Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

NJPW G1 Climax 2023.

The Natural

By The Natural
in JAPAN

 Share

Recommended Posts

S.K.o.S.

S.K.o.S.

Posted
Posted
8 minutes ago, Salads said:

Naito's usually got a point when he goes on a moan. He also says:

"In last year's tournament, 14 out of 84 official matches took more than 20 minutes to finish, so the theory that 30 minutes is not necessary is not valid.

Chuckling inwardly at the idea of Naito squinting at Cagematch listings and scribbling down notes

  • Haha 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Horangi

Horangi

Posted
Posted

Definitely way too many guys was my initial feeling, but I do prefer the even 8 per group over the odd 7 from last year. I think in the next year or two we will end up with that 40 man G1 which is just insanity. 

I don't think the groups are that bad, but there were better combinations for sure. Blocks A and D in particular are interesting to me, I like keeping most of the kids separate from the bigger names to hold off on blowing their first big meetings in the G1 group stage but am also curious to see how they gel together too. D has my curiosity, mostly as ZSJ/Haste is a match I never knew I really wanted until now. Also it seems like the block that could be the most competitive in terms of who could advance to the next stage. 

As I don't really watch AEW, I only really know Eddie Kingston from this NJ STRONG matches so I am curious to see how he goes but guess Finlay tops the group with probably Tama or Shingo. Block B is probably the least interesting group, and I'm saying that as a big fan of at least half the group...hope Taichi gets a few big wins this time! 

Not sure how I feel about the 20 minute time limit, I did like the shorter BoSJ matches and the amount of matches in the G1 probably makes it a necessity (and also why I think they are trialing the idea for a potential 40 man G1 down the line), but as pointed out it screams that there is going to be a large number of draws compared to other years. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
SturmCRF

SturmCRF

Posted
Posted

I'd be fine with a 20 man G1 if I got to pick the 20 men. In a world where you know they're not dropping the likes of EVIL, Chase Owens and Hikuleo, I'd much rather have a 32 man, World Cup sized tournament with lots of fresh, exciting entries like Kiyomiya, Kingston, War Dogs, even a Shane Haste.

As far as the 20 minute limit, I don't think last year had any draws and that's no good. Time limit draws in wrestling are great, they let you protect big matches and individual wrestlers while still giving the fans something to sink their teeth into, and they make the whole thing less predictable. Maybe a Mikey Nicholls hasn't earned an upset win over an Okada, but he could turn some heads by just surviving him, and upset some brackets.

Similarly, I love that there are quarter finals, as you can have some big names look fairly dominant while keeping a second place qualification in play in most of the other final night matches for a block. And then you have a high stakes eight man tournament to look forward to at the end of it all.

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
The Natural

The Natural

Posted
  • Author
Posted
On 6/26/2023 at 11:23 AM, Horangi said:

So my big takeaway from Forbiddon Door was how slow and banged up Tanahashi looked, and how good shape Kojima is in...kinda now wish they'd sub Tana for Kojima and give Tanahashi some rest...

Yeah, watching Hiroshi Tanahashi banged up like that sucked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
SturmCRF

SturmCRF

Posted
Posted (edited)

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1011636426338734170/1129418593591885824/IMG_5443.jpg

The artistic spirit overtook me and I used my dubious marker pen skills to draw everyone in the 2023 G1 Climax, so I can cut them out, put them on a giant corkboard and move them up and down as the block standings change. Pretty proud of my efforts.

Edited by SturmCRF
  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites
blitzkrieg

blitzkrieg

Posted
Posted (edited)

The G1 Press conference is up on YouTube with subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyh_9bQO6mk

Haven't watched the whole thing, mostly just watched the portions that looked interesting from the transcripts. Coughlin's part which starts out around the 88 minute mark is probably worth a watch and has me thankful that he's basically dropped all the "Android" stuff.

 

Edited by blitzkrieg
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Evil Otto

Evil Otto

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, matt925 said:

Narita and umino was fantastic, Tsuji and kiyomiya was great and Ospreay vs taichi was pretty damn great as well. Not a bad start. 

Yeah, that was precisely my take as well.  The pressure was on, and the young guys completely nailed it. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Natural

The Natural

Posted
  • Author
Posted
  • Ahead of competing in his first G1 Climax, Eddie Kingston was interviewed by NJPW’s website. Kingston was asked if he ever felt like his goal of wrestling for NJPW wouldn’t happen:
  • Yeah. I felt like my career was over right before the pandemic. When the pandemic hit, I thought ‘OK, that’s it, my career’s over.’ I’m… I’m not supposed to be here. I’ll get emotional saying this, but I’ve dreamed of this since I was 13 years old. (teary eyed) I’ve made a lot of mistakes. In life, not just in wrestling, and I never thought I’d be here. To be here now seems very surreal, so I just want to do good for the Japanese fans, for New Japan, and for the people I looked up to, for Hashimoto, Chono, Muto, Baba, Inoki, the Four Pillars and on and on. Jun Akiyama as well- I’ve been able to wrestle and team with him, and he gave me so much confidence.
  • Kingston explained the lasting impression that he wants Japanese fans to have of him:
  • The last thing I’d like to leave for them is that I never quit, I never stopped and I always brung it, no matter how I felt physically, mentally, emotionally- and I’m an emotional guy- I always kept fighting. I keep saying it, but I was born to fight. I’m American, but my father’s side of the family is Irish, and they were hard men. My Puerto Rican side- all females, but hard females, man. I was brought up to fight.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Teflon Turtle

Teflon Turtle

Posted
Posted (edited)

So between the increased number of participants, the shorter match lengths, and the addition of the knockout stage like this year's BOSJ had, the G1 has been generating a lot of talk. Wrestlers discussing who should be in, and who should be out. Outside of kayfabe, I think it's really being done to hurry up and get the next generation some big match singles experience and exposure. It kind of seems like NJPW needs or wants to have guys like Narita, Tsuji, and Umino get to the point where they can start drawing and carry cards very much sooner rather than later.

I think they got themselves on the path tonight. I'll co-sign all of the above as matches of the night. There were a few spots in Umino/Narita that looked like they didn't quite go as planned, but I think Umino especially was able to adapt on the fly remarkably quickly and salvage things. There are still some rough edges and questions I have about how both of them are presented (at least from my perspective, I feel like a lot of the issues that wrestlers like Tsuji have brought up with respect to their characters are valid), but as far as kicking off an Umino/Narita rivalry goes, they did a good job.

Y'know what, I liked Gabe Kidd vs. Chase Owens, too. Not a classic, but it got off to a hot start, which I think was necessary (might just be my crappy old laptop speakers, but the crowd sounded really tepid to kick off the show). Nice brawl, a story was told, and it got me interested in what Gabe Kidd will get up to for the rest of the tournament. Plus, it set the stage for some prior-era BC vs. new-era BC stuff, which I know many are tired of...but, it seems like NJPW needs to do something with the old guard + House of Torture. Guess we'll see.

Edited by Teflon Turtle
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Horangi

Horangi

Posted
Posted

Was gonna wait until after night 2, but yeah, I'll add myself to the list of people who thoroughly enjoyed the two Block A future generation matches. Umino and Narita do feel like they're still figuring themselves out to an extent (especially Umino), but it was a great first chapter to their rivalry. Tsuji on the other hand, I feel just has "it" and would not be upset if the strapped the rocket to him and had him win the whole thing. 

Taichi/Ospreay was really great too, though wasn't a fan of the concussion-sell job. Last 3 minutes were crazy, highlighting the sense of urgency the new formula brings. ELP/YH and Okada/O-Khan were both fine matches but not really worth going out of the way for.

I really don't see how Tanga Loa is going to survive this tournament...that was not good. KENTA also looked rough. There's 2 guys right there who could probably do without being in it. Main event was an odd choice, kind of just there. Do think Taichi match should have gone on last.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
SturmCRF

SturmCRF

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Is the guy who got dropped on his head okay? 

Apparently he did his post match interview, so can't have been anywhere near as bad as it looked. Seemed like a horrendously incompetent botch from Nicholls, but I saw some people saying he himself looked concussed after busting himself open with shoot headbutts earlier, so maybe the mindless stupidity really took place at that point. Either way, glad Henare seems to have had a lucky escape, that was one of the more disgusting head drops I've seen.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
The Natural

The Natural

Posted
  • Author
Posted
1 minute ago, SturmCRF said:

Apparently he did his post match interview, so can't have been anywhere near as bad as it looked. Seemed like a horrendously incompetent botch from Nicholls, but I saw some people saying he himself looked concussed after busting himself open with shoot headbutts earlier, so maybe the mindless stupidity really took place at that point. Either way, glad Henare seems to have had a lucky escape, that was one of the more disgusting head drops I've seen.

Here it is, NSFW:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oDilHSdWk_I&pp=ygUqbmpwd-OCsOODrOOCpOODhuOCueODiOODn-ODpeODvOOCuOODg-OCr2lp

Haven't seen the notch and probably won't with your description, mate. Man, I hate shoot headbutts.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...