NJPW G1 Climax 24: Day 8
NJPW G1 Climax 24: Day 8 (8/3/2014)- Osaka, Japan
BLOCK A MATCH: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 8/10
Awesome match. They gave these guys a lot of time and let them deliver like we knew they could. Hopefully this will make people take note of Davey Boy Smith Jr. as a singles wrestler (then again, I said the same thing about his equally awesome match with Nakamura at Invasion Attack 2013, and nothing has happened for him since then.
BLOCK B MATCH: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toru Yano- 3/10
The referee FINALLY catches Yano trying to cheat… and while Yano is arguing with the referee, TENZAN uses a low blow on Yano. WHAT THE F*CK?! The whole point of the referee catching Yano is so that the cheater cannot resort to tactics to allow him to beat an opponent he wouldn’t otherwise be able to beat. Having Tenzan cheat too just shoots all of that in the foot by showing us that Tenzan is not worthy of this win, either!
BLOCK A MATCH: Yuji Nagata vs. Shelton X Benjamin (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 6.75/10
That last exchange of submissions at the end was the type of thing I was hoping they would spend all match doing. Just great submissions and counters. Instead they spent the first two thirds of the match just hitting each other in the head like everyone else does.
BLOCK A MATCH: Doc Gallows vs. Satoshi Kojima- 5.75/10
BLOCK B MATCH: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto- 8.5/10
Goto worked over Naito’s head a lot and Naito was an excellent sympathetic babyface.
BLOCK B MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Lance Archer (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 8.5/10
A great story and awesome action. I completely marked out for all of Archer’s offense, especially the Towerbomb. AJ was completely and totally on here, as he always is. Archer’s selling could have been better towards the end (in fact, I might have given it an 8.75/10 if it was), but otherwise a completely awesome match.
BLOCK B MATCH: Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 7.75/10
TAKA attacked Makabe right in front of the referee, but there was no DQ. Like Archer in the previous match, Suzuki’s previously excellent selling faded towards the end of the match.
BLOCK A MATCH: Tomoaki Honma vs. Katsuyori Shibata- 8.5/10.
They worked over each other’s heads and had some great nearfalls. An awesome match.
BLOCK B MATCH: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo)- 8.25/10
Awesome! Yujiro is such a great heel. He is an obnoxious little man and his antics are so frustrating that you just want to see someone kick his ass. Fortunately, this match contained a good amount of that because KAZUCHIKA OKADA DOES NOT F*CK AROUND! Good story, great action, and great babyface-heel stuff.
BLOCK A MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura- 8.25/10
Tanahashi works over Nakamura’s knee. Nakamura works over Tanahashi’s head. If this sounds familiar to you it is because this match was a much lesser version of their perfect match from Invasion Attack 2014. I’m not saying that the match wasn’t awesome. It was (with one absolutely FANTASTIC nearfall). But it also completely pales in comparison to the match they had less than four months ago.
This will almost certainly be the 2014 show of the year and will likely go down in history as one of the great shows of all time. It is like a better version of ROH’s Manhattan Mayhem in that, while none of the matches were Match of the Year candidates, almost all of them were awesome. Consistent awesomeness will always lead to an awesome wrestling show. BUY THIS SHOW!
BLOCK A MATCH: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 8/10
Awesome match. They gave these guys a lot of time and let them deliver like we knew they could. Hopefully this will make people take note of Davey Boy Smith Jr. as a singles wrestler (then again, I said the same thing about his equally awesome match with Nakamura at Invasion Attack 2013, and nothing has happened for him since then.
BLOCK B MATCH: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toru Yano- 3/10
The referee FINALLY catches Yano trying to cheat… and while Yano is arguing with the referee, TENZAN uses a low blow on Yano. WHAT THE F*CK?! The whole point of the referee catching Yano is so that the cheater cannot resort to tactics to allow him to beat an opponent he wouldn’t otherwise be able to beat. Having Tenzan cheat too just shoots all of that in the foot by showing us that Tenzan is not worthy of this win, either!
BLOCK A MATCH: Yuji Nagata vs. Shelton X Benjamin (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 6.75/10
That last exchange of submissions at the end was the type of thing I was hoping they would spend all match doing. Just great submissions and counters. Instead they spent the first two thirds of the match just hitting each other in the head like everyone else does.
BLOCK A MATCH: Doc Gallows vs. Satoshi Kojima- 5.75/10
BLOCK B MATCH: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto- 8.5/10
Goto worked over Naito’s head a lot and Naito was an excellent sympathetic babyface.
BLOCK B MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Lance Archer (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 8.5/10
A great story and awesome action. I completely marked out for all of Archer’s offense, especially the Towerbomb. AJ was completely and totally on here, as he always is. Archer’s selling could have been better towards the end (in fact, I might have given it an 8.75/10 if it was), but otherwise a completely awesome match.
BLOCK B MATCH: Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki (w/TAKA Michinoku)- 7.75/10
TAKA attacked Makabe right in front of the referee, but there was no DQ. Like Archer in the previous match, Suzuki’s previously excellent selling faded towards the end of the match.
BLOCK A MATCH: Tomoaki Honma vs. Katsuyori Shibata- 8.5/10.
They worked over each other’s heads and had some great nearfalls. An awesome match.
BLOCK B MATCH: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo)- 8.25/10
Awesome! Yujiro is such a great heel. He is an obnoxious little man and his antics are so frustrating that you just want to see someone kick his ass. Fortunately, this match contained a good amount of that because KAZUCHIKA OKADA DOES NOT F*CK AROUND! Good story, great action, and great babyface-heel stuff.
BLOCK A MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura- 8.25/10
Tanahashi works over Nakamura’s knee. Nakamura works over Tanahashi’s head. If this sounds familiar to you it is because this match was a much lesser version of their perfect match from Invasion Attack 2014. I’m not saying that the match wasn’t awesome. It was (with one absolutely FANTASTIC nearfall). But it also completely pales in comparison to the match they had less than four months ago.
This will almost certainly be the 2014 show of the year and will likely go down in history as one of the great shows of all time. It is like a better version of ROH’s Manhattan Mayhem in that, while none of the matches were Match of the Year candidates, almost all of them were awesome. Consistent awesomeness will always lead to an awesome wrestling show. BUY THIS SHOW!