The G1 Climax is upon us! As we do with New Japan’s big tournaments, we’re focusing strictly on the tournament action here, folks. For full results of each show, you can check out our NJPW category right here.
As always, I’ve got a very simple five point scale laid out where a 1 is total skip, 2 you can probably skip unless you love one of the folks in it, 3 is a match that’s worth watching but not necessarily worth making time for, a 4 is a solid recommendation to make time for if you can, and a 5 is a must-watch.
Mind you, these are not star ratings. They’re not meant to be absolute ratings in any sense, but rather a simple (and hopefully sensible) way to determine if a match is worth your time. A one is not necessarily a bad match, but rather just one I feel like you’re best off skipping. I have my biases, of course, but hopefully I can make it easy for you to adjust for them.
Night One (A Block, July 14)
Togi Makabe vs. YOSHI-HASHI (4): Straight-up clubbering to start, YOSHI-HASHI happy to fight Makabe’s match and he avoids paying the price for it, taking him to the floor and legitimately dominating the Unchained King Kong for a while. Of course he gets back into it with his signature clubbing, but even with the tide turned, Tacos is never more than a hard strike or two away from switching the momentum right back.
So the story here is Tacos going hard to overwhelm an aging and potentially down a step Makabe, forcing him into the role of the old lion trying to defend his spot in the pride, and that makes for a surprisingly compelling match. A good way to kick the tourney off and definitely worth getting eyes on.
Bad Luck Fale vs. Hangman Page (2): Fale taking it right to Page, taking the action outside immediately and despite Hangman’s best effort he leaves him for dead deep in the crowd. The damage done, Page hobbles back to the ring and weathers Bad Luck’s assault until he can create an opening and start chopping the big man down, with the added variable of Tanga Loa being at ringside to assist his fellow Firing Squad member.
This has some good drama to it, both just from the inherent David and Goliath story and from the tension of Fale returning to a fractured Bullet Club, but it never quite finds the spark. Solid, not essential by any means.
EVIL vs. Michael Elgin (3): Bull moose strength testing to start, shoulder blocks and chops exchanged, to the floor, and a clothesline to the post gives EVIL the opportunity he wants, and he starts breaking Elgin’s arm down. Mike fights through the pain, makes his comeback, and the match becomes more of an even fight back and forth until one man prevails.
There are stretches where I could nitpick and wish the arm mattered a little more, but overall the focus stays on it nicely and there’s some good stuff in here like an arm wringer off the apron. Not essential, but probably worth the time if you’ve got it.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki (5): Suzuki moving at lightning speed early, trying to overwhelm Tanahashi and take his knee out again. Minoru able to just lock him down at will, shuffling through holds to deal as much and as varied damage to the leg as possible. And there’s the story of the match, naturally enough-- Suzuki having done the damage, can the 1/100 Ace fight his way back into contention on one leg? Tanahashi targets the leg in return and each of his blows deals significant damage, but it’s a huge deficit to fight back from.
Shocker, a match between these two built around this story turns out to be a pretty darn good match. There’s maybe a little too much sitting around in holds that you probably shouldn’t sit around that long in, but Minoru does a good job switching it up and keeping it mostly believable and other than that it rules and you should watch it.
“Switchblade” Jay White vs. Kazuchika Okada (4): Stablemates playful with each other initially but White’s all business and we get down to the action in short order. Okada pulls ahead on a trip to the floor, almost casually disinterested as he presses the attack and that ends up costing him. Switchblade in control for an extended period, stealing the Rainmaker’s moves and using them against him. As the match progresses, Okada gets more and more and Jay has to resort to bigger and bigger moves to try and keep him down, including a back suplex over the ropes and to the floor.
So the story is clear-- the young, cocky, fresh star takes it to the old, cocky, fresh star who’s grown disillusioned by his recent losses, but Okada isn’t just laying down for him. This is a bit of a weird one for me personally because I love the outline of the story but in execution it left me a little cold. Nothing wrong with it, it’s a good match, just one I personally had trouble connecting with. So I’m giving this a solid recommendation, but I can’t quite go the full must-watch on it.
Night Two (B Block, July 15)
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano (4): Yano stepping up to Ishii early and taking it to him in his own style! The action heads to the floor and Tom reasserts himself, but the Sublime Master Thief isn’t giving up the experiment that easily. And so the story develops, Yano gradually returning to form and slowly opening up the bag of tricks but wanting to prove that he’s every bit the competitor that his tag team partner is.
The result is quite good and a worthy watch, especially for those of you who perhaps have been down on Toru’s shenanigan-filled trademark matches in the past.
Juice Robinson vs. Tama Tonga (2): Slow and steady start, feeling out by way of mat grappling, and soon enough the action spills outside where Tonga targets Robinson’s broken hand but can’t demolish it like he’d like. Back inside, they turn the heat up, and Juice ends up on the floor where Tanga Loa wipes him out. Tama takes the occasion to slow things down and now he finally goes to work on the hand, and the story proceeds to be about whether or not Robinson can overcome his injury and scratch out a win.
This was a solid match, but for me it never got better than it was in the brief window before Loa interfered when they were both going full speed, and as much as I like the idea of Juice fighting from underneath against the odds of the hand injury, in the execution it didn’t connect very strongly with me.
Hirooki Goto vs. SANADA (3): Goto pulling ahead out of the feeling out, his mean streak on display, but SANADA uses his athleticism to turn the tide and take things to the floor. Cold Skull seizes control for a while but the match never becomes one-sided for long. This is a good match elevated by a hot finishing stretch and, while not essential, is worth putting on the list if you’ve got the time for it.
Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. (5): Intense grappling dominates the game early, Ibushi going hold-for-hold with Sabre before becoming frustrated with the stalemate and heading to the striking! ZSJ is happy to trade a few but creates himself an opening by countering the Golden Triangle into an inverted heel hook that takes them from apron to the floor(!) and he goes after the leg with vigor!
The stage is thus set and the result is an instant classic in the same vein as their previous two matches. The counters alone are worth the proverbial price of admission. Watch it!
Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito (5): Omega’s all smiles and sportsmanship early, but Naito’s not having it! Omega turns the gas on in response and dominates the Stardust Genius for most of the match, trying his damnedest to cement his legacy as IWGP Heavyweight Champion by not letting Tetsuya get a hold in edgewise, but of course he scrapes and claws and makes comebacks on the way.
Excellent match. Get your eyes on it!
Night Three (A Block, July 16)
Hangman Page vs. Michael Elgin (2): Page bringing it to Elgin in the feeling out, matching him shot for shot and forcing Mike to change tactics and take flight. Hangman responds in kind before going to work on the head and neck to set Rite of Passage up but that story doesn’t dominate the match and they basically just go back and forth for a while, escalating as they go.
This is a solid match that does a good job of building to a strong finishing stretch but never quite finds a throughline.
EVIL vs. YOSHI-HASHI (2): YOSHI-HASHI aggressive out the gate but EVIL takes him to the floor to soften him up, going after his injured shoulder. Into the striking, Tacos fights through the pain as they shift to trading bigger moves, and all in all this is a good match built around the injured arm that has some nice exchanges to it even if it’s not quite exceptional enough to recommend.
Minoru Suzuki vs. Togi Makabe (3): Right to slugging it out like two angry dads arguing over barbecue technique and Makabe gets the better of it in the end. They end up on the floor, still brawling, into a chair duel, back inside but referee Marty Asami got taken out and El Desperado slides a chair into the ring for Suzuki to wail on the Unchained King Kong with.
So it continues, just two old dudes beating the holy hell out of each other, and while it’s not exactly a must-watch, it’s a lot of fun.
Bad Luck Fale vs. Kazuchika Okada (2): Okada trying to get into Fale’s head early, they end up on the floor and the Rainmaker uses Tanga Loa as a weapon against the big man. This backfires as Loa ends up slamming him while Bad Luck has referee Red Shoes Unno distracted, and Fale proceeds to dominate Kazuchika. Okada, of course, refuses to just lie down and keeps creating openings.
This is a pretty standard Okada/Fale match. They have a certain baseline chemistry that always delivers but there’s nothing terribly new or exciting here. If you’re new to their feud, by all means, toss this one on, but if this would be your third/fourth/fifth time seeing these guys wrestle each other, it’s likely a pass.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. “Switchblade” Jay White (4): All Tanahashi early on, but White eventually goes after the injured knee and turns the tide. Working it over with every trick in his book. the 1/100 Ace keeps himself in the fight and, much like the Suzuki match, lands a dragon screw of his own to try and open it up, but here it doesn’t lead to a more even fight and Hiroshi has to continue to fight for his life from underneath.
This is an interesting bookend to Jay’s match against Okada, with Tanahashi starting off on better footing but falling deeper in debt as Switchblade does his thing. And his thing comes off really well, going two for two on really good matches so far. This one falls just shy of a must-watch thanks to some really overwrought chair drama in the last act, but it’s still, for the most part, very much worth watching.
There you have it, folks
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to toss in your two cents below, Cagesiders.