Puroresu Love: G-1 Climax 1998

G-1 Climax Tournament 1998
July 31, – August 2, 1998

This is another review that comes courtesy of Golden Boy Tapes. Rob was kind enough to send me this commercial release on DVD, he also let me in on a little scoop as far as the future goes on his site. Coming soon will be a huge abundance of All Japan Classics, which can be bought in bulk from Rob at a discounted rate. But that’s not all, he is also working on an extremely large Mitsuharu Misawa compilation, that will encompass around ten tapes. Look for both of those probably around August.

Like the previous year, this G-1 is single elimination style, although it’s a full sixteen-man tournament rather than the fourteen-man tournament from the year before. The talk of the tournament this year is Shinya Hashimoto, and the fact that despite seemingly having done it all, he hasn’t won the G-1 yet. Hashimoto has set the record for the most IWGP Title defenses, he’s the man who’s headlined more Tokyo Dome shows, and drawn more money than anyone else. He reclaimed the IWGP Heavyweight Title from Nobuhiko Takada at Battle Formation 1996, and successfully defended against Judo Olympian Naoya Ogawa, in May of 1997. But despite all his glowing accomplishments, he hasn’t yet won the G-1 Climax. Hashimoto has always been the man to step up and defend New Japan, but now he’s doing something for himself.

FIRST ROUND – JULY 31ST

TADAO YASUDA vs. BIG TITAN
If this was Big Guido vs. Tadao Yasuda from 2002 and afterwards, this would probably be a lot of fun, with “The Big Don” Tommy Rich, “The Main Man” Tracy Smothers, and the rest of the FBI running interference, while Yasuda cheats like a man possessed. Unfortunately, we wind up with this match, which is nothing much more than just the two of them both being slow, lumbering oafs. The only things Titan does that looks any good are elbows, knees, and forearms in the corner, so he does that, for most of the match. He works Yasuda’s knee over a little bit and tries to get some heat on Yasuda, but that just gets blown off so that Yasuda can hit his running Sumo slaps and Double arm suplex. In a shockingly smart moment, Titan clips Yasuda’s knee and covers him, while hooking the bad leg, but Yasuda blows that off really quick too, so he can hit a superplex, and finish him off with his Tiger driver. I’d still have preferred that Yasuda finish him with the straight punch to the back of the head, so “The Big Don” could give a drunken promo about Big Guido getting whacked.

HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs. SATOSHI KOJIMA
Whoever made the decision to pair these two off in the first round is a moron, and hopefully is no longer employed. This isn’t the best match they’ve had against one another, and I’d bet it’s not even the smartest worked, but it has a certain intensity to it that’s very hard to come by, the sense that winning it the only thing on the mind of both of them, and the only question is who wants it more?

Unlike the two big goofs seemingly going in slow-mo, these two go at it full -speed ahead and just totally lay into one another right from the get-go. Neither of them really shows any specific plan of attack, the only thing they have planned is winning. They use a lot of chops and punches early on, trying to show the other how tough they are and how badly they want it. The really amusing moments are Kojima using the Mongolian Chops, and Tenzan trying to fight out of Kojima’s having his leg caught, with headbutts. The missed moonsault to a lariat spot is a good example of showing a bit of method to madness, Tenzan hadn’t done enough damage to expect to win, and neither had Kojima really, but Tenzan’s mistake of going up too early basically set himself up for the possible loss.

The delayed sell of the German suplex could have been done without, but it carries that tragic sort of appeal. Kojima doesn’t just pop up and try to do something, he lays there for a few seconds and has to force himself to get to his feet and return fire. The ending is the typical Kojima Lariat-tastic spectacle. They had a nice set up, where Kojima caught Tenzan in midair with the Koji Cutter, and it probably should have ended at that lariat, the pin after the final lariat is very well worked though, with Tenzan kicking with all his might, and Kojima with the leg hooked, and having his body positioned in such a way that it was nearly impossible for him to kick out. This match alone is already better than anything from the 1997 G-1. ***1/4

SHIRO KOSHINAKA vs. OSAMU NISHIMURA
This starts out rather quickly paced for a Nishimura match, with them focusing more on strikes than being on the ground. One really odd moment has Koshinaka use a missile dropkick off the top, and then Nishimura pops up and climbs up top for his own, while Koshinaka is supposedly too disoriented to realize where Nishimura is. After that, they take it to the mat and Nishimura works in his usual stuff, why nobody has thought of hitting Nishimura in the nuts in order to break his bridge, I can’t seem to figure out. He can support seemingly anyone’s weight when he’s got the bridge, so let’s see how he reacts to getting kicked in the groin.

The head scissors and Abdominal Stretch to Octopus hold make an appearance as well, but Koshinaka doesn’t seem interested in putting over much damage, or even taking advantage of his own offensive bursts. After hitting Nishimura with a Divorce Court style armbar takedown, instead of keep on the arm, he’d rather do a reverse power bomb, and call for the Hip attack. Contrast with Nishimura who blocks the hip attack with a dropkick to the small of the back, and pounces with a Northern Lights suplex for a two-count, simple, logical, and effective. Nishimura also tweaks his knee after an attempted pescado, and instead of going after that to get a win, Koshinaka would rather drape him over the top rope and do a knee to the upper back, and then powerbomb him for the win. It’s easy to argue that the knee prevented the kick out and the powerbomb was more work on the back, but at least show some pride in your work, rather than the complacent idea of doing whatever comes to mind, because the end will come eventually.

KENSUKE SASAKI vs. MICHIYOSHI OHARA
It starts off looking like your typical Kensuke squash, and he gets a near fall and almost a TKO in the first minute of the match. Sasaki fires off more lariats for more near falls, and in a shocker, the Stranglehold Gamma doesn’t get the win. Ohara strings together his own offense starting with a spear (not unlike another bald headed, goateed wrestler in WCW around this time) and works over Sasaki’s knee for a decent amount of time, and actually avenges the near fall from the beginning with a running lariat of his own. You just can’t deny Sasaki however, and he mounts a comeback and finishes with the NLB. This is an interesting parallel with Ohara’s first round match with Chono from the year before, in which he also got a sizeable advantage from working over the knee. It also ended the same way, with Ohara losing.

SHINYA HASHIMOTO vs. TATSUTOSHI GOTOH
Is there any other possible match with such an obvious result? You’ve got the top favorite to win the whole thing, against someone who has no business being in the tournament in the first place. This is just like the previous match only much shorter, and Gotoh gets a lot less offense than Ohara was able to. Gotoh gets himself a quick offensive run with a low blow, and then his signature backdrop suplex, and Gotoh even dares to no-sell Hashimoto’s DDT. It’d probably be more effective in giving the fans a quick scare that their guy will lose in the first round if he wasn’t booked against someone who obviously has no business even being in the G-1 in the first place. Of course Hashimoto comes back with a vengeance and wails on Gotoh before hitting another DDT and getting the submission with a Triangle Choke.

KAZUO YAMAZAKI vs. TATSUMI FUJINAMI
This is relatively short, but they manage to pack enough in for a decent outing. Fujinami was the IWGP Heavyweight Champion at this time, so it was plainly obvious he wasn’t going to be winning. I don’t think anyone expected him to wind up losing on the first night though. From the looks of the match, he’s not going to lose. He singles out Yamazaki’s knee and hits four Dragon-screws in a row, and not only gets himself a sizeable advantage, but also takes away the effect of one of Yamazaki’s favorite weapons, his kicks.

Fujinami shows the mark of a truly smart, and good worker by using the opening he created for himself as simply a tool to get himself to bigger things. He uses the knee to escape from Yamazaki’s sleeper hold, by simply twisting it a bit, but then works over Yamazaki to soften him up for another of his finishers, the Dragon sleeper. It seems a bit odd that Fujinami didn’t attempt to do his Abdominal Stretch pin, especially with Yamazaki having a bad wheel. Yamazaki tries a few kicks, but still can’t get much force behind them, and attempts another sleeper which leads to Fujinami doing the Dragon-screw yet again. Fujinami picks Yamazaki up for another one, and if Fujinami was wrestling anybody else, he’d have probably hit the move and went on to victory. But as Keiji Mutoh learned a couple years before, try the move too often and you’ll pay the price. Yamazaki counters into a Juji-gatame and Fujinami has to tap out, the IWGP Champion eliminated in the first round. It only took a split second for Yamazaki to go from being in a hopeless situation to victory, and that’s why he’s the guy to keep an eye on. ***

MASAHIRO CHONO vs. MANABU NAKANISHI
This starts out quite dull. They’re all about chopping and hitting each other. Not too bad in theory, because heel Chono is all about dicking around with his opponent, and Nakanishi is one of the few who can put up a good fight to that sort of thing. It starts to get interesting when Chono sends Nakanishi into the post and he hurts his shoulder. Chono is sort of disappointing here because he isn’t nearly as much of a vicious bastard about attacking the injury as he normally would be. Nakanishi is pretty much on again/off again with his selling of it, and partly because Chono isn’t really attacking it all that much. Eventually Nakanishi just forgets about it, and it isn’t until Chono sends him into the corner shoulder first that he remembers he’s supposed to be selling it. Nakanishi attempts the backbreaker but Chono escapes with an eye rake, why? What is so hard about the concept of Nakanishi’s injured shoulder being unable to support the weight? Chono hooks on the Butterfly Lock to score the tap out. This had a huge opportunity to be probably better than it ever had any sort of right to be, and they completely wasted it.

KEIJI MUTOH vs. GENICHIRO TENRYU
Considering Mutoh’s knees were shot all to hell, and Tenryu was really getting up there in age, expecting anything outstanding would be asking too much. However, these two deliver if one is simply looking for an above average outing. Even though Mutoh’s knees are shot (and the video package beforehand makes that crystal clear) his knees don’t play a central part in the story they tell. Tenryu doesn’t need to single them out for attack, because he’s confident he can get the job done without it. Tenryu heels it up early on by getting Mutoh in compromising positions from moves such as the headlock, Greco-Roman knuckle lock, etc and then doing cheap tactics like his soccer kick to the head, not hurting Mutoh, just insulting him. He also responds to Mutoh’s drop down with an elbow smash to the knees. The last straw for Mutoh is when Tenryu does an Ace Crusher to Mutoh, while he’s sitting on the second rope, and Mutoh takes it on both of his knees. Tenryu is almost being undercover in the ways he goes after Mutoh’s knees.

Mutoh’s selling of his knees is one of the big pluses of this match, you know right from the start that they’re hurt because of the video package, but he doesn’t overdo it at any point. Instead of the over-dramatic rolling, clutching, and yelling, he simply lays down for a few seconds and delays getting to his feet. Mutoh responds to Tenryu’s undercover of the knee attacks by simply playing his game, if Tenryu is gonna attack Mutoh’s knees and try to be slick and sly, the Mutoh will attack Tenryu’s knees and one of Mutoh’s favorite weapons is the Dragon-screw. Mutoh uses one of his favorite moves to simply level the playing field. And Mutoh also manages to avenge the Ace Crusher by one-upping Tenryu and doing his Ace Crusher from the second turnbuckle all the way to the floor. With Tenryu weakened from the Dragon-screw Mutoh starts in with the dropkicks to set up the Figure four, but both times he gets it, Tenryu is able to get the break.

With the playing field pretty much level it comes to a relatively simple concept, whichever one of them can hit their big move first will probably be able to get the win. Tenryu attempts the powerbomb several times, but Mutoh turns it into his hurricanrana for several close two-counts. And when Tenryu does hit it, it still only gets two. Mutoh sticks with the opening he created for himself with the knee, but like Fujinami he goes for the same move too many times and winds up on the business end of Tenryu’s enzuigiri, then the elbow, and the powerbomb for the win, Mutoh actually kicked out right at the count of three but the bell rings and Tenryu’s hand gets raised. A really good match, with a nice story to it, and easily the best of the first round. ***1/2

QUARTER FINALS – AUGUST 1ST

SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. TADAO YASUDA
This probably would have been good if Kojima was wrestling someone who knew how to bump, had decent looking offense, and wasn’t a big lumbering oaf, Yasuda is definitely no Tenzan. Seriously, is this match some sort of punishment for Kojima, the fans, or all of the above? I’ll never forgive New Japan for not only giving Yasuda the IWGP Heavyweight Title, but also for booking him to successfully defend it against Tenzan. Oh, this match? Well Yasuda sure proves he can’t bump at all, he actually takes a rolling bump from Kojima’s Koji Cutter, Kojima’s top rope dropkick ends up with Yasuda falling into a sitting position and then onto his back. He takes Kojima’s German suplex on his the left half of his back instead of flat. The bump he took from Kojima’s final lariat looks more like Yasuda fainted, rather than getting clobbered with a bit strike. Yasuda’s offense looked mostly horrible except for the two spots he can manage to pull off, the running Sumo slaps, and the double arm suplex. Even his Tiger driver looked sloppy and amateurish. Poor Kojima, he looked like he was really trying out there, he was even selling Yasuda’s horrible looking stuff, but no amount of effort was going to save this.

KENSUKE SASAKI vs. KAZUO YAMAZAKI
This is a bit too short and too one sided to really be anything more than watchable. It makes sense for Yamazaki to go-go-go at Kensuke after what happened to his knee the fight before with Fujinami, and it’s fun in a morbid sense to watch Sasaki get nearly squashed after what he did with Ohara, but it doesn’t make for a good match. For starters, Sasaki should obviously have been watching Fujinami’s match with Yamazaki from the night before rather than bragging to the wife about how good he squashed Ohara, because there isn’t one instance where Sasaki goes after Yamazaki’s bad wheel. Yamazaki attacking Sasaki’s knee is a nice touch for the irony involved with Yamazaki’s knee, and him not letting up on it makes sense because he does have a bad wheel and needs to hurry up and get it over with before he hurts it even more.

Sasaki’s selling isn’t all that consistent, there are times it’s good such as when he can’t hold the Stranglehold Gamma because of the pressure it puts on the knee. Other times Sasaki’s selling is incredibly frustrating, like the instance when he uses that knee to attack Yamazaki in the ribs to knock the wind out of him. The Cross Knee Lock for the submission is a nice touch of UWFi, and a very good note to end the match on, but Kensuke’s selling lapses, especially in such a short match, really hurt it.

MASAHIRO CHONO vs. SHIRO KOSHINAKA
This looks more like two separate matches, rather than one match. The first half which is mostly carried by Chono working over Koshinaka’s knee is fun, and the fans are pretty heated when Chono hooks Koshinaka in the STF. But after that point Koshinaka suddenly forgets about his leg and starts throwing out bombs. He even goes as far as to pick up Chono in a powerbomb and walk around before dropping him, almost as if to intentionally show he’s shitting on Chono’s leg work. Koshinaka causes further head scratching when he attempts the Texas Cloverleaf of all things, why exactly would a the wrestler who’s had his knee worked over, and is wrestling a guy with a history of neck problems, go for that particular hold? I’d take issue with Chono using the Butterfly Lock as opposed to STF to get the win, since it goes back to the knee, but Koshinaka pretty much flushed any semblance of psychology regarding his knee down the commode anyway, so there is no reason that Chono should bother with it.

SHINYA HASHIMOTO vs. GENICHIRO TENRYU
If you’re a fan of stiff strikes, then this is the match for you. The strikes are as stiff as it gets, and the heat is through the roof at times, unfortunately, despite all the various hyperbole, it’s decidedly not great. It carries a bit of a unique dynamic though, if there is one concept that NJPW fans from this time period are familiar with, it’s the idea of Shinya Hashimoto taking on the outsider. However, this time around Hashimoto isn’t defending the IWGP Title, he’s not defending the honor of NJPW, he’s not defending anything, he’s fighting simply for himself. But what about Tenryu, what’s his motivation? He wasn’t a new face to NJPW. He’d been going there since 1992. The IWGP Title isn’t an issue, because it’s only the quarter final of the tournament, so it’s not as if Hashimoto is stepping up to ensure that the outsider won’t get a chance to take the gold, as it might be in the finals, given that the winner usually gets a shot at the title. New Japan had proven their superiority over WAR countless times by now, so Tenryu isn’t trying to defend his own promotion.

The lack of an obvious motivation for Tenryu is what cause this to lack any real semblance of story, and that lack of a story is why it’s not a great match. The fact that they’re willing to lay into each other with such stiff chops, punches, kicks, etc is a tribute to their toughness as well as their dedication to their craft, but it’s still simply an exhibition of how hard they can hit. If they were going to go all the way with the strikes, then they could have at least used a KO or something to end the match, to at least make them mean something in the end. Not that Hashimoto using his patented DDT is a bad way to go, although the second rope DDT he used should have been the finish. It just seems that getting dropped on you head from six feet or so in the air, would have more of a chance on knocking you out, then getting dropped from like three feet.

SEMI FINALS – AUGUST 2ND

KAZUO YAMAZAKI vs. MASAHIRO CHONO
Matches like this show that Yamazaki was without question, the wrestler who was booked the smartest in the whole tournament. His victories over the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and the former champion, both rather quickly already established him as someone to be contended with. His performance here (ironically enough, against the next IWGP Champion) only adds to that aura.

Yamazaki has clearly studied the three-time G-1 Climax winner very well, being able to almost perfectly counter Chono’s early Yakuza kick attempts with his roundhouse kicks. Yamazaki gives Chono a bit of a false sense of security by allowing himself to be outdone on the ground and caught in the STF, but Yamazaki had wisely positioned himself near the ropes to escape. And right after that Yamazaki takes Chono to the ground and goes for the ultimate in embarrassments by putting Chono in his own hold.

His first round win over Fujinami would definitely be classified as an upset, especially with what Fujinami did to his leg, and the nature of the win over Sasaki would classify as a lesser upset. But by this point, Yamazaki shouldn’t be considered the underdog anymore. Chono’s early advantage comes from him jumping Yamazaki during the introductions. He can only get himself openings after blatantly hitting Yamazaki below the belt. Chono’s only real advantage comes from the Butterfly Lock, which had won his previous two matches. Chono tries to put a run of offense together using the Yakuza kick, but just like Fujinami with the Dragon-screw he goes to the well once too often and Yamazaki counters into an ankle lock for the tap out. The sudden nature of the finish, as well as the credentials of the person he just tapped out makes the finish look like an upset, but the rest of the match indicated that it was clearly anything but. ***1/2

SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. SHINYA HASHIMOTO
Whereas the Tenryu match was important for Hashimoto in terms of beating the legend, this match is just as, if not more important, because the G-1 is synonymous with young guys making their name with wins over stars. No matter how deserving the star may be of the big win. It always runs the risk of getting eclipsed by a younger guy getting the big push. Just ask Toshiaki Kawada about his second Triple Crown reign after he beat Misawa in the Tokyo Dome. They start off much like Kojima did with Tenzan, both guys going right at each other without any game plan or strategy in mind, only to win the match. No matter how hard Hashimoto kicks and chops away at him, Kojima refuses to stay down, he may not be able to return the fire nearly as well, but he’s showing how much spirit he has inside him.

Hashimoto can’t get himself any kind of meaningful advantage over the young kid until he targets Kojima’s arm with the chickenwing arm lock. Even though it doesn’t get applied for very long, it seems to do the trick and break the deadlock, because right after that, Hashimoto starts being able to keep Kojima on the ground a bit longer with his strikes. Kojima is still trying to show how badly he wants it, but he can’t pull himself to his feet as quickly as he was doing earlier. Kojima finally realizes that he won’t beat Hashimoto by chopping at him and pretty much playing his game, so he finds a much more effective route to go, he uses what other’s have used. He starts off going after the knee and using the diving elbow off the top aimed for the knee, like how Tenzan got his first win over Hashimoto with his diving headbutt. Then it’s onto one of Hashimoto’s old rivals in Kazuo Yamazaki, with the Achilles Tendon hold, and then a bit of Keiji Mutoh with the figure-four.

Kojima then works the Chosyu method of drilling him with the lariat, and it seems to work pretty well, but he forgot one important thing . . . his arm. Kojima’s lariat isn’t as effective as usual, all of a sudden the method that Hashimoto used to get his initial advantage in the match just took on a whole new meaning. Hashimoto finds himself with the opening and after a quick chop to the arm, he spikes him with the DDT, but Kojima refuses to stay down, no matter how many times Hashimoto drops him on his head. Rather than risk Kojima finding a way to score the upset, he just locks in an armbar for the tap out. It’s so simple that it’s almost scary. Kojima looks stronger in defeat because of how far he pushed Hashimoto and how close he really did come to being able to get the win. Hashimoto further cements his status as the man, because he came so close to losing, but was still able to pull it out. ***1/2

SHINYA HASHIMOTO vs. KAZUO YAMAZAKI (G-1 CLIMAX FINALS)
This is it, the moment of truth. Hashimoto is the man, the ace, the top dog. Yamazaki is the dark horse, the bad ass, the man who tapped out three big names in rather quick matches to get to the finals. Hashimoto is a living example of being behind the 8-ball. He’s going in with a bad wheel, against the guy who scored two consecutive tap out victories with leg submissions. Hashimoto is in there with someone who can match him in the kick and strike departments as well, and with an old rival who knows him very well. It’s the ultimate test for Hashimoto, and a booking masterpiece. This match looks more like what Hashimoto vs. Tenryu was aiming for in terms of Hashimoto fighting from underneath and showing he can work the same style, only replace the stiff chops, with the roundhouse kicks, and add in some sound psychology and good storytelling.

Surprisingly enough, Hashimoto is the first one to connect a strike, when he hits Yamazaki with a big chop in the face, but a minute later Yamazaki avenges Hashimoto’s little personal victory by countering his DDT to an attempted Fujiwara armbar. Yamazaki doesn’t put the hold on, but he didn’t need to. He just showed Hashimoto how quickly he could escape one of his biggest finishers. Hashimoto answers that by flailing away with kicks at Yamazaki, first at his leg, after what Fujinami did to it on the first night, and then settling on the rib area. Hashimoto stops for a split second to shake out his knee, and that’s when Yamazaki strikes, attacking the bad knee with vicious roundhouse kicks. Hashimoto fights back with chops and succeeds in putting Yamazaki down, but Yamazaki just does a crawling shoulder block to Hashimoto’s knee, showing that he’s going to take it out any way that he can.

Some would take issue with the concept that despite having such a bad wheel, Hashimoto is still firing off his big kicks, but that’s to be expected. In a match of this magnitude, using the most powerful thing in your arsenal makes perfect sense. Hashimoto just has to hope that the amount of pain he’s causing himself is less than that of the pain he’s causing Yamazaki. This comes up when Yamazaki tries to suck up the pain from Hashimoto kicking him in the ribs. Hashimoto kicks with all his might and Yamazaki falls to the ground holding his ribs, but he’s got a trace of grin on his face, because he knows that Hashimoto probably hurt himself a hell of a lot more than he hurt Yamazaki.

Yamazaki is also wise to not let the attack of Hashimoto’s knee become repetitive, after kicking for a while, he pulls out the Dragon-screw, and really heels it up by ramming it into the ring post. He also works in both of the submissions that won him his last two matches. The Cross Knee Lock, seems forced though, like Yamazaki did it again for no real reason other than to do it again. Contrast with how he manages to pull off the Achilles Tendon hold. Hashimoto was beginning to build some momentum, and he countered a roundhouse kick attempt into the hold, it had all the meaning of the Cross Knee Lock, to use a move that beat someone else, but it also had that hint of spontaneity like he wasn’t planning it, but the opportunity just came about.

What makes the ending work so well, is the notion that it was Yamazaki delaying the inevitable. Hashimoto was never able to really put together a decent run of offense. Every time he’d get any sort of momentum going, Yamazaki was right there with a kick to the knee, or a submission hold to put it to rest. Hashimoto starts it with a flying kick to the head, to knock him down and stun Yamazaki, and from there he’s able to get his decent run of offense, and uses wrestling moves, just because he’s already tried to trade strikes and keeps coming up short. The elbow off the top is surprisingly smart on a few levels, such as using his size to his advantage, as well as an ode to Kojima, who used the diving elbow to initially hurt the knee and put Hashimoto in this position. However, with the trouble he seems to have with hitting the DDT on Yamazaki, he goes right in for the ultimate kill and does the Vertical Drop Brain Buster for the win. New Japan main events are often void of that epic feeling, but not this one. It’s also quite rare that a G-1 final match, is actually worthy of being a G-1 final match, and can compare favorably to the rest of the tournament. Hashimoto’s victory is just that, HASHIMOTO’s victory. Hashimoto’s win wasn’t for NJPW, and it wasn’t to prove that NJPW is truly the King of Sports. Shinya Hashimoto did it for himself. ****

Conclusion: There are plenty of good-great matches, and the not-so-good stuff really isn’t all that long. Very high recommendation for the 1998 G-1 Climax Tournament.