wrestling / Columns

Csonka’s Takeaways From The NJPW G1 Climax 27

August 14, 2017 | Posted by Larry Csonka
NJPW G1 Climax 27 Tetsuya Naito

– Welcome back to column time with Larry. It’s time for a look back at the New Japan Pro Wrestling G1 Climax 27 tournament. I hope that you enjoy, and feel free to share your takeaways. The only rule is “have a take, be respectful of other’s opinions and don’t be a dick.” We all have opinions, we’re going to disagree, just be cool about it.

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Juice Robinson: Certified Superstar: Leading into the G1 I wrote about stars that needed to thrive in the G1 27, and Juice Robinson was one of those guys. Juice has had a great 2017 leading into the tournament, and earned his way into the G1 with hard work, some great singles efforts in big matches and essentially filled the role of the lovable underdog left after the unfortunate injury to Honma. The G1 was the perfect setting to continue his ascent up the card, to continue growing as a performer and to silence any doubters left. While Robinson didn’t pile up the best win/loss record (which is not surprising for a first G1 run), it’s clear that NJPW is all in on Juice, they bought in and he more than delivered in the ring and during the tournament became one of the very best babyfaces in all of wrestling. His selling of his accumulation of injuries, specifically the knee, were very well done and the win over Omega was received as a huge deal by the fans. His work has been great, but it’s now more than that, the crowds have enbraced him and have accepted him as a New Japan guy. Juice Robinson has officially arrived, and it’s been a great journey to follow. Here is a breakdown of his tournament performances, which averaged a star rating of 3.42

* Juice Robinson defeated Toru Yano @ 4:16 via pin [**]
* SANADA defeated Juice Robinson @ 13:39 via pin [***]
* Tama Tonga defeated Juice Robinson @ 10:40 via pin [***¼]
* Minoru Suzuki defeated Juice Robinson @ 12:30 via pin [***¼]
* Juice Robinson defeated Michael Elgin @ 11:53 via pin [***½]
* EVIL defeated Juice Robinson @ 11:53 via pin [***¾]
* Kazuchika Okada defeated Juice Robinson @ 20:40 via pin [****]
* Juice Robinson defeated Satoshi Kojima @ 11:58 via pin [****]
* Juice Robinson defeated Kenny Omega @ 15:30 via pin [****]

Yuji Nagata Says Fuck Father Time: Much like Juice Robinson, I wrote that Yuji Nagata was one of the five that needed y thrive in this year’s G1 Climax. Nagata at age 49 came under fire from some, due to his inclusion in the tournament, which is scheduled to be his final G1. Nagata is a certified legend and has nothing to prove to New Japan fans. He seems like an odd choice to the uneducated, due to the age and also because he’s far from a main event guy. Nagata has taken a step back, securing a new role in the company. Nagata is working to secure the company’s future by building the next generation of talent. They work the undercard tags, they work the Lion’s Gate events and are not only hands on with developing the talent on a consistent basis in the ring, but Nagata is also working as a trainer for NJPW. But while they have been “downgraded” to the mid-card tags, they have also been kept strong with good win/loss records and even a title win here and there. Nagata had a short run with the NEVER title in 2016, working a really fun feud with Shibata that led to Shibata’s redemption and acceptance by the group of New Japan Dads. And so it came to the G1 Climax 27, Nagata’s last run, and at age 49 he told father time to fuck right off, saddled up and put on a hell of a G1 run. Sure his win/loss record wasn’t great, and that was a bit depressing, but that was his role. The energy that Nagata brought to his matches and the love and emotional attachment he had with the fans was special. It was extremely similar to Liger’s final run, but Nagata’s matches were just a higher quality. Not only did he have that attachment and love of the crowd, but he was there to prove that age was only a number and that the old lion had one last hunt in him. He did himself proud, his legacy proud and all of the Blue Justice fans had one last emotional ride; it was magnificent. Here is a breakdown of his tournament performances, which averaged a star rating of 3.75

* Togi Makabe defeated Yuji Nagata @ 10:55 via pin [***]
* Tetsuya Naito defeated Yuji Nagata @ 15:29 via pin [***½]
* Yuji Nagata defeated Zack Sabre Jr. @ 15:28 via pin [***½]
* Kota Ibushi defeated Yuji Nagata @ 15:50 via pin [***½]
* YOSHI-HASHI defeated Yuji Nagata @ 16:33 via pin [***¾]
* Bad Luck Fale defeated Yuji Nagata @ 11:00 via pin [***¾]
* Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Yuji Nagata @ 15:00 via pin [****]
* Hirooki Goto defeated Yuji Nagata @ 15:02 via pin [****¼]
* Tomohiro Ishii defeated Yuji Nagata @ 13:59 via pin [****½]

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Booking For The Future: While most people focus solely on the title shot when it comes to the G1, in all honesty that’s a very small part of the puzzle. Sure it’s the grand prize, but when laid out correctly the tournament can continue feuds, start new ones and also provide us several big time matches for after the tournament and the big shows in September and October. And that is a vital component of the tournament; sure you want to have a kick ass 19 days, but you can’t rob Peter to pay Paul, you have to look to the future and you have to set up some big time matches. The G1 winner will defend the briefcase on these shows, and that’s a nice hook, but you need more than that. One thing that NJPW has been really good about is that if a champion loses during the G1, the person that beat them will get a title shot to pay off that match. The booking of the G1 Climax 27 set up the following matches for the fall

* Zack Sabre Jr defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP IC Title.
* Kota Ibushi defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP IC Title.
* Tetsuya Naito defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP IC Title.
* Kenny Omega defeated Minoru Suzuki, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP NEVER Openweight Title.
* Toru Yano defeated Minoru Suzuki, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP NEVER Openweight Title.
* Michael Elgin defeated Minoru Suzuki, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP NEVER Openweight Title.
* Michael Elgin defeated Kenny Omega, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP US Title.
* Juice Robinson defeated Kenny Omega, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP US Title.
* EVIL defeated Minoru Suzuki, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP NEVER Openweight Title.
* EVIL defeated Kazuckika Okada, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP heavyweight title.
* Kenny Omega defeated Kazuckika Okada, entitling him to a shot at the IWGP heavyweight title.
* Bad Luck Fale defeated Tetsuya Naito, entitling him to a shot at the G1 Climax Briefcase.
* Tomohiro Ishii defeated Tetsuya Naito, entitling him to a shot at the G1 Climax Briefcase.

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They Need to Try & Limit The Grind Next Year: It was clearer to me this year that NJPW need to do their best to try and limit the grind on the wrestlers moving forward. Splitting the blocks and having tournament and non-tournament days made sense; day one: block a has tournament matches, block b works opening tag matches. Day two, block b has tournament matches, while block a works opening tag matches. While the tag matches are usually sub-10 minute matches, they feature wrestlers that will be facing each other either next or later on in the block in order to build anticipation. That is all well and good, but you’re asking these men to work 19 days at a high level. It was clear to me that in the middle third of the tournament that the performers hit the grind, hell the grind smacked them in the fucking face, resulting in some lethargic performances that lacked the motivation and drive of their earlier matches. And that is not meant to be insulting, this is an arduous and physically draining schedule they are on, and they are only human.

I feel that they need to do the following things; 1) cut one tag match per show, just doing that you’re booking 18 less matches. 2) try to lock in a couple of the younger outside talents they use for LION’s GATE shows (like Dinosaur Takuma!) to fill spots. 3) Finally, better utilize the roster they have. They used a ton of the young lions well, but a lot of the roster was off doing other things away from NJPW. Lock the contracted guys in and fill the cards, tell other stories outside of the G1; the non-tournament tag matches do not need to be filled by G1 Climax competitors. Here are some of the names that weren’t around or used that really could have helped fill out the cards: The Young Bucks, Adam Page, Marty Scurll, Davey Boy Smith Jr. TRENT, Rocky Romero, Manabu Nakanishi, Tanga Loa, The Tempura Boys, KUSHIDA, Jay White, War Machine, Takashi Iizuka (injured), Lance Archer (just back from injury), & Cody.

If you use the rest of the roster to supplement a lot of the tags, you give the G1 competitors a day off, and allow them to work harder and provide even better matches. I feel that the undercard tags, even when used to sell tournament matches, are largely not needed because the anticipation for the tournament matches are already there. Pop in a Tanahashi, Okada, Naito, Ibushi, Suzuki and others in a few light 8-man tags where they are extremely limited to keep the fans happy, but other than that, get them the hell out of these meaningless matches. There’s no need to fill up the bump cards when they should be focusing on the important tournament matches.

In closing I’d like to talk about moments. There’s a common misconception that NJPW doesn’t have great stories and moments; these are the claims of those that don’t watch the product or can’t get over watching wrestling in another language. The G1 Climax 27 tour was filled with great moments, not bullshit forced narratives about making history or overly manufactured moments; real moments with real emotions and the love the fans and performers being rewarded. Nagata’s final G1 match where he was showered with praise of the fans and shared a moment with Bad Luck Fale along with the finals nights where he was given one last G1 bow. Juice Robinson’s huge victory over Kenny Omega and the fane blowing the roof off of the place as he worked hard, won the crowds over and became a star on the tour. The reaction from the live crowd and online community when poor young Daryl Tanahashi was tragically assassinated, this is partly a joke, but also serious as the fans felt horrible for Hiromu as his best friend was murdered by that bag of assholes Fale. EVIL defeating Okada clean, the reaction was eve bigger than the one Juice got as EVIL is on the rise to full time main eventer status. And then the finals night, which saw Naito winning the G1 to an insane reaction as he got his revenge on Omega from last years loss, Shibata making an appearance in the ring (drawing tears from the fans) as a special surprise and finally, we got proof that there is some form of higher being as YOUNG DARYK TAKAHASHI WAS RESURRECTED AND RETURNED TO LEAD HIROMU TO A VICTORY AND CELEBRATE NAITO’S BIG WIN.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

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“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”