So we come to an end, my friend, the practically irresponsible task of both viewing and typing out thoughts on every single tournament match in the 29th edition of New Japan’s G1 Climax now complete.
The tournament was great. Block A had stockpiles of great wrestling matches from Tanahashi, Okada, and Ospreay, while EVIL and SANADA continued to emerge as players and had incredible matches with those guys. Lance Archer was also the strangest highlight, finally becoming the monster gaijin New Japan seems to keep forgetting is a wonderful gimmick available to them.
Seeing KENTA treated like a serious wrestler for the first time in years was a treat too, even if the matches were hit-or-miss. The hits were serious hits though – Okada and Zack Sabre Jr. both had the recipe for a great modern KENTA match. I’m not going to say I liked any particular Bad Luck Fale performance, but I will say I enjoyed a few Bad Luck Fale matches. Kota Ibushi was fine too.
Block B had Ishii and Shingo plus Moxley just dripping in pro-wres love, but also a lot of stinkers, with Naito not quite being up to par, Jay White being in a lot of marquee matches that didn’t deliver, and Taichi and Jeff Cobb being outright bad unless opposite the block’s MVP’s. Hirooki Goto and Juice Robinson were fine constants – capable of greatness, also capable of me going “ehhh.” There were a lot of individual classics from Block B, if not top-to-bottom great cards.
Overall I really loved this thing – there were so many great matches and performances, and it was a lot of fun to see a month of New Japan wrestling that felt urgent and important. Characters and personalities were being seriously developed, and that’s not always the case.
Also – I watched everything but the finals live overnight after watching the painfully FINE show that was SummerSlam, so these aren’t the clearest thoughts. What do you want from me!? I just banged out 18 posts on this thing!!!
1. Ren Narita & Yota Tsuji vs. Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors
This pit New Japan Dojo trainees vs. LA Dojo trainees, while also introducing me to three new professional wrestlers. Like any good Young Lion opener there was a lot of some credible, solid wrestling that got a better reaction than many things from more established stars later on. Fredericks and Connors read as blank slate technically sound young lion guys and that’s not a knock – it’s a very, very good thing. Katsuyori Shibata, who I only expected to reference once when I began my notes for this show, continues to spread Strong Style like democracy around the world. **3/4
2. Jeff Cobb, Jushin Thunder Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Lance Archer, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
Jushin Thunder Liger’s last match in Budokan feels like it should be a bigger deal than a random 6-man where he teams with Jeff Cobb, but so goes the way of Japan. It’s like the last episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, there is no spectacle to be made of this – life will go on. Archer running around being a psychopath was the highlight of this very unremarkable match, with his break of the Romero Special lighting up Budokan Hall. **
3. Will Ospreay & Roppongi 3K vs. Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens & Taiji Ishimori
I know Will is having a run, but his ability to have compelling exchanges with Yujiro just seems unfair. This felt pretty meaningless but had enough talent to bring things up a notch. Chase Owens might be growing on me. **1/2
4. Jon Moxley & Shota Umino vs. Juice Robinson & Toa Henare
Juice and Jon are here, and they’ve got a couple spots worked out but otherwise they’re taking the night off. Toa Henare meanwhile is a fired up power guy who needs a hook – there’s a NEVER Openweight Title match in him, but what else? Umino as Mox’s buddy remains adorable. **
5. Togi Makabe, Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, Tomoaki Honma & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, SANADA, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI
The line-up of absolute TALENT in Los Ingobernables is ridiculous, a crop of absolute savages who should realistically be spread across the card more. This match was an example of that, with everyone going through the motions of their moderately over spots and nothing standing out. I know Naito’s whole thing is that he’s too cool to care, but I really think he should’ve seemed like he cared a little here. **1/2
6. KENTA, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa
I’m not sure I can tell you much of what happened in this match but I can tell you that it ended with one of the most gratifying wrestling angles I’ve ever seen that made my terrible sleeping habits this weekend completely worth it. It goes like this: Bullet Club does their bullshit, then Ishii tries to tag KENTA and KENTA drops off the apron. He teases going to the back, then returns to the ring and lays out Ishii! And Ishii is pinned! **
And I think to myself: OK, that’s cool. KENTA vs. Ishii. That is a very awesome direction I did not expect.
And suddenly, the surprised chemistry swimming around my brain got even more jumbled up, as Katsuyori Shibata appeared in the ring to tell KENTA to knock it off.
But he didn’t stop there.
He admonished KENTA, and admonished KENTA the only way a Shibata really knows how: by ELBOWING HIM IN THE FACE. Repeatedly. Hard. The Budokan Hall crowd lost their MINDS, and I just sat there with a confused, excited look on my face that I would both love and hate to see captured on camera.
And then he did even more. Like he honestly kind of had a little match with KENTA, complete with the CORNER DROPKICK, and I’m not sure if Katsuyori Shibata is ever going to return to the ring but if he is not: what a moment. And if he is: WHAT A MOMENT. The Wrestler got physical in the ring, something that felt unthinkable up until the first elbow.
And they didn’t stop there.
Eventually, the Tongans joined KENTA in beating down Shibata, and KENTA soaked in a heel heat not heard in New Japan since Shiro Koshinaka and his buddies were stirring up trouble at Korakuen Hall. To top it off, KENTA did Shibata’s indian-style sitting pose ON TOP OF HIM, smiling like the piece of shit past his prime asshole that he is.
The match was a match, but the angle was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in pro wrestling.
7. Kazuchika Okada & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzki & Zack Sabre Jr.
This was an all-star type of match, a real Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi vs. Karl Gotch & Lou Thesz type of match, and most importantly the type of match that re-established the danger of a man that shouldn’t need re-establishing: Minoru Suzuki. They did all kinds of fun wrestling here, highlighted by ZSJ being a cock to Tanahashi and Suzuki seemingly just SEETHING through the entire match. His look of evil disgust when he booted Okada off the apron was an image that shook me harder than The Fiend ever could. LOVED the straight-up clean win over Okada too – that Gotch piledriver jammed so hard the crowd KNEW it was the end, even if they saw Okada kicking of everybody’s finish the last month. ***1/2
8. G1 Climax – Final: Kota Ibushi vs. Jay White
This wasn’t the match I was expecting, and by that I mean this was not the match I expected to be the finals of this year’s G1 Climax. It was one I honest to God joked about a week ago as something that was probable but would’ve been a bummer, and here I am watching it. And it was good. Really, really good. Great, even.
The G1 Finals atmosphere helped, but this was not a match that relied on just that – the built-in crowd passion simply brought what was a really good match up to great status. Gedo and The Bullet Club getting kicked out right away was a tremendous play on the silliness that came with White’s matches throughout the G1, and they eventually settled into a very well-structured match based around Jay White working that leg and Ibushi selling it. And I really still haven’t quite caught what makes a Jay White match tick – one night he’s working over the leg and having the most God awful mediocre late-80s AWA midcard wrestling match, two nights later he’s working over it and doing some of the most compelling babyface vs. heel stuff New Japan has had going on in years.
This was the latter. Ibushi had his occasional rallies – a snap rana here, a kick to the chest there, but it was mostly Jay grinding away at the limb that has plagued Ibushi all tournament while doing some really cool cut-off spots during it. Ibushi went for the Golden Triangle early – nope, Jay White is pulling ya down. Ibushi tried that snap rana early – nope, Jay White is wrenching ya leg.
Ibushi did that thing where he’s sympathetic but is still going to do his spots whether he’s on one leg or not. I love how seamlessly he can go from passionately crying out as he tries to rally a comeback to the “I’m gonna fuck you up” look on his face after Jay slapped him.
I liked how they played with the White tropes, from referee Red Shoes kicking everybody out early to Red Shoes taking a bump later and the crowd knowing what was coming next. And I’ve got to say: I may not love it most nights, but Gedo’s shit-eating grin as he strutted down to the ring among massive boos after Red Shoes went down was a MOMENT.
There might’ve been a near fall or two at the end that felt excessive, but they still managed to throw me for a loop after seeing what felt like every possible version of the New Japan main event finish. They did a great job teasing what felt like a very possible very disappointing Jay White win, and Ibushi’s kickout of the Blade Runner after Gedo’s return to ringside might’ve made my heart stop. In the end, gets the trophy that he came so close to last year, and presumably heads to the Tokyo Dome for another showdown with Okada.
Good. Really, really good. Great, even. ****1/4
