G1 Climax 27 Night 3 Recommended Viewing
By: Matt Ederer
In case you missed them, check out my Day 1 review where I explain the G1 a little bit, and Day 2 where I gush over Kenny Omega’s performance and one-legged moonsault.
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This was a special day for the G1 Climax.
Just last summer, the WWE ran their own sports-based, hardcore nerd-aimed, professional rasslin’ tournament. It was called the Cruiserweight Classic, and it was widely accepted and expected to be a vehicle building (driving?) toward a Zack Sabre Jr vs. Kota Ibushi final. Sabre v Ibushi was and is essentially a dream match of the best technical/submissions guy vs the best high flyer on Earth. This tournament and blowaway match was going to lead to a new cruiserweights-only show, which was going to ideally going to be on television and be a self-sustaining, touring brand.
The very basic version of what happens next is: ZSJ and Ibushi decide to bet on themselves rather than join the machine of WWE. WWE continues to pump content out at an unprecedented speed, whipping up an all-crusierweight show, and throwing it on the WWE Network. As most of the cruiserweights who wrestled in the CWC sign with WWE and slowly trickle onto NXT or 205 Live and sometimes Raw to wrestle three-minute bathroom break matches, the two biggest stars walk away. They wrestle in Japan, in England, in the biggest and best American indies, and independent of WWE’s control, their star power only grows.
So we as fans never got the Sabre Jr vs Ibushi match that we were promised, but we have gotten a chain of events that led to Sabre Jr and Ibushi being matched up in the G1. This is one that has been in fans’ minds for over a year, and it did not disappoint. Exciting Day for the G1, and professional wrestling tournaments everywhere.
Also, a bunch of other really great matches happened here. Top to bottom, this was easily the best G1 show so far. All 5 matches were in my opinion at least 4*, they were (mostly) all different and told some really cool stories.
G1 Climax Night 3 — The Threequel
Hirooki Goto vs Yugi Nagata
Good match, the type of solid match you would expect from these two. This was a wily old veteran at the end of his career vs a younger veteran smack in the middle of his prime.
Goto is known as Mr. G1, and always does really well in the tournament. It’s going to be interesting to see who beats him and when. Nagata is at the end of his career here, and even though he’s not gonna win many matches, he’s still a tough out in the tourney. Good showing by both guys, my only complaint is that it never really felt like Nagata was too much of a threat at all. This was the kind of match that keeps Nagata at his Old Man At The End Of The Road Yugi Nagata level, which is very much done on purpose. It’s not like it was done unskillfully or poorly, it just hurts my heart to see it :(
4*
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Togi Makabe
What an awesome match. Shockingly good, nuanced brawl. I couldn’t imagine a better Togi Makabe match happening in 2017, to be honest. Makabe isn’t a great technical wrestler, but he’s a good brawler, and this was nasty, angry brawl. Right in both guys’ wheelhouses.
Little things I loved about this match: Ishii lariating Makabe’s arm. Ishii’s all-star selling. Ishii’s amazing superplex where the guy eating the plex somehow bounces three feet in the air. Tomohiro Ishii as a concept and wrestler and human being in general.
Absolutely worth watching, this was the most surprising match in the tournament so far. As I mentioned in Part 1, it’s hard to definitively tell when a wrestling match is a “carry-job” as they say, but Ishii carried Makabe to a great match here.
More on this concept of carrying somebody to a good match in a second.
4.25*
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Kota Ibushi
This is what we’ve been waiting for. Just a delightful match.
Really appreciated how different this was from Ibushi’s last match, the insane bomb-fest vs. Tetsuya Naito. This was a technical chess match. The Sabre Jr match. As Don Callis noted on commentary, it’s a testament to how talented Zack Sabre Jr is, that he made Ibushi wrestle Sabre’s style of match…and the result is a testament to how talented Ibushi is.
In fact, I am generally not a fan of the English commentary and would prefer to watch in Japanese. That is because I am a hipster. No, well I mean I am, but actually it’s because the English commentary on these NJPW shows is generally *so* painful. Also, the Japanese commentators call the actual moves in English, using the English names. I do not understand Japanese, but I would much rather hear “Kota Ibushi…. *words I dont understand*…. LAST RIDE-OOOO” with some passion and intensity.
Having said that, I accidentally watched this match in English, and they really did an awesome job. Don Callis has grown into his role as a colour commentator and he’s become quite good. I’ve never been a fan of Kevin Kelly but even he was good here. Just a tidy, clean, rewarding bit of professional wrestling.
4.5*
Bad Luck Fale vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
I feel like I might like this one and the Makabe match more than anybody else on Earth. That’s fine, I’ll die on those hills, don’t @ me, hot takes, et cetera. Actually feel free to at me, I welcome the feedback.
Anyway, I will outright fist fight anybody who doesn’t think this is a 4 star match. If If Ishii carried Makabe to 4 stars, Tanahashi dragged Fale kicking and screaming by his shoelaces to 4 stars.
I turned 30 years old this summer. I started watching wrestling in 1990, as a young little 3 year olderer. I have seen so much wrestling it hurts, it is literally a waste of a promising life by any rational measure. I have seen probably tens of thousands of hours of pro wrestling, and I have never seen a better count out in my life. This was The. Best. Count. Out. I. Have. EVER. Seen. In. Wrestling. Low bar, I admit. But, show me a better and more sensical count-out victory ever from any promotion anywhere and I will show you a no good god damn liar.
The injured Tanahashi does everything he can to keep the beast Bad Luck Fale off of him, finally resorting to the classic video game technique of “hit the bad guy with a huge move on the outside and run in at 19 for the count out”. Not only was it a genius way to keep Fale strong and get Tana a big win, but the actual spot that led to the count-out was so spectacular that the count-out victory was not a disappointment to the crowd. In fact, it was actually surprising, which really popped the crowd. Plus we have now established that count outs can happen, something that is crucial in the G1, because it adds gravity to each subsequent count out threat in each concurrent match. PLUS a move on the apron actually led to the finish of a match. Oh man. I loved this.
Best count out of all time. Tanahashi fucking rules.
4*
Tetsuya Naito vs. YOSHI-HASHI
Not much to say about this one, Naito was on point here, YOSHI-HASHI is good but not great, and kind of looked nervous here to me, but they still had a good main event match.
Just me, or does YOSHI-HASHI kind of have a Charlie Day thing going on?
This is not even close to the other NJPW-Always Sunny parellel, which is that Shibata is Japanese Mac (or more accurately, Mac is American Shibata)
So yeah, low end 4* match, still good, worth your time, if you’re only looking for the best of the best this probably wouldn’t make a top 5 of the tournament list. Naito sold his ass off, especially the neck, and really pulled a good one out here. Not a bad match, but I spent the majority of this match wondering how I could prove that YOSHI-HASHI looks like Charlie Kelly. Can’t really catch it. You can’t force these things.
4*
DEFINITELY WATCH RIGHT NOW
Ibushi/Naito — Day 1–4.75*
ZSJ/Ibushi — Day 3–4.5*
PROBABLY FOR SURE WATCH AT SOME POINT IN YOUR LIFE
Ishii/Makabe — Day 3–4.25*
Omega/Suzuki — Day 2–4.25*
Tanahashi/ZSJ — Day 1–4*
Ishii/Goto — Day 1–4*
Tanahashi/Fale — 4*
EVIL/Sanada — Day 2–4*
Goto/Nagata — Day 3–4*
Naito/YOSHI-HASHI — Day 3 — 4*
Juice/Kojima — Day 2–3.5*
YOSHI-HASHI/Nagata — Day 1–3.5*
WATCH IT MAYBE IF YOU LOVE THESE GUYS
Tama Tonga/ Michael Elgin — 3*
SKIP IT
Okada/Yano — Day 2–2*
Makabe/Fale — Day 1–1*
