BRM Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 25: Day 16

[Big Red Machine]

NJPW G1 Climax 25: Day 16 (8/12/2015)- Tokyo, Japan

SHO TANAKA, YOHEI KOMATSU, & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI vs. JUSHIN “THUNDER” LIGER, JAY WHITE, & DAVID FINLAY JR.- 5.5/10
Fun opener

CHAOS (Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. BULLET CLUB (Tama Tonga & Bad Luck Fale)- 2/10
Well… that was pretty short.

TOGI MAKABE, HIROYOSHI TENZAN, & KUSHIDA vs. MASCARA DORADA, TETSUYA NAITO, & KOTA IBUSHI- 5.75/10

HIROSHI TANAHASHI, KATSUYORI SHIBATA, & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN vs. BULLET CLUB (AJ Styles, Doc Gallows, & Cody Hall)- 6/10

G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK B MATCH: Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro Takahashi- 6/75/10
Just like last night, the whole Bullet Club enters together, but this time with the two competitors right up in front together, both with their arms around Yujiro’s babe (who I believe I read somewhere was his legit significant other). Yujiro let Anderson sit down in the ring with him and enjoy her rather tame striptease, but when Anderson went to hug her at the end of it, Yujiro got a bit annoyed.
Anderson also went to the trouble of getting a Hanshin Tigers jersey to wear, making sure he looked like more of a heel than anyone else in the Bullet Club here in Tokyo.
These two were quite unhappy with each other, and the match quickly devolved to eye poking and finger-biting shenanigans. At one point when Yujiro was recovering on the outside and Anderson wanted to dive onto him, AJ got up and blocked Anderson’s path, which led to a shoving match between AJ and Anderson which Gallows had to break up. Yujiro even resorted to a low blow to try to Yano himself a win, but Anderson kicked out, then put him down with the Gun Stun. After the match the other Bullet Club members made them apologize to each other, but then both AJ and Anderson went over and hugged Yujiro’s babe, which once again upset Yujiro.
There’s trouble a-brewing in the Bullet Club.

G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK B MATCH: Michael Elgin vs. Hirooki Goto- 7/10
They had a strong-style match with a not-so-strong style finish that still worked.

G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK B MATCH: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Satoshi Kojima- 7.25/10

G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK B MATCH: Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo)- 8/10
Awesome stuff. Nagata not only still has it, but he will never, ever lose it.

G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK B MATCH: Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii- 6.75/10
So after almost two G1s worth of trying, Honma finally picks up a win… a spot that means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Ishii was already mathematically eliminated. If you want to give him a big win… how about giving him the win in a match that actually matters?
This was your basic Honma match where he keeps trying to hit falling headbutts and misses. This is not good considering that I have been seeing him wrestle the exact same match this entire tournament. At least Nakamura mixes his Boma Yes up with some excellent technical wrestling.
They had a long, boring chop battle. Not as bad as Sasaki vs. Kobashi, but it was still WAY too long. Ishii kept the dumb stuff to a minimum but Honma did quite a bit of pointless no-selling on suplexes.

A good show from New Japan. I’d say the main event was disappointing, but considering that I was expecting a sh*tfest along the lines of what we got in February, I was fine with what we got here.

[cero2k]

Nagata's training paid off

http://streamable.com/2wki

[Big Red Machine]

Nagata's training paid off

http://streamable.com/2wki

That grin on his face was FANTASTIC!