NJPW G1 Climax 24: Day 4
NJPW G1 Climax 24: Day 4 (7/26/2014)- Akita, Japan
BLOCK A MATCH: Bad Luck Fale vs. Satoshi Kojima- 4.5/10
BLOCK A MATCH: Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Shelton X Benjamin- 6/10
I BOlieve this is the first intra-stable match of the tournament. TAKA Michinoku came out with Davey Boy Smith Jr., but it was made clear that he was out there for both guys. They shook hands, but Shelton turned the handshake into a Rock Bottom to start the match off. Davey Boy Smith Jr. was obviously unhappy about this, and that set the pace for this match very well.
Shelton wanted to use a chair on Davey Boy, but TAKA stopped him. Davey Boy then grabbed a chair and hit Shelton right in front of the referee. There was no DQ. TAKA yelled at Davey Boy not to hit Shelton with the chair, but Shelton didn’t listen.
Once they got back in the ring and started wrestling, things got better. After the finish, they both shook hands and hugged, which I hated. When you started a match off the way they did here, you should not be shaking hands at the end. This should have led to some dissension within Suzuki-Gun, not both guys posing together with TAKA in front of the banner!
BLOCK B MATCH: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Minoru Suzuki (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 6.5/10
BLOCK B MATCH: Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano- 0.5/10
Goto kicks Yano’s ass, then Yano does what he always does: distracts the ref by pulling the pad off of the turnbuckle, then hits a low blow and rolls his opponent up.
BLOCK A MATCH: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma- 8.5/10
Two Ishii matches in a row without pointless no-selling! Both guys worked over each other’s heads, and they had an awesome match with some GREAT nearfalls at the end.
BLOCK B MATCH: Togi Makabe vs. Lance Archer (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 6.5/10
This felt very similar to last night’s main even between Makabe and Okada, although they didn’t focus on Makabe’s jaw nearly as much. Personally, I was hoping that they would have Archer work over Makabe’s jaw by grabbing it instead of his throat to set up a chokeslam. I still didn’t like the â€"COME ON! HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT!†spot for the same reasons I didn’t like it last night.
BLOCK A MATCH: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yuji Nagata- 8/10
It’s matches like these that help me remember why Chaos were heels: Nakamura has the potential to be HUGE dick. Fortunately, Nagata was not going to stand for it! This match rocked. Good mat wrestling and some HARD strikes to the head.
BLOCK B MATCH: Tetsuya Naito vs. AJ Styles- 8/10
Another awesome match. Naito’s forehead is bandaged from his cut last night. AJ worked it over and it started to bleed early on. AJ was a great heel, and Naito, who many of the fans had started to turn on in the past six months, got a GREAT reaction as a sympathetic babyface. AJ even hit the Bloody Sunday. That was a nice little surprise.
BLOCK B MATCH: Karl Anderson vs. Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo)- 7.75/10
Both guys worked over the other’s head and neck, including a BEAUTIFUL flying neckbreaker from Anderson. Great match.
BLOCK A MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata- 8.25/10
Shibata took a million years to break in the corner, but there was no DQ. If you’re not going to enforce the rule, why even count? He also totally no-sold Tanahashi’s Kinkasan Suplex, which annoyed me. Aside from that this was awesome. They told a great story with Shibata working over Tanahashi’s head while Tanahashi used his speed to do his best to avoid Shibata’s kicks (while also working over Shibata’s knee a bit). Having Shibata kick out of Tanahashi's small package to counter the GTS was a good callback to their match in last year's G1.
An awesome show from New Japan. This was a lot more like what I was hoping for with the added rest days in the G1. If not for the Yano vs. Goto match, it would be a very strong candidate for Best Show of the Year.
BLOCK A MATCH: Bad Luck Fale vs. Satoshi Kojima- 4.5/10
BLOCK A MATCH: Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Shelton X Benjamin- 6/10
I BOlieve this is the first intra-stable match of the tournament. TAKA Michinoku came out with Davey Boy Smith Jr., but it was made clear that he was out there for both guys. They shook hands, but Shelton turned the handshake into a Rock Bottom to start the match off. Davey Boy Smith Jr. was obviously unhappy about this, and that set the pace for this match very well.
Shelton wanted to use a chair on Davey Boy, but TAKA stopped him. Davey Boy then grabbed a chair and hit Shelton right in front of the referee. There was no DQ. TAKA yelled at Davey Boy not to hit Shelton with the chair, but Shelton didn’t listen.
Once they got back in the ring and started wrestling, things got better. After the finish, they both shook hands and hugged, which I hated. When you started a match off the way they did here, you should not be shaking hands at the end. This should have led to some dissension within Suzuki-Gun, not both guys posing together with TAKA in front of the banner!
BLOCK B MATCH: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Minoru Suzuki (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 6.5/10
BLOCK B MATCH: Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano- 0.5/10
Goto kicks Yano’s ass, then Yano does what he always does: distracts the ref by pulling the pad off of the turnbuckle, then hits a low blow and rolls his opponent up.
BLOCK A MATCH: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Tomoaki Honma- 8.5/10
Two Ishii matches in a row without pointless no-selling! Both guys worked over each other’s heads, and they had an awesome match with some GREAT nearfalls at the end.
BLOCK B MATCH: Togi Makabe vs. Lance Archer (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 6.5/10
This felt very similar to last night’s main even between Makabe and Okada, although they didn’t focus on Makabe’s jaw nearly as much. Personally, I was hoping that they would have Archer work over Makabe’s jaw by grabbing it instead of his throat to set up a chokeslam. I still didn’t like the â€"COME ON! HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT!†spot for the same reasons I didn’t like it last night.
BLOCK A MATCH: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yuji Nagata- 8/10
It’s matches like these that help me remember why Chaos were heels: Nakamura has the potential to be HUGE dick. Fortunately, Nagata was not going to stand for it! This match rocked. Good mat wrestling and some HARD strikes to the head.
BLOCK B MATCH: Tetsuya Naito vs. AJ Styles- 8/10
Another awesome match. Naito’s forehead is bandaged from his cut last night. AJ worked it over and it started to bleed early on. AJ was a great heel, and Naito, who many of the fans had started to turn on in the past six months, got a GREAT reaction as a sympathetic babyface. AJ even hit the Bloody Sunday. That was a nice little surprise.
BLOCK B MATCH: Karl Anderson vs. Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo)- 7.75/10
Both guys worked over the other’s head and neck, including a BEAUTIFUL flying neckbreaker from Anderson. Great match.
BLOCK A MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata- 8.25/10
Shibata took a million years to break in the corner, but there was no DQ. If you’re not going to enforce the rule, why even count? He also totally no-sold Tanahashi’s Kinkasan Suplex, which annoyed me. Aside from that this was awesome. They told a great story with Shibata working over Tanahashi’s head while Tanahashi used his speed to do his best to avoid Shibata’s kicks (while also working over Shibata’s knee a bit). Having Shibata kick out of Tanahashi's small package to counter the GTS was a good callback to their match in last year's G1.
An awesome show from New Japan. This was a lot more like what I was hoping for with the added rest days in the G1. If not for the Yano vs. Goto match, it would be a very strong candidate for Best Show of the Year.