NJPW G1 Climax XXX: Day 5

GABRIEL KIDD vs. YOTA TSUJI - 6/10

More solid Young Lions action.

BLOCK A MATCH:
Taichi vs. Yujiro Takahashi - 2.5/10

Yujiro attacked Taichi with his cane before the match, then started choking him with it. Rather than trying to get the weapon away from the wrestler, the referee instead called for the bell. What the f*ck?

Yujiro beat Taichi down until he got to the outside to get some space. Yuiro followed him, and as you would expect, there were lots of things that happened that made me angry. The referee just yelled at them to get back in the ring instead of counting them out, the referee got shoved down and it didn’t lead to a DQ, the referee caught them using weapons and didn’t disqualify anyone. All of that stuff that his somehow acceptable in New Japan, but if you stick it in a WWE ring the same people don’t like it.

They got back into the ring and we got the usual Taichi blatant choking and the referee counting to four every time instead of finally just disqualifying this asshole for repeatedly not listening. If Taichi gouged someone’s eye out but managed to do it before the referee got to five, he’d just let the match keep going and tell the other guy �"too bad. He stopped by five. You’ll just have to wrestle with one eye from now on.”

Even in heel vs heel we apparently have to get the same f*cking match from Taichi, as after the choking stopped, we progressed to the light kicking to let his opponent fire up. Now we’re back on the outside so they can throw each other into the barricades, because I guess they forgot to do that before and G-d knows we can’t have a non-Young Lions New Japan match where no one gets whipped into the barricades.

They did some stuff but they always came back to this stupid, pointless, blatant cheating that did nothing for the match. There was a point where Yujiro was biting Taichi right in front of the referee for well over ten seconds. This cheating was boring as f*ck, as it’s the same crap these guys do in every match, if they’re both cheating then I have no desire to see either of them win. Combine that with the fact that the chances of Taichi losing are exceedingly low, so that this point I’m just waiting for a finish, because the match is boring, there is no suspense in what the result will be, and even on the off chance that there is an upset, I’m not going to give a sh*t.

After boring me to death for the first seven minutes, they had a good next three or so, and then we got a stupid and pointless heel finish. We’re putting Taichi over Suzuki and Cobb, but we can’t let him beat f*cking YUJIRO cleanly? Really?

BLOCK A MATCH:
Minoru Suzuki vs. Jeff Cobb - 5/10

They did the kind of really fun grappling I was hoping to see… and then it just turned into the usual Suzuki bullsh*t. On the outside forever with no count-out while stretching the other guy with the barricade, manhandling the ref without getting DQed, etc.

They got back into the ring and continued with pretty much the usual Suzuki match where all he does is strikes and chase his finishers. The match was very meh. I don’t understand why they had a typical Suzuki match rather than build the match around the thing that makes the idea of Suzuki vs. Cobb an exciting idea: their wrestling ability. These guys had the ability to have a match Suzuki can’t have with too many other people, but instead they went out there and had mostly the same match that Suzuki has been having with pretty much everyone for the past few years.

BLOCK A MATCH:
Kota Ibushi vs. Tomohiro Ishii - 9/10

This is the sort of match that with a few tweaks I would have utterly despised, but over the past few years both of these guys have gotten a lot better at adding story to their no-selling by moderating it so that instead of just me �"me tough! Me no-sell!” caveman crap, they actually told a story here, of both guys going from competitive to completely determined to just plain angry and mean by the end. I’m three shows into Block A and Ishii is my MVP so far, and by quite a bit.

BLOCK A MATCH:
Will Ospreay vs. Shingo Takagi - 8.75/10

This was these two generally doing their stuff. It was exciting and entertaining and really awesome and you should go watch it. Ospreay lost again. At this point I’m baffled why they moved him up to heavyweight.

BLOCK A MATCH:
Kazuchika Okada vs. Jay White (w/Gedo) - 7.75/10

The bell rings… and White immediately goes to the outside to stall. If this sh*t isn’t serving any sort of larger purpose (like building to a lumberjack match or something) they he really should just knock it off.
He briefly stopped doing so, lost an exchange to Okada which ended with him being sent to the outside, and then stayed there again. Okada finally went after him but got distracted by Gedo. Okada chased Gedo into the ring, allowing White to attack him from behind to actually start the match. The wrestlers barely made any contact for the first three minutes and twenty seconds.

And don’t tell me that there was a story here of White trying to goad Okada to the outside and into their trap and finally succeeding. If that were the case, then he’s been using this same plan against everyone for years and Okada is a moron for falling into it.

Now it was Okada’s turn to roll to the outside. White followed him out and whipped him into the barricade, then started slamming his back into the apron and guardrails. White got back into the ring and despite having not counted for any of the time where White was on the outside stalling, Red Shoes now immediately begins to count Okada out, because this time there is the potential for drama. Because that’s definitely how rules are supposed to work.

White worked the back for while until Okada started to make a comeback. Gedo got involved for a second time, leading to Okada chasing him up the ramp. White followed them. Red Shoes did not start counting because… um…

Okada saw White coming and gave them both DDTs on the ramp. Okada went to drag White back to the ring. White grabbed on to Gedo but Okada was able to yank him away and get him back to the ring. Okada tried to go on offense but his injured back stopped him. White cut him off and hit a DDT… and Red Shoes responded to this by shrugging. Why? Why would anyone respond that way? Red Shoes is constantly doing crap like this where he will make a motion like shrugging or pointing or shaking his head for no discernable reason. All it does is draw attention to him, and when you’re a referee that’s the opposite of what you’re supposed to be doing.

They traded offense for a bit until Okada hit a big move… and here’s Gedo getting involved for a THIRD time. Does Okada not have any friends that can come out and deal with Gedo? Or can Red Shoes not eject him from ringside or something? Yeah, Okada was able to overcome it on this own this time, but when Gedo gets up in two minutes we all know he’s going to immediately start looking for another opportunity to interfere, so why is everyone just letting him do so instead of taking proactive measures to stop him?

Okada started to dominate at this point until… YUP!... GEDO tried to interfere. Okada cut him off and then went back to his submission finisher. White tried to gouge the eyes to get out of it but Okada floored him a lariat, then went right back to the move and… Gedo again. This time he distracted Red Shoes, allowing White to hit a low blow. They both recovered, White reversed a move and hit a few of his own and then won.

This match had its very good points, but the interference is just so frustrating, and not in the heel heat way. New Japan has reached the same point WWE is at where they seem to do it just to do it. White has been doing this sh*t for two years now. Taichi, too. And I just saw Okada go through this same sh*t with Yujiro. I’m only watching half of the G1 and we’ve got two people doing the same shtick, and I’m sure EVIL is doing it over in Block B, too.

Heat isn’t a goal unto itself. It’s a means to an end, which is to get the fanbase hot for a payoff, and New Japan never gives us those payoffs. We never get someone coming out and to stop Gedo from interfering. We never get a cage match that is booked so that Gedo can’t interfere. Sure, the babyface will win the final match in the feud sometimes, but then the heels will just go back to doing the same exact thing with someone else, and they’ll be back feuding with the same babyface doing the same thing in twelve months, so it doesn’t feel like the feud ever ends so much as it’s just put on hold because the wrestlers involved have each decided to go interrupt someone else’s post-match promo. It doesn’t feel like the booking is ever telling a whole and complete story.

Final Thoughts
This was a great show from New Japan. It had some disappointments, yes, and I think it could have been miles better with a few changes, but what we got here was still great. I’m excited for the next Block A show.