NJPW G1 Climax 28, LIVE AT THE BUDOKAN! 7/14-8/12

[Raziel]

I just started the Block matches, but it looks like the Ref criticisim has been addressed 

 

EDIT: Never mind.

[Archibald]

Well Sanada at least won in the end so refs being dumb wasn't as annoying. Thou I find it cute how Loa tried to explain that he was cleaning the dust and did nothing wrong.

I don't like that Juice, new crowned US champ is 0-2. I understand why he had to lose to Tama and Ibushi, but I still don't like it.

I honestly was a bit underwhelmed by Omega/Goto, but probably because I had very high expectations there. Towards the end when Goto did his past finishers, but couldn't connect his current one match kinda died for me since it was obvious that Kenny is going to do his comeback sequence and take a win. In my opinion ending stretch of Ishii/Naito was much stronger with that counter Destino coming out of nowhere.

But thats really a nitpick, both ending 2 matches were fucking great.

[Jiji]

Juice vs. Ibushi was a very good babyface vs babyface match but if you compare it to Naito/Ishii the former lacked any context or meaning. Everything Ishii and Naito did was based in their personas and the dynamic between each other. It was perfect until the end. Not a fan of one guy getting his ass kicked for 95% of the match only to lose to one or two moves. In these big matches, Ishii should bust out the SSD so it doesn't feel like he's completely out gunned. 

Kenny, outside of matches against Naito and Okada, is at his best in terms of getting across character when he doesn't take his opponent seriously. It was a master class against Yoshi hashi two years ago and it was great again tonight, as he showed Goto no respect until he almost had the match slip through his fingers. Great stuff but obviously not on the level of their finals match. 

[EVA]

I was REALLY not looking forward to Tama/SANADA, but it was kept short enough that neither guy had to get out of their comfort zone.  They did some athletic stuff to pop the crowd, queued the BC fuckery, and went home in 10 minutes.  No real complaints, but realistically, this was still one of the 3 worst matches so far, of which Tama can claim 2.

ZSJ/Yano was exactly what I was hoping for, and this new Yano run has been really fun, even if it means his opponents aren't getting as much of a night off as they have in previous years.  I think it was necessary for him to get a little more serious this year, because it would be difficult to top the comedy heights he achieved last year without just going completely overboard and throwing invisible grenades or whatnot.

Juice/Ibushi was good, considering that they were starting in a storytelling hole as a face/face match and Ibushi is too pure to go after Juice's hand.  I'm fine with Juice's losses so far.  He got screwed in the Tama match, and Ibushi is still WAY above him in the NJPW hierarchy.  Even though he's a champion, he's still a guy who has to get lucky and #RollAMotherfuckerUp against guys at that level.

One of the little things I love about Juice is how when he runs to the opposite corner to set up his cannoball, he STOPS before he hits the turnbuckle.  Because the turnbuckle is SUPPOSED TO HURT.  It's so annoying when guys run into it full steam and bounce off like it's a spring to give them extra momentum.  That goes against, like, 80 years of established wrestling physics.  Juice gets it.

Naito/Ishii and Omega/Goto delivered the exact 20 minute matches you'd expect from those pairings.  Neither were more memorable than past meetings they've had, but both were very entertaining throughout.  Naito/Ishii was probably a little better because G1 season is Ishii Season.

[Beech27]

Couple things, having watched again: 

-Kota’s moonsault is insane, as much for the narrow landing as the narrow launch. And he barely even looks!

-Goto’s chair toss is about my favorite spot of the tourney so far. His character is basically defined by denied frustration, so seeing it released is really cool. Of course, he loses anyway, because Goto.

-I wonder if trying to follow and/or one-up Ibushi will cost Omega a match, considering how aware he is of doing so. I also wonder if he’ll lose to Tama, but I don’t need that at 35 minutes, headlining a big show. 

-Page demanding to fight the real Okada makes me pretty sure he won’t get to, and the turnaround comes later.

-Next card ain’t gonna follow this, in any case.

[Jiji]

It's not really until Thursday of next week do we have a great looking lineup unfortunately. Ibushi vs. SANADA for captaincy of Fuck Team Japan. Though, to be fair, Juice vs. Naito could be excellent, Ishii vs. Goto always brings the violence, and SANADA vs. ZSJ should be great if it's anything like their wonderful NJ Cup match, so Saturday's show looks pretty good too.

Yeah, that Ibushi moonsault was horrifying. No margin for error at all and he gave zero fucks about it. Just another flip, man.

[Sublime]

Got caught up with the shows before the next couple days where I'm  not going to be able to watch anything until Sunday. That said:

- Naito and Ibushi have been fantastic. I think Naito/Ishii is my match of the tournament so far, I was cringing hard at those chops to the throat. Those two play off each other so well. Ibushi/ZSJ is my second place match that was fantastic, I hope those two get a featured match against each other sometime next year. I'm glad those two aren't regulated to 205Live, didn't think I'd ever enjoy ZSJ so much two years ago.

-Omega has been good also but maybe I'm not use to Kenny IWGP champion Kenny something seems a little off from his work when he was chasing.

-White is a fantastic sleaze ball. I love how well he sells his enjoyment of inflicting pain on his opponents, like when he was taking apart Tana's ankle/knee.

-Really interested in Okada's storyline. I did not expect he'd be tied with YOSHI HASHI with 0 points after two nights.

 

[sevendaughters]

DAVE went an unabashed 5 for both Kenny matches. Can see it for Naito, and glad Goto gets some recognition, but nah. 

[Pete]

Meltz giving Yano 3.5 vs Ishii and 3.75 vs ZSJ just gives me the giggles. Gedo isn't giving ANYONE the night off this year.

[Beech27]

7 hours ago, sevendaughters said:

DAVE went an unabashed 5 for both Kenny matches. Can see it for Naito, and glad Goto gets some recognition, but nah. 

Yeah, that's Goto's first, isn't it? I liked it a lot, but that wasn't his best match this year, or his best against Omega in the G1, even.

No five star matches today, in any case.

-I was curious to see how big of a dork Elgin would look losing to Jay; and the answer was "very." Lots of big moves, and the usual assortment of strikes that sound like gunshots, which are basically always countered immediately. If it wasn't how all of his matches go, I could see an argument that this was necessary to get Jay over as a cheater by choice as much as necessity--and I do think that's what they were going for, which was helped by White having some nice looking suplexes of his own. The ref bump didn't look good enough to cover for the fact that it was happening again, but I'm kinda just amused by it at this point. Crowd mostly didn't give a shit, though.

-EVIL and Makabe had a nice husky brawl. No Nagata or Kojima this year, so it almost feels like Makabe's bringing it a little harder to represent the Dads. So far I think he's been fun, and his best days were the early years of my New Japan fandom, so I probably have a little extra nostalgia for this generation.

-Tanahashi is probably Fale's best opponent, and he showed why--Red Shoes' Redemption was a cathartic ending. For a new stable, the Firing Squad isn't really being made to look that strong, though, which makes me wonder when/if they're getting the reinforcements that would make them less ineffectual. Against Kenny wouldn't be the worst time to have a surprise run-in...

-Okada/Page was a great showcase for Hangman, and a good match. The through-line of him goading Okada into being Okada while being almost distracted by the crowd's support worked, even if those control segments never got really hot. And in the end, Okada wins without any obvious revelation--it was almost a frustrated "while I'm here" sequence to end things, like he got tired of Page kick-flipping in his face and just wanted to go home.

[Archibald]

Yeah, Omega/Goto was great match, but probably doesn't make Top 10 Goto's matches. But thats not a surprise, Dave always tend to rate high The Elite matches.

As for today:

Expected Elgin to win, now I wonder who is going to beat White first. I don't believe that he is going to the finals so he needs to lose 3/6 remaining matches. Fale, Suzuki and Evil? Or surprise Yoshi upset?

Tanahashi/Fale was fun, ending in usual bullshit, but since Red Shoes said "fuck it" it ended up making sense and progressed "meta story" or however we should call it.

Okada/Page really ended up feeling like "yeah, ok, lets ends this".

[Beech27]

I could see White's heel tactics backfiring against those three, who are more comfortable/willing to meet him at that level--especially Fale. In that case, a ref bump would just get him beaten down. They seem high enough on Hangman that I wonder if he might not get his win back over Jay; I wouldn't say the odds are great, but I think that's the most likely underdog clean pin White would take.

[Jiji]

I agree with everything you said in your rundown, Beech, except that the crowd was super into the White/Elgin match and reacted to most all of the bombz and booed Jay for cheating. Thought, despite the failings that Elgin always has, it was a pretty great match. That kiwi crusher to the floor botch could've been disastrous. I am so excited to see how White and Suzuki mesh or don't. My guess would be Jay loses there and possibly loses to Page but wins the group on a tiebreaker thanks to his wins over the big boys. 

At times it was as if Tanahashi was wrestling himself. Fale really can be mechanically fucking awful. Good match but they've had many better matches including this year's NJ Cup match from that warehouse in the middle of nowhere. 

Page is really coming along. I popped as much as he did when the crowd got 100% behind him. They have no idea how to react to crazy Kazu. It's absolutely fascinating. The one problem with Page's finish is he can't safely hit it on guys bigger than him, can he? Hmm, maybe since he lands on his knees I guess? The Bull version with the sitout is the one that can't be done on longer recipients. Nm. 

And Makabe definitely seems to be stepping it up when called upon this year. Whereas Beech, you said you started with his peak, I wasn't into wrestling from like 06-11 so I missed a lot of his best years. I was ready for him to retire in 2016 but I turned the corner on him with that fantastic performance against Suzuki for the IC title and all of his G1 matches have been very good. 

Fun show overall but nothing must see. Tomorrow's show should be a significant upgrade with Juice vs. Naito having the potential to be a damned classic if the Korakuen crowd reacts to both guys with enthusiasm. 

[Raziel]

God damn Natio/Robinson was great.   Good God Damn Goto/Ishii was outstanding.

 

Ishii is the perfect example of an awesome dude that would you know he's never winning a World Title, he's a perfect solid hand, where he and his offense are credible enough that you believe he can win any match he's in, and he makes just about anyone he's in the ring with look like a Superstar.  

[sevendaughters]

agree with that Raziel, Ishii/Goto was stellar. hard-hitting but not as nasty as some of their NEVER bouts a few years ago.

Naito/Juice not far behind in terms of quality. all four of them are killing it this G1.

Kenny/Tama was decent but more for the storyline. if DAVE gives that more than 4 then he's smoking crack.

SANADA/Sabre was whimsical. Missed Kota/Yano, going in now.

[Pete]

Yano is a genius when it comes to those fuck finishes. I love that the match hinged on Ibushi being an idiot who wasn't going to let a little thing like his hands taped together stop him from getting his shit in.

[sevendaughters]

Kota-Yano was fun, a short DDT match basically.

[Jenalysis]

Really want to see Minoru punish Jay, I can't see Jay going 9-0, he'll prob lose to at least one of the dads and someone else.

 

[Beech27]

Kota losing because he’s Kota is perfect. He’s an athletic marvel, but also kind of an idiot, so. SANADA, on the other hand, looked right at home in a match that didn’t showcase his more surface level traits. Grapplefuckery suits him. 

Tama and Kenny... again, for being a new heel entity, Firing Squad isn’t very good at this. At least Tama won’t get a title shot. I’m still hoping that’s Ishii, because he never got one off Okada, and he can do things like he just did. Dave could’ve waited a couple days for a better Goto match after all...

Naito was generous as hell. He enters in his big match attire, bends his entire move set around attacking Juice’s hand, and then sells every single comeback moment like a borderline knockout. And Juice, of course, is as good at anyone at taking advantage of that narrative framework. He still needs to win some matches eventually, but so far I feel like he’s only helped himself.

[EVA]

I don't know if it's intentional or not, but all this BC OG fuckery is making for a really solid storyline explanation as to why these goofs have never amounted to anything.  They're so disorganized and impulsive, they can't get out of their own way.  They're so shortsightedly focused on projecting strength at all times, on being the tough guys standing tall at the end of the night, that they're missing the bigger picture and constantly costing themselves points.

It's almost like they're in need of a real leader or something.

[OSJ]

On 7/18/2018 at 11:18 AM, Curt McGirt said:

Who the fuck is Ikemen Jiro? 

You really don't want to know. Trust me on this.

[Ryan]

Do you mean Jiro "Ikemen" Kuroshio? If so, he's just a long-haired pretty boy from Wrestle-1 that wrestles a lot based around his goofy looking coats. He's harmless. He's very over wherever he works for no discernible reason.

[Jiji]

Naito/Juice almost lived up to my incredibly high expectations. The Naito fans just couldn't get behind Juice at pretty much any point of the match. Bless that one dude constantly trying to start Juice calls. Unlike with Okada, the majority of Naito fans will not switch support for the underdog regardless of who it is, and for this match to take on that classic level it's what needed to happen. 

These Tongans are hopeless and I pray that this concludes with them fucking off because what else can they do? They've been around forever. 

Ibushi losing in the most DDT of matches and Yano rejecting any notion of serious wrestler to get the win was great. Ibushi struggling to get the corner padding off was adorable and perfect. 

SANADA has such fantastic chemistry with Zack! Stoic, super athletic wrestling genius is something they can really build into a main level guy. Abridged version of the NJ cup match with vengeance served. Loved it. 

Starting the main event now. Did not take them long to start beating the piss out of each other. 

I kind of love where this block is going. Kenny's ahead of the pack but Ibushi, Naito and SANADA are all biting at his heels. If this goes into Budokan with Ibushi needing to beat Kenny and Kenny only needing a draw, I will be a mess by the end. Fawntasy booking: Kenny near the end of the 30 minutes has Kota down and out, ready for the OWA... Only he shows compassion and eases off, giving "Ibutan" an opening in which he takes without second thought. Sets up the Dome match and builds tension beautifully. But it's likelier they draw costing them the final spot that Naito takes. 

[Ryan]

Pray to any deity you do or don't believe in Haku doesn't read this and come to your house. He might try and sell you a car.

[Jiji]

I honestly can't see Haku sitting at a computer with his reading glasses on sifting through DVDVR. Okay, maybe I just did. 

I think the main event was the first match I'd go full five boy on. Holy shit, the perfect tough guy match and the crowd lapped up the violence. 

Forgot to mention in my initial ramblings that I loooooved LOVED the White/MiSu interactions. Match should be hilarious and great! Jay White has his character down so well.