam to stunt his attack once again. He catches a kick and then lands one of the NASTIEST sounding forearms I have EVER heard, putting Okada in somewhat of a daze, crawling into the corner and lifting himself off the mat, but he is able to duck the charging Elgin and hit a reverse neckbreaker. DAMN THAT WAS SICK. Okada starts to put on a show but attempts a missile kick off the top rope that Elgin turns into a SICK powerbomb that bounces Okada’s head off the mat. Okada looks DEAD as Elgin tries to take him down but Okada dodges and nearly lands the Rainmaker. Some great back and forth action leads to Elgin nearly KILLING Okada with a few lariats and hitting a damn powerbomb that has the crowd going NUTS and Okada just BARELY kicks out. He goes for another one but Okada wiggles free. They fight over the top rope, Elgin knocking Okada off and Okada knocking Elgin off until they both end up there, Elgin hitting a BURAINBUSTAAAAAA from the top for a two count! He powerbombs Okada into the corner and then lifts him again. Okada counters, going for the Rainmaker but Elgin catches him and SLAMS HIM DOWN AGAIN WITH THE ELGIN BOMB. 1. 2. OKADA WILL NOT DIE. This crowd is on FIRE right now and these guys are just killing each other. Elgin goes for the Burning Hammer. Okada flips out and RAINMAKER. Both men are down, Okada still clutching Elgin’s wrist. They stand up and Okada hits ANOTHER Rainmaker. He goes for a third but Elgin reverses, goes for Elgin Bomb but Okada REVERSES it into a piledriver and then RAINMAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I ENJOYED THIS QUITE A BIT. A lot of power moves after power moves but the atmosphere was incredible here and I was convinced Elgin was taking it. Okada took a beating but in the end was able to counter Elgin’s finishing moves at the perfect times (and execute perfectly) to avoid defeat. ****1/4

 After 4 days the standings are:

Final Thoughts: The last few minutes of EVIL/Juice – AWESOME. Minoru/SANADA was fine it just never really clicked with me. Okada/Elgin did not disappoint and is definitely worth a watch. One of the best 3 matches of the tournament so far. Kenny/Tonga and Kojima/Yano are basically passable so not the greatest show but the main event definitely made up for that.