G1 Climax Night 8 Recommended Viewing
By: Matt Ederer
NIGHT 1 — NIGHT 2 — NIGHT 3 — NIGHT 4 — NIGHT 5 — NIGHT 6 — NIGHT 7
The G1 Climax is like 19 Christmases in summer. Wasn’t expecting much out of this one on paper, but Day 8 really delivered. Many people will turn to the main event as match of the show, another awesome Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin match, which was I think their 5th in NJPW? I may be in the minority here but I thought the Okada/Kojima match was the best match of the show, and possibly tournament so far. I will try to sell you on that. Regardless, this one had something for everybody, was safely the strongest B Block show to date and and was probably the second strongest G1 show so far, under Day 3.
Tama Tonga v. Juice Robinson
I liked this. It was pretty basic, but I think they did a couple of nice little things here and told a good story. Very clear and defined heel vs babyface dynamic in this one with Juicey playing the valiant hero to Tonga’s slimey bad guy. Tonga attacked Juice’s hurt knee early, removing what appeared to be bubble wrap from on top of it? He hit an awesome stinger splash to Juice’s knee while Juice was in the dreaded TREE OF WOE, hung upside-down from the turnbuckle.
Tama Tonga would need to cut down on the excessive swearing if he were to go to WWE, but could you imagine how over Tama Tonga would get in PG WWE-land if he showed up in full face paint dropping F-Bombs?
3*
SANADA v. Toru Yano
VS
Spoiler: Handsome won.
Sorry to spoil yet another result but HOLY SHIT THIS MATCH WAS ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.
Seiya Sanada is a cool and handsome man, as any picture of him ever would indicate.
Yano is a troll, as Omega v Yano would indicate.
So they fight a bit, until Toru Yano busts out a roll of athletic tape to tape his opponent’s legs together, y’know like ya do in wrestling. SANADA, being cool, instead locks Yano into a paradise lock on the outside, tapes Yano to himself, casually strolls into the ring at 19 and wellp that’s it that’s the match.
(Milano Collection AT kept saying “He loves me so much” in his heavy accented English on commentary, because the Paradise Lock was a Milano move. Which just added to the presentation of this whole thing).
This was the kind of match that in a vacuum may seem really silly, but in the context of the G1 was quite rewarding to see. Yano has been making a joke of this tournament for years, and SANADA was the absolute perfect guy to throw Yano’s pie back in his face. The visual of SANADA, cool and confident as the day is long, victoriously strolling by the ridiculous Toru Yano? THAT’S pro wrestling. It was actually so bad ass that the crowd yelled OHHHHH as Sanada walked by. A classic stage picture.
Definitely watch this match if you love SANADA.
3*, but in many ways 10000000000000 or 6.25* at least
EVIL vs. Minoru Suzuki
Solid heel v heel match, EVIL keeps running into people who out-evil him.
They did well here. Lots going on in this one, including some North American style run-ins and chair shots. Fairly surprising result too. If you like Suzuki, or EVIL, definitely watch this one. I am firmly on Team Minoru and thus quite enjoyed this. EVIL is the guy who has jumped the most in my eyes in this G1. I had almost 0 time for him before, but he's been killing it in this tourney.
4*
Satoshi Kojima v. Kazuchika Okada
I can’t say enough about this match. I have this one neck-and-neck with Ibushi and Naito as match of the tournament so far, though they are completely different matches. Naito/Ibushi was a BOMBS match, dudes killing each other with huge moves. This was a story match.
Kojima comes in at 0–3 and *needs* this win. His tournament is over already, but if you can beat Okada, that’s a little bit like a G1 win, because you are probably getting a title shot. Especially when you’re Satoshi Kojima, 2 time former IWGP champ. For his part, Okada is simply the best, and he knows it.
Kojima, the former IWGP champ, comes out first to a hero’s welcome. Okada, the reigning world champ, gets something of a mild reception. The crowd claps along for Kojima before the bell, and the champ Okada claps along too, showing great respect for the former champ. Almost too much in fact, bordering on sarcasm or pity. Okada chants KO-JI-MA, basically leading the crowd. Then the bell rings, and Okada immediately kicks Kojima in the stomach. The crowd boos loudly, and Okada sarcastically claps and goes “Koji…ma?” as if to say to the fans “oh, what’s wrong guys, what happened to your boy”? Okada wasn’t respecting Kojima at all. Okada wants that respect.
Okada goes for the rainmaker three seconds in, because fuck this old man. From that point on, this match morphed into Flair vs HBK meets Flair vs Barry Windham. The classic World Champ vs Underdog match mixed with the old man vs the young gun. Okada is Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, every smarmy heel you can ever think of in this match. Kojima is the old dog, the proud warrior, the fan favorite trying to recapture that magic one last time.
Another thing I loved: Okada’s interaction with Tenzan. For example: Okada kills Kojima outside with the Draping DDT, and immediately attacks Hiroyoshi Tenzan, throwing him into the ring. Tenzan is a former IWGP champ as well, and though he is the same age as Kojima, the wear and tear on Tenzan seems to be greater. Tenzan competed in his final G1 last year, and as I mentioned in last night’s review, was 2–7 and was largely a non-factor.
Okada throws Tenzan into the ring, the crowd pops and chants TEN-ZAN, TEN-ZAN….and then HEEL Okada ~! goes to a neutral corner and laughs as he makes the ref kick Tenzan out of the ring. Beacause Tenzan isn’t in the fucking G1 anymore. Okada is. And he’s kicking Tenzan’s boy’s ass. And there’s nothing Tenzan can do about it. He has to leave the ring and watch his buddy get old too. Just an incredibly dickish, fiendishly heel move.
Milano Collection AT even noted how much Okada was being booed on commentary.
I thought this was a case where the sum of the parts of this match raised it to a much higher level. The story was awesome, the actual ring-work was awesome. Okada’s heeling was top notch, subtle enough that it wasn’t a full on heel turn, but pronounced enough that it was very, very obvious in this match and it might carry over to some matches in the future. And hey, if Kenny Omega is about to turn face and everybody loves Naito anyway, you may as well turn Okada heel. Kojima hit many of his signature spots, including the machine gun chops, the Mongolian chops, and of course, LARIATOOOOOS for days. Okada’s selling was fabulous and nuanced and on-point, treating Kojima’s big moves with building levels of discomfort and agony. Some of the reversals they came up with, one in particular that you will know when you see it, were awesome. The finishing stretch was dynamite. I thought it went the perfect length, and I appreciated that one finisher ended it. We didn’t need an extended finisher-kick-out sequence tied on here, and didn’t get one, unlike the next match.
The fact that they got the 0–3 Kojima to a point where everybody in the building thought that he would win, and certainly wanted him to, was just tremendous. A lesson in making a guy who looks like he has zero chance look like a million dollars.
You could talk me into 5*. This was just about as good as pro wrestling gets. Also, it could have potentially been the last great Satoshi Kojima match.
4.75*
Michael Elgin v Kenny Omega
The first time around, my internet went down right after the apron bomb. I think it’s very obvious that the power of that bomb exploded the entire intranets. It’s the only possible explanation.
I really liked this match, and Kenny Omega takes one *hell* of a bump, but this was a little too much, to me. I preferred their match in the US Title tournament, which also felt like a little too much, but for some reason just clicked in a better way. These guys are incredible and this match was great, but like most Michael Elgin matches, this was a video game by the end. A video game that I would love to play, but a video game without much of a story. It stands out when placed next to something like Okada v Kojima.
The last stretch of this one: Pop-up powerbomb into a buckle bomb into a spinning Batista bomb, kick-out, backdrop driver, another disgusting backdrop driver, kickout, burning fucking hammer. WHY NOT BUILD THE WHOLE PLANE OUT OF THE BURNING HAMMER?! There was a backfist four minutes prior that, by itself should have killed Kenny.
I still really enjoyed it, it was an incredible match that you should watch, but I preferred the emotionally charged story of Kojima vs Okada.
4.5*
Mild spoilers if you don’t know today’s winners yet, but 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/Ibushi — Day 5–4.25*
Juice/EVIL — Day 4–4.25*
Ishii/Makabe — Day 3–4.25*
Nagata/Tanahashi — Day 5–4.25*
Omega/Suzuki — Day 2–4.25*
SANADA/Okada — Day 6–4.25*
Tanahashi/ZSJ — Day 1–4*
Ishii/Goto — Day 1–4*
Tanahashi/Fale — Day 3–4*
Kojima/Elgin — Day 6–4*
EVIL/Sanada — Day 2–4*
Omega/Yano — Day 6–4*
WATCH IT IF YOU LOVE THESE GUYS
Goto/Nagata — Day 3–4*
EVIL/Suzuki — Day 8–4*
Goto/Tanahashi — Day 7–4*
Nagata /Naito — Day 7–4*
Naito/YOSHI-HASHI — 4*
Omega/Tama Tonga — Day 4–4*
Goto/Makabe — Day 5–3.75*
Juice/Kojima — Day 2–3.5*
YOSHI-HASHI/Nagata — Day 1–3.5*
EVIL/Tonga — Day 6–3.5*
Makabe/Ibushi — Day 7–3.5*
Ishii/YOSHI-HASHI — Day 7–3.5*
ZSJ/YOSHI-HASHI — Day 5–3.25*
SANADA/Yano — Day 8–3*
Tonga/Juice — Day 8–3*
Suzuki/Juice — Day 6–3*
Tama Tonga/ Michael Elgin — 3*
Fale/ZSJ — Day 7–3*
Suzuki/SANADA — Day 4–3*
Naito/Fale — Day 5–3*
Okada/Yano — Day 2–2.5*
Day 4 Undercard — The Death of Darryl Takahashi :(
SKIP IT
Makabe/Fale — Day 1–1*
Yano/Kojima — Day 4–1*
