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G1 Climax 25


Chaos

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I saw the full schedule get posted this morning. The crowd reactions to some of the match announcements during Dominion yesterday was quite amusing. The schedule is spoiler hidden due to length.

 

 

July 20 (Mon) 15:00 JST: Yale came Beihai Hokkaido, Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center
Block A Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Doc Gallows
Block A Match: Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano
Block A Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A Match: AJ Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi

July 23 (Thursday) 18:30 JST: Shizuoka Twin Messe Shizuoka
Block B Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Block B Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Tomoaki Honma
Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin
Block B Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Karl Anderson

July 24 (Fri) 18:30 JST: Kyoto Kyoto martial arts center
Block A Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Doc Gallows
Block A Match: Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A Match: AJ Styles vs. Toru Yano
Block A Match: Tetsuya Naito vs Katsuyori Shibata
Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

July 25 (Sat) 18:00 JST: Kagawa Prefecture, Takamatsu City Gymnasium
Block B Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Michael Elgin
Block B Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Karl Anderson
Block B Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yuji Nagata
Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomoaki Honma

July 26 (Sun) 18:00 JST: Hiroshima, Hiroshima Green Arena
Block A Match: Doc Gallows vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Toru Yano
Block A Match: Togi Makabe vs Katsuyori Shibata
Block A Match: AJ Styles vs Kota Ibushi
Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito

July 28 (Tuesday) 18:30 JST: Oita Beppu Beacon Plaza
Block B Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Tomoaki Honma
Block B Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Karl Anderson
Block B Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Michael Elgin
Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Satoshi Kojima

July 29 (Wed) 18:30 JST: Fukuoka, Fukuoka Kokusai Center 
Block A Match: Toru Yano vs. Doc Gallows
Block A Match: Togi Makabe vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Block A Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kota Ibushi
Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A Match: AJ Styles vs. Tetsuya Naito

August 1 (Sat) 17:00 JST: Osaka, Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium 
Block B Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Karl Anderson
Block B Match: Michael Elgin vs. Tomoaki Honma
Block B Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hirooki Goto

August 2 (Sun) 16:00 JST: Aichi Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium 
Block A Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Kota Ibushi
Block A Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A Match: AJ Styles vs. Doc Gallows
Block A Match: Togi Makabe vs. Tetsuya Naito
Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano

August 4 (Tuesday) 18:30 JST: Sendai, Miyagi Sun Plaza Hall 
Block B Match: Michael Elgin vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B Match: Satoshi Kojima vs.Tomoaki Honma
Block B Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Karl Anderson
Block B Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto

August 5 (Wed.) 18:30 JST: Iwate, Iwate industry Cultural Center Apio
Block A Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Toru Yano
Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Doc Gallows
Block A Match: Togi Makabe vs. AJ Styles
Block A Match: Tetsuya Naito vs Kota Ibushi

August 7 (Fri) 18:30 JST: Shizuoka Act City Hamamatsu 
Block B Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Michael Elgin
Block B Match: Tomoaki Honma vs. Karl Anderson
Block B Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Hirooki Goto
Block B Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii

August 8 (Sat) 18:30 JST: Kanagawa Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium 
Block A Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano
Block A Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. AJ Styles
Block A Match: Togi Makabe vs. Doc Gallows
Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Katsuyori Shibata

August 9 (Sun) 18:30 JST: Tokyo Korakuen Hall 
Block B Match: Michael Elgin vs. Karl Anderson
Block B Match: Satoshi Kojima vs Yuji Nagata
Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tomoaki Honma
Block B Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Tomohiro Ishii

August 11 (Tuesday) 18:30 JST: Tokyo Korakuen Hall
Block A Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Doc Gallows
Block A Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Katsuyori Shibata
Block A Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Toru Yano
Block A Match: AJ Styles vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Togi Makabe

August 12 (Wed.) 18:30 JST: Tokyo Korakuen Hall 
Block B Match: Karl Anderson vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Michael Elgin
Block B Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada vs. Yuji Nagata
Block B Match: Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishoo

August 14 (gold) 18:30 JST: Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
Block A Match: Toru Yano vs. Bad Luck Fale
Block A Match: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Doc Gallows
Block A Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs, Tetsuya Naito
Block A Match: Togi Makabe vs. Kota Ibushi
Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs AJ Styles

August 15 (Sat) 18:30 JST: Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan 
Block B Match: Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Block B Match: Tomoaki Honma vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Block B Match: Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto
Block B Match: Satoshi Kojima vs. Karl Anderson
Block B Match: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuchika Okada

August 16 (Sun) 15:00 JST: Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan (Final) 
* G1 Climax 25 Final: Block A winner vs. Block B winner

 

 

I'm guessing Block B will be Okada or Nakamura with their match on 8/15 probably deciding the winner. I have a feeling that Block A will be in the same boat with Tanahashi/Styles on 8/14 deciding that winner. This is the first tournament I intend to watch in full as opposed to cherry picking the matches. I will probably not want to watch wrestling for a few months after this is over.

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I'm thinking honestly either Tanahashi or Okada wins it, so that we can get our Okada vs. Tanahashi match at the Dome to finally have Okada take the Ace title, and Tanahashi can start his decent into opening 6-man Tags and fueds with Bruce Tharpe.

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I'm thinking honestly either Tanahashi or Okada wins it, so that we can get our Okada vs. Tanahashi match at the Dome to finally have Okada take the Ace title, and Tanahashi can start his decent into opening 6-man Tags and fueds with Bruce Tharpe.

 

I do think the end of Tanahashi/Okada will take place at Wrestle Kingdom since this should be the deciding bout in the feud.

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I really loved that little preview video they did at Osaka-Jo with the standout G-1 matches and the crowd's pops for some of them. Got me even more stoked for this and it was interesting to hear the reactions. Especially some of the giant pops AJ is getting, it's nice how he's become established as this giant main-event gaijin superstar.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I thought that last year, I'd rather they have 12 to 16 really quality wrestlers than 20 with a handful of wrestlers that aren't that good and will drag down the tournament as a whole.  It is great for cherry picking as there will be some quality wrestling, but for watching the whole thing it gets repetitive at some point.

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It might be just me, but I think this is the least excited I've been for a G1 in a long time.  Seems overly bloated, and the participants aren't interesting enough to justify it.

You wouldn't be the only one. To be honest, they should've cut the participants down to 16 or something.

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It might be just me, but I think this is the least excited I've been for a G1 in a long time.  Seems overly bloated, and the participants aren't interesting enough to justify it. 

 

I thought that last year, I'd rather they have 12 to 16 really quality wrestlers than 20 with a handful of wrestlers that aren't that good and will drag down the tournament as a whole.  It is great for cherry picking as there will be some quality wrestling, but for watching the whole thing it gets repetitive at some point.

 

 

It might be just me, but I think this is the least excited I've been for a G1 in a long time.  Seems overly bloated, and the participants aren't interesting enough to justify it.

You wouldn't be the only one. To be honest, they should've cut the participants down to 16 or something.

 

I feel the same way.

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Day 1 had one good match, one great match, and a whole lot of not-so-good matches. The opener was high-paced and fun for what it was. Other than that, everything up to the final two matches can be skipped. Shibata's the best and worst of Japanese wrestling wrapped up in one package. His selling can be other-worldly, particularly his selling of submissions and strikes, but only when he wants it to be. As much as the Sakuraba match was the light side of Shibata (and even then, he had issues), the Styles match was the dark side of Shibata. He was fine for the "in-the moment' registering of pain but absolutely neglected to sell when he went on offense, which is a common puroresu trope but he's one of the worst offenders.

 

Tanhashi absolutely bailed out Ibushi on that ridonk springboard huracanrana. Ibushi also forgot that Tanahashi was working the leg when he was on offense but at least he sold well in-between getting his shit in. Damn fun match though and I'd put it on par with the Styles/Okada match from Dominion. I think O'Reilly vs. Kushida has been my favourite NJPW match from the past few months. Omega vs. Kushida a close second.
 

There's just too much junk in this year's tournament to have the consistency of 2013 or even last year's. It may end up having just as many good or great matches as the past few years but we're going to have to endure a whole lot more shit on the way. At least we have Honma. 

 

P.S. Fuck Togi Makabe. He's dog shit and everything wrong with puroresu.

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I thought he mostly made a point to sell the knee, and I appreciated that the taped arm wasn't immediately the focal point but played an integral role. Shibs/AJ is one of my favorite matches so far this year.

 

Naito, though.. This cat is going full Muta, like full weird. I love this storyline so much. He just doesn't give a shit. Comes out with really elaborate attire, but doesn't treat it like anything special and kind of halfheartedly lifts his leg for the ref to check (after very slowly taking off stripper pants which you can just tear off in one movement, loved that continuity). Has spurts of brilliant, lightning fast, left field offense when he's in trouble, then goes back to not giving a shit. At one point he rolled back into the ring and let Fale stomp him. Because fuck it. I don't even know the full backstory, but I am loving it. His matches right now are so original and so different from any wrestling I see.

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Shibata vs AJ was super fun.  Tanahashi vs Ibushi drove me to want to kill a fucker.  Saw how hyped this match was, and they lost me in the first 10 minutes when it was completely evident that Ibushi wasn't going to sell for shit.  Completely intelligence insulting stuff there.  Don't do fucking limb work if you aren't going to bother selling it.  That just tells me that you don't know how to do a match without running through all of your spots.  Terrible.  Thought Tana's performance in the match was great though.

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Shibata-Naito from this morning was awesome.  Tanahashi-Tenzan had some legs.  Tenzan moves slow, but had a great match with Tanahashi.  

 

Tenzan/Tanahashi have enough of a history together that you would hope they would put on a serviceable match.

 

I am going to try and catch up over the weekend with tournament matches.

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I wouldn't go so far as to call it awesome but I'm definitely enjoying Naito's mannerisms. Did he bum the black mask get-up from La Sombra?

 

I'm so damned hyped for tomorrow. We get HONMA vs. okada in the main event. Hopefully the crowd is more like today's crowd and less like yesterday's. Sunday's a bigger show in Hiroshima and features Ibushi/Styles, Tanahashi/Naito, and Makabe/Shibata. Before that, we have to see the world possibly implode with Doc Gallows vs. Bad Luck Fale. What have we done to deserve such a cruel fate?

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Well, if anything, see Doc/Fale as the match to see who's the true #2 in Bullet Club, to make the result interesting at least. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Bliz Cliz (god I hate that :P) behaves during this. Honma/Okada and Tana/Naito are gonna be pretty boss.

 

Dug days 2 & 3! Being a Naito mark right now I thoroughly enjoyed him dicking up the 6-man and not getting away with his shtick vs. Shibs. (Yes, Shibata's selling isn't like, Oscar-worthy. At least he makes a point immediately to grab his knee after any sprinting offense.) Okada/Elgin was probably Elgin's most fun match so far (nice superplex picking Okada up from the apron) and I got a kick out of the surprise finish for Nak/Anderson. Styles/Yano was surprisingly fun, and it was cool to see Tenzan get all that love from his hometown Kyoto crowd and Tanahashi actually heeling it up a little bit early on. The non-tournament matches tend to be pretty blah but generally fun (and it's always just a joy to see Gedo work), and probably my only issue of note out of these first three days is what the fuck is the purpose of YOSHI-HASHI and how in the fuck is YOSHI-HASHI going to pin Scott Hall's giant beast of a son. It's a little 30-something feller in pleather indy pants and it hurt my eyes and brain to see Cody Hall have to lean down to take his strikes and ultimately job. I get that he's on the bottom of the Bullet Club hierarchy and thus the designated fall guy in any Bullet Club team except maybe with Tama Tonga, but I just can't even.

 

ps. It's amazing how over Tanahashi is and how he can close out a show by spending like, 15 minutes doing weird air guitar, about eight promos and a victory lap of hugging people and wiping his sweat on selected fans' Toukonshop sports towels.

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Totally agree on YOSHI-HASHI. He's the Taichi of the heavyweight division. At least with Taichi I can see why'd you keep him around for his looks but YOSHI-HASHI brings absolutely nothing to the table. New Japan ought to raid some of the indies or absorb NOAH to fill out their junior and tag divisions as well as the general heavyweight undercard. Like, how fucking rad would it be to see Daisuke Sekimoto and some of the BJW strong style boys crush Okada on a regular basis? If Nicholls and Haste didn't sign with WWE (has there been an update on that?), they would be a tremendous addition to the stale and boring tag division. I'm excited to see what Omega does when he graduates to the heavyweight division too. 

 

Also, I enjoyed the old school projector in the middle of the aisle from yesterday's show. I'm surprised the Bullet Club guys didn't fuck around with it.

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Shit, I was wondering about that. For a second I was like ".. airco?" but that woulda been the strongest airco in the world. Another funny thing I've been noticing on this tour (maybe I just never noticed before) is there's always like 6 to 8 dudes squatting by the guardrail where the wrestlers walk to the ring, the entire fucking show. Trying to look sideways to follow the matches. I get why they're there but these dudes must have ridiculous neck cramps when they get home.

 

Totally agree on YOSHI-HASHI. He's the Taichi of the heavyweight division. At least with Taichi I can see why'd you keep him around for his looks but YOSHI-HASHI brings absolutely nothing to the table.

LOL, right! I'd go so far as to say this dude would look bland and out of place IN AN INDY. He looks like he should be working shitty main events with GENTARO somewhere.

 

 

ps. These daily G-1 releases are straight up murdering my XWT ratio. If I had more than 25 bucks to my name (hard times) I would donate or straight up just go for NJPW World. (Only downside is I'm so used to produced shows that these single hard cam streams take a while to get into.)

 

pps. Jesus, day 5's out already! This capper is on top of shit. Off to get a sixpack while it downloads..

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World is a fantastic value if you have the time and inclination to watch New Japan. Highly recommend it when you have the funds. I hope they follow through on that idea floated about them purchasing other promotion's libraries, particularly FMW, baybay!

 

How much did NJPW charge for the uStream service of G1 Climaxes of years past? Wasn't it triple digits USD?

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World is a fantastic value if you have the time and inclination to watch New Japan. Highly recommend it when you have the funds. I hope they follow through on that idea floated about them purchasing other promotion's libraries, particularly FMW, baybay!

 

How much did NJPW charge for the uStream service of G1 Climaxes of years past? Wasn't it triple digits USD?

That would be dope. How deep/complete is their NJPW archive? I've been kinna itching to watch the UWF feud, for instance.

 

I actually had IW+TV for years and years, but that was pretty broke. Protected WMV files that you couldn't watch anymore after a while.

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