wrestling / TV Reports
Puro Fury: G1 Climax 26 Day 18
Loading...G1 Climax 26 Day 18
August 13 2016
We’re in Sumo Hall for the final night of Block B. Gedo pulled a surprise last night by having Goto win Block A. What does he have in store for us this evening? Instead of going through variables before we get underway I’ll just update information as and when it’s needed. Naito leads Block B with 12 points. He’s in the driving seat. He’s got Omega tonight. If Block A is anything to go by that will be the deciding match up. The English language commentary comes from Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino and Rocky Romero. Let’s get this shit underway. Yo yo, start-des! It doesn’t matter how many times I watch it, the opening VT for the G1 this year is magnificent. I never skip it. Never. Which makes this the 18th viewing of this particular bit of footage. I love the music and how it subtly changes during the clips of various wrestlers.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask IV vs. Yoshitatsu, Captain New Japan, Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay
Yoshitatsu is the high man on his team? That’s not good. Given that Tenzan had his emotional moment last night there is literally nothing to care about here. Unless you’ve followed Finlay’s undercard run of late and are hoping he can pick up a pin over Liger. Instead we get Tatsu going after Nakanishi and Manabu goofing around. Tenzan is a joke here. Liger and Tiger Mask have to hold Captain fucking New Japan in place for the moonsault and Tenzan still makes of mess of it. You had your moment in the sun, mate. Give it up.
Final Rating: *1/2
Togi Makabe & Juice Robinson vs. Tomohiro Ishii & Naomichi Marufuji
This is slightly worrying as we got one more great match out of Ishii and Makabe but that doesn’t mean I wanted another series. At all. That’s pretty much the last thing I want to see from Ishii. Togi can’t really do any better but Ishii is a perfect foil for anybody. Why waste him on Makabe? It also seems strange that Marufuji is in there. Surely they want him to wrestle Okada at some point soon? Why not get that storyline underway here instead of having Okada mix it up with the bloody Bullet Club? Anyway, this is a solid brawl and I love Juice standing up to Ishii. Togi and Tomohiro continue where they left off yesterday and Makabe punches aside it’s tremendous. Damn it, I know it’s good but I don’t want any more singles matches between those two. I just don’t. Juice standing up to Marufuji is even more superb than him standing up to Ishii. It’s marvellous. Ko-Oh almost downs Juice but the Shiranui gets it done. This was fantastic from start to finish and is the best undercard tag on the tour. Unfortunately that confirms New Japan is into Makabe vs. Ishii as they go at it again after the bell.
Final Rating: ****
Hiroshi Tanahashi, Satoshi Kojima & KUSHIDA vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA, BUSHI & Jay Lethal)
Tanahashi looks surprisingly spry for a man who’s a broken down wreck that worked a 30 minute MOTYC last night. The focus here is Kojima vs. Lethal, which is the ROH title match tomorrow night. While they’re not looking at that it’s SANADA reacquainting himself with a healthier Tanahashi, who he beat on the opening night. Tana looks in far better condition now than at the start of this tournament. He’s blown through that ring rust and SANADA is a different prospect when Tanahashi is healthy. He might be positioned to challenge Tanahashi at some point in the future but he needs help from BUSHI here. I have more interest in Kojima taking it to Lethal and their back and forth is very solid. KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI is really good too with speedy counters. It’s the last sequence too with Lethal hitting the Lethal Injection on KUSHIDA to allow BUSHI to finish off the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion with a diving MX. Smart money is now on BUSHI vs. KUSHIDA for the junior strap soon and it’ll be good.
Final Rating: ***1/4
Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Gedo, Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page
Briscoes have Yujiro & Hangman for the IWGP Tag Team Championships tomorrow. Bullet Club has a new t-shirt, which reads “The Tokyo Pimps” on the front. Technically it’s a Yujiro t-shirt and his name is on the back, which is a pity. Okada vs. Fale ends up being the focus, which is not what I want. At least Fale is better than he used to be but again, like with Ishii, it feels like Okada should be doing something more important. The Okada-Tama segments are better than the Fale ones! In all of this I almost forget that Goto won Block A yesterday. He’s hidden away in tiny chunks of this match trying to avoid injury ahead of tomorrow’s big showdown. The Briscoes use this as another showcase match but it’s Yujiro who gets the pin, again. The Briscoes fuck him up for it only for Hangman Page to make the save with an insane double slingshot lariat spot. Great bump from both Briscoes.
Final Rating: **3/4
Yuji Nagata [6] vs. Tomoaki Honma [4]
Both guys started hot in this tournament but find themselves adrift of anyone of importance come the last day. Honma comes in with protective tape on his ribs but Nagata rips that off after Honma stomps on his head. If you’re injured you don’t want to piss your opponent off. Honma does solid work in selling those ribs. It becomes a tidy contest as they gel well and hit hard. Honma’s assaults are mostly defensive, after his ribs are exposed, whereas Nagata is far more aggressive. They beat the hell out of each other and Honma probably takes the biggest shellacking of the entire tournament, frothing at the mouth during an assortment of strikes to his gormless face. Honma’s defensive work is superb and he picks up the minor upset win with the Kokeshi. Honma was fired up here and Nagata is a good opponent for him because he’s a no frills worker. Good finish for both guys although it’s a tad upsetting that Nagata has been lumped with the hopeless old man Tenzan in terms of finishing position.
Final Rating: ***1/2
Toru Yano [8] vs. YOSHI-HASHI [6]
YOSHI-HASHI could get dragged into bottom in the Block if he loses, due to losses to both Nagata and Honma. Here he’s up against t-shirt and DVD salesman Toru Yano, but they’re CHAOS buddies so Yano might go easy on him. There’s no water throw. There’s a handshake with no rolls up or ball shot. Yano likes Tacos. When he does a cheeky roll up he apologises. It doesn’t take long for Yano to abandon this an expose two turnbuckles. Yano ball shots YOSHI-HASHI and rolls him up for the win. No surprises there.
Final Rating: **
Katsuyori Shibata [10] vs. EVIL [6]
Crowd is hyped for Shibata. Corino points out EVIL’s job is LIJ spoiler. Naito is currently in top spot, if Shibata doesn’t win Naito stays in that spot. For example, a draw would eliminate Shibata. So if EVIL drags Shibata out in the crowd and holds him out there it’s a double count out Shibata can’t win the tournament. Shibata is completely aware of this and smashes EVIL from the start. EVIL’s response is to go after Shibata’s arm and try to break it. It’s a vicious assault. Some might call it…evil? Shibata flat out challenges EVIL to injure him before smashing EVIL in the jaw with his injured arm. It’s a message to the instigator of the violence; you cannot hurt me. Then it’s time for another message with a barrage of kicks; I can hurt you. Then yet another message; Shibata hits an STO on EVIL. The message now; I am better than you at being you. Shibata psychologically dismantles poor EVIL. When Shibata is on the verge of victory the arm work pays off because EVIL can manipulate the injured arm to escape a sleeper hold. EVIL then has an opening to assault the arm, which he does viciously, even more so than earlier with the chair. He headbutts the shoulder and yanks at the arm. Shibata gets dropped with the STO and EVIL completes his spoiler mission. I was really hoping for Shibata to win and then beat the shit out Goto in the final but I can live with the story here. Without that injured shoulder Shibata had EVIL beaten but EVIL manipulated the situation to win. Very good psychology throughout in this.
Final Rating: ***3/4
Michael Elgin [10] vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima [8]
Nakajima has proved himself in this tournament. Elgin proved himself last year and this year has looked every bit the main event calibre star. It’s what he always wanted and Elgin is living the Japanese dream. Big Mike decides to trade with Nakajima to start and he takes some stiff kicks from the NOAH upstart. From there it becomes a game of power vs. speed. Nakajima aims most of his abuse at Elgin’s injured pectoral muscle. G1 is a tough tournament and Elgin is banged up, although perhaps not as badly as Shibata. Those kicks from Nakajima are insane though. They’re hard and precise. At one point he lands twelve straight kicks to the pectoral with Elgin struggling to combat the attack due to the injury. The way they’re leaning on the body part work on this last night makes me wonder why they didn’t do more of it throughout the tournament. Work on people’s weaknesses. Elgin doesn’t change his moves to suit the injury, although that sometimes becomes a storyline in of itself. He goes for a power move and can’t get it right because he’s hurt. Nakajima switches gears and goes after the knee too, taking out Elgin’s base. Normally Elgin dominates but Nakajima has forced him to go on the defensive. Big Mike is like a hurt animal though. He becomes more dangerous when he comes more desperate. That’s one side of Mike you don’t normally see; anger. He’s normally calm but Nakajima’s intent angers the big grizzly. They do a great spot where both guys grab at each other on a double down and both swat the arm away. It’s done with increasing aggression. This time it’s Elgin who bosses on the stand up, pounding Nakajima with elbows. Nakajima brings some amazing desperation kick outs. They’re so late. The match goes back and forth before Nakajima manages to just about power Elgin over with a soft brainbuster for the win. Just lifting the big fella was impressive. This match was epic and the best work of Nakajima’s tournament. Elgin is a sly pick for tournament MVP. He’s been outstanding. Nakajima sneaks up to ten points, Elgin is out. This was a war.
Final Rating: ****1/2
Tetsuya Naito [12] vs. Kenny Omega [10]
No complicated maths for the main event. Whoever wins is the winner of Block B. Obviously a repeat of last night’s main event draw would see Naito advance as he’s ahead on points at the start of the match. The question is; would Naito want to wrestle for 30 minutes and face a fresh Goto tomorrow? Probably not. A good point from Kevin Kelly; Omega started this year in the junior heavyweight division. I’m all in on KUSHIDA for G1 27, chaps. “Naito had to turn bad to turn good” says Corino as Naito gets rapturous applause for being an asshole for the past year. There’s a lesson to be learned there, if you’re WWE. Or anyone struggling to get a big star over as a big babyface. Here they try and out-heel each other, as Bullet Club and LIJ did in a tag yesterday. Naito seems totally unphased by it all. Naito goes through his anti-ace work and takes out Omega’s knee. Omega is willing to sell the bejesus out of that knee. This is countered by Omega slamming Naito on the apron, which Romero confirms has no padding at all. I can feel pain in my kidneys watching that spot.
Omega does a good job of reminding everyone that his knee is hurt. It’s the third piece of excellent selling tonight. Where did this come from? Naito takes a few sickening bumps to level things up. A massive bump off the apron and then a powerbomb through the timekeepers table. Omega is going full-in on Attitude Era spots. Omega follows out with the kind of dive that Rob Van Dam would think twice about and in all probability fucks his knee up in the process and he destroys Corino’s headset. It leads into an exciting run of near finishes for Omega. I love that Kenny continues to sell his knee in bridging for pins. The desperation and big spots are epic. Omega feels he needs over the top madness to put this match over last night’s technical yet exciting duel. Omega dominates for a while but One Winged Angel is countered into the Calf Crusher. That knee has been worked over all match and it would make sense as a finish. Kenny survives, gets the One Winged Angel and Naito counters it into Destino in one fluid motion. If that was the finish, I’d be fine with that as we’re up to 25 minutes.
Naito can now put the match in the cooler and win with a point. Or he can hit a reverse super rana, which Omega kicks out of! They can’t hit the highs of Tana-Okada but they’re sure as shit trying. Especially on the psychology stakes where Omega keeps refreshing the knee injury. They tease Kenny winning with Kroyt’s Wrath and V-Trigger. It’s so exciting! One Winged Angel. KENNY FUCKING WINS! Kenny Omega wins! Holy shit. The G1 Finals is Omega vs. Goto. Who called that? NOBODY. This tournament has been so unpredictable, to the point of ridiculousness. What a match too! I think I would have liked it all the more if I’d been on the fence about who was winning, like I was with Tana-Okada. Here I was convinced Naito was winning and it wasn’t until the last couple of minutes that I sensed something different and started really getting into Omega’s near falls. Omega won this in 28.12, under two minutes before time was due to expire.
Final Rating: ****3/4
Post Match: Omega lifts the speech from the end of Rocky IV verbatim, only resulting in complaining about Naito getting cheered.
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