Puro Reviews: G1 Climax 25 Finals

G1 Climax 25 Finals
August 16th, 2015 | Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan | Attendance: 10,180

After eighteen shows, we’ve finally reached the end of the 2015 G1 Climax. Throughout my review of the tournament, I’ve only been focusing on the actual G1 matches instead of the entire shows. With only one match left in the G1, I will be reviewing the entire card this time around to wrap it all up. The finals were officially set as old rivals were about to go at it one more time (and for the final time as we’d learn in 2016). Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi were both now looking for their second G1 Climax victory.

David Finlay, Mascara Dorada and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu
David Finlay looked so much different just a year ago. Here he was mostly clean cut but now he’s rocking the Trevor Lee caveman look. This came across like most NJPW multi-man openers. The young lions worked hard, Liger didn’t look nearly as old as he really is, Dorada showed off some high flying stuff and Taguchi was his wacky self. Taguchi almost won with a flying ass attack and I nearly stopped watching. He did eventually win it for his team following a Nakamura impersonation and a hip attack version of the Boma Ye.

Winners: David Finlay, Mascara Dorada and Ryusuke Taguchi in 6:39
Like I said, a typical New Japan opener. Liger and the young lions were the highlights. I miss Komatsu and Tanaka, but it is cool to see how good Finlay has gotten in the past year. **½

Captain New Japan and Tencozy vs. Jay White, Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata
Now we get our first appearances of guys that actually competed in the G1 Climax. Nagata and Nakanishi have the kind of friendship I want to have with someone when I’m over 45. Jay White is an example of a bad mohawk, while Tenzan has one of the all-time best. Shingo Takagi has the best if you were wondering. If Nakanishi moved any slower in this match, he’d be going in reverse. He has looked much better in 2016. The highlights of this match were Kojima going at it with Nagata and Jay White showing just how good he is. Tenzan took a bit of a beating but Captain New Japan saved him from tapping out. It was then time for the one junior in the match, White, to take the Cozy Cutter and tap out to the Anaconda Vice.

Winners: Captain New Japan and Tencozy in 6:38
Another relatively standard New Japan six man tag. Tencozy is always fun and it was surprising to see Captain New Japan on the winning side of anything. Also, props to Jay White, who has shown a ton of improvement throughout his short career. **½

Michael Elgin vs. YOSHI-HASHI
I haven’t seen nearly enough of YOSHI-HASHI’s pimp cane on the G1 tour. Elgin showcased his strength as usual here. The thing is, the fans are now used to it, so they pop in anticipation of them. Elgin hit YOSHI with a right hand that was almost on par with the one I praised on Ishii a night earlier. YOSHI brought his working boots and nailed a sweet running, flipping neck beaker. Elgin’s stalling German continued to get the great crowd response he wants for it. Their final series of blows is pretty great as they just wail on each other. It’s Elgin’s show though and he hits a buckle bomb followed by the Elgin Bomb to finish his awesome G1 run with a win.

Winner: Michael Elgin in 9:24
If you wonder why Michael Elgin would go on to win the IWGP Intercontinental Title, it is because of things like this where he just over delivered. This was better than I expected and both guys deserve praise. People really overlook this since Elgin was so good in the tournament, but it was damn good. ***½

Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazushi Sakuraba, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano
Some nights, Takahashi’s lady kills it and that was the case here as she was sporting cheetah print and did a split in the ring. Five stars. Is it weird that I love the Chaos theme that these guys came out to? Anyway, this was a whole lot of nothing. Six guys that weren’t really going anywhere at the time (though Fale and Ishii would be in high profile matches soon). Yano being Yano was my favorite part of this. Sakuraba didn’t get to do enough, while the guys handling most of the offense for the Bullet Club were Takahashi and Fale, which isn’t exactly murderer’s row. Ishii ended up with Tonga and that was quite the mismatch. Tonga tried with a spear, but Ishii destroyed him with a headbutt. He then finished Tonga via Brainbuster.

Winners: Kazushi Sakuraba, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano in 8:53
This lasted less than nine minutes but felt like nearly twenty. It really felt like all six men were mailing it in and ready to finish this lengthy tour. *½

IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata and Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito, NEVER Openweight Champion Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma
While Goto and Honma were mostly in here because of their respective partners, everyone else in the match had some issues. Shibata and Naito had some beef, while Ibushi made his intentions for Makabe’s NEVER Title clear. All sorts of fun interactions in this one. Shibata went at it with Honma, only for Naito to get in a cheap shot from behind. The look on Shibata’s face could possibly legitimately kill people. The crowd reaction when Shibata got tagged in against Naito was fantastic. They wanted to see him murder Naito and their altercations here got me more excited for their eventual G1 rematch than most others could have done in such a short time. The final few minutes of this, like a lot of NJPW matches, was top notch stuff. Kota got a near fall on a sitout powerbomb while Shibata choked Naito outside. The Phoenix Splash on Honma was enough to get Ibushi’s team the W. The fighting between Shibata and Naito, as well as Makabe and Ibushi, continued after the bell.

Winners: Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata and Kota Ibushi in 10:41
Easily the best multi-man tag of the night so far. All six guys are awesome and that would be enough. However, the added animosity of the rivalries involved as well as the red hot crowd made all of this even better. ***¼

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
The Young Bucks (c) w/ Cody Hall vs. reDRagon
reDRagon still had their NJPW dubbed theme, which actually wasn’t that bad. These two teams have faced off countless times. I consider reDRagon to be the best tag team in the world and let’s just say I don’t feel nearly as positively about the champions. It began relatively slow, with the two teams looking to build to something. While they’ve wrestled each other a ton, this had the addition of Cody Hall at ringside and he made sue to get involved as often as possible. At one point, he legitimately kidnapped Kyle O’Reilly and carried him to the back. I don’t know why we don’t see that spot more often when a big guy is at ringside. It’s actually really smart. Fish did pretty well by himself though O’Reilly returned at the perfect time for the hot tag. From there on, the teams were mostly even and traded all of their signature stuff. The Bucks nearly won with the Indytaker but Fish got his shoulder up. Cody Hall got his when Kyle ducked a double superkick and he ate it, leveling the playing field. The Bucked wanted an Indytaker on the outside but it was stopped and Matt ended up getting hit with Chasing the Dragon out there. Nick took one on the inside and we had a title change, which is the norm for these titles.

Winners and New IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions: reDRagon in 17:35
Probably my favorite match between the teams. It’s refreshing to watch them with Japanese commentary instead of Steve Corino. Their chemistry is spot on, they know what works for them and they put it all together here. I liked the addition of Cody Hall, as he made for two pretty cool spots. ***¾

IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship
KUSHIDA (c) vs. Ricochet
At Dominion, the biggest event prior to the G1 Climax, KUSHIDA captured the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. Here he defended it against the man that beat him in the finals of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament in 2014, Ricochet. Ricochet is good, but much better as Prince Puma for some reason. This match came in at #96 in my “Top 100 Matches of 2015” list. The opening sequence was quick paced, with both guys showing off just how fast and athletic they are. KUSHIDA played it smart, focusing on the arm and trying to take Ricochet to the mat, knowing he has the advantage there. It worked as Ricochet seemed to get a bit frustrated with this. That proved to be the internal struggle throughout this match. Ricochet nailed a plancha and superman punch that were both great. Ricochet made the biggest mistake though as he crashed and burned on the 630, allowing KUSHIDA to apply the Hoverboard Lock and make him submit.

Winner and Still IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion: KUSHIDA in 17:28
Another really solid juniors match. KUSHIDA and Ricochet don’t wrestle each other often, but you wouldn’t know it by watching them. They did a lot of good, fast stuff here and it all came out very fluid. The idea behind KUSHIDA working the arm and Ricochet wanting to fly made a lot of sense and it was well executed. ***¾

AJ Styles and IWGP Tag Team Champions Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson vs. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and the Kingdom w/ Gedo and Maria
I don’t miss the Kingdom in NJPW, but I really, really miss having Maria around. The NJPW cameraman absolutely loved her. Okada and Styles, a little over a month removed from an awesome title match at Dominion, started out for their teams. It was the best possible way to go as they work very well together. Okada “too sweeted” Styles’ forehead like a cocky bastard. Later on, Anderson got distracted by dancing Maria on the apron, as always. AJ tried to snap him back into it, but Karl made him and they danced together and it was one of my favorite things ever. The parts of the match that were basically the Kingdom vs. Doc and Karl were the low points since their matches together were never really any good. There was a pretty cool spot where Taven was launched from the top into a Gun Stun at least. It came down to AJ and Okada, who finished with an awesome series of counters. Styles would pin the IWGP Heavyweight Champion in a bit of a shocker, following a Styles Clash and setting up a title match in October.

Winners: AJ Styles, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson in 11:16
I found this match to be pretty good. Whenever AJ and Okada went at it, things went really well. However, the Gallows and Anderson/Kingdom stuff always fell flat. Even though I was amused by the Maria/Anderson stuff, the rest of it was blah. ***

G1 Climax Finals
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Here it where it all ended. This was my highest ranked G1 Climax match in my “Top 100 Matches of 2015”, finishing in third place. These two were not strangers to each other and have met plenty of times in their careers, including headlining two shows in 2014 (one being Wrestle Kingdom) and meeting once in the G1 last year. They started with a feeling out process, knowing each other well enough to not want to make the first mistake. A staple of their series, Tanahashi relentlessly went after Nakamura’s leg in vicious ways, looking to prevent the Boma Ye later on. He also connected on a High Fly Flow to the outside at one point. Nakamura did a really good job in selling the leg work, even only using the good leg for a backstabber. It’s very much appreciated. You also really believed his exhaustion throughout the match. Nakamura avoided High Fly Flow and hit Boma Ye twice, but Tanahashi countered the third into a pinning attempt for two. It was Nakamura’s turn to survive stuff, as he kicked out of two High Fly Flows and a slingblade. He then countered another slingblade into an armbar but that wasn’t enough. Neither was yet another Boma Ye. The crowd ate all of this up. The final few moments saw an exhausted Nakamura try to use up his last bit of fighting spirit, but still falling to two High Fly Flows and ending the G1 Climax.

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi in 32:15
Of their many, many matches, this one is easily my favorite. They went out and tried to have an epic match and accomplished that feat. The work from both guys was fantastic, the crowd was molten hot and they made sure to call back to their history. I loved seeing Nakamura work from behind and his selling, mannerisms and everything were just tremendous. Seriously, a phenomenal match between two of the best in the world. ****¾

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

I thought that this was a really good ending to the G1 Climax. Granted, some of the multi-man tags were lackluster, especially the Bullet Club/Chaos one, but most of the show ranged from good to great. Elgin and YOSHI-HASHI had a much better match than expected, while the two late six man tags were good. The two junior heavyweight title matches also delivered and came in just shy of being great. The real story was the main event though, as Tanahashi and Nakamura put on an all-time great match and possibly the best G1 final ever.