NJPW G1 CLIMAX 27, 7/29/17 (Day 9)
Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe [4] vs. Yuji Nagata [0]
Makabe has been less than impressive so far but with 4 points, still a threat. Nagata has yet to score a victory but has been very impressive. You can tell that this tournament is starting to take its toll as Nagata comes out with marks all over his back from cupping therapy. Solid back and forth action until they exchange elbows and lariats and this picks up with Nagata applying the cross armbreaker. He falls back into an armbar and begins working over Makabe’s arm, which of course, Makabe no-sells. He lands several kicks and then kneels over Makabe, lifting his head up and elbowing him right back down with a few intense strikes. A brainbuster and Exploder get near falls. Nagata stands and the side of his face is dripping blood. Makabe exchanges a suplex of his own and he heads to the top rope. Nagata follows and Makabe chops him several times in the side of the neck to knock him off the top rope. He hits the King Kong Knee Drop and takes Nagata down with a lariat. Another King Kong Knee Drop and Nagata looks like he’s going to kick out but takes the fall and another loss. Nagata is churning out good match after good match and this is another solid performance from Makabe who disappointed in his first 3 matches. You can tell that these guys are battling through this tournament and I thought at first that they would just be going through the motions, but it ended up being much better than that. ***
G1 Climax – Block A: Kota Ibushi [4] vs. Bad Luck Fale [4]
From the start, Fale tries to immobilize Ibushi by working over his right leg and knee which is a smart move but as you saw in Ibushi’s match against Zack Sabre, he can find ways to overcome that. Ibushi attempts to make a comeback, landing a dropkick and after several tries is able to lift Fale up and hit a German suplex. He rolls over and sells the knee hard as Fale rolls to the outside. Ibushi goes over the top rope but Fale moves out of the way and Kota lands right on that leg on the outside. Now Fale takes control and drags Kota into the crowd, tossing him into a few rows of chairs. Kota tosses Fale into the cement wall and them climbs up on top of it, pumping up the crowd. He turns around and MOONSAULTOOOOO. ECW! ECW! ECW! He struts back towards the ring and Fale slowly follows. Back in the ring, Ibushi charges and Fale lands a monster lariat. He goes for the Bad Luck Fall but Kota rolls him up for a 2 count. KICK RIGHT TO THE FACE. Another 2 count. Kota lifts Fale up and lands his knee strike to the face and attempts to lift him up, but Fale counters and drops Kota to the mat. A body press from Fale gets a near fall. He completely botches the Choke Lariat Slam and then hits the Bad Luck Fall for the victory. I wasn’t in LOVE with this match but there was nothing wrong with it. I don’t think Ibushi can have a bad match and even against Fale this was no different. Fale’s best match of the tournament so far. ***
G1 Climax – Block A: Zack Sabre Jr. [6] vs. Hirooki Goto [4]
Zack begins applying holds right from the start, focusing Goto’s left leg and MAKING him hard sell. I love Zack because he doesn’t just apply hold after hold after hold, he makes everything he does meaningful. The detail he puts into his submissions is second to none, always doing some little thing to either make the hold more intense or to bring the amount of pain inflicted to his opponent to a maximum level. He’s wearing down Goto’s leg and his arm and really putting Goto in a tough spot. Zack counters a few lariat attempts until finally Goto puts Zack down on the mat. Zack leaps towards Goto and applies a front neck lock and as Goto attempts to reverse it, Zack drops to the mat and rolls Goto over into a Japanese leg roll clutch for a near fall. Every time Goto attempts something Zack has an answer for it until Goto catches a kick they begin trading elbows and uppercuts in the middle of the ring. Zack is goes absolutely NUTS, KICKING the hell out of Goto’s arm every time he attempts a lariat and it is freaking AWESOME. Goto finally lands one that puts Zack down and he calls for the finish. He kicks Zack across the chest and HITS THE STO to get the victory. LOVED that finish. I would have liked to see it be dragged out a with a few more near falls but it made sense that once Goto was able to string together a huge lariat and the STO, it would be over. Loved Goto’s selling in this and that has been one of my knocks against him so far in the tournament but this was really good. Zack continues to be awesome. This never quite reached that NEXT level the way Ibushi/Sabre did and it didn’t have the story of Tanahashi/Ibushi, but it was damn good. ***1/2
G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi [6] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [2]
Tanahashi controls the first portion of the match, focusing a bit on wearing down YOSHI’s leg. At one point YOSHI just gets pissed off and starts throwing elbows, Tanahashi eventually hitting a Dragon screw and dropkicking YOSHI’s leg out before applying a Sharpshooter. YOSHI gets the ropes but is taken down again by another Dragon screw. Tanahashi heads to the top rope but YOSHI follows and pulls him off, slamming him down to the mat. We get an elbow exchange, and YOSHI turns up the gears, grabbing Tanahashi’s hair with both hands and throwing elbows to the face. This gets the crowd going and it puts YOSHI in the driver’s seat. YOSH HASH is starting to impress in this, putting on a much better performance than in his previous two matches. His offense isn’t boring as has been my knock on him so far in his bigger matches. We get plenty of near falls and the crowd is INTO it as YOSHI controls the pace. Tanahashi is really putting over all of YOSHI’s moves and YOSHI is still selling that leg through everything. They tease the Karma with a few reversals and YOSHI drops Tanahashi with a back cracker. He goes for the Karma again but Tanahashi hits a swinging neckbreaker. YOSHI with some elbows and kicks but Tanahashi counters with a Sling Blade and heads to the top rope for the High Fly Flow and the victory. As said, YOSHI looked good here and the match really picked up once YOSHI turned it up. The beginning portion of the match felt slow and lacked a bit of chemistry but overall it’s worth checking out. ***1/4
G1 Climax – Block A: Tomohiro Ishii [4] vs. Tetsuya Naito [6]
This is a war right from the start. Naito roughs Ishii up for a while and you know it’s only a matter of time before Ishii makes him pay for what he has done. He tries with a short burst of elbows and kicks in the corner but Naito comes right back and continues to wear Ishii down. Ishii hits a backdrop and starts making his comeback. He places Naito on the top rope and we all know what’s coming next but Naito shakes free and hits a neckbreaker and German suplex for a near fall. Finally Ishii would sustain some offense, hitting a few power moves including a massive powerbomb. He lets out a yell with a bloody mouth and Naito would come right back with a swinging DDT. Ishii goes for a neckbreaker but Naito counters with a less than stellar Destino and Ishii kicks out. They tease the Destino again but Ishii kicks Naito right in the face and both men are down. Now this is picking up and the crowd is getting behind Naito huge. They meet off the ropes and Naito hits a Destino, Ishii just sitting RIGHT UP after and coming off the ropes with a lariat to Naito who is sitting on the mat. Another HUGE lariat and Naito kicks out. BRAINBUSTAAAAAAA. 1. 2. 3. This was pretty entertaining once it got going. I know it’s Ishii’s character but I DO NOT LIKE the complete no-sell of Naito’s Destino, and because of that I can’t give this the bump. They did put a beating on each other though and we had some great building in the match right from the beginning. You know what you are getting with these two and you know when they are in the ring together you are going to see some great stuff. Right now I think I liked their G1 USA 7/2 match a bit better than this, but this was a worthy main event. ***3/4
Final Thoughts: Top to bottom a great show and a great way to kick off the second half(ish) of the tournament. Every match brought something good to the table and I can say that there is nothing here that is not worth watching. The A Block tightens up a bit now with 7 wrestlers in contention for the top spot, all within 2 points and some big matches still to come. Makabe, Fale, and Goto all had their best matches to date in the G1 and the main event was exactly what you would expect. RECOMMENDED.
Twitter: @ ligersama
