NJPW G1 Climax 24: Day 6
NJPW G1 Climax 24: Day 6 (7/31/2014)- Hamamatsu, Japan
BLOCK A MATCH: Doc Gallows vs. Bad Luck Fale- 3/10
You know those matches where two big guys just throw big punches and run into each other a lot and it’s really exciting? Well this was that, except that instead of exciting, it was boring.
The finish was also very strange, with Gallows reacting like he was shocked that he won, as if he wasn’t supposed to win. He seemed to be almost afraid of Fale’s wrath. They had a staredown on the floor after the match, but both did the wolf’s head and walked off together. It will be interesting to see what this means for the Bullet Club going forward.
BLOCK A MATCH: Yuji Nagata vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 5.75/10
BLOCK B MATCH: Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi- 6.5/10
Makabe sold very well here. Unfortunately, the reason for that is that his jaw is legitimately hurting him again. I hated the â€"Come on! HIT ME!†spot even more than usual because of this. Yujiro was an awesome heel, as always, but I still went totally nuts when he got Makabe up for that powerbomb.
BLOCK A MATCH: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima- 6.5/10
Shibata worked over Kojima’s head. The finish was a good old-fashioned kick in the face, and it looked great!
BLOCK B MATCH: Lance Archer vs. Minoru Suzuki- 3.25/10
TAKA Michinoku was at ringside supporting both men. I get that Suzuki wants to win, but that leg lock in the guardrail seemed a bit too vicious to do someone in your own stable. Archer was selling his knee very well until he made his comeback, at which point he just completely stopped selling it. Suzuki wound up winning with the Saka Otoshi, which just looks vicious.
BLOCK B MATCH: Hirooki Goto vs. Karl Anderson- 7.25/10
Both guys work over the head, although Anderson seemed to be overselling at times. The finishing sequence in this match rocked.
BLOCK A MATCH: Shinsuke Namakura vs. Shelton X Benjamin (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 6.75/10
Shelton worked over Nakamura’s knee, and Nakmura sold it very well… until the finish. That was bad selling. I couldn’t tell because of tightly zoomed in the camera was, but I think Shelton might have kicked out of the Boma Ye at one and gotten almost no reaction.
BLOCK B MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan- 7/10
BLOCK B MATCH: Toru Yano vs. Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo)- 6/10
They did a great job building off of the finishes of Yano’s previous wins, and they even scared me for a second that Yano might actually picked up the victory.
BLOCK A MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii- 8.25/10
Both men worked over each other’s necks and sold very well… then they did the High Fly Flow as a finish, which didn’t really work with the story. There was some set-up for it with the previous High Fly Flow and the Cloverleaf, but that all seemed secondary to both focusing on the head.
Another good G1 show… and even the Yano match was good this time!
BLOCK A MATCH: Doc Gallows vs. Bad Luck Fale- 3/10
You know those matches where two big guys just throw big punches and run into each other a lot and it’s really exciting? Well this was that, except that instead of exciting, it was boring.
The finish was also very strange, with Gallows reacting like he was shocked that he won, as if he wasn’t supposed to win. He seemed to be almost afraid of Fale’s wrath. They had a staredown on the floor after the match, but both did the wolf’s head and walked off together. It will be interesting to see what this means for the Bullet Club going forward.
BLOCK A MATCH: Yuji Nagata vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 5.75/10
BLOCK B MATCH: Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi- 6.5/10
Makabe sold very well here. Unfortunately, the reason for that is that his jaw is legitimately hurting him again. I hated the â€"Come on! HIT ME!†spot even more than usual because of this. Yujiro was an awesome heel, as always, but I still went totally nuts when he got Makabe up for that powerbomb.
BLOCK A MATCH: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima- 6.5/10
Shibata worked over Kojima’s head. The finish was a good old-fashioned kick in the face, and it looked great!
BLOCK B MATCH: Lance Archer vs. Minoru Suzuki- 3.25/10
TAKA Michinoku was at ringside supporting both men. I get that Suzuki wants to win, but that leg lock in the guardrail seemed a bit too vicious to do someone in your own stable. Archer was selling his knee very well until he made his comeback, at which point he just completely stopped selling it. Suzuki wound up winning with the Saka Otoshi, which just looks vicious.
BLOCK B MATCH: Hirooki Goto vs. Karl Anderson- 7.25/10
Both guys work over the head, although Anderson seemed to be overselling at times. The finishing sequence in this match rocked.
BLOCK A MATCH: Shinsuke Namakura vs. Shelton X Benjamin (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 6.75/10
Shelton worked over Nakamura’s knee, and Nakmura sold it very well… until the finish. That was bad selling. I couldn’t tell because of tightly zoomed in the camera was, but I think Shelton might have kicked out of the Boma Ye at one and gotten almost no reaction.
BLOCK B MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan- 7/10
BLOCK B MATCH: Toru Yano vs. Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo)- 6/10
They did a great job building off of the finishes of Yano’s previous wins, and they even scared me for a second that Yano might actually picked up the victory.
BLOCK A MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii- 8.25/10
Both men worked over each other’s necks and sold very well… then they did the High Fly Flow as a finish, which didn’t really work with the story. There was some set-up for it with the previous High Fly Flow and the Cloverleaf, but that all seemed secondary to both focusing on the head.
Another good G1 show… and even the Yano match was good this time!