G1 Climax 27 Night 1 Recommended Viewing
By: Matt Ederer
Over the next month, I’m gonna be writing these pieces to help people sift through NJPW’s G1 climax. If you’re familiar with the G1 already, scroll on down to the first match. For the uninitiated, here is a G1 Primer.
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From July 17-August 12th, New Japan Pro Wrestling will be running its G1 Climax tournament. If you’re someone who loves sports and pro wrestling, the G1 Climax is probably for you. It’s like Money in the Bank meets the Royal Rumble meets the PGA Fed-Ex cup.
The G1 is essentially a round robin tournament. 20 wrestlers are split into two blocks, 10 guys per block. Each person gets nine matches vs everyone in their block over the course of the month. Whoever wins the most matches wins their block and goes to the finals, to face the winner of the other block. The winner of that match gets a world title shot.
The presentation of the G1 is very pro sports-like, in that there are standings, blocks, points, and a full schedule released before the tournament. The matches all have real stakes to them, because the eventual tournament winner gets to challenge the IWGP Heavyweight Champion at Wrestle Kingdom in January, which for lack of a better term, is New Japan’s Wrestlemania.
It’s a very simple, straightforward idea, but without fail it is pulled off with care and foresight every single year. The G1 Climax is the centre of the Venn Diagram between Sports nerds and wrestling nerds.
There are 19 G1 shows, 18 “regular season” shows lets call them, and the final. Each show features 5 G1 matches, with each block alternating participants. A block goes one night, B block the next. Each show also starts with a number of tag team matches, featuring guys from the opposite block and various undercard duders. For the purposes of these articles, I’ll only be covering the 5 tournament matches on each show.
DAY 1 is H — A Block
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YOSHI-HASHI v. Yugi Nagata
Really thought both guys did well here. Loved Yoshi’s increased exhaustion in his selling. Each big exchange left him more and more tired and seemingly out of it.
Yoshi’s offense is also pretty interesting. He throws a knee to the ribs to an opponent seated in the corner, almost like a Go To Sleep, but off the ropes and to the ribs. Pretty nasty. Also, he is a southpaw, so you get the rare left-handed strikes from young Mr. -HASHI
For his part, Yugi Nagata looked great. An ageless wonder, he is. The term “carried the match” is a tricky one, because it’s pretty hard to definitively tell who is carrying what in a wrestling ring unless it’s HBK/Sid or something. Having said that, it really felt like Nagata carried this match, and to a pretty good spot, too. Awesome little opener and a good way to kick off the tourney.
3.5*
Bad Luck Fale v. Togi Makabe
To quote Pro Football Insider Vincent Verhei, it was a match. Two hosses slowly clubberin each other in a hoss fight. This honestly has a chance to end up as the “worst” match of the tournament, though it wasn’t long enough to be offensive. Yano or Tonga may give it a run.
1*
Tomohiro Ishii v. Hirooki Goto
Unlike the previous match which was a wrestling match between two mean guys, Goto/Ishii was A MEAN GUY MATCH. There’s a distinct difference. This didn’t feel like it was just there. This one grabbed your attention.
This was something of a MEAN GUY SPRINT more accurately, in that Goto and Ishii often literally sprinted to the next opportunity to beat the fucktar out of each other. Something about the way Ishii throws a suplex, specifically a superplex, is just so incredibly nice. The suplexee just always gets such a great bounce. Perhaps it’s because Tomohiro Ishii is a pitbull made of stone.
While I’m gushing about the Pitbull, Tomohiro Ishii’s selling is all-world. Next-level stuff. He’s one of the best sellers on Earth today, or maybe ever in wrestling. It’s a major factor as to why people love him unequivocally and unapologetically.
PLEASE STOP HEADBUTTING EACH OTHER THO. Shibata would be in this tournament if not for one too many headbutts.
4*
Zack Sabre Jr. v Hiroshi Tanahashi
Tanahashi rocking some sexy blue attire for this here G1.
Some extremely crisp technical wrestling on display here. Sabre Jr is the kind of guy who seems too small until the bell rings. He is so fluid and believable in the ring that it immediately eliminates that feeling. His submissions and strikes make him look six inches taller.
Great match, one that really feels like a fight, two guys constantly working to try to beat each other in a human chess match. Just really good, straight forward, simple (in a good way), rewarding pro wrestling. Also, it seems to be setting up a future Tanahashi/Sabre IWGP IC title match?
If so, sign me up.
4*
Kota Ibushi v. Tetsuya Naito
Here comes the .gif parade:
*exhales* Jeeeez. Insane match, the Kota Ibushi we know and love has returned and is out here pile-driving fools off of the second rope.
Minor, minor nitpicks: this match, and most Ibushi main event matches, felt and feel like a spot fest more than a fight. Almost like a ladder match without the ladder. This felt just slightly more robotic than say, Nakamura v Ibushi from 2015, which is a 5 star match in my opinion. Minor complaint. A spectacular, highlight reel match. If you like insane video game moves, you will love this match. It’s not like they are no-selling, but a lot of bombs get kicked out of.
4.75*
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Hard to say “this was a great show” about a show I didn’t fully watch, but in terms of the tournament matches at least, this was a great show. Four of the five tournament matches were really quite good, and I would recommend them to fans of the fake sport of fake kings.
DEFINITELY WATCH RIGHT NOW
Ibushi/Naito — Day 1–4.75*
PROBABLY FOR SURE WATCH AT SOME POINT
Tanahashi/ZSJ — Day 1–4*
Ishii/Goto — Day 1–4*
YOSHI-HASHI/Nagata — Day 1–3.5*
WATCH IT MAYBE IF YOU LOVE THESE GUYS
SKIP IT
Makabe/Fale — Day 1
