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

[Pete]

1 hour ago, sevendaughters said:

TANAHASHI-YOSHIHASHI dickish babyface in white Tanahashi is a marvel and it was judicious deployment against rattled schoolboy Tacos, who did his level best to get the win. The jawing post-match was actually cool and made me want to see the longer-form match, but not enough that I'd want Tanahashi to take a fall. Yoshi actually does moves really well, doesn't he? Tanahashi made him look a threat with good selling and cleverly not trying to go 50-50. It made the ending look like Yoshi had been robbed. I enjoyed this a lot. ***3/4

I dig alot of Yoshi's work. I just find it hard to invest in him since he's basically a black hole of charisma. Seriously, day-old vanilla pudding has more personality.

[sevendaughters]

1 minute ago, Pete said:

I dig alot of Yoshi's work. I just find it hard to invest in him since he's basically a black hole of charisma. Seriously, day-old vanilla pudding has more personality.

yeah. I am sure that most people have this cycle with Yoshihashi's top end matches

music hits SIGH
opening exchanges OH COME ON JUST BEAT HIM DOWN (name of much better opponent)
escalation OH MAYBE THIS IS WHERE I COME AROUND ON TACOS
big exchange of moves THIS IS IT
result GO TO INTERNET AND TALK ABOUT TACOS
forget all about him

[Beech27]

Yoshihashi is the most technically competent yet wholly uncompelling wrestler going, and that, weirdly, makes him at least an interesting case study. There's a common sentiment that a certain type of indie/puro fan only cares about moves done well and quickly--preferably as part of elaborate finishing run choreography--that his relative lack of popularity offers a pretty good rebuttal to. He can, as demonstrated earlier and today, go step-for-step through Okada or Tana's template, and come out with something... fine. Good even--though mostly because of the disdain the main eventers showed him--but never leaving an impression that lasts. (Elgin is also very much in the "does moves really well but I don't care at all" camp, so him versus Okada was, y'know, like that.)

Anyway, watched today, and agree with @Archibaldabout the lack of breakout performers--which is sad, because it should have been White. I actually really liked the Okada/Tana matches, but pasting those onto every scenario going forward, no matter the opponent, doesn't work nearly as well. I think Page is probably the closest thing, though he needs a signature win to really capitalize. If nothing else, ROH should probably be planning his world title ascent quickly, or he'll be in NXT before they get the chance.

I also really miss the old dude duo of Kojima and Nagata. The G1 doesn't need to be filled with credible winners, but it does--as with any story--need to be filled with characters who are either seeking or resisting change, and struggling accordingly. Two veterans resisting that final move into obsolescence was, to me, every bit as interesting as Juice's ascent, Naito's peaking, and Okada standing firm against the winds only someone alone on the mountain top must face.  People like the aforementioned Yoshihashi and Elgin are just present; Makabe, Suzuki, and Tana don't have their heels dangling off the cliff yet; and White's thing--while still mostly interesting to me--is getting very redundant for no real reason.

[EVA]

Hangman and EVIL have been doing yeoman's work in the A Block midcard.

Hangman/Switchblade was leaps and bounds better than their SSE match just a few months ago.  It was still probably too nutty for it's own good (Hangman takes no less than THREE apron bumps), but it all held together more coherently, and White is more established in his heel role and Page's babyface work is coming on strong and...yeah, this all worked.  Except for another predictable screwjob finish.  Why they think White needs to cheat to beat Page is beyond me.  At the very least they could've mixed it up and had White brain Page with his own boot, as opposed to the beyond-stale low blow.

I still maintain that EVIL is significantly better than SANADA, just not as flashy or handsome and significantly more weird, and thus not as obvious a candidate for a main event push.  He is one of the best sellers on the roster, both in obvious ways (for a tough guy character, he has no problem absolutely howling in anguish) and those more subtle, like here against Suzuki, where he pulls his forearm shots during the big strike exchange to sell that he doesn't have the same power due to his arm injury.  He still gives the crowd the chance to chant along without betraying the story of the match.   I thought these two had a fun, short brawl in last year's tournament, and this match expanded on that nicely.  They probably have a really good 20-minute NEVER title match in their future.

[sevendaughters]

2 hours ago, Archibald said:

5. I don't get new Okada, yes old Okada had problems and probably a ceiling, but at least I got it. This on the other hand is just weird. And it is kinda same thing about Omega, he slightly changed now with becoming a champion and I'm not sure if he still hasn't figured it out or if it is something that he actually thinks is cool and works.

Enjoyable post Archibald, my take on this point is that he's not winning, but he was pushed so high and hard that they can only book it as 'he's losing because he's not right in the head / mentally at the beach'. I expect this balloon-boy gimmick is a diversion that lasts up until a pre-Dome PPV where he finds the old Rainmaker just in time to book a tasty upper card singles match, whilst giving a Naito or an Ibushi a chance to climb without a big old Okada-shaped ceiling keeping them down.

I still haven't figured out where they're taking this, booking-wise. I expect Ibushi to spoil Block B for Kenny rather than win it for himself. I still expect Ishii to get the other win over Kenny and set up a defence later in the year. Maybe the first G1 briefcase defence loss? It's probably about time, but also a real blow to whoever they book for that.

[Archibald]

I think only other potential winner of B block is Naito (everyone else are a bit low on points and likely eating another loss) and his loss on opening day kinda supports that theory since Gedo immediately threw out expected KoPW main event. Naito/Ibushi is happening on August 4th so by that time we will probably see if Ibushi can win it or will he play spoiler.

Thing about G1 briefcase loss... that probably has to happen at some point if we want to keep things interesting and honest, but yeah, whoever takes that fall is going to suffer.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

Am I misunderstanding something about Japan when I think that maybe the tag matches could be a little less predictable e.g. wouldn't Gedo nicking a roll-up of Sanada after Yano got him out of the Paradise Lock have been really neat? Sanada wouldn't have been hurt that much surely? On a night where you could easily pick every winner in the block matches, it would surely help.

[Jiji]

They could always rehab the briefcase loser with a redemption story (would probably need to win the next G1 or the title within a year) and an important WK match. 

Been trying to avoid spoilers but as far as Meltzer and Alvarez's criticisms went with Ibushi/Ishii, their main issue was with the strikes to the neck. I hate that shit too and both made it look really convincing if they did indeed avoid hitting the neck. So, while Meltzer is absolutely inconsistent with concerns over dangerous moves in wrestling, they weren't wrong here imho.

Going off of the GoD/Ishii+Sho match from today, Ishii is due for his first bad match and Tama is 100% hopeless in ring. Just so bad. 

@ComingToAmerica agreed. The undercard tags are definitely a weak spot for the tournament. I'm not expecting guys to go all out like what Ibushi and Ishii did to set the stage for their brawl but something here and there with the odd upset would be nice. I always say they should have a flash pin and/or a countout early on to give some weight to the countless times they're both played up. And more flash pins deep into the tournament would make sense as guys are beat up and therefore more susceptible to such things as well as losing concentration. 

[sevendaughters]

I literally just watched Ibushi-Ishii again and I guess I don't have the problems with the neck strikes. It was judicious and probably only one really hit its mark. If they were just hitting bomb after bomb then I'd be like 'hang on', but they were telling the story that Ibushi has woken up to how much extra it takes to get wins over his real rivals, so for me it was justified. And Ishii can take it.

[Jiji]

Yes it's true, this man has no neck. 

Will be rewatching it with my homie on Wednesday so I'll keep an extra eye on da neck strikes. All I know for sure is going back to Tenryu, neck strikes freak me the fuck out. 

[Beech27]

19 minutes ago, Oyaji said:

All I know for sure is going back to Tenryu, neck strikes freak me the fuck out. 

Yeah, that's totally fair. For me it's just that the neck chops are such an ingrained part of Ishii's big-match arsenal that it seems odd for Dave to suddenly take issue with it when he literally just handed out a fiver for the Goto match, in which he deployed them. And I mean... Omega/Ishii's gonna get five (or close), and there will be neck chops there too... Ibushi firing back with the punches was just perfect escalation, for me, and I figure a kickboxer can pull and/or place a punch just right in order to make it non-deadly as easily as anyone can land on their own head safely.

I should know better than to focus on stargazing, though--astronomy was the only class I came close to failing in college--and everyone cringes at different stuff. A few stress fractures and severe ankle sprains from my cross country days means people landing awkwardly on their feet seems the height of reckless danger, to me. (This is why, when Kenny and his fracture get heel hooked by ZSJ, I might have to look away.)

[Jiji]

That's all fair. 

Random thought: Hangman and Juice would make for an awesome new age white meat babyface team in NJPW. Page and his "awe shucks" promos and Juice's babyface fire I could see working really well together. I want an IWGP tag title run for those two now! 

[sevendaughters]

yeah I have a bad meniscal ligament from a running/football injury so whenever I see dodgy knee-related stuff I wince

[Pete]

2 hours ago, Oyaji said:

That's all fair. 

Random thought: Hangman and Juice would make for an awesome new age white meat babyface team in NJPW. Page and his "awe shucks" promos and Juice's babyface fire I could see working really well together. I want an IWGP tag title run for those two now! 

Not at the expense of breaking up the Virginia Gentlemen team of Page/Chase. They've been really fun on the G1 off-nights.

[peterien]

So far for me Omega has been very un-interesting. At this point in time he was way more interesting as a chaser but winning the title a month before the G1 and then straight into the tournament might have something to do with that. 

[Jiji]

Been thinking about smilin', penis balloon toting Okada and I'm of the mind he's trolling the fans at this point. He knows he's not beloved like a true ace (Tanahashi) and he's not the cool outsider (Naito), so now that he is no longer defined by the belt and the reign of all reigns, he's poking fun at the fans for never getting behind him. My guess is some level of resentment had been building over the past few years and this is his catharsis. Shoving the false pretenses of a babyface back at the fans ("This is my favourite town! But I may say this at the next town." ). Also, if there were a time for mindless fun, this would be it.

Thought the match with Elgin was worked smartly even if the match as a whole was rather bland and listless. Still, I'll take a smartly worked, well paced Elgin match over the shit he pulled with Ishii in the NJ Cup. Okada said Elgin's a big jacked up dummy in his backstage promo Saturday, so it was a match built around him avoiding the biggest bombs to the best of his abilities, often times slipping out at the last instant. Very good, not great. YH/Tana was probably the closest to greatness but I'm still not sold, may rewatch tomorrow.

@EVA interesting you brought up EVIL's elbows because I wasn't sure if he was selling or taking it easy on beat up, old man Suzuki. That's another I'd like to rewatch.

Definitely agree, @peterien, regarding Kenny. He's had two 4+ star matches so far (Goto and Naito) but still left me wanting. I said it last week but it's clear that Okada and Omega are going through growing pains adjusting to their new roles. I don't get how Kenny can go all sentimental and benevolent in some of these post-match promos and still be a tweener dickhead now when he's already had his big turn. Maybe he's setting up his inevitable failure with all the hubris? If so, I don't love it unless it ends with him outgrowing the false bravado and being an out and out good guy (and everything I know about him leads me to believe he'd probably avoid this - he's said it himself that he's Vegeta to Kota's Goku). Whatever it is, I don't think it's quite working yet. We have to keep in mind he's doing this all on a fractured heel too, so it's impressive that the injury isn't noticeable at all. I wonder if Zack goes for the heel tomorrow. Omega hasn't disclosed which heel, so they could even work the healthy one and be convincing. 

[peterien]

@Oyaji ya its a credit to him that the injury hasn’t been noticeable at all. His last run of opponents are ZSJ,Ishii,Yano,Ibushi. 3/4 of those are going to push that ankle to the limit. 

I will say that as the nights pass Ibushi Vs Omega on the final night of B Block gets more and more interesting. The scenario I would enjoy the most is Omega wins the G1 picks Ibushi and one of them absolutely destroys the other setting up WK.

[Jiji]

10 minutes ago, peterien said:

@Oyaji ya its a credit to him that the injury hasn’t been noticeable at all. His last run of opponents are ZSJ,Ishii,Yano,Ibushi. 3/4 of those are going to push that ankle to the limit. 

I will say that as the nights pass Ibushi Vs Omega on the final night of B Block gets more and more interesting. The scenario I would enjoy the most is Omega wins the G1 picks Ibushi and one of them absolutely destroys the other setting up WK.

I cannot picture a world in which Ibushi is a villain. He's too pure. I know he has the snapped~! DGAF mode but it's not the same. And Kenny turning on Kota is problematic in my opinion for two reasons: 1) way too soon, they've barely had tag matches together and they should probably have a decent go with that first. 2) it's too predictable and New Japan usually manages to avoid the predictable outcomes, yet not cut their nose off to spite the face unlike WWE so often does. I know the answer to #1 is that they're on an unknown and possibly rushed timeline because of the big contract situation* but I don't love the idea of them splitting up within months of getting back together.

*Holy shit, there will be some massive shockwaves come next January. The Golden Elite has so much leverage especially if they stick together through negotiations. ROH can't afford to lose the Bucks, New Japan losing Kenny would be a huge blow to their expansion aspirations, and you know WWE wants to deflate the big push those two companies are making with the MSG show on Mania weekend. I would be so depressed if they left for WWE but I can understand wanting to cash in while they're still in their physical primes. Nakamura, Styles, and Danielson are all free agents between now and then too. WWE has the fuckiest of fuck money now though, so... 

[peterien]

Part of me would love to see Bucks & Omega in WWE but they’re too big for NXT and god knows what Vince would have them doing so id rather have them out of there.

Would they even entertain the idea at this point in their career? They seem like guys that like to do things on their terms and no way they would get to keep BTE and have say on all their merch. 

[Beech27]

Anderson and Gallows are hitting free agency in early 2019 too, and I’m still holding out hope for a New Japan main event singles run for Anderson. (Maybe I’m the only one, admittedly, but at least he should be more affordable than the others.)

@Oyaji That’s a perfect breakdown of Okada... uh, losing his smile by finding a giant false one. 

As for Kenny, I think he’ll be ok. Dude’s had three great G1 matches already, with ZSJ, Yano, Ishii, and Ibushi to go. He already cleared the first hurdle, which was making Okada’s title loss feel like something other than a massive letdown. Jus catching that weight is impressive, even if he doesn’t run far. Character-wise, I think his lack of development hinges on a real lack of adversity. He got his universal acclaim, his belt, his friends, and his faction (sorta), without really giving anything up. That’ll change, eventually—losing in the G1 and losing the tourney itself will give that first nudge. (Especially if it’s Ibushi.)

[Jiji]

Shame on me for already forgetting the SANADA match. 

[Archibald]

4 hours ago, Oyaji said:

*Holy shit, there will be some massive shockwaves come next January. The Golden Elite has so much leverage especially if they stick together through negotiations. ROH can't afford to lose the Bucks, New Japan losing Kenny would be a huge blow to their expansion aspirations, and you know WWE wants to deflate the big push those two companies are making with the MSG show on Mania weekend. I would be so depressed if they left for WWE but I can understand wanting to cash in while they're still in their physical primes. Nakamura, Styles, and Danielson are all free agents between now and then too. WWE has the fuckiest of fuck money now though, so... 

MSG to me sounds like such a big deal that I think that they probably have already figured out something. NJPW have been slow and careful with their expansion, it wouldn't really make sense to me if suddenly they decided to run MSG without knowing if any of their big USA names will actually be still with them by that point.

[username]

14 hours ago, Archibald said:

2. While Ishii/Ibushi was a great match, I don't really like Ibushi no selling things. To me it feels like guys like Ishii have built their entire character around no selling at certain points and to me that works. Ibushi on the other hand is different, sometimes at some point he just flips and starts no selling things, in other matches that switch is never flipped and we don't get any of that. And I storta get the idea behind it, but every time it happens I just remember some USA indie wrestlers who flip a lot and suddenly stop selling because it is epic. Minor and maybe irrational problem with the match, but while I still loved it at the same time I wouldn't place it in my MOTYC list.

 

I am so glad to see this as all the other talk surrounding this match made me feel like I was going insane.  Don't get me wrong it was a good match, but I watched this match with three other people and only one of us wasn't yanked out of the match for a bit by the superplex no sell.  One of their's comment of "Ibushi's too pretty to no sell" is probably a bit too simplistic but is also not inaccurate.  I mean this is a board that mostly shit one Davey Richards for years over a spot that wasn't any more... questionable than that.

 

I think Ibushi has a bit of an issue where... if anyone here has ever been in an e-fed for any period of time you likely at some point came across someone who wanted their character to be great at everything and had to have things explained to them by everyone else involved.  Ibushi not even fighting spirit "I will fight through the pain for a second to strike you back" but just straight brushing off major blows and coming out ahead in slugfests with Ishii (using kicks and punches to the throat to take an advantage in one is fine, I'm talking straight exchanges) is basically that made flesh.  After the match someone said "Ibushi did a lot of cool shit and a lot of dumb shit" and I think I agree with that.

 

What I'm saying is that Ishii/Goto is clearly still the match of the G1 so far.

[Jiji]

Ibushi's always been pushed as an elite striker and he has a kickboxing background. He should be beating up the tough but rotund man with short limbs in strike exchanges most of the time. Kota's Achilles' heel has forever been he's naive/inconsistent, which leads to him never winning the big one in New Japan (unless you count the NJ Cup), so he's not without flaws. He's a physical specimen and one of the best athletes in wrestling, so he probably shouldn't have much in the way of weaknesses. The story they were telling was Ishii waking Ibushi up from Kota's malaise and once Kota's awake he's nigh unstoppable so it was an internal story for that particular match and also what will push (hopefully) Kota onto the winning streak necessary for him to claim the block. Ishii warned he was going to do exactly that in his pre-match promo. Do I love Kota no-selling a superplex? Fuck no, but it at least has context.

It's something that's long been told in Ibushi's biggest matches in New Japan. Nakamura did it at Wrestle Kingdom. Okada did it to him as well when Ibushi was Tiger Mask W. He's the Ken Shamrock of New Japan, dammit!

[Jiji]

Going back to the contracts, this is from October 2016, so shortly after Kenny won the G1. The question he's answering is "what is your ultimate goal as a pro wrestler?" He said money is secondary and that he's lost friendships because of that but then he goes on to answer what really matters to him:

He's been in the main event at the Tokyo Dome, won another match of the year award, his style is known world wide and he's now won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Sounds like he's at the point where he could cash out and "become an adult".

Kenny would have to wrestle there another 15 years and be part of the push that gets NJPW TV back to a meaningful slot with actual viewers to beat out Stan Hansen as the greatest foreigner in Japanese wrestling history. Prince Devitt and AJ Styles? They were there for a cup of coffee relatively speaking.