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, and for previous match recommendations, you can click right here for the first batch and here for the second.
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 Eight (B Block, July 26)
Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano (2): Perhaps fed up with his results to date, Yano drops all pretense of serious grappling here and reverts to form, trying to squeeze out a win by any means necessary. Goto, however, is in full grumpy champion mode and not having any of it, and the result is short, sweet, and... totally inessential.
Tama Tonga vs. Tetsuya Naito (1): Tonga with a cheap shot out the gates, and here we go into the Firing Squad cavalcade of interference and general nonsense with Tanga Loa coming to ringside. This is overall much in the same vein as Omega/Tonga-- there are some bright points and good exchanges, but it’s just too much interference and it’s not really worth subjecting yourself to. Pass.
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. (5): Ishii with a slight edge early on and that brings Sabre’s cocky side out, trying in his usual style to bait the Stone Pitbull into making a mistake and eventually he gets an arm to lever and destroy. Tom uses his strength to stay into it and eventually finds a target on Zack’s leg, and we’ve got an old-fashioned submission duel as they go arm for leg!
Every time these guys wrestle each other, the result is magic, and this match is no different. It’s especially fun to see Tomohiro Ishii, Submission Master-- we get a lot of ZSJ playing at being a brawling badass, but not so much of Ishii just grinding dudes out, and that makes this a hoot and a half. Watch it!
Juice Robinson vs. Kenny Omega (3): From the grappling into the lucha libre, Omega has moments of conflict trying to decide if he feels okay about going after Robinson’s injured hand, but Juice shows no such compunction dropping Kenny on his head with a short piledriver! A trip to the floor sees Omega turn the tide, and from there you’ve got a good back and forth match (and the hand stuff does come back, which is nice!) that nonetheless never quite reaches the heights you’d hope it might given the years these men are having.
A good match, but not the special one it might have been. I’m probably going a hair low on it here, but watch accordingly.
Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA (5): Moving through styles in the feeling out, both men clearly intent on showing their chameleonic natures in stark detail, and that sets a very “anything you can do, I can do better” tone for the match. The escalation sets in, they trade bigger and bigger spots, high drama, the whole deal. Great match. Watch it!
Night Nine (A Block, July 27)
Michael Elgin vs. Minoru Suzuki (3): Suzuki trying to goad Elgin into making a mistake, but Mike brings his strength to bear on the veteran and keeps him from engaging in his plan of attack. A trip to the outside and some violence with a chair changes things and Minoru absolutely goes to town on Elgin’s arm with every trick in his book, and the tone is set for the match. Big Mike fights back one-armed, Suzuki is vicious, and this is overall a fairly compelling match that’s worth tossing in the pile, folks.
EVIL vs. Hangman Page (4): Going for finishers early, a stalemate, and a trip to the floor where Page is canny enough to turn EVIL’s chair schtick around on him! EVIL’s strength advantage and willingness to cut corners leaves Hangman having to stay right on top of him, dodging and countering, but inevitably the King of Darkness gets his licks in and the match moves to Page full-on fighting from underneath.
And a fantastic performance from Hangman it is, his timing is crisp, his body language gives a real sense of weight and importance to the match, and this one generally exceeded my expectations. Worth watching!
Bad Luck Fale vs. “Switchblade” Jay White (1): White tries and fails to neutralize Tanga Loa early, but still manages to take Fale out in the crowd. Bad Luck turns things around when they return to the ring and dominates Switchblade a while, and then we get our inevitable Bullet Club shenanigans and this is just a lifeless, dull match overall. Pass.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe (2): A surprisingly grappling-oriented match in the early goings, Makabe uncharacteristically trying to grind Tanahashi down in holds, but soon enough he reverts to form and starts in on the clubbering. Back and forth from there, Togi largely in control but Hiroshi creating his openings, and this is a solid, well-executed match between two veterans that doesn’t really bring anything to the table to compel you to seek it out, folks.
Kazuchika Okada vs. YOSHI-HASHI (4): Shockingly brutal action between stablemates here, as YOSHI-HASHI takes things outside at the jump and Okada responds in kind. When things settle down in the ring, we’re continuing the story of cocky, confident Okada settling back into his groove against a man who has had to prove himself worthy of the G1 spot over and over again in Tacos.
With some real high drama in the finishing stretch and a story reaching back to both men’s return from excursion, this is a really good match and very worth your time, although I feel it runs a little long and is just shy of mandatory viewing.
Night Ten (B Block, July 28)
Tama Tonga vs. Zack Sabre, Jr. (1): Again, a Bullet Club match with interference aplenty. It’s almost like it’s a pattern or something! TAKA Michinoku does get to play spoiler to some extent here and we get a bit more actual match, but this otherwise fundamentally the same as Tonga’s last few matches. Pass.
Toru Yano vs. Juice Robinson (3): Back to fair play from Yano, but of course he’s not COMPLETELY above taking a shortcut or two and ends up working Robinson’s bad arm over something fierce. Shenanigans ensue, we get a turnbuckle pad duel that’s surprisingly dramatic, and overall a fun match that’s worth tossing onto the pile.
Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii (5): In a word, violence.
...
Okay, okay, more words! This is fast-paced and hot and heavy from the bell, they go deep into the crowd at one point and are lit only by a single spotlight and the intermittent flash of cameras in a way that’s legitimately kind of beautiful, Kota Ibushi is a throat-punching crazy man... Bottom line this is an absurd match and you need to get eyes on it, folks.
Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito (3): Feeling out gives way to a slugfest and Naito cuts corners, but Goto thinks on his feet and keeps a trip to the floor from turning into a rout. The Stardust Genius goes to work on the neck, just enough to give him a lever to come back to throughout the match whenever Hirooki is in danger of pulling ahead. Goto’s cantankerous, aggressive new persona comes into play, and all in all they have a damn good back and forth that doesn’t QUITE click into full on greatness.
Kenny Omega vs. SANADA (5): Omega cocky, screwing with SANADA in the feeling out, slapping at his head and so on, and soon enough the heat gets turned up and the sparks fly as they hit the gas on their athleticism. SANADA’s knee comes up lame and Kenny shifts strategies, attacking the injury, and that becomes the throughline of the match. Not that this is a 24/7 limbwork match or anything, they keep the pace up, do some insanely impressive things fast and smooth as can be, but the knee is always in the background waiting and the combination of effects makes for a really compelling match.
It does get maybe a little silly in the finishing stretch, but even so, it’s definitely worth chucking onto the pile and seeing for yourselves, folks.
Night Eleven (A Block, July 30)
Bad Luck Fale vs. Togi Makabe (2): Bull moose strength testing to start, Fale takes the action to the floor, they clubber each other for a while and inevitably the interference sets in. I won’t totally pan this one, though, because at least it didn’t start off with interference and the finish was actually kind of clever, but it’s still likely a pass on this one.
Hangman Page vs. “Switchblade” Jay White (5): Now this is more like it! I found their match at Strong Style Evolved earlier this year to be disjointed and to not really “earn” the big moves later on as such, but here they’ve taken the same basic idea, rearranged it, and tightened it up to great effect. Here White gets a few big shots off on the apron and the floor to end the first act and segue to that vicious attitude that he exudes at his best in a very big way.
Page, for his part, much like the EVIL match, does a great job on the back foot, selling the back damage well and generally elevating the proceedings. A really good match that’s very much worth watching, folks.
EVIL vs. Minoru Suzuki (3): Suzuki taking it to him right at the bell but EVIL gives back as good as he gets and we got a brawl! Minoru gets the upper hand and proceeds to brutalize him with a barricade in his preferred style, just mean and nasty. EVIL starts to claw his way back once the action returns to the ring but Suzuki shifts to armwork, and the story of the match becomes crystal clear-- can EVIL outlast Minoru’s onslaught of violence and get enough of his licks in to land a deciding shot like Darkness Falls or EVIL?
And, as a match, it’s quite enjoyable, although it does pale a bit next to a tornado of violence like Ishii/Ibushi from the night before.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI (3): YOSHI-HASHI tries his damnedest to pull ahead early but the 1/100 Ace isn’t dominated so easily and so this one quickly follows into the archetypical pattern for a Tacos match-- he’s trying SO very hard but he just doesn’t have that killer instinct and pays the price for it again and again. Another one for the “good match, hardly essential” pile, then.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin (4): Okada playing Elgin’s game early, going strength for strength and paying for it, so he quickly reverts to form, using his speed and agility to counter Mike’s strength. A trip to the outside and back in takes us to the striking, the Rainmaker in control before we move on to trading bombs and into the finishing stretch.
The stuff in the final act or so is really tight and exciting, but the match leading up to it is kind of meandering and disjointed, so I can’t give this a FULL recommendation, but it’s worth tossing into the watch pile, folks.
There you have it, folks
Agree? Disagree? Feel free to toss in your two cents below, Cagesiders.