NJPW G1 Climax 23.

[John E. Dynamite]

Almost through Day 8. I thought Suzuki vs Ibushi was a big bowl of wonderful.

 

I liked the match in a purely subjective kind of way. If you want to talk about not selling the leg, damnit Kota you're awful at it. That dandy little fop spends the whole match switching between moonsaults and POWERBOMBS?! (I hate him) and acting like there's a believable way he can compete on Suzuki's level. Suzuki smacks the hell out of him; Kota puts his hands on his hips, makes a face, and engages in a striking exchange - a striking exchange in which Suzuki instantaneously CHUMPS him, stiffs him, chokes him and spikes him.1, 2, 3, go home. Oh, I was marking.

[BalancingAct]

I was sort of thinking the same thing throughout the tourney, though more in different ways.  Tombstones to set up clotheslines?   Spider Germans to set up a flying knee drop?   Maybe it's me getting old but the FIGHTING SPIRIT~! no sells and weird set ups get a bit tiring.  Plus limb work MOSTLY seems useless come the ending stretch (not always, but mostly)

 

One thing I DID notice is that the charisma in NJPW is off the charts.  They connect with the audience on a wider basis, more guys know how, then in the past.  More true heels these days, more rock and roll/body language/fire babyfaces.

[Jiji]

 

Almost through Day 8. I thought Suzuki vs Ibushi was a big bowl of wonderful.

 

I liked the match in a purely subjective kind of way. If you want to talk about not selling the leg, damnit Kota you're awful at it. That dandy little fop spends the whole match switching between moonsaults and POWERBOMBS?! (I hate him) and acting like there's a believable way he can compete on Suzuki's level. Suzuki smacks the hell out of him; Kota puts his hands on his hips, makes a face, and engages in a striking exchange - a striking exchange in which Suzuki instantaneously CHUMPS him, stiffs him, chokes him and spikes him.1, 2, 3, go home. Oh, I was marking.

 

Suzuki's complete muggings of Ibushi and Takahashi were supreme. I love that man. It's a shame he had to go and do that legitimate buwwshit in Pancrase, wasting away his prime years. I enjoyed the Yano match from day 9 as well.

 

Final show was a lot of fun. Tanahashi edges out Ishii as MVP of the tournament. Naito is still a li'l too generic post-Toryumon/Dragon Gate Japanese dude for me, but I can see the appeal. Ibushi can fuck off.

 

Okada's facelock submission has to be the worst. The opponent's right arm is free and RIGHT BY OKADA'S FUCKING HEAD. ELBOW HIM.

 

Great G1 in all. '02-'04 brought the fun but I'd probably put this one ahead of those.

[John E. Dynamite]

I was sort of thinking the same thing throughout the tourney, though more in different ways.  Tombstones to set up clotheslines?   Spider Germans to set up a flying knee drop?   Maybe it's me getting old but the FIGHTING SPIRIT~! no sells and weird set ups get a bit tiring.  Plus limb work MOSTLY seems useless come the ending stretch (not always, but mostly)

 

One thing I DID notice is that the charisma in NJPW is off the charts.  They connect with the audience on a wider basis, more guys know how, then in the past.  More true heels these days, more rock and roll/body language/fire babyfaces.

 

Hey, man, that Spider German -> Kneedrop combo is ESTABLISHED.

 

I think the charisma thing is a two-way street - the big issue with the middling years of New Japan was a distinct lack of any crowd heat (Korakuen excluded). But to be fair, watching guys like Toru Yano and Lance Archer connect with the crowd? That whole locker has to have some good vibes going through it.

[Jiji]

I think Lance and Smith Jr. need to chill out a bit with their crowd appeals. Like after every move is a bit much, particularly when the crowd doesn't usually respond much if at all.

[GOTNW]

I was sort of thinking the same thing throughout the tourney, though more in different ways.  Tombstones to set up clotheslines?   Spider Germans to set up a flying knee drop? 

The Lariat is a million times more relevant than the Tombstone in japanese wrestling. That shit was getting no-sold in the 70s. I'm not big on people evading Makabe's Kneedrop after the Spider German (especially if he rams their head into the ringpost before throwing them of the top rope) but I can tolerate it.

[JetBlack83]

I had a great time watching the G1 Climax this year; the fact that I could watch each day as it happened makes my former waiting-for-a-VHS self envious.

 

I really only picked back up into New Japan this year, and I never really 'got' Naito.  He looks like Robert Gibson had a good night on a Japanese tour in the 80's, and I could see his offense as some sort of 2013 RnR comeback.  Anyway, I thought he was midcard and as a result the final really didn't do much for me.  Then again, it took me awhile to come around on Tanahashi too.

 

Okada has such a weird moveset.  I don't mind the tombstone set up because I can easily adjust to the Japan logic, but his submission(s) really could use some re-thinking.

 

I thought Shibata and Ishii both stood out, but man Kojima really had a great run.  I had slept on his stuff for a long time now but he was excellent throughout.

 

Lastly, I never ever thought I would say that Lance Archer wasn't the worst guy in it, but now I'd actually even say he wasn't too bad.

[RandomAct]

I kinda feel dumb, because I latched onto all of the guys who had zero shot of winning.  Ishii, Devitt, Yujiro and DBS Jr were easily my favorite guys to watch in the tourney.  Hell, I even enjoyed Yano's act for the first time ever.

[Onizuka]

I was sort of thinking the same thing throughout the tourney, though more in different ways.  Tombstones to set up clotheslines?   Spider Germans to set up a flying knee drop?   Maybe it's me getting old but the FIGHTING SPIRIT~! no sells and weird set ups get a bit tiring.  Plus limb work MOSTLY seems useless come the ending stretch (not always, but mostly)

 

Tenryu did the spider German to set up an elbow drop decades ago, and the tombstone's been an established transitional move for just as long. Totally agree on the limb work, though I've learned to live with that.

 

... Or so I thought. Naito's lack of selling was very off-putting in the tournament, I felt, and so was quite disappointed to see him win it, though I do appreciate NJPW's attempts at establishing as many guys as possible.

 

Nakamura/Ibushi was probably my favourite match of the tourney, with Ishii/Shibata and Ishii/Tanahashi as the runners up. Amazing G1; easily the best I've seen to date.

[Jiji]

In the first minute of the final, I thought they had established the story nicely. Naito's surgically repaired knee will be the target. If he's to make the next step up to WHERE THA BIG BOYS PLAY, he has to take it, survive, and still be able to finish off his opponent. It's a great story for his character as he's gotten really close but hasn't won either the IWGP or G1 before, it just could have been executed much better. He did a good job of it during the early and middle stages of the match but kind of pulled an Okada (though not nearly that bad) in the final stretch. You can tell there is a fundamental understanding of wrestling psychology with these younger guys but they have a really difficult time playing it up when it matters most.

 

Ultimo Dragon and his army of cat... er, rather, army of good looking, athletic dudes mostly concerned about moves and executing them as quickly as possible more so than telling a story have really fucked up Japanese wrestling it seems. And the escalation of the All Japan heavyweight style in the late '90s too. That didn't help much either.

[Salads]

Gordi posting in the catch-all makes me think we failed in our mission to make him check out the Osaka show.

 

I think Lance and Smith Jr. need to chill out a bit with their crowd appeals. Like after every move is a bit much, particularly when the crowd doesn't usually respond much if at all.

 

Seconded.

 

I really only picked back up into New Japan this year, and I never really 'got' Naito.  He looks like Robert Gibson had a good night on a Japanese tour in the 80's, and I could see his offense as some sort of 2013 RnR comeback.  Anyway, I thought he was midcard and as a result the final really didn't do much for me.  Then again, it took me awhile to come around on Tanahashi too.

 

My stance on Naito has always been that he's the Mutoh successor young Tanahashi used to be promoted as. Rob mentioned the 'stare into space' selling on his blog but also being generally unhinged, intermittent selling/downtime with spasms of often reckless offense and the more direct finisher/ring attire comparisons. I can already picture him with a bald spot. This year's G1 maybe doesn't show this very well but I'm assuming the injured knee angle is an attempt to compensate.

[supremebve]

Ultimo Dragon and his army of cat... er, rather, army of good looking, athletic dudes mostly concerned about moves and executing them as quickly as possible more so than telling a story have really fucked up Japanese wrestling it seems. And the escalation of the All Japan heavyweight style in the late '90s too. That didn't help much either.

This is going to be a cross genre, possibly convoluted comparison, but I think the same thing that happened with Puroresu happened with rap after 2pac and Biggie died.  Instead of trying to find new unique talents that brought something new to the table, they decided to try to fill the vacuum with imposters and substitutes. They should have been looking for young guys who are talented, fundamentally sound, and unique.  Instead they watched 90s NJPW Jrs. and AJPW Heavyweights and focused on the flashy dives and suplexes and missed everything that held them together and made them special.  So they basically shaved a couple guys heads, put bandanas on them and just assumed it would work.  Thankfully, it seems like there are some guys are beginning to see that the most important parts of wrestling are the parts that are unseen.  Sometimes taking an extra second or two to sell the last suplex makes the next suplex mean more.  Doing a moonsault after being in a figure four looks good, but makes no sense based on the story being told in the ring. Hip-hop suffered from believing that people liked 2pac and Biggie because they were thugs or ballers, and not because they were extremely charismatic, talented songwriters who could make good music.  Puroresu suffered from thinking that people watched because they were flipping out of the ring and dropping each other on their heads instead of the fact that they had wrestlers who did everything to tell a compelling story in the ring.  Hopefully that makes some sense to someone other than me. 

[Jiji]

Out of likes for the day, bro, but that was fun.

[Gonzalez]

The complaining about limb selling has to be the most annoying thing about Japanese wrestling discussion.  

 

I wish there were more Alan4L's in this world.

[Jiji]

Then why waste the first half of the match working on it? Just hit fucking moves.

[Gonzalez]

Because that's how the first half of Minoru Sazuki matches are structured. 

[Jiji]

It's not his fault these new guys are clueless half the time, dammit!

[wakigatame]

Apparently I can't quote anything this morning on here but did someone really try to make the point that a spider German to set up the King Kong Knee Drop was stupid? Please explain to me how the head drop that puts your opponent down for long enough to hit your finish from the top rope makes no sense. I'm with whoever bashed Ibushi's offense but the spider German followed by the King Kong Knee Drop is actually a pretty great combo.

[Gordi the former AEW fan]

Gordi posting in the catch-all makes me think we failed in our mission to make him check out the Osaka show.

 

 

 I screwed up. Months ago, I had promised to do security for a reggae festival that was being promoted by a group of friends. Doing concert security is pretty easy in Japan. People almost never get seriously violent in public here. Also, reggae fans in general tend to be pretty mellow. It was fun. I enjoyed it, and I'm always happy to help out my friends. Only... that festival was on August 4th. My heart sank when I figured out that keeping my promise meant I wasn't going to the G-1.

 

Also, I figured Murphy's Law being the way it is more or less guaranteed it would be a great show and that Ishii vs. Shibata would be a MOTYC. I was afraid to look in this thread because I didn't want to know what I'd missed. 

 

Serves me right for humble-bragging about it.

[Alan4L]

The complaining about limb selling has to be the most annoying thing about Japanese wrestling discussion.  

 

I wish there were more Alan4L's in this world.

 

 

I'm actually one of eight octuplets. My mum had her hands full.

[Ryan Clingman]

I didn't want to do this, but in the end I did. If anyone is interested on around 15+ pages on the G1 Climax and what people thought about it (that's write, we talked about people talking about the G1!), I wrote about that here.