Ah, the G1 Climax. A concept always evolving kind of settled on a format in 2002, one tested in the last couple years as a public health emergency made the talent stale and crowds quiet.
This year had some new faces but with four blocks and twenty-eight entrants, even the peaks – which were there, albeit less than usual – could get lost in the glut of insignificant and forgettable Block matches. The schedule didn’t allow anyone beyond the usual suspects to gain much momentum day-to-day, and while some of the matches used their 15-20+ runtimes well there were many more that didn’t.
And yet: the G1 Climax concept and New Japan in general can still produce good wrestling. The consistency can get stale (example: this tournament that sometimes bordered on skippable garbage) but it can also produce some incredible gems (example: this tournament that sold me on 2-3 new wrestlers).
The usual suspects like Okada, Tanahashi, Naito, Shingo, Ishii, and on a lower key level Goto, Taichi, ZSJ and YOSHI-HASHI all kept things steady while JONAH, Tama Tonga, El Phantasmo and sometimes David Finlay managed to really shine. Jay White was pretty good too.
There were some real drags and several Toru Yano routines that approached or surpassed 10 minutes, but only a few matches that were meant to be good were actually not good. I’m not going to tell many of my friends to go watch Goto vs. KENTA from Night 10, but I’d be willing to admit to a close one that I enjoyed it.
After 83 block matches and a semi-finals, the 32nd-annual G1 Climax tournament concluded in Tokyo at Budokan Hall, where New Japan’s largest audience since before COVID-19 saw last year’s winner Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay in the finals as well as Luke Gallows, from the Good Brothers.
1. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & YOH vs. EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Dick Togo
The boys are back. And they’re brawling. Sometimes they seemed more fired up than they were in their lesser G1 matches. A few genuinely inspired double or triple teams led to YOH pinning Togo. Goto continued to gouge at EVIL’s eyes on the floor after the match, so SHO took the opportunity to knock out YOH. Well. **1/2
2. JONAH & Bad Dude Tito vs. Tom Lawlor & Royce Isaacs
Sometimes, usually around my birthday LATELY, I’ll think about the aesthetic choices these guys who are around my age make as they try to breakout as wrestlers. Sometimes I hate it, then I take a beat and think maybe their approach is exactly what I would do. Anyways: “Filthy” Tom Lawlor had a good match with Okada but spent most of the G1 doing jokes and stuff.
JONAH had a better G1, probably the best of anyone who didn’t win their Block. Once he got past Yano on Night 1 he had most guys’ best match and looked dominant all tour, especially when he actually beat Okada. That continued here with plenty of good smashing and crashing by him and the Bad Dude, including an assisted blockbuster that looked especially impressive considering their size. ***
3. Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan & Aaron Henare vs. Juice Robinson, Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens
Cobb caught a Juice crossbody off the top and turned it into the Tour of the Islands at the end of this match, which featured many of the G1 32’s underachievers coming together for a little bit of swearing and wrestling. **3/4
4. Tetsuya Naito, SANADA & BUSHI vs. Lance Archer, Zack Sabre Jr. & Taichi
Fun guys having fun undercard match. SANADA and Taichi did push-ups, Naito and ZSJ got really mad at each other, and Naito bumped for a shoulderblock from Archer so big it made me want to see the singles match. ***
5. Shingo Takagi & Hiromu Takahashi vs. KENTA & El Phantasmo
Shingo ensured this G1’s quality while ELP ensured something happened. I love when things happen. This 6’1″ super athletic guy with a sense for getting under people’s skin seamlessly moving from the junior to heavyweight division in New Japan wasn’t very surprising, but the heel to babyface move being so seamless was. His tournament win over Shingo was a shock but came after a long and grueling match; this plus-sized tag match clocked in at half the time and ended with a punch to the balls but the way ELP tried to fight back during Shingo’s rapid-fire strikes was really awesome. I think I’m sold on ELP. ***1/4
6. Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay vs. Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows
Hiroshi Tanahashi was a fascinating watch this tournament, putting out mostly good matches and the occasional great one but relying on more tricks than ever. The weight of injury and age was there but it wasn’t just selling for Tanahashi this time; he came prepared and in most matches was just cagey as heck. Here… the Good Brothers put him in chinlocks. Breakout Dave got a little run too. It all made sense even if it wasn’t always fun to watch. ***1/4
7. Tama Tonga & KUSHIDA vs. Jay White & Taiji Ishimori
Tama Tonga and Jay White both had quality G1 campaigns, but they took a step back tonight and let the juniors do the wrestling thing. KUSHIDA is just back and wrapping up New Japan guys in leglocks. And pinning the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion! ***
8. G1 Climax – Final : Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay
Like my new favorite wrestler JONAH said on Night 13, “if you shine a light bright enough it will be seen for millions and millions of years.” I’m not sure how much control a you (some “individual”) has over how bright said light shines – it’s usually more collaborative – but otherwise that’s just a fact.
Sometimes something – or somebody – comes along and messes with the facts. They might make you feel like you can’t see or say things so simply, for they have messed with the “scale,” which is supposed to be correct – for if it is not, then by golly – what criteria is being used to verify the facts!? And if we can’t agree on the criteria, how are we even sure we are using the facts to take actions correctly? What is the point of even measuring something in the first place!? Are we to just… experience it?
This will not be me going on any further about how Will Ospreay – all of 29-years-old and one of the biggest non-WWE names in wrestling – breaks some scale of quality so thoroughly that it cannot be measured by the status quo. Happy Wrestling Land isn’t introducing 5.5 or 6-star ratings, and if they were going to they probably wouldn’t be used much on Will Ospreay.
What is a great wrestler? A brilliant one? Are they masters of pacing, psychology, and * sigh* facials? Do they do cool shit? Can they keep up with Okada – proven great wrestler, by scales both past and present – in the G1 Finals at Budokan? Or does someone just have to move the spotlight a little?
In the G1 Climax 32 and this night in particular, the lights shined brightest from two stars in particular: Okada and Ospreay. They shined bright against each other before, the last two Wrestle Kingdom shows in fact. Both of those were great but sort of bloated matches that still did nothing to dissuade me from a sigh of relief when, a few matches before this one, New Japan announced Wrestle Kingdom would be going back to a one-night affair.
Is Will Ospreay a great wrestler? A star? I see people say he is – fans and wrestling promoters alike. He commands attention, or a kind of it. I’ve taken in a ton of his matches called good – or “epic” or “brilliant” – but when the lights do shine brightest on Will they don’t always convince me the units of measurement allowing it to happen line up. The calls of “epic” and “brilliant” do hit sometimes, but like… 20% of the time. When it doesn’t hit it’s not the end of the world, but it does make me feel like somebody’s lying.
Sidenote that I’ve probably opened any conversation about the G1 Final with: nothing matches the environment of a puroresu tournament final, especially the G1 Climax. Gift a great wrestler said environment and oh wow.
So, is Will Ospreay a great wrestler? Well. Of all the people to take Okada’s DDT on the floor this Summer, Ospreay took it the best. He delivered a perfect corkscrew plancha to the floor then pumped his fist. He worked Okada’s neck and sold Okada’s neck work. He threw a combo of stiff chops and Kawada kicks, did an OsCutter on the apron, a Van Terminator, a flying forearm to the back of the head and another OsCutter — then he held his neck — for a near fall. Once Okada kicked out, it was on – the light, the action, the dramatic near falls. Over time, one’s dramatic near fall became another’s affront to the fabric of the business — now it feels somewhere in between. Or beyond that.
Okada countered the Stormbreaker with a Rainmaker that Ospreay stayed up for, followed by another he went down for. Each guy jockeyed to hit a pair of gorgeous but effective dropkicks, then Ospreay began pulling out the finishing moves of top New Japan guys who came before him: a Styles Clash, a V-Trigger. When he tried the One-Winged Angel, Okada slipped out and dropped him on his head then hit another nasty Rainmaker for an incredible 2.
What stood out to me here (beyond the excitement of the G1 environment and great wrestling match) was that in contrast with their matches before, Ospreay didn’t have to prove himself as Okada’s equal because Okada gave him that to begin with. Okada’s always been giving, sometimes to his detriment, but the approach here compared to the matches they had when Will was a junior showed pretty incredible growth by both of them.
Go watch this match because it’s the finals of the G1 Climax tournament. In a tournament where the matches more often than not felt a little too long, this was the longest and didn’t feel like it for a second. Most of the time. ****3/4
Happy Thoughts: Solid undercard, tremendous final. It didn’t position New Japan as must-follow again but was certainly a reminder they’re still capable of greatness — albeit a status quo greatness. 3.5 / 5.0
