sevendaughters

maybe...something....to find....the best....of the....super juniors?

Unbalanced. Block B has ranged from damn good to incredible, Block A ranging from lethargic to very good (getting better though). I seem to recall previous years have a night or two on the road that are just crazy and I'd say we've not really had that. But Osaka is next. Also cheating has featured probably in the heaviest amount ever, including the Devitt heel run. I'm enjoying it and a strong home stretch will see it hit the heights of recent years.

DAY 13 INSTATHOUGHTS Elgin-Fale from the lowest bar of expectation possible they started to have a good match based around Elgin's bicep injury and him not playing cornball monster. The ending was fine if it results in a DQ in the end and I was fairly amused by Elgin clearly no-selling a bunch of Tama's shots to him. This was decent. *** Page-Makabe on the contrary to my learned friend above, I thought this one showed that Page has got something pretty good in his locker. Makabe growled and grunted and Page overmatched him when he returned Makabe's level of fire. Very good ending. ***1/2 White-Yoshi keeping on with the theme of very solid wrestling here. The story of Yoshi outwrestling people but just not being wily enough is actually quite good and - as it was all night - the crowd really helped this one. White is doing a thing and I expect he won't do it forever (I mean how recently was Kenny a cheating goof heel?) so I am choosing now to roll with it. ***1/4 EVIL-Tanahashi really enjoyed this, a kind of 'classic 2013-2015' G1 style match where they serve up an elegant compression of the longer match they could do down the line. I also marked out at good to see Tanahashi has had time to hit the gym too. ***3/4 Suzuki-Okada probably as good as their match in the rain a few weeks ago but no more. Couple of nods to Gotch from both men (think it's the anniversary of his death recently, Nakamura made reference to it on instagram) that were very classy. I've enjoyed every match between these two that I've seen. Started like a WWE main event from when The Rock was champion, all crowd brawling, and then settled into a comfortable groove in-ring. Some nice highlights, like the wriggle out of Heavy Rain into juji-gatame, and I thought Okada's steal of the kata hajime was very good too. Suzuki's dropkick remains superior to Okada's in terms of impact and timing. I got the feeling they were teasing the draw by booking the previous matches shorter, but they went with a decisive result that I think was probably the right thing to do on balance. ****

No that one was 2.5

We're now at the point where if Kenny works a ten minute no bullshit match he starts at 4 for Dave.

some of my pals on Twitter call him Herb (Alvarez is Herbcito) but I never asked why.

the DAVEs are in for the last few days DAY 8: Goto-Yano 2, Naito-Tama 3.5, Sabre-Ishii 4.5, Omega-Juice 4.25, SANADA-Ibushi 4.75 DAY 9: Suzuki-Elgin 3, EVIL-Page 3.75, Fale-White 1.5, Tanahashi-Makabe 3.25, Okada-Yoshi 4.5 DAY 10: Sabre-Tama 1.25, Juice-Yano 1.75, Ibushi-Ishii 4.75, Naito-Goto 3.5, Omega-SANADA 4.75 DAY 11: Fale-Makabe 0.75, White-Page 3.25, Suzuki-EVIL 3.5, Tanahashi-Yoshi 3.75, Okada-Elgin 4.5 DAY 12: Tama-Ishii 3, Juice-SANADA 3.5, Naito-Yano 2.5, Omega-Sabre 4.5, Ibushi-Goto 4.5 in 2013/2014 me and Dave would never be more than a quarter-star away from each other but in the last few years we're barely hitting the same thing!

that seems completely plausible. when you reverse engineer every output from previous G1s they make perfect sense and you kick yourself for not seeing it. I do wonder about going Okada-Omega V though. Okada winning at the Dome would be good for the whole 'challenger never wins' thing, whilst Omega would look strong with another win and a defence, but does put him right above Okada, who will have failed to get anything other than a roll-up on him for 4 matches. Whilst it would be a great match and a draw, to me, a person who has only ever booked backyard wrestling, it feels like a creative dead end.

Nice coincidence

I got the first ever Z1 show on tape not long after it aired from the bootleg VHS guy in Manchester as me and my friend were trying to broaden our horizons in wrestling beyond WWF/WCW/ECW. We found Mexican stuff a bit weird and camp and hard to follow, so we got a job lot of Hansen in All Japan tapes and Zero1. We loved some of it - the opener is Marufuji against a Michi Pro guy in a really great fast match that was easy for us fans of ECW/early ROH to get into. Then a really sluggish stiff Akitoshi Saito match, a shooto type match, and then we were looking out for Gary Steele because he's British but that match was kind of bad to us too. Then another worked shoot (by the way we had no reference for worked shoot either so were just like 'is this a load of fights?') and then two good tag matches at the top of the card, main event burned in my mind to this day: Misawa/Akiyama vs. Hashimoto/Nagata. It was a really good mirror to a lot of Inoki style cards and it really helped cement my love of variety across a wrestling card. Anyway I watched it again with 17 years of learning behind me and enjoyed nearly all of it on some level. It was a strange experiment but they really have an aura around their upper card that would sadly dissipate around Hash's death.

I really enjoyed stuff like Makai Club and Curry Man and Danielson turning up, less so Chyna, Sapp, and Brock, and yeah it is plain as day Nakamura was overpushed as hell. Young Goto and Makabe were fun and I think Tanahashi was just very good very quickly. Early Shibata was a great great dickhead. I've got various early 00s G1 matches too and they really deliver, even people who get mocked like Fujita put in a good shift. Then there's the stalwarts like Nishimura holding it down. I just think there's a lot to love alongside the criticised stuff. You could argue Z1 were outdoing them at the same game, but still.

Bas Rutten v Carl Malenko in Battlarts is really good.

I think it's partly true but complex with, as you say, the threat of MMA, the fragmentation of the scene, the gap between generational stars, there's more to it. But really, what I'm trying to push here is that I think from the perspective of sitting down and watching a show actually quite good and interesting and that too many people simply accept the story as told. It's not like they forgot how to work or booked overly dumb angles or went full WCW 2000. It's just the booking was weird and it hurt business. But there's lots of gold like Bas Rutten kicking ass and Takayama on top and Minoru Tanaka being great, just for a start.

question for the quorum: ignoring platitudes such as 'it tanked business' etc., what do we think of Inokism era New Japan? necessary move that paid off? stupid hubris? bit of both? i sort of feel that the whole area needs a rethink and a recontextualisation away from the 'Yukes/Tanahashi saved New Japan' story, which is a good story, but not quite true.

yeah, his sparse theme tune really shows up how utterly deathly the crowds are for him

DAY 12 INSTANT REACTION TAMA-ISHII Mr. Bad Match vs. Mr. Good Match, whose style will win out? This reminded me a lot of an Ishii NEVER defence (loss) against Yujiro a few years ago where a template Ishii match was interrupted by various shenanigans. At times it seemed to add and others it took away. I did enjoy this and thought even Tama did some good stuff too. It's interesting that Tama has ditched some of the things that were good about him, like the slithering about. ***1/4 JUICE-SANADA Juice's Bret Hart routine on the entrance was funny here ahead of a match that seemed like a six establishing minutes ahead of a six minute attempt to do finishers, either their own or the opponent's, whichever is more convenient. Sometimes this works but at times it felt like they were grasping for ideas. Some good stuff, some only okay, and the finish felt a little flat. **3/4 NAITO-YANO I get the sense Naito enjoys working Yano and this had a joyful feel, with Yano doing a couple of actual moves and some slightly novel variations on his shtick. **3/4 OMEGA-SABRE I quite like TAKA's opening speeches more than anyone else's (spare me, Tanga Loa) because whilst ZSJ is a heel, it's basically saying 'come and have a go'. Which is a pretty authentic sentiment for a fighter. Anyway, whilst I don't buy storyline Omega 'outwrestling' Sabre any more than I did when knee surgery Austin did it to Benoit, the mesh of styles made for a good match. Some complaints (Sabre has position for a heel hook on the ramp, gives it up to do an STF, come ONNNNN) but a good little match based around countering offensive strikes into submissions, very Fujiwara, and the ending was novel. ***3/4 IBUSHI-GOTO two of the best of the G1 so far put in a clear position to shine and it was taken. Not a total classic, but a worthy main event. Goto played classically heelish, slowing it down, cranking in rest holds and looking smug, while hometown hero Ibushi brought fire and fury. A similar issue to Juice-SANADA in the constant attempt to go for a finisher started to look a bit silly, but they worked hard and well together. ****1/4 noted the commentator use the phrase ZENSHO-YUSHO during Omega's entrance, which as any sumo fan knows means UNBEATEN CHAMPIONSHIP. maybe they're putting this over just because it is kayfabe on the table or whether they're booking toward it. I can see a situation where Omega wins the G1 and only loses to Ibushi, setting up that match at the Dome, and giving Omega time to heal his heel so he can feel whether he is heel or face. (?)

there's a part of me that thinks Suzuki might go over or at least get ANOTHER draw.

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

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.

saw the tag team match and a couple of promos and the entrances for the main event, here's the +ve and -ve + promos were decent considering very PG rated + entrances well shot, UK indie people definitely are 'tv ready' these days + all four guys in tag were compatible - if a little bit colourless in their performance, as if they were told to go out and do a load of flashy stuff but tell no real story + Stu Bennett was good on comms - Alex Shane and So Called Val were not - editing was utterly abysmal, ruined any sense of temporal or spatial continuity whilst also stepping on reactions, facial expressions, etc. it was as if they were piecing together for a movie rather than a live sports event. + it was much improved from the pilot there's something here imo but this missed the mark

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.

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

DAY 11 INSTATHOUGHTS FALE-MAKABE it's all about context. if it was an indie show I'd get it, I really would, but it did nothing for me here. finish was at least ok. * PAGE-WHITE and this is where the show started to get good. The crowd might not have been hugely into it, nor was F4W's recapper, but I was, especially for a match built around a number of spots outside of the ring or at the very edge of the ring. Page is only a couple of storyline beats from being a babyface proper, and he's learning to make the few memorable things in his arsenal count. White has shades of Guerrero in-ring, HBK with his cut-offs, and Yoshinari Ogawa in his sneakiness. It could have flowed a little better but I thought this did a good job with selling, building, and execution. Bit sad that one of the biggest pops was a referee asserting himself though. ***3/4 EVIL-SUZUKI some rumbling outside of the ring but it was fine even though beyond the pale re: cheating. In fact I really enjoyed the last few minutes in the ring, and it's hard for me to rate a match with a saka otoshi in lower than ***1/2. 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 OKADA-ELGIN I'm not sure anything will make me actually like Michael Elgin in the same way I like 14-15 of the guys here. Ignoring his extracurricular dodginess surrounding his conduct with female fans and public meltdowns, he is to me the very essence of a territories-era big guy, the kind of person you bring in to impress and then shuffle off before their flaws become too exposed. He's solid enough and obviously is very well put together, but I just do not enjoy his work that much and feel much more at peace with this now I realise it. All that notwithstanding I think they had a really good match bcs Okada - well constructed, without too much egregious overkill and thighslapping, and the crowd really seemed to get behind it. But still, it sort of was just a match, with no real focus other than to mimic the build of other main event matches. **** Best night of Block A.

so ZSJ-Tama forgettable in the context of the night and tournament, but also while you're watching it in the moment. *1/4 Juice-Yano fun but I wasn't wild about it **1/2 Ibushi-Ishii incredible stuff. Fiery Ibushi is such an incredible thing to behold , dripping with disdain and kicking people in the head. As much as Okada can construct a match, Ibushi (I make the comparison as pretty and reasonably young upper-carders) can sometimes take you places out of Okada's lengthy reach. Ishii is Mr. Reliable, probably going to seal the greatest run of anyone who fails to get into WONHOF, and he just brought it hard here. One thing that really helped this match is that the G1 has not been overwrought with fighting spirit spots, so when Ibushi popped up after that superplex I was just GLUED to the screen. So many great moments. I knew it was getting the full marks when Ishii hit the kamigoye to end a masterful little sequence. Extremely my shit and top of the pile for sure. ***** Naito-Goto tough act to follow but I think they did rather well. ***3/4 Omega-SANADA demands a rewatch, really. I was a bit burned out by this point. Listening to WOR, Dave seems to have preferred this to Ibushi-Ishii on grounds that this was less dangerous and yet just as exciting. What I remember of it felt no worse than a **** match for sure.

full five for Ibushi-Ishii, instant classic. Will do longer post later.