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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: NJPW 2015 Blog #10

August 4, 2015 | Posted by TJ Hawke
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Views from the Hawke’s Nest: NJPW 2015 Blog #10  

G1 Climax – Day 3
Kyoto, Japan
July 24, 2015

Kota Ibushi [0 Points] vs. Doc Gallows [0 Points]

After Ibushi’s terrible performance against Hiroshi Tanahashi and the reported terrible match Gallows had with Tenzan on Night 1, I was hoping that super heavyweight/junior dynamic would allow for these two to do a simple match that would get very over. Luckily, that is exactly what happened!

Gallows dominated the match due to his size/strength advantage. Kota was only able to come back because of his ability to desperately bust out some flippy stuff and high spots that Gallows could not block. Kota then had to reverse a powerbomb into a sunset flip to pick up the win. This was just smart pro wrestling executed well by two unreliable performers. (***1/2)

 

Katsuyori Shibata [0 Points] vs. Tetsuya Naito [2 Points]

Tetsuya Naito joining Los Ingobernables was a brilliant call. Naito had lots of trouble looking like he gave a fuck, and now his gimmick is “Look how few fucks I give.” While Naito’s new character may not play well off of everyone, it creates an absolutely perfect dynamic. Naito halfheartedly went after Shibata’s left leg and injured right arm. Perhaps is he gave more fucks, he could have won. For now though, he is a place of mind where there are only so many fucks that he can give! Shibata was on point as fucking usual in the G1. His selling was appropriately holding him back, yet it’s less of a big deal given Naito’s lack of focus on the injuries. He worked with intensity and a sense of urgency that you need to be successful in such a grueling tournament. It was beautiful stuff. When Shibata finally got the sleeper, Naito could not resist him long (Naito sure does love naps!) and became easy prey for the PK. Great match. (****)

 

G1 Climax – Day 4
Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan
July 25, 2015

Kazuchika Okada [2 Points] vs. Tomoaki Honma [0 Points]

Sadly, this match really just did not compare to their match from December 2013. While I have long been a proponent of Okada needing to work on top more than from underneath, there is no question his lack of urgency/intensity threw me off here. Between Honma specializing in compact matches and his lack of kayfabe success, there was no need for this to go longer than 10-12 minutes with Okada looking to make quick work of him. They of course did some very cool stuff down the stretch and got some great drama out of Honma’s nearfalls. Okada’s lack of impressive work in the build to that sequence disappointed me too much to care though. Okada may have won this match, but the real victory was for his detractors though. (**3/4)

 

G1 Climax – Day 5
Japan
July 26, 2015

AJ Styles [4 Points] vs. Kota Ibushi [2 Points]

The story of this match was quite sound. They were both relatively tentative early on. AJ got the first advantage. Kota then relied on big movez to make it competitive again. I particularly liked how AJ was prepared for some of them though. That led to a number of awesome counters, blocks, and reversals. If there was one tiny issue that I had with the match, it was that AJ dominated so much that I felt like it telegraphed the Kota win. That is a relatively minor issue given that 99.99% of wrestling is predictable, but a more competitive match early on might have made Kota’s victory seem a bit more unexpected. That is merely a minor nitpick though, as this was a real good time. AJ couldn’t put Kota away with the Hollow Point or Bloody Sunday; so, he then foolishly went for a super Styles Clash instead of a regular Styles Clash. (You kind of knew Kota would reverse that when Styles went for a super version first.) Kota reversed it and then hit the Phoenix Splash. (***3/4)

 

G1 Climax – Day 7
Japan
July 29, 2015

Kota Ibushi [4 Points] vs. Katsuyori Shibata

As expected, this was an exciting spectacle featuring lots of great moments that added up to a great match. What was unexpected though was the manner in which it was worked. For two guys known for “working fast,” this felt like a slow burn (relative to expectations). That made the explosions of offense all the more interesting and dramatic. I do not have much else to say about this one. It was hard-hitting and one of the most enjoyable matches all year. Shibata won after the sleeper/PK combo. (****1/4)

 

G1 Climax – Day 8
Japan
August 1, 2015

Tomoaki Honma [0 Points] vs. Michael Elgin [2 Points]

These two had a very easy dynamic to work with: Honma is the ultimate G1 underdog, and Elgin is the outsider gaijin with a huge strength advantage. On top of that, Elgin is new enough (and has been unsuccessful enough so far) that it seemed perfectly reasonable that Honma could actually win! They took advantage of all that and produced one of the most crowd-pleasing matches of this year’s G1. They timed everything perfectly from the the cut-off spots, the comebacks, and the one-count spot. The only thing going against it is that I would love to see Elgin look a bit more violent while in control. He looks like he’s trying to be so careful that it is genuinely distracting for me. That kind of went away down the stretch, and his performance then was better for it. Elgin won of course. He finally put Honma away after a spinning powerbomb. (****)

 

Watch some G1 matches for free!

Prince Devitt vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Minoru Suzuki

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata

Jun Akiyama vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Masato Tanaka

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Giant Bernard

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Milano Collection AT

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yujiro Takahashi

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Toru Yano

8.5
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
The G1 has been a lot of fun this year overall, and those are just some of the fun matches. Let me know in the comments what matches have been your favorites!
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