Keep your helmet…
Keep your life, son…
Just a flesh wound…
Here’s your rifle.. OH
Crawling up the beaches now…
“Sir, I think he’s bleeding out”
And some things you just can’t speeeaak about…
With you I serve, with you I fall… down…
Down…
Watch you breathin’… Watch you breathin’… out…
Out…
Something… med school…
Did not… cover…
Someone’s daughter…
Someone’s mother…
Hold your hand through plastic now
Doc, I think she’s crashin’ out
And some things you just can’t speak about
1. Yuya Uemura vs. Yota Tsuji
Ringside camera shot of Yuya Uemura fighting out of a crab hold. Art. ARTISTRY! Aristrist. **1/2
2. G1 Climax – Block A: Minoru Suzuki vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Minoru Suzuki is good at this and got it to a place where people were rooting for the Tokyo Pimp, though it was still mostly chokin’ n walkin’ mixed with low energy Yujiro delivery. *3/4
3. G1 Climax – Block A: Kota Ibushi vs. Jeff Cobb
Kind of a blank space of a match. That’s Ibushi’s thing sometimes and it can totally be used well, but Jeff Cobb isn’t doing it. I hope they shook hands and remained friends afterwards. **1/4
4. G1 Climax – Block A: Kazuchika Okada vs. Taichi
Okada has had like six ACTUALLY good matches this year – two at Wrestle Kingdom, two in the New Japan Cup, and one was in February against Taichi. With the benefit of nine months of COVID hindsight that last one might actually be the best, and here is Taichi having Okada’s best match of the G1 so far too. He added a welcome hook to Okada’s shtick in February, but that was adding to a hook Big Match Okada – this was him adding a hook to G1 2020’s Sleepy Okada. He and Suzuki-gun are wrestling like heels while the Bullet Club is still just playing heels.
Taichi brought the pain to Okada early in the form of chairs and choking, but held his end of the bargain towards the end with credible finishers that Okada kicked out at all the right last seconds on. There was a frustration in Okada’s eyes here over how competitive this was, but I still can’t tell if that is a feature or a bug for the Rainmaker. ***1/2
5. G1 Climax – Block A: Will Ospreay vs. Jay White
I don’t question that he is firmly rooted in the efforts of the New Japan Dojo system, but the best version of Jay White I’ve seen has been in the United States against Juice Robinson and in Japan against Will Ospreay. He just never meshes with the New Japan heavyweight vibe enough, whether it’s Shinya Hashimoto’s or even Tetsuya Naito’s. New Japan’s wrestling philosophy over the the last decade says a lot of Switchblade should work, but it rarely comes off any better than completely sufficient.
He did initially train and debut in the U.K. less than a decade ago just like Ospreay, and White is able to have the match here it seems like he might always want to have – albeit with a guy who just fundamentally meshes better with him and has also adapted better to the New Japan heavyweight vibe – maybe not Hashimoto’s, but Naito’s for sure. ***3/4
6. G1 Climax – Block A: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Shingo Takagi
Love that New Japan knows the chemistry between these two is so good that they have headlined no less than two G1 Climax shows now. This one didn’t have the benefit of the rowdy crowd in Yokohama last year, but it did have an applause that was so frequent and consistent and LOUD that it nearly transcended the fact that nobody can shout out in appreciation anymore because there’s a deadly virus that wants to float around the air.
Something like this can usually transcend a quiet crowd though because it just has the fundamentals: severely hard strikes, registration of pain, believability, straight-up pride. They are two presences that deliver on the promise of the presence, two bad dudes who know they’re going to have to do the whole damn thing!
Shingo brings a new energy to the already awesome Ishii match, with not just effortless strength that allows him to toss the old man around but also a new challenge for the Stone Pitbull in the form of youthful strength and speed – this is not just two guys hitting each other back-and-forth. There is a spot towards the end of this nearly 30-minute match where Ishii throws a lariat that would kill an ordinary man and Shingo not only absorbs it but immediately strikes with a punch to Ishii’s face that has this ANGER to it, like Shingo was so offended he blacked out and went off. He followed that up with an even deadlier lariat and a scream that Korakuen couldn’t help but get giddy about.
Lots of wrestling matches have a big peak these days, but only a select few are real enough to feel like they deserve that peak. Towards the end of this match both guys are exhausted, down on the mat and staring each other in the face still ready to fight. Ishii throws a weak headbutt at Shingo’s head before making direct contact with a few more, just dirty nasty wrestling that I hope to GOD is not as dangerous as it appears to be (nervous laughter).
When Ishii actually overcomes this Entourage Adam Davies motherfucker and gets revenge from last year, I swear he broke down crying before immediately holding the top of his head in throbbing pain. As good as it gets. *****
Happy Thoughts: A couple iffy matches on the undercard aside, this was the first G1 Climax show this year worth going out of your way to see. The Okada/Taichi and White/Ospreay pairings brought the best out of each other and the main event is one of the best matches of the year. 10/10
