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

[Jiji]

You guys, Adam Page is a great modern variation of the White Meat Babyface. Look at that promo! Fun!

I am guessing tomorrow's main event of Tanahashi vs. White will be significantly better than the dome match. I certainly hope so, anyway. And Suzuki had a really enjoyable brawl with Makabe earlier in the year, so I'm thinking we'll get another good 'un there. Does Okada get his first post-Dominion singles win against Fale or do they push the big man and keep the story of sinking Okada going? Fale usually has two good matches per year, Tana and Okada. 

[Archibald]

I think Okada should win. Otherwise it would look like he'd have to go 7-0 streak to get to the finals and that would remove lots of drama from the tournament.

[The Natural]

Miffed Minoru Suzuki:

 

[The Natural]

 

[Beech27]

-The Okada comeback path is yet longer. He's got Page next, who he surely beats... unless he doesn't... I mean at this point, I wonder if we're waiting on some eureka moment to turn things around, and I don't think this would represent that. Maybe we're headed towards a point where all he can do is play spoiler.

-Speaking of Page, he's basically a star to every crowd by the time his matches are done. Maybe Chono has a good eye.

-Suzuki and Makabe hit eachother really hard, and that's cool. As ever, I could do without some of the walkabout segments, but they got me by the end.

-White's jacket, ring gear, and nutshots have to be a conscious Nakamura nod, right? A signal that his quest to take over Chaos is, paradoxically, restoring order to things. The disruptive heel faction had become the status quo, and he's trying to go forward by looking back. (Maybe he'll call his splinter group Entropy.) Regardless, he and Tana did better than WK here, and I think better than Jay's Okada match on the whole. The crowd staying behind Tana really helped things, whereas they seemed--and still seem--a bit unsure how to treat Okada. I didn't like the ending nearly as much, though. White maintained plausible deniability in backfisting Red Shoes, and clearly brought the chair as a distraction; here, he throws the ref (yeah, he fell as he did so, but) and appeared to want to use the chair. Which is... kinda dumb. Unless we're willing to suggest he missed on purpose, so Tana would then use it in retribution, and get DQ'd. That feels like a reach, though. Regardless, I'm on the bandwagon.

[Archibald]

I hope they dial down a bit with blatant cheating. I'm ok with 1/5 matches having fuckery, 2/5 is pushing it.

Other than that, yeah, Okada looks weird. It is hard to see now how he goes from this to main eventing WK.

[Raziel]

I don't have much to add from everyone else so far, except my usual complaint:

 

If SANADA can't learn how to fucking apply a Dragon Sleeper properly, he needs to drop it.  It's hard to buy Goto being in trouble when he's actively having to hold himself in the hold because he's slipping out because SANADA can't lock it in right.

[The Natural]

2 minutes ago, Raziel said:

I don't have much to add from everyone else so far, except my usual complaint:

 

If SANADA can't learn how to fucking apply a Dragon Sleeper properly, he needs to drop it.  It's hard to buy Goto being in trouble when he's actively having to hold himself in the hold because he's slipping out because SANADA can't lock it in right.

Loose submission moves is a bugbear of mine.

[EVA]

Night 3 was kind of a stinker until the main event.

Elgin/Hangman was exactly what I was afraid it would be: Elgin leading the young guy through one of his overkill bombfests.  Hangman continues to look good in there, but this was WAY too much for the opening tournament match.

EVIL/Yoshi-Hashi was probably the worst match of the tournament so far.  The powerbomb botch that sent both guys over the top rope out of control was terrifying.

Suzuki/Makabe was a just fine run-back of their IC title match.  Suzuki actually took some bumps, so that was nice.  I was really about to put him on par with Alexa Bliss, in terms of people who want no part of bumping.  Still, it's very weird that Makabe is the guy he decides he's going to take spider German suplexes for.

Okada/Fale was our second consecutive Fale match that was shaping up to be Just Fine until it ended abruptly on Tama interference and thus becoming kind of a nothingburger of a match.

Tanahashi/Switchblade was indeed better than their WK match, but there was just way too much fuckery involved in the finishing stretch.  It just surpassed the point where it was unbelievable that Red Shoes wouldn't call for the DQ.  And I agree with the sentiment that there has been way too much fuckery in general through the first 3 nights of the tournament.   I know they're working hard to get the OG BC and Jay over as hateable dudes, but when your top 2 matches end in fuck finishes....that's just not what the G1 is about IMO.  That's WWE PPV booking.

[Jenalysis]

Jay does need more variety on his heeling.  Gedo needs to lock him in his basement and force him to watch all his Memphis tapes after this is done.

 

 

[Craig H]

Two things. I really don't like Yoshi-Hashi.

Second, I said this before, but the thing I dislike the most about NJPW are the refs. I'm an outlier in that I don't like Red Shoes at all. The rest of the refs are the biggest bunch of low energy people I've ever seen in a big organization. It's like they all take a xanax before going out there. Being the 3rd (or 5th or whatever) person in the ring, you play a vital role in getting over the drama of the match, the importance of the rules, and if your authority is violated, it should feel like a somewhat big deal. Reffing never plays that role in NJPW. It's even worse because as we've seen multiple times, the refs are so fucking inept with allowing so much cheating to go on. If the wrestlers are going to cheat, fine, but it's fucking dumb when Knife Pervert blatantly grabs Red Shoes and throws him into the corner. The exact fucking thing happened in the Okada vs Fale match too. For me, if anything diminishes my enjoyment of NJPW, it's the refs. That might be nit picky, but it's the truth.

BTW, Okada, I like the Jin Kazama pants, but it's time to ditch those, dye the hair purple, and go on a tear.

[sevendaughters]

i agree with that but i'd argue the problem is not the refs as the booking of the refs, when you get Unno or Asami in a straight 1-on-1 with no dicking around, they shine. but yes i like wrestling where the rules actually mean something so when they do get broken it feels bad. when Fale got DQd on day 1 i thought they might even been turning a corner on this stuff. that said, there's a whole layer of symbolism of having someone second you (we can see this playing out in the Omega/Ibushi thing at Dominion) so i wouldn't necessarily ban people from ringside either.

[EVA]

Red Shoes is so bad.  One minute, he's refusing to count a pinfall for Jay because he used the ringpost on Tanahashi's leg; the next, he's just standing there like a dunce while Jay brings a chair into the ring.

[Jiji]

That was a fun show I guess because I had lower expectations. Elgin needs to get fucked doing half assed agility spots. He dragged that match down but it was still enjoyable. And while I don't really love the fuckery in the final two matches or the tournament as a whole, theyre starting to get the reactions they want and it makes sense. Doesn't take me out of the matches either because it's what we should expect from BC and White matches now. I kept waiting for Suzuki to dodge the knees or avoid the spider suplex but he never did. That was a great G1 shocker and another sweet brawl those two put on. I was kind of thinking Fale would get the W and it'll be fascinating to see where they go from here with Lil Kazu. I think a real soul searching Odyssey is way cooler than him immediately winning the G1 and getting his belt back. Just how much further does he spiral downwards though? 

The main event delivered and sure the shenanigans were a bit much but I adore what they're doing with Jay. Now I think the crowds will have to buy him as a legit threat but there's still plenty of room for growth as he's only accomplishing this with chicanery. 

This G1 has been weird so far. The match quality hasn't been as spectacular as previous years (early days) but the booking is so intriguing and block A is so fun. I kind of love it. And there's plenty of time for better matches and Omega/Naito delivered big time. 

[MapRef41N93W]

I actually really liked YOSHI-HASHI/EVIL. I'm one of those people that thinks Y-H is a fundamentally good wrestler, and he's got one of the best lariats in the world right now.

And I loved the shooter sadist vs. unintimidated veteran brawler dynamic of Makabe/Suzuki. I've never been all that invested in a Makabe match before, but when he hit that last King Kong kneedrop I was pumping my fist in the air.

[Beech27]

I had the jist already, but I didn’t quite realize how much dirt Kenny kicks on Naito here. He also brings “Ibutan” back for the first time since DDT, I think—other than twitter snark—which the announcers are charmingly confused by. (I kinda love that the crowd and announcers seem surprised by his Japanese proficiency every time.) But Naito, man. Okada and now Kenny have made a real habit of  calling the guy a loser before and after beating him. I know he’s the most over person anyway and no one wants to have the “is it too late for Naito?” talk again/already/now/etc., but still.

This now makes me like the spot about one thousand percent more. It’s a big dumb lampshade but I love genre fiction, so that’s cool.

And yeah White’s gonna need some clean wins now, but I like that he’s grown... by realizing he’s not fully grown yet. He caught a distracted Omega, but lost convincingly to Tana at WK because he wasted time shouting SHOW ME THE ACE rather than, y’know, trying to win—and anyway, he isn’t on that level yet. But he’s willing to do things to level... umm.. the level. Yeah.

[Jiji]

You really do gain a whole new level of storytelling with the translated promos. Such a blessing. I was thinking "man, babyface Kenny sure sounds like megalomaniac heel Kenny," but then I remembered how cocky Tana and Okada are too. 

And Jay's explanation made me legit laugh out loud. Commitment to his character! 

[Archibald]

12 hours ago, EVA said:

Suzuki/Makabe was a just fine run-back of their IC title match.  Suzuki actually took some bumps, so that was nice.  I was really about to put him on par with Alexa Bliss, in terms of people who want no part of bumping.  Still, it's very weird that Makabe is the guy he decides he's going to take spider German suplexes for.

If I remember right Makabe took some bumps for Suzuki during their IC title match so this was probably Suzuki returning the favour.

[Jiji]

Poor photographer and his camera. 

[Jenalysis]

This G1 has made me like Makabe, when I wanted Taichi over him or Yoshi-Hashi.  Now I just want YH gone.

 

[sevendaughters]

Makabe is good. I know he's gotten a bit lazy now he's not in the mix and he can coast. But some of his matches with Suzuki down the years are legit underrated. There's one a few years ago that ended with a full choke-out no-tap finish that was really super. His matches should all be 8-10 minutes kill-or-be-killed sluggers.

not a lot on day 3 did it for me though outside of Tana-White. probably the worst Fale-Okada match, Elgin continues to annoy me, Yoshi-hashi looks like he's waiting for God to strike him dead.

[Ramsey]

YOSHI-HASHI is wrestling Eric Carmen.

[Craig H]

 

"FUCK EM!!!!!!!"

I laughed more during this one than I have in awhile.

[Dewar]

3 hours ago, Ramsey said:

YOSHI-HASHI is wrestling Eric Carmen.

He's got Hungry Eyes?

[Archibald]

Interesting comment I found in Elgin/Page post match interview on youtube:

While I really like Hangman, I feel like he could really learn about setting a story for the next day and addressing history between himself and others. Mike Elgin had previously set up that he was one step ahead of Page, and that Page needed to step up, just to stay even. Despite Elgin setting that up, Hangman barely addressed it and looked as if he was searching for something to say. Maybe it's just the G1 nerves.

Little things.