NJPW G1 CLIMAX 27, 7/23/17 (Day 5)
Machida Gymnasium
Day 5 of 9000. WHOOOOOO.
G1 Climax – Block A: YOSHI-HASHI [2] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [2]
We get some boring offense from YOSHI until Zack begins working his left arm the way Zack Sabre brutally targets limbs. He applies a hammer lock and stretches the shit out of YOSHI and it is awesome. The reason why Zack is so good is because he makes every single movement believable when both on the offensive and when taking bumps and selling damage. It’s no different here and much like the Naito match from 7/21, Sabre is carrying this through his overall performance. He applies a triangle lock and YOSHI tries so hard to lift Sabre up off the mat but Sabre pulls him right back down with an armbar as it seems like YOSHI is done for. Zack ends up applying a manjigatame and stretches YOSHI so hard that he steps on the back of his neck DURING THE HOLD and YOSHI taps out. LOVE watching ZSJ work. This was similar to the Ibushi match where YOSHI tried everything but couldn’t escape the smarts and submissions of Sabre, just not NEARLY as good. ***
G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi [2] vs. Yuji Nagata [0]
Tanahashi starts working the left leg of Nagata and he’s getting BOOS from the crowd because their beloved Yuji Nagata is struggling. After a figure four, Nagata clutches his leg and can barely stand. Then, he starts firing off kicks like nothing ever happened. Superhuman Nagata lands an exploder for a near fall and Tanahashi comes back with a German suplex to some nice heel heat from the crowd. Since clearly Tanahashi didn’t do enough damage, he hits a dragon screw on the (injured?) left leg of Nagata and shortly after, Nagata counters Tanahashi into the cross armbreaker and begins focusing Tanahashi’s injured right arm. He hits a top rope Exploder for a near fall and a brainbuster for an even closer near fall. He goes for the backdrop suplex but Tanahashi evades and kicks out Nagata’s knee. A slap war ensues and Nagata starts BLEEDING under his left eye. Tanahashi DROPS him and clutches his arm. He hits the Sling Blade for a 2 count and then heads to the top rope. Nagata hops up and here we go again. Tanahashi throws several elbows but Nagata will just not go down. Finally he knocks Nagata off the top and hits a body press before going right back for the High Fly Flow and the victory. This didn’t do much for me. When no-selling is SO BLATANT and so consistent it takes away a lot from a match for me. Not so much as a wince of pain once Nagata started hitting his kicks, after selling HARD the legwork through the portion that Tanahashi was controlling. But DAMN did Nagata take a beating with those slaps. As has been the theme with a lot of these matches, it got really good towards the end and the chemistry between Tana and Nagata was good, but overall the match was ruined for me by glaring inconsistencies. **3/4
G1 Climax – Block A: Tetsuya Naito [4] vs. Bad Luck Fale [2]
Naito continues his recent trend of taking a beating and selling the hell out of it. Naito is able to get some offense in and he tries a desperation Destino but Fale is just too huge and he tosses Naito down. After a DDT, Naito tries again for a Destino and again Fale counters. He hits the Bad Luck Fall and gets the victory. Not much here, your standard one sided match and Fale is still a threat in this tournament while Naito takes his first loss. *1/2
G1 Climax – Block A: Kota Ibushi [2] vs. Tomohiro Ishii [2]
A nice opening sequence and then Ishii motions to Ibushi that he wants to start throwing down. They exchange heavy elbows in the middle of the ring until Ibushi has had enough and kicks Ishii down to the mat. Ishii controls from there until Ibushi lands a suplex and dropkick and then takes to the air with a plancha over the top rope to Ishii on the outside. Back in the ring, Ishii doesn’t let Ibushi sustain much more than a few moves before taking him down with headbutts or suplexes. Kota lands his kicks and a standing moonsault for a near fall. More kicks to Ishii’s chest and Ishii takes them like a man, wiping off his chest and kneeling there waiting for more. He gets up and chops the shit out of Kota’s neck. He starts slapping Kota around and Kota is taking it just as Ishii did earlier. Ibushi fires back with a knee strike and head kicks while Ishii is down on the mat. Now a SLAP WAR and the crowd goes nuts. Ishii lands a shotei and a kick that sends Ishii down to the mat again. A great exchange follows where Ibushi dodges a lariat, hits an overhead kick and then gets CRUSHED by a lariat as he comes off the ropes. We head to the top rope for the famous Ishii BRAINBUSTER and Kota kicks out. Another lariat attempt but Kota counters with a kick to the arm and a German suplex hold for a two count. Ibushi goes for the knee strike but Ishii catches it and an enzugiri and lariat send Ibushi to the mat for another near fall. Ibushi BACKFLIPS out of a German attempt and kicks Ishii right in the back of the head. Ibushi lands his combination kicks and then drops Ishii with final one. Ishii kicks after ONE and then smacks Ibushi down with a lariat and Ibushi kicks out at ONE. Dragon suplex hold by Ishii gets a near fall. Awesome sequence. Ishii lands a headbutt and then the two simultaneously slap each other a few times before Ibushi catches a lariat and SHOTEIs the shit out of Ishii and the KNEE STRIKE. GOLDEN STAR PRESS.1, 2, 3. MAN the crowd just wasn’t into this as much as they should have been. This was hard hitting and very well executed. Ishii dominated the start and it looked like Ibushi once again was not going to be able to sustain much offense as he was being grounded by Ishii’s power strikes. Ibushi went toe to toe with Ishii and even got the better of him in several exchanges. The counter sequences that led to the big spots were awesome. The two attempted to one-up each other throughout the match. Ibushi has been simply amazing up until now and Ishii, while usually consistent, has been disappointing until this match. ***3/4
G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe [0] vs. Hirooki Goto [4]
For a main event match, again, started pretty dull and built slowly. Makabe and Goto hit their moves and got some near falls and I am just not into Makabe at all right now. Goto applies a Sleeper hold that wears Makabe down and gets the crowd going, cheering for Makabe. This is the loudest they have been all night (WHAT!). A headbutt drops Makabe and we go to the top rope where Makabe chops Goto down and flies off for a knee strike. KING KONG POWERBOMB and Goto kicks out. Back to the top rope and Makabe lands the Spider German and King Kong Knee Drop for the victory. I didn’t really write much, because not much of anything of note happened here. **
Final Thoughts: All you need to know about the main event and Naito/Fale is that Makabe and Fale got victories. YOSHI/Sabre was another great performance by Zack. Tanahashi/Nagata was a good battle brought down by some severe no-selling and not in a good way. Match of the night by far was Ibushi/Ishii. Ibushi continues to bring the fire and I am looking forward to much more from him down the road.
Twitter: ligersama
