wrestling / TV Reports

Puro Fury: G1 Climax Day 19

August 14, 2016 | Posted by Arnold Furious
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Puro Fury: G1 Climax Day 19  

G1 Climax 26 Day 19 (Finals)

 

August 14 2016

 

What a tournament this G1 has turned into! It’s been practically the opposite of predictable with early upsets and a couple of fantastic last day matches turning the entire tournament on its head. Tonight it’s Omega vs. Goto for the G1. Who called that at the start of the tournament? No one. Unless they were rattling off every conceivable outcome. Just about everyone I know had Naito or maybe Okada winning and certainly at least one of those two or Tanahashi in the final. Goto vs. Omega? It’s a left field call and I honestly love it for two reasons. 1. I have no idea who wins. 2. I don’t know if the winner goes on to face the IWGP Champion at Wrestle Kingdom. Normally that WK main event is locked down in the middle of August and we get months of stale programming from New Japan. The last couple of months of the year are usually not that great from NJPW. This year, who knows what will happen. That uncertainty and excitement has me fired up for tonight’s show. We’re in Sumo Hall. Hosts are Kevin Kelly, Steve Corino and Rocky Romero if you’re listening to the English stream. I’ve listened to a show and a half that they’ve done and they have gotten over the storylines really well although they don’t seem to know the names of any of the moves, nor the tournament background. Like Corino pointing out Omega’s cut back last night, something that happened two weeks ago, as if it was a fresh injury. I’ll give them a pass because it’s not Matt Striker.

 

Ryusuke Taguchi & David Finlay vs. Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask IV

Taguchi mimes his way out here with his sparkly green jacket and glasses. I hope this gimmick changes again soon. Taguchi tweaks his gimmick all the time so he’ll probably be out in a duck costume next week. Finlay has been gunning for Liger all tour and is desperate for a pin on the legend. I hope he gets it. Or perhaps a win over the imminently more disposable Tiger Mask. It doesn’t happen and Tiger Mask wins with a tiger superplex. Solid opener.

Final Rating: **1/4

 

Gedo & Jado vs. Yoshitatsu & Captain New Japan

It’s the bookers vs. the geeks. The elder statesmen of junior tags dismantle the Captain with fine tag team work. Tatsu looks clumsy and almost botches a spinebuster. This is not a tricky move. Captain New Japan is more fun to watch but Jado taps him out with the Crossface at the second attempt. Those Bullet Club Hunters are such total geeks. When are they going to actually hunt the Bullet Club? Tatsu walks off leaving jobber Captain New Japan in the ring. But Tatsu is the one that sucks!

Final Rating: *1/4

 

Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI vs. GBH (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)

HASHI has been changing perceptions about him during G1 to the point where I’m not sure if he’ll be taking the fall here, which normally would be a no-brainer. Half the guys wearing tape here. Makabe isn’t. Ishii isn’t. He’s injured, he just doesn’t give a fuck. Honma broke a rib and tries to tell a fighting spirit story surrounding that. So he’ll struggle to lift someone for a suplex but ultimately get there. It hypes the crowd up because they know how hard he’s working for his spots. Ishii and Makabe predictably beat the crap out of each other. HASHI plays underdog, which includes flying into the rail right in front of the English commentary provoking an “oh shit” reaction from Kevin Kelly. That’ll be a fine, young man. Honma makes me mark out the hardest in this match when he rips off his rib tape. That’s pretty cool. Unfortunately for him it leaves him prone to a beating from the CHAOS lads. Karma dumps Honma on his head and Tacos scores a big win, showing how far he’s come during this tournament. I’m proud of him. He showed good fire here.

Final Rating: ***1/2

 

Katsuyori Shibata, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi vs. NOAH (Katsuhiko Nakajima, Go Shiozaki, Shuhei Tanaguchi & Masa Kitamiya)

Shibata is teaming with the NJPW Dads having made up with them after that angle earlier in the year. Now they’ve got a common enemy; invading NOAH grapplers. This could be a sleeper hit. Kitamiya is almost certainly going to take the fall, possibly because he’s cosplaying as Masa Saito. The crowd get very heated for the NOAH boys hitting offence. They’re another company and NJPW fans don’t care for NOAH. You get a lot of heat for rival companies. The NOAH boys know to target the most sympathetic guy too; going after Tenzan. Shibata vs. Shiozaki is fantastic. I would love to have Shibata vs. NOAH guys as his next big angle. Just have him dismantle them all, one after another, like he did with the Dads. Shibata standing up to Shiozaki and not giving a shit about being chopped by him is magnificent. Shibata then headbutts Nakajima so fucking hard he busts himself open. The match is so great when Shibata is in there, as if he wants to set up a year long feud with the entire of NOAH by fucking them up here. Nakajima picks off Nakanishi with the brainbuster for the win, and then gets the piss beaten out of him by Shibata immediately. This causes a massive ruck and a pull apart between Shibata and Nakajima. This was so great and Shibata looked like a complete lunatic with blood trickling down his forehead. The post match fighting is amazing and Shibata ends up standing on the buckle overseeing the ring with blood pouring down his face. What a fucking great match this was and what a great angle we’re about to get into. This might be my favourite feud of the year and it’s only one match in.

Final Rating: ****

 

IWGP Tag Team Championship

The Briscoe Brothers (c) vs. Bullet Club (Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page)

From that last glorious display of violence to this bullshit. The Briscoes work hard to get the match over with dives and such but the Bullet Club suck. Yujiro is the worst of all of them and the main angle of this match is Jay getting busted open, which nobody cares about because they just saw Shibata bleeding and going nuts in the last match. It doesn’t help that the majority of the match is boring heel heat. Takahashi is the most worthless guy on the New Japan roster and he’s a chore to sit through here. I feel bad for my American colleagues who are up at 2am to watch this crap. At least they got that fiery NOAH vs. NJPW business in the last match. If this match didn’t have to follow that angle it might be better but for me it’s a tough watch. It drags. Everything the Briscoes do is fine but the heat segments are long and boring. Doomsday Device puts Page away and this match out of its misery. Decent effort from the Briscoes in a tricky spot. Yujiro stinks though.

Final Rating: **

 

Video Control takes us to a quick shill of Wrestle Kingdom 11 in the Tokyo Dome. The date? January 4, naturally. Another VT concerns a “time bomb”, which will blow up soon. In early November to be specific. What the fuck?

 

ROH World Championship

Jay Lethal (c) vs. Satoshi Kojima

Lethal has a big title defence against Adam Cole coming up in Las Vegas so he’s really not losing here. Kelly tries to explain how it’ll become a three-way dance if Kojima wins but that’s just not happening. Ring of Honor has booked too far in advance, to sell tickets, and it’s basically ruined this match. Japanese fans will probably expect Kojima to do well here, based on NWA title matches on big NJPW shows in the past. Perhaps not realising that NWA means next to nothing outside of NJPW while ROH run big shows. The crowd isn’t really into Lethal and he could have done with support from Los Ingobernables de Japon to help him out. They’re in action later. Kojima gets far more support for his trademark spots and indeed Tenzan’s spots, like the Anaconda Vice. The crowd are hyped for Kojima paying tribute to Tenzan by using his spots. The match picks up after a sluggish start thanks to Lethal’s love of outta control topes. Lethal positions the ref, kicks Kojima in the balls and hits the Lethal Injection. This was fine and Lethal’s long run with the ROH title continues.

Final Rating: ***

 

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, KUSHIDA & Juice Robinson vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI)

LIJ are usually great at these undercard tag deals. They’ve got plenty to work with too with ace Tanahashi, powerhouse Elgin and both the junior heavyweights top star and one of the best dojo performers in Juice. Naito is hyped up for the opportunity to mess with Tanahashi. To the point where he almost cracks a smile. Like with every undercard match they’ve been in during G1 both KUSHIDA and Juice do good work. LIJ works like a pack of wolves, attacking in unison with organisation and aggression. When one falls the rest swarm in to ensure LIJ remain in control. The match has phases depending on who is in for Team Tana. LIJ are interchangeable and control the match as a unit. Elgin might be the most entertaining of the opposing team with his fun power moves and ability to hurl around multiple dudes at the same time. Juice doesn’t get the reactions here that he’s been getting for his intense undercard performances during G1. Perhaps it’s too much too soon for Robinson, in the eyes of the crowd. EVIL finishes Juice off with the STO after he showed sufficient fire to take on EVIL and Naito at the same time.

Final Rating: ***1/2

 

CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano) & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa)

Yano & Marufuji are a tag team in NOAH. Marufuji remaining buddies with Okada and coming out with Yano allows him some respite from the NOAH hate that’s prevalent in the audience. Yano has promised that “something” will happen in this match. Will he defect to NOAH? That would be something. Nice to see Yano is still freaked out by Tama, as he was months ago. The work isn’t good but at least it’s fun when Yano is in there. Marufuji vs. Tama is a lot of fun too with both guys doing rope running gimmicks and dodging stuff. Tama Tonga, after salvaging his NJPW career during G1 is the MVP in this match. Okada has no trouble with the Guerrillas of Destiny and swats Fale aside to allow the Rainmaker on Tanga. Easy win for the champ.

Final Rating: **1/2

 

Post Match: Okada has something on his mind and it’s not Fale, it’s his tag team partner. He wants a piece of Marufuji’s ass for beating him on the Day 1. Marufuji asks the fans if they want to see it, gets an affirmative and it’s fucking on. Okada owns the end of the segment by ignoring a hand shake and posing on the buckles like a complete prick. Match is on though.

 

G1 Climax 26 Final

Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto

Kenny leaves his broom behind. He’s 100% focused on becoming the first ever Westerner to win G1. The crowd want him to win too, he has the biggest reactions! The people know Goto is a choking failure. Omega had a tough 28 minute match yesterday. Goto’s last match was two days ago and 15 minutes shorter. He’s fresh as a daisy and is carrying no injuries coming in. He’s just slyly crept out of Block A while Omega has taking a beating on Block B. Goto goes after the injured knee that Naito dismantled just yesterday. Omega is able to take over by hitting spots on the apron. That’s how he wore Naito down, by bringing Western over the top violence and thinking outside the box. They spend relatively equal time in charge of the match, letting it build slowly with both guys working over body parts. Kenny sells a lot less than he did against Naito though. Omega switches heel by raking the eyes during a striking duel. The crowd has been more on the fence after hounding Goto in the early going. The match takes time to warm up but when it does and the crowd get into it, it gets really good. Omega starts to land big shots with multiple V-Trigger’s. Omega has some wacky ideas, like climbing the buckles to escape a sleeper by diving backwards. Goto lands first, then Kenny lands on his head. I love that Kenny steals Ibushi’s Last Ride sitout powerbomb finish but Goto kicks out of that because it’s not either guys big finish but it’s a nice tip of the hat. The match gets really great after that with both guys landing big shots and Kenny doing a fantastic job of selling the knee. SHOUTEN KAI but Omega throws his shoulder up at the last gasp moment. This would have worked better if Goto hadn’t been using the GTR as his finish all tournament. Omega breaks out Bloody Sunday, this time paying tribute to Prince Devitt as the former top guy in Bullet Club. Then the Styles Clash! Goto kicks out of both! ONE WINGED ANGEL. Omega wins the G1 Climax! He’s the first ever Westerner to win. What an amazing match and an incredible tournament. Omega is heading to the main event of Wrestle Kingdom.

Final Rating: ****3/4

 

Post Match: Kenny refuses to wave the New Japan flag, instead waving the Bullet Club flag. I love how Omega channeled the Bullet Club’s history to win this match.

8.5
The final score: review Very Good
The 411
I was worried pre-show that Goto might actually win but Omega winning confirms he’s sticking around, as he says during a post match promo. He’s coming after Okada at Wrestle Kingdom. I’m absolutely hyped for that match, which I wasn’t before the tournament. Gedo has sneakily created a new angle, blowing away expectations of the G1. The end of this tournament was so fiery hot, with three MOTYC from the last three nights.
legend