NJPW G1 Climax 25: Day 15
NJPW G1 Climax 25: Day 15 (8/11/2015)- Tokyo, Japan
JAY WHITE & MASCARA DORADA vs. BULLET CLUB (Cody Hall & Yujiro Takahashi)- 6/10
CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN & KUSHIDA vs. BULLET CLUB (Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga)- 5/10
HIROOKI GOTO & YOHEI KOMATSU vs. DAVID FINLAY JR. & MICHAEL ELGIN- 5.5/10
Fine for what it was.
YUJI NAGATA, TOMOAKI HONMA, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, & SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, & YOSHI-HASHI) (w/Gedo)- 7.25/10
This was a completely serious match that somehow also managed to be completely hilarious. Nakamura kicked Taguchi or something halfway through the entrances. I have no idea why, but it was kind of funny. I laughed my ass off at Okada, Nakamura, and Ishii doing one of those goofy Dragon Gate triple team moves where you all three give the other guy a big boot at the same time, then two guys pick the other u and drop him on the opponent. The best spot, though, was Taguchi giving Nakamura a butt-butt version of the Rainmaker (which was kicked out of)
G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK A MATCH: Tetsuya Naito vs. Doc Gallows (w/Tama Tonga)- 6.75/10
Well… just based on the standings, you knew that someone in Block A had to lose an upset at someone point, so…
G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK A MATCH: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan- 7/10
Or maybe two upsets.
G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK A MATCH: Toru Yano vs. Kota Ibushi- no rating. Decent segment.
Or three.
And this was the one that caught me the most by surprise, simply because I thought Kota needed to win to still look like he was at least competitive in the block at the end of the tournament. The match went about a minute, but for some reason I was strangely okay with this here.
G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK A MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Bad Luck Fale- see below for rating.
This match will be very interesting because AJ and Fale are both tied in points and are both at the top of their block (tied with, I believe, Tanahashi and Naito), so this win will be pretty big, which is an interesting place for a Bull et Club vs. Bullet Club match.
Okay… go out and watch this match for yourself before reading the rest of my review.
The whole Bullet Club came out together, albeit with AJ in the front of the line and Fale in the back. It kind of got my Fingerpoke of Doom senses tingling, but thankfully New Japan would never do such a thing, right?
OH MY G-D WHAT THE F*CK ARE THEY DOING?!
Yeah… so they skipped the poking part and went right to the pin, but Fale decided to kick out at two and AJ shouted â€"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!†I guess this turns Fale babyface, but why the hell would you ever want to do that? AJ shoved Fale form behind, so Fale shoved AJ back and sent him flying. AJ told fale all was forgiven and offered to Too Sweet him, but turned it into an eye poke. From there things degenerated into AJ and Fale being pissed off and wanting to fight and the rest of the Bullet Club doing whatever they could to try to make peace and stop these guys fro killing each other. And how about that finish?! SOOOO perfect! Everyone involved here was just utterly amazing!
If I HAD to rate this as a match, I’d probably give it an 8.5/10, even though it was so light on action, purely because of how well they told their story, and some of edge-of-your seat moments they created, but if to rate this as a segment (which I’d prefer to do), I’d call it utterly and completely AMAZING! Perfect.
I cannot believe they did that.
G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK A MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe- 7/10
Tanahashi works over the knee, Mabake works over the back.
An extremely odd show from New Japan, but a VERY fun one. Whatever you do, make sure that you see Fale vs. AJ.
JAY WHITE & MASCARA DORADA vs. BULLET CLUB (Cody Hall & Yujiro Takahashi)- 6/10
CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN & KUSHIDA vs. BULLET CLUB (Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga)- 5/10
HIROOKI GOTO & YOHEI KOMATSU vs. DAVID FINLAY JR. & MICHAEL ELGIN- 5.5/10
Fine for what it was.
YUJI NAGATA, TOMOAKI HONMA, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, & SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii, & YOSHI-HASHI) (w/Gedo)- 7.25/10
This was a completely serious match that somehow also managed to be completely hilarious. Nakamura kicked Taguchi or something halfway through the entrances. I have no idea why, but it was kind of funny. I laughed my ass off at Okada, Nakamura, and Ishii doing one of those goofy Dragon Gate triple team moves where you all three give the other guy a big boot at the same time, then two guys pick the other u and drop him on the opponent. The best spot, though, was Taguchi giving Nakamura a butt-butt version of the Rainmaker (which was kicked out of)
G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK A MATCH: Tetsuya Naito vs. Doc Gallows (w/Tama Tonga)- 6.75/10
Well… just based on the standings, you knew that someone in Block A had to lose an upset at someone point, so…
G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK A MATCH: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan- 7/10
Or maybe two upsets.
G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK A MATCH: Toru Yano vs. Kota Ibushi- no rating. Decent segment.
Or three.
And this was the one that caught me the most by surprise, simply because I thought Kota needed to win to still look like he was at least competitive in the block at the end of the tournament. The match went about a minute, but for some reason I was strangely okay with this here.
G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK A MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Bad Luck Fale- see below for rating.
This match will be very interesting because AJ and Fale are both tied in points and are both at the top of their block (tied with, I believe, Tanahashi and Naito), so this win will be pretty big, which is an interesting place for a Bull et Club vs. Bullet Club match.
Okay… go out and watch this match for yourself before reading the rest of my review.
The whole Bullet Club came out together, albeit with AJ in the front of the line and Fale in the back. It kind of got my Fingerpoke of Doom senses tingling, but thankfully New Japan would never do such a thing, right?
OH MY G-D WHAT THE F*CK ARE THEY DOING?!
Yeah… so they skipped the poking part and went right to the pin, but Fale decided to kick out at two and AJ shouted â€"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!†I guess this turns Fale babyface, but why the hell would you ever want to do that? AJ shoved Fale form behind, so Fale shoved AJ back and sent him flying. AJ told fale all was forgiven and offered to Too Sweet him, but turned it into an eye poke. From there things degenerated into AJ and Fale being pissed off and wanting to fight and the rest of the Bullet Club doing whatever they could to try to make peace and stop these guys fro killing each other. And how about that finish?! SOOOO perfect! Everyone involved here was just utterly amazing!
If I HAD to rate this as a match, I’d probably give it an 8.5/10, even though it was so light on action, purely because of how well they told their story, and some of edge-of-your seat moments they created, but if to rate this as a segment (which I’d prefer to do), I’d call it utterly and completely AMAZING! Perfect.
I cannot believe they did that.
G1 CLIMAX 25 BLOCK A MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe- 7/10
Tanahashi works over the knee, Mabake works over the back.
An extremely odd show from New Japan, but a VERY fun one. Whatever you do, make sure that you see Fale vs. AJ.