NJPW 2017 G1 Climax 27

[Pete]

31 minutes ago, Belgian_Waffle said:

I don't think the fans really think of a G1 encounter as "part of the series"  between Okada and Omega.  The title isn't at stake,  the time limit is 30 mins, the major consequences just aren't there.  They show up and do a heated 30 minute draw and the fans will just see it as a tantalizing placeholder before the real showdown. Having the guy who hasn't won yet pin the guy he's chasing in a lower-stakes scenario just waters down the moment of seeing him actually pin the guy for the first time with the belt on the line. Another time limit draw,  or even a scenario where Omega is already a lock for the final and loses to Okada again on the last night of the tournament,  knowing he still has the chance to face him again for the title if he wins the tournament,  are both preferable scenarios (imo!) to giving Kenny the win somewhere other than the Dome.  

Serious question: when was the last time anyone was already locked into the G1 final before the last night?

[Beech27]

How about this: Coming into their match--let's say the last night--Omega needs a draw to advance, whereas Okada needs a win. This gives Omega the "champions advantage" Okada enjoyed during their last match, and would let Omega win without winning. 

[Belgian_Waffle]

57 minutes ago, Pete said:

Serious question: when was the last time anyone was already locked into the G1 final before the last night?

It was Fujita in 2005, no? Unless Nakamura the year he ended up losing to Makabe? 

**edit: accidentally posted this with the privacy/spoiler tag,  can't figure out how to turn it off 
ADMIN EDIT: I am a helper. -Pete

[Jiji]

It starts tonight at 11 PM for us folks on the best coast. My body is ready. I'm going to do my best to not get agitated when it becomes clear that the final won't be Omega/Ibushi. I'm not as big of a Naito fan as most on the internets. I am certainly not denying that he's a fantastic talent, I just don't know if I see him as the guy to unseat Okada again, particularly after his last reign was so short and uneventful.

[EVA]

I think Naito has a great heavyweight run in him, they just pulled the trigger on it too soon last year, and I think they realized it.   That said, I understand their eagerness to run with Okada/Naito.  Dude who's character is completely defined by the title and his obsessesion with where he fits into the tradition of NJPW vs. dude who couldn't give a fuck less about all of that stuff is a no-brainer, and those two generate natural frisson together, like AJ and Cena have most recently.

Still, I kinda think Naito's best spot right now is Nakamura's old spot: in and around the IC title forever, giving them a viable second headliner when Okada doesn't have a worthy opponent on deck.

[EVA]

BTW Tama Tonga's 8 hour filibuster during the press conference is another strike against him ever being included in this tournament again.

[Jiji]

I don't disagree with anything you're saying. I know I'm a higher on Omega more than most here but the big story in wrestling this year has been Okada vs. Omega. Not following up on that and having Naito win the title or even just the G1 (most seem to think of him as the favourite) seems like it would cheapen the overarching narrative between Okada & Omega. I try not to fauntasy book because it's like betting on sport playoffs and ruins the experience, but I have a clear picture of Omega & Ibushi in the final putting on an all-timer, Omega beating Okada for the title at WK and then you can go with Naito after that. Naito winning would be such a detour to the incredible Omega/Okada rivalry that is still not even close to being finished.

And there are so many ways they can both set up and pay off the group match between Okada & Omega. One of them may need the two points to leap frog either the other or Suzuki, therefore one can play the long game and go for the draw while the other has to push the tempo to avoid the deadlock. Or, they could be even and the winner goes through to the finals. Or, they could be even and a draw would clear a path for Suzuki to the finals. I'm kind of not wanting Suzuki in the final because there's practically no chance they run a Tokyo Dome main event with him as the main challenger. I guess the same could be said for Ibushi but the fans love him and would probably be totally open to Ibushi/Okada at the Dome. So, yeah, even going the somewhat predictable route of Okada/Omega drawing in the group stage, there are so many interesting ways they could go with it. Like this time Omega is close to finishing off Okada, shifting the momentum in the series between the two and setting up a future match where he finally wins, for instance. That's enough of that shit though. I will enjoy the matches as they happen to the best of my abilities.

Night 1 is going to be nuts. 

• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
• Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito
• Yuji Nagata vs. YOSHI-HASHI
• Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale
• Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Did anybody else watch the press conference? (posted this just as EVA's second post went up, derp) Fale took offense to Makabe and they had a pretty rad altercation. Tanahashi vs. ZSJ has a built-in story of Tana's arm being served up on a platter for Zack. I have a very hard time picturing Ibushi/Naito not being a MOTYC. YOSHI-HASHI/Nagata will tell us a lot of where they have Yuji in this thing. Is he going to have a Liger BOSJ story? Goto vs. Ishii will have a lot of cringe-inducing strikes but I've kind of turned the corner on Goto. He's really good so long as they don't try to push him as a top, top guy.

[Ace]

I've never been so happy to be in a hospital. Between the on-off sleeping hours and wifi, I'll watch the show tonight.

[The Iron Yuppie]

ZSJ-Tanahashi Round 1 is such a perfect booking setup. Goto-Ishii could set an insanely high standard for the whole damn tournament right off the bat. Given the awesome year he's had, I wonder if Ishii could get a surprise run to the final akin to Goto last year. Considering the awesome matches he's had with Omega at New Japan Cup, Dontaku and G1 Special, I would be just fine with a quadrilogy. 

[paintedbynumbers]

I think some of the random tags tomm look pretty fun too. Sure it also raises the chance of injury but damn the LIJ tag looks fun.

[EVA]

I don't think Ishii making it to the finals would be that big of a surprise.  He's easily one of the top 3 most likely to win that block, along with Naito and Ibushi.  And not for nothing, but he was one of the 4 guys seated nearest the podium during the press conference, always on camera.

[Beech27]

Worth the sleep deficit.

-Fun tags, which got me excited for a few matches to come. Hard not to look too far down the road, but Omega/Suzuki is enough to keep me focused on what's in the immediate future. Mostly. (Yano's beating Suzuki in 30 seconds to open the door for Omega or Okada, isn't he?)

-I generally like ZSJ (I know, right?) and the ingredients were all there for him to tap Tanahashi, but I still didn't expect it. So, that was a pleasant surprise that also makes the bracket even more interesting. ZSJ can believably steal a quick pin on anyone, and Tanahashi is credible enough to beat anyone (he faces Naito on the block's final night, probably with a chance to play spoiler) but damaged enough to drop falls to everyone. 

-Ibushi and Naito was incredible, and sets up what I hope will be a compelling chase the rest of the tournament. Ibushi's gonna Ibushi, but he looks really at home in these heavyweight main events. Wouldn't mind seeing him settle in for a bit.

-Slight non-sequitur: Now with the benefit of hindsight, it seems pretty safe to say both ZSJ and Ibushi are better off missing out on 205 live, doesn't it? 

[EVA]

Lord, yes.

[Ryan]

Depends on the pay, but I can almost guarantee Ibushi's much happier working when and wherever he wants and Zack is probably making a good living going all over the damn place now and not being forced to wrestle Noam Dar every other week and being turned into Jack Gallagher's butler.

[EVA]

I mean, up until this point, Ibushi was probably a push vs. having signed.  It was basically him indulging his free spirit vs. becoming a bigger star and making more money, and if he valued the former greater than the latter, well, good for him.  But if NJPW has come around and is willing to work with him in a more significant way than as Tiger Mask W, then this was definitely a net win for him in the long run.

ZSJ, on the other hand, has unquestionably won by betting on himself, as he's pretty much the top guy at every major indy and NJPW looks to maybe be getting behind him as a player in the heavies.  I hate him, but he's improved his stature immensely and will be able to get a much better deal for himself when he's ready to go WWE.

I do kinda think the cruiserweight division might've gone differently if it had launched with a true superstar like Ibushi as champ, though.  I think it was that wandering period until they landed on Neville, too little too late, that really did it in.

[Ryan]

Zack may never go to WWE if he can stay in New Japan, he'd probably make more there overall. The biggest mystery behind him is why he chose a worked name with a Jr. in it when he isn't one and there's no Zack Sabre otherwise. I guess Lucas Eatwell is TOO British sounding.

[Raziel]

Naito/Ibushi was fucking spectacular... until the kickout from the Avalanche Piledriver, match lost me after that.

 

Rest of the tourny matches were pretty fucking good, even Fale/Makabe.

[MapRef41N93W]

The contrast between the last two matches was remarkable. You've got a guy kicking out of a second-rope piledriver in the main event, while one match earlier the big drama was "can Tanahashi escape this wristlock?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?"

I acknowledge that the crowd was more into the former, but I'm very grateful for the latter.

[Pete]

Nagata is SOOO fucking awesome doing the grumpy old bastard gimmick. He absolutely murdered YOSHI-HASHI with everything he had, yet YH gave just as good as he got. This was a hell of a match.

Liked the contrast in the factions-explode tags. LIJ went after each other like they had something to prove, while CHAOS treated theirs more like a workout and were clearly coasting. Both matches were super-fun in their own way. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

Not a bad match on the card.  I only watched the G1 matches, I didn't have a lot of time today but everything I saw was good to spectacular.   

Naito and Ibushi was insane. They kicked out of some crazy shit at the end but this was worked like a Tokyo Dome match and both guys still sold tons.  Naito worked the rest of the match like he had a broken neck off that piledriver,  I was okay with it.  Incredible stuff and the crowd unglued.  

I think Nagata vs. Yoshi Hashi was my second favorite match.   I was pulling for Nagata, he was kicking his ass all over the place but Yoshi is cool too,  great match.  

I'm not thrilled with ZSJ subbing Tanahashi but it was booked perfectly so what I can say?  He has a seriously fucked up arm coming in and the guy who takes pride in working limbs and subs goes at it pretty much the whole time + there was added interference.  I think Tanahashi came out looking more than fine and it served ZSJ well even though I'm not a fan. 

[EVA]

What's most frustrating about the avalanche piledriver is they didn't even need it.  They were having a bonkers match before that.  My only guess is they didn't want to burn either of Ibushi's finishes and he needed a big, climactic nearfall before Naito won, but, damn, there had to be some middle ground between Last Ride and avalanche piledriver.

And I tell you what, I hate ZSJ, but you put G1 in the name of a show and he shows up big.

[Jiji]

He's been killing it in Evolve for a while now and i tend to enjoy him in rev pro. 

I would have no problem with the piledriver if Ibushi won the match afterwards, like the 90s All Japan big killer moves. Loved the match but that was a bit much. 

[MapRef41N93W]

"Loved the match but that was a bit much" is my reaction to just about every big NJPW singles match.

[Jiji]

Heh, I have a higher tolerance for overkill (though I've been souring on PWG the last handful of shows) and don't have a problem with any of Okada's big title defenses, but an avalanche piledriver?! Come on now. If he's kicking out, the next move should put him down for the count. Even with the overkill at the end, they did an excellent job of making every move pretty meaningful with some great selling as the match progressed. 

[Ryan]

Recall, the piledriver is generally not seen as a finisher in Japan anyway. Still, a bit insane.