NJPW G1 CLIMAX 27, 8/1/17 (Day 11)
Kagoshima Arena
We enter August, and the 11th day of the G1 Climax. I’m going to try to do less full-on recapping of the matches and just give my thoughts as I watch.
G1 Climax – Block A: Bad Luck Fale [6] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [2]
YOSHI is FIRED UP here, and the crowd is behind him. In my opinion this was much better than it had any right to be. YOSHI was really good, as was Fale, and they worked really well together to get the crowd going and keep them into it the entire match. When YOSHI counters the Bad Luck Fall the crowd goes NUTS for him and it just escalates from there until he scores the surprise roll-up pin for the victory. For YOSHI, I thought his match with Ishii was better, but this was Fale’s best of the tournament so far. Worth checking out. ***1/4
G1 Climax – Block A: Togi Makabe [6] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [6]
By now you should know what you are getting with Sabre in a match and this is no different than any encounter of his so far in the tournament. He finds an opening, kicks Makabe’s leg out from under him and starts focusing that leg for the majority of the match. Makabe gets fed up and resorts to a wild elbow exchange which obviously he would come out on top of, but not before flipping Sabre off and dropping him with a stiff lariat. That would be about the extent of Makabe’s offense in this match and Sabre taps him out. **3/4
G1 Climax – Block A: Tomohiro Ishii [6] vs. Yuji Nagata [0]
Have I mentioned before how much I hate Ishii’s top rope brainbuster? Because I do. I really do. He hits it again here and it goes on to mean nothing to the match because Nagata would be in control for most of the time following that spot. Nagata once again looks good here and the man is just not taking a night off. If he were to, though, it wouldn’t be this night because a loss here would eliminate him from a chance at winning (which we all know isn’t happening anyway). The styles of these two mesh very well here and we get some awesome exchanges and near falls. Great action towards the end as Nagata continues to impress. The man can probably still go. Nah, he CAN still go. Ishii was freaking good here too, throwing everything he had at Nagata in convincing fashion. The looks on his face when Nagata would stay alive were great and I really thought a few times here that Nagata would pull it off. Awesome. ****
G1 Climax – Block A: Tetsuya Naito [6] vs. Hirooki Goto [6]
An important match to try and keep pace with Tanahashi and Zack Sabre at the top of the standings. Goto sells the hell out of his neck and Naito is never really able to fully capitalize. They work around Naito attempting to land the Destino a few times but Goto would counter it twice. Naito would have to use a running variation to finally land the finisher but Goto kicks out of that one before taking one more along with the loss. I feel like the ending was a little overkill on the Destino but what do I know. Not their best match by any means. ***
G1 Climax – Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi [8] vs. Kota Ibushi [4]
An Ibushi main event in his hometown means Tanahashi is heeling it up right from the start. He attempts to ground Ibushi by working over his leg and would go back to it later on with several dragon screw takedowns once Ibushi starts gaining an advantage with his aerial attack. Ibushi would end up outsmarting Tanahashi, dodging any further attacks on his leg. I feel like during many parts of this match they are trying to capture the greatness from the Ibushi/Naito match but it never really gets that good. There is some great stuff here though. The near falls towards the end were great, Tanahashi using a straight jacket German suplex and dropping Ibushi on his damn neck with a Sling Blade, and Ibushi getting payback by blocking the High Fly Flow and landing an insane kick to Tanahashi’s head. Kota’s reaction when Tanahashi kicks out of the Golden Star Powerbomb is just incredible. ***3/4
Standings
Hiroshi Tanahashi [8]
Tetsuya Naito [8]
Tomohiro Ishii [8]
Zack Sabre Jr. [8]
Hirooki Goto [6]
Bad Luck Fale [6]
Kota Ibushi [6]
Togi Makabe [6]
YOSHI-HASHI [4] x
Yuji Nagata [0] x
Final Thoughts: Solid show here with Tanahashi/Ibushi and Ishii/Nagata being the standout matches and we had an impressive performance from YOSHI and Fale to kick it all off. Worth checking out. A great night of wrestling.
Twitter: @ ligersama
