G1 Climax Night 11 Recommended Viewing
By: Matt Ederer
NIGHT 1 — NIGHT 2 — NIGHT 3 — NIGHT 4 — NIGHT 5 — NIGHT 6 — NIGHT 7 — NIGHT 8 — NIGHT 9 — NIGHT 10
We are now more than halfway through the G1 Climax 27, and among wrestling nerds, the hype train for this tournament has roared so far out of the station that it has wrapped around the world and parked back at the station.
- We have heard numerous sources call this tournament the greatest in professional wrestling history. A bit strong IMO, but if this specific G1 is not there yet, one of the G1s from 2013–17 is definitely the best tournament ever, and all five of those tournaments may honestly comprise the entire top five.
- I have seen at least four different matches earn 5* ratings so far from various sources. Big Dave Meltzerino gave Elgin/Okada 5*. Voices of Wrestling gave Omega/Elgin 5*. A few people or places around the nerdweb gave the Ibushi/Sabre or Naito/Ibushi 5*. That’s not even getting into Meltz calling Night 3 superior to any Wrestlemania, which is a line Dave has used for G1 shows before.
- Now we are facing the backlash. The hippest of the hip are calling this G1 overrated, not as good as a few years ago, kind of disappointing, and all those really cool and fun things the internet says.
AND WE ARE ONLY HALFWAY THROUGH THIS TOURNEY BABY.
Bad Luck Fale vs. Yoshi-Hashi
Surprisingly good opener.
You could argue that this was the biggest upset of the tournament so far. Yoshi-Hashi and his unfearable haircut and stupid dumb face somehow slay the giant. A big moment and win for Yoshi-Hashi, the commentators really went nuts for his victory here. NJPW commentary is awesome, in English or Japanese. You obviously miss a lot of the content of what they are saying, but the Japanese commentators call the actual names of the moves in English, and the fury and passion in their voice makes up for anything you don’t understand.
I liked this a lot more than I expected, considering I think these are easily the two worst guys in the tournament. Expectations! More on those later. This was pretty much the best match straight up 1–1 match Hashi and Fale could have. Absolutely inoffensive, fairly good little match.
3*
Zack Sabre Jr. vs Togi Makabe
Solid brawler/wrestler match. They clearly set up and paid off a story, which was “mean guy who comes out to the Immigrant Song with chains draped around his neck vs. fancy wrestler man”, fancily pictured in figure #3 there. ^
Togi Makabe is an ugly brawler. Both in ring work and his face. ZSJ is the slickest pure wrestler in the world, but we’ve learned through this G1 that the kid is surprisingly tough. Sabre Jr. stood toe-to-toe with Makabe for long stretches of this one, in an attempt to prove to Togi, the fans, and indeed himself that he is a mean wrestlerman. Advancement of wrestlers both as characters, and as physical wrestlers. That’s what the G1 is all about and it is a treat to watch happen in real time.
Makabe, of course, ended up getting the better of those strike exchanges. But in the end, Togi got caught by Sabre’s technical wizardry. Fine match here, Sabre pulled a really good one out of Makabe.
3.5*
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yugi Nagata
Loved this match. I’m loving the Nagata/Kojima stories, though they are killing me. It’s like watching Tim Duncan’s last season, or Ewing on the Sonics, or Hakeem on the Raptors, or Brodeur on the St. Louis Blues or Chris Chelios anywhere from 1996–2010, or something. The old man just can’t hang any more. This is evolution, this is life. Father time is undefeated, as they say.
On the subject of expectations, Ishii and Nagata had the match you expected, wanted, and needed them to have. Nagata really gave Ishii a go, with one nearfall in particular, his 180 degree brainbuster, AKA the Drive Screw ^ really hooking me. That felt like it could have been three.
I think this was right on the border of 4.25/4.5* ish stars-ish. High end four and a quarter, low end four and a half. Let’s round down, because the scale is exploding.
4.25*
Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto
Figured Goto was gonna win this one. Mostly because of this interview, from NJPW’s English language site, NJPW1972.com.
— Next up, on August 1st in Kagoshima, you face Hirooki Goto.
Naito: ‘The thing about him is once upon a time here was a guy people were saying was like one of the Four Heavenly Kings (of All Japan’s golden age) and now somehow he’s in CHAOS, and I have to wonder, is he in any way happy? He’s a disappointment. Man, I don’t know. Maybe he’ll get fired up. Paint himself white again or something.’
–Would you be more motivated against him if he did?
Naito: ‘No, in motivated either way. It’s all good fun either way. Two years ago when I faced him, in my mind, he just at some point lost all sense of presence. He’s not even worth talking about. I’m more interested in talking about Kagoshima itself. I like that place. The arena’s a beautiful building. The building is more interesting than Goto is.’
Fucking owned.
So yeah, Naito punked this dude out in an interview and then beat him clean. Fine match, classic Goto. It’s better than all the 3.5* matches I have down there, but worse than all the 4* matches. Slightly disappointed.
3.75*
Kota Ibushi vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
Speaking of which, this is a classic case of a big nerdy wrestling mark (me) getting all worked up and getting their expectations out of whack.
In 2015, these two wrestled on Day 1 of the G1 Climax, and I had it at 4.75*. A definite, no doubt, match of the year candidate. This was the rematch, in a main event, in Ibushi’s hometown, in a match that standings-wise, he would have to win to stay alive.
It was still a really great match, one with real and kayfabe stakes, and I would still say you should seek it out. An important G1 points match, an important main event for Kota Ibushi as a performer. Loved Tanahashi leaning heel, loved Tana’s selling of the arm, really I quite liked Tanahashi in general in this match. Ibushi was nervous, maybe? It looked like Kota Ibushi (Kota f’n Ibushi!) was breathing heavy at the start of this match, and he’s a beautiful fitness model with rock hard fitness abs.
I was expecting some kind of heretofore unseen masterpiece that would blow everybody away. What I got was a touch below that. Nothing to sneeze at, and up near the top of the G1 list. But not the safe top-3 match I was expecting.
4.25*
Courtesy of @Thauros_ , here are the updated G1 Standings:
DEFINITELY WATCH RIGHT NOW
Ibushi/Naito — Day 1–4.75*
Kojima/Okada — Day 8–4.75*
Elgin/Okada — Day 4–4.5*
ZSJ/Ibushi — Day 3–4.5*
Elgin/Omega — Day 8–4.5*
PROBABLY WATCH AT SOME POINT IN YOUR LIFE
Ishii/Nagata — Day 11–4.25*
Ishii/Ibushi — Day 5–4.25*
Nagata/Tanahashi — Day 5–4.25*
Omega/Suzuki — Day 2–4.25*
Ishii/Makabe — Day 3–4.25*
Juice/EVIL — Day 4–4.25*
Ibushi/Tanashi — Day 11–4.25*
SANADA/Okada — Day 6–4.25*
Naito/Ishii — Day 9–4.25*
Omega/Kojima — Day 10–4.25*
Tanahashi/ZSJ — Day 1–4*
Tanahashi/Fale — Day 3–4*
Omega/Yano — Day 6–4*
WATCH IT IF YOU LOVE THESE GUYS
Kojima/Elgin — Day 6–4*
EVIL/Sanada — Day 2–4*
Ishii/Goto — Day 1–4*
Goto/Nagata — Day 3–4*
Okada/Juice — Day 10–4*
EVIL/Suzuki — Day 8–4*
Goto/Tanahashi — Day 7–4*
Nagata /Naito — Day 7–4*
Naito/YOSHI-HASHI — Day 3–4*
Omega/Tama Tonga — Day 4–4*
Goto/Naito — Day 11–3.75*
Goto/Makabe — Day 5–3.75*
Nagata/Makabe — Day 9–3.5*
Juice/Kojima — Day 2–3.5*
ZSJ/Goto — Day 9–3.5*
YOSHI-HASHI/Nagata — Day 1–3.5*
EVIL/Tonga — Day 6–3.5*
Makabe/ZSJ — Day 11–3.5*
Makabe/Ibushi — Day 7–3.5*
Ishii/YOSHI-HASHI — Day 7–3.5*
Fale/Ibushi — Day 9–3.5*
Day 4 Undercard — The Death of Darryl Takahashi :(
WATCH IT IF YOU’RE MAKING A YOUTUBE COMPILATION OF THESE GUYS
ZSJ/YOSHI-HASHI — Day 5–3.25*
Suzuki/Tonga — Day 10–3*
Tanahashi/YOSHI-HASHI — Day 9–3*
SANADA/Yano — Day 8–3*
Fale/YOSHI-HASHI — Day 11–3*
Tonga/Juice — Day 8–3*
Suzuki/Juice — Day 6–3*
SANADA/Elgin — Day 10–3*
Tama Tonga/ Michael Elgin — Day 1–3*
Fale/ZSJ — Day 7–3*
Suzuki/SANADA — Day 4–3*
Naito/Fale — Day 5–3*
Okada/Yano — Day 2–2.5*
SKIP IT
EVIL/Yano — Day 10–2*
Makabe/Fale — Day 1–1*
Yano/Kojima — Day 4–1*
