NJPW G1 Climax 27, Day 1
It begins...
There's just no way to fight TenCozy and Liger on 2017 and not be forced to play heel. Juice and Elgin did a great job at making Tenzan look good. Kojima defeated Finlay with a Lariato in an awesome finishing sequence. Still an opener, but a good one.
A little glimpse of what Omega vs Suzuki will be and the only match that won't be between teammates. At the start of the match, Omega tried to polite and offer Suzuki-gun a hand shake, Suzuki did Suzuki and proceeded to beat his ass and take him around the arena. Taichi did his cheating early in the match, so once that out of the way, it was all fighting from there on. This wasn't big match Omega and Suzuki allowed himself to get a lot of offense on him. Finish saw Suzuki hit the Gotch Piledriver on Owens for the win.
Post-match - Suzuki and Omega keep antagonizing each other, Omega walks to the back, Suzuki runs after him and they fight to the back. Good guy Desperado carried both men's titles to the back. Such a nice guy.
SANADA is debuting a new mask, looks pretty cool. Awesome start of the match. The way these guys were going at each other, you'd think they're in an actual feud. This was a good match, no real story, just two teams trying to beat each other. Everyone got their small chance to do their thing, both by themselves and as teams. Finish saw EVIL submit BUSHI.
Post-match - All four men did the fist thing in the center of the team. EVIL and SANADA faced each other a bit, but in a competitive way.
Yano is so fucking over tonight. This was mostly a comedy match from the get go, even the finishing sequence had some comedy into it. Yano wins rolling up Gedo after hitting him in the balls. Watching the Tiger Mask W show has really made me seen Yano in a different way, the comedy character in that show really put Yano in perspective.
G1 Climax Block A Match
There was something of an 'Old Man Nagata' story going here, where YOSHI-HASHI had the offense over Nagata easily, until he pissed off the old man and the old man came at him. After that, the match would go back and forward with YOSHI-HASHI having to get more serious and Nagata not giving up, giving us tons of great near falls.
This match was fucking awesome, both men were deserving of the points, everything after Nagata had YOSHI-HASHI in the Shirome was amazing wrestling and near falls. At the end, YOSHI-HASHI finally hits karma for the win.
G1 Climax Block A Match
Big Lads Wrestling! Fale killed the announcer when he came in the ring. Match started with Fale dominating Makabe, he took him for a ride around the ring, through the crowd, and back to the ring where he kept the offense. Makabe would make a comeback, but in the long run, after getting close, Bad Luck Fale was too much for Makabe. Finish saw Fale hit the Choke Lariat Slam.
G1 Climax Block A Match
This was the usual Ishii vs Goto match, where they start at 60 mph, it's all strikes and fighting spirit, and the viewers get a concussion just from watching. They did a lariat exchange that was both stiff and awesome looking. They did a non-stop forearm exchange that lasted about two minutes (or it felt that way). After the long fought battle, Goto finally hits the GTR for the win. Good Fight.
G1 Climax Block A Match
Zack Sabre is back to his white jacket. I just realized that Tanahashi's entrance video says 'LOVE & ENERGY', that's really random, unless he's like Flair and can go 60 minutes every night. Anyway, story of the match is that Tanahashi is still injured of the right arm, and for a submission specialist like Sabre, that's just a huge target and an easy pick. Tanahashi did something really cool at the start, where he is forcing himself to wrestle with the left arm and hide the right one behind his back, it's those little things I tell you.
As I said, Sabre worked the right arm all match, Tanahashi worked the legs also from the get go. Finish saw Tanahashi go for the High Fly Flow, but Sabre catches him and locks in one of this Sabre knots and he starts dissecting Tanahashi's arm, he removes the armband and medical tape
This seemed like a really easy match for Tanahashi health-wise, but an awesome display of what Sabre is all about.
Post-match - Sabre grabs the IC Championship and poses with it. Tanahashi really sells being injured.
G1 Climax Block A Match
The announcer goes crazy for the return of the prodigal son, Kota Ibushi, who is fucking crying at the crowd reaction. Not to say that Naito isn't over, this is definitely an LIJ crowd. The match was amazing top to bottom, Naito worked Ibushi's neck, while Ibushi worked the torso/back. They did tons of big spots for close falls, and at one point, it really felt like this HAD to be Ibushi's match to win.
Finish saw Naito hit a second Destino for the pin, after Ibushi had just kicked out of a first Destino. I want to disagree with the decision to have Ibushi lose his first match back and start of the G1 Climax, but it doesn't really hurt him losing against Naito (Block A favorite).
Post-match - All LIJ came out, Naito cut a promo, not sure what it all was, but the crowd was all into it.
Awesome start to the biggest tournament of the year, as usual, the first part of the show can be a bit of a drag, but the tournament part of the show was all top notch matches, all 5 matches worth checking out.
David Finlay, Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, and Jyushin "Thunger" Liger - 6/10
There's just no way to fight TenCozy and Liger on 2017 and not be forced to play heel. Juice and Elgin did a great job at making Tenzan look good. Kojima defeated Finlay with a Lariato in an awesome finishing sequence. Still an opener, but a good one.
Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, Taichi) vs Bullet Club (Kenny Omega, Chase Owens, and Tama Tonga) - 6/10
A little glimpse of what Omega vs Suzuki will be and the only match that won't be between teammates. At the start of the match, Omega tried to polite and offer Suzuki-gun a hand shake, Suzuki did Suzuki and proceeded to beat his ass and take him around the arena. Taichi did his cheating early in the match, so once that out of the way, it was all fighting from there on. This wasn't big match Omega and Suzuki allowed himself to get a lot of offense on him. Finish saw Suzuki hit the Gotch Piledriver on Owens for the win.
Post-match - Suzuki and Omega keep antagonizing each other, Omega walks to the back, Suzuki runs after him and they fight to the back. Good guy Desperado carried both men's titles to the back. Such a nice guy.
SANADA & BUSHI vs EVIL & HIromu Takahashi w/Darryl - 6.5/10
SANADA is debuting a new mask, looks pretty cool. Awesome start of the match. The way these guys were going at each other, you'd think they're in an actual feud. This was a good match, no real story, just two teams trying to beat each other. Everyone got their small chance to do their thing, both by themselves and as teams. Finish saw EVIL submit BUSHI.
Post-match - All four men did the fist thing in the center of the team. EVIL and SANADA faced each other a bit, but in a competitive way.
Toru Yano & Jado vs Kazuchika Okada & Gedo - 5/10
Yano is so fucking over tonight. This was mostly a comedy match from the get go, even the finishing sequence had some comedy into it. Yano wins rolling up Gedo after hitting him in the balls. Watching the Tiger Mask W show has really made me seen Yano in a different way, the comedy character in that show really put Yano in perspective.
G1 Climax Block A Match
YOSHI-HASHI (0) vs Yuji Nagata (0) - 8.5/10
There was something of an 'Old Man Nagata' story going here, where YOSHI-HASHI had the offense over Nagata easily, until he pissed off the old man and the old man came at him. After that, the match would go back and forward with YOSHI-HASHI having to get more serious and Nagata not giving up, giving us tons of great near falls.
This match was fucking awesome, both men were deserving of the points, everything after Nagata had YOSHI-HASHI in the Shirome was amazing wrestling and near falls. At the end, YOSHI-HASHI finally hits karma for the win.
G1 Climax Block A Match
Bad Luck Fale (0) vs Togi Makabe (0) - 7/10
Big Lads Wrestling! Fale killed the announcer when he came in the ring. Match started with Fale dominating Makabe, he took him for a ride around the ring, through the crowd, and back to the ring where he kept the offense. Makabe would make a comeback, but in the long run, after getting close, Bad Luck Fale was too much for Makabe. Finish saw Fale hit the Choke Lariat Slam.
G1 Climax Block A Match
Tomohiro Ishii (0) vs Hirooki Goto (0) - 7.5/10
This was the usual Ishii vs Goto match, where they start at 60 mph, it's all strikes and fighting spirit, and the viewers get a concussion just from watching. They did a lariat exchange that was both stiff and awesome looking. They did a non-stop forearm exchange that lasted about two minutes (or it felt that way). After the long fought battle, Goto finally hits the GTR for the win. Good Fight.
G1 Climax Block A Match
Zack Sabre Jr (0) w/El Desperado vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (0) - 8.5/10
Zack Sabre is back to his white jacket. I just realized that Tanahashi's entrance video says 'LOVE & ENERGY', that's really random, unless he's like Flair and can go 60 minutes every night. Anyway, story of the match is that Tanahashi is still injured of the right arm, and for a submission specialist like Sabre, that's just a huge target and an easy pick. Tanahashi did something really cool at the start, where he is forcing himself to wrestle with the left arm and hide the right one behind his back, it's those little things I tell you.
As I said, Sabre worked the right arm all match, Tanahashi worked the legs also from the get go. Finish saw Tanahashi go for the High Fly Flow, but Sabre catches him and locks in one of this Sabre knots and he starts dissecting Tanahashi's arm, he removes the armband and medical tape
This seemed like a really easy match for Tanahashi health-wise, but an awesome display of what Sabre is all about.
Post-match - Sabre grabs the IC Championship and poses with it. Tanahashi really sells being injured.
G1 Climax Block A Match
Kota Ibushi (0) vs Tetsuya Naito (0) - 9.5/10
The announcer goes crazy for the return of the prodigal son, Kota Ibushi, who is fucking crying at the crowd reaction. Not to say that Naito isn't over, this is definitely an LIJ crowd. The match was amazing top to bottom, Naito worked Ibushi's neck, while Ibushi worked the torso/back. They did tons of big spots for close falls, and at one point, it really felt like this HAD to be Ibushi's match to win.
Finish saw Naito hit a second Destino for the pin, after Ibushi had just kicked out of a first Destino. I want to disagree with the decision to have Ibushi lose his first match back and start of the G1 Climax, but it doesn't really hurt him losing against Naito (Block A favorite).
Post-match - All LIJ came out, Naito cut a promo, not sure what it all was, but the crowd was all into it.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Awesome start to the biggest tournament of the year, as usual, the first part of the show can be a bit of a drag, but the tournament part of the show was all top notch matches, all 5 matches worth checking out.