Puroresu Love: G1 Climax 1997

G1 CLIMAX 1997
August 1st – August 3rd 1997

This New Japan two tape commercial release comes courtesy of Golden Boy Tapes. You can get this two tape set, on a single tape, with excellent video quality, for all of ten bucks. Its affordable, and its easy. Head on over and pick something up.

I’ve got this thing about reviewing in sequences, I covered two of the major NJPW dome shows, so I may as well cap it off with the G1 from that year. There are still two more dome shows from that year, but I don’t have them at the moment. You’ll notice I skipped over the Best of Super Juniors for that year, and for a very good reason. It had nothing to do with the matches, some of which were very good, like Ohtani vs Yoshihiro Tajiri, Lyger vs Kanemoto, and El Samurai vs Ohtani, but the finals of the tournament aren’t included on the tape. I really don’t see why anyone would release a video highlighting a major annual tournament, and then opt to not include the finals of the tournament. But that’s just me, I guess. The only real happening of note in New Japan is that Keiji Mutoh is now a member of nWo Japan. He joined during an episode of WCW Monday Nitro, oddly enough. UFC Fighter Don Frye had also started to work New Japan shows.

For those who aren’t familiar, the G1 Climax is a bit singles tournament held every August by New Japan. The big theme of the G1 Climax has always been the young guys rising up. Not by winning, but by being able to win a match over a higher ranked star, even if its just one match, by fluke. Mutoh, Masahiro Chono, and Shinya Hashimoto were able to do that in the early years of the tournament, by getting wins over higher ranked opponents like Tatsumi Fujinami and Riki Chosyu. Now that those three are the top stars, its time to see if the next generation down can do the same.

The G1 was changed up a little bit this year, instead of the usual round robin block style, it’s a single elimination tournament, this time around. I prefer the round robin style, because it leaves a lot more room for twists and turns, but single elimination also only gives the wrestler one chance, because if you lose, you’re done. Fourteen wrestlers total this time around, Kensuke Sasaki and Buff Bagwell get a bye into the quarter finals. The nWo has a healthy representation with Chono, Tenzan, Norton, Bagwell, and Mutoh (as The Great Muta) all participating.

SATOSHI KOJIMA vs LORD STEVEN REGAL (1st round)
This is actually quite the pleasant surprise of a match. It starts out on the mat, and Regal is in full control. He keeps it interesting, not by working the holds, but by getting Kojima in a compromising position and then attacking him. As much fun as the mat game can be, when one member isn’t very adept on the mat, its not going to be pretty. Kojima takes over when it comes off the mat, but he shows how little offense he really has, when he only uses the lariat and the elbow off the top, a few times for each. It seems like its only a matter of time for Kojima, because Regal is just over from WCW to make them look good, but when Regal gets Kojima back on the ground, the fans aren’t sure what to expect. Could the guy, who hasn’t done much of note in WCW in the last few months, really take down one half of the tag team champions? It seems that way when Regal goes for the Regal Stretch. Kojima does a great job at working the way be blocks and counters the hold. You get the feeling that he’s really putting everything he has into making sure Regal doesn’t get it locked in. Koijma’s rip off of the Diamond Cutter, The Koji Cutter, is even set up just the same. As a surprise move, that you don’t see coming. Kojima is on his feet and it looks like Regal is stalking him for his next move, and the next thing you know Regal is looking at the lights while Kojima picks up the win. **3/4. Looked like a bad start, but then they picked it right up.

HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs TADAO YASUDA (1st round)
Its pretty hard to believe that less than five years down the road, these two would be wrestling for the IWGP Title, and even more hard to believe that Tenzan would be the challenger. Tenzan doesn’t look very good here, but he’s obviously going to be on the big end of a push, for being Chono’s disciple, A good bit of this is boring and repetitive, with Tenzan using the chops, and Yasuda using the sumo slaps. The fans are way into it though, and the heat is really good throughout the match. They start the finisher sequence, where Tenzan survives the shitty looking Tiger driver, and Yasuda survives the diving headbutt. But then Tenzan pulls out the ace, with a moonsault, and moves on. *1/2

JUNJI HIRATA vs SCOTT NORTON (1st round)
Junji Hirata made a quick exit from the last tournament when he blew his knee out, so he’s definitely out to prove his worth. The only thing in his way is the gaijin monster. This starts out as expected, with Norton dominating and using his size and power to his advantage. Hirata’s comeback, by attacking the arm is nice, but he doesn’t really focus on it the right ways. Hitting and kicking the arm is fine, if he’s got Norton prone on the mat, or if he’s countering a charging lariat. But Norton is just standing there, and the most effective thing Hirata can do is the arm breaker over the shoulder, no doubt effective, but there are several viable holds that would do the same thing. It only serves to set up the Devil Windmill suplex, but after Norton survives, Hirata doesn’t continue his assault on the arm, he just tells Norton “okay, your turn”. Norton shrugs it off, and while its Norton’s fault for totally throwing it out the window. Hirata is just as much to blame, for his half assed attempt at working over the arm. Norton just finishes him off with the power bomb. **

MASAHIRO CHONO vs MICHIYOSHI OHARA (1st round)
To my surprise, this doesn’t completely suck, and that’s not just due to Chono either. Once Ohara starts to target Chono’s leg, the match really picks up. Chono does a fine job at putting over the leg work, and his one Yakuza kick attempt, while I could have lived without it, doesn’t detract from the work at all. Ohara and Chono’s simultaneous leg locks were a nice touch as well. Not that the match isn’t without fault, and that’s not just due to Ohara either. During the first half, both of them are too wrapped up in playing the nasty heel, and doing junk like the choking and brawling. Ohara also does the ultimate in stupidity by taking a superplex and then getting up from it, before Chono. The Ohara low blow is another fun bit, because you’re so used to seeing Chono and the rest of the nWo cheating to get their advantage, and now the shoe is on the other foot. Both of them each had a legit shot to get the submission win, Chono with the STF, and then Ohara with a modified Sasorigatame, but Chono always has an ace up his sleeve, and while Ohara gained some respect for his ability to withstand and escape the STF, when Chono locks on the Butterfly Lock, its over. **1/2

MANABU NAKANISHI vs THE GREAT MUTA (1st round)
This is about as by the numbers, for Muta as it gets. He does his routine of stalling, going to the floor, hiding weapons in his pants, the whole deal. Nakanishi isn’t in anyplace to save this either. All he can add to the match is his lariat and attempted spear. Muta keeps putting his fingers on his throat to tease using the mist, it may have been fashionable or over in 1997, but now it just looks silly. This goes nowhere for a long time, and Nakanishi makes his “comeback” which is only two lariats and a German suplex, to set up the Muscle Breaker, at which point, the hammer Muta hid in his pants comes into play. Muta opts to use the poison rana to finish off Nakanishi, saving the moonsault for later I guess, or just so he could use the mist, after all the teasing he did for it. 1/2*

SHINYA HASHIMOTO vs KAZUO YAMAZAKI (1st round)
This is how Hashimoto vs Ogawa should have been. They work UWFi style, instead of trying to go total shoot style. Yamazaki takes everything that Ogawa did wrong, or didn’t do at all, and does it perfectly. He actually works the holds that Hashimoto is blocking. When he does succeed in applying the hold, he actually works it, and doesn’t just lay there. When he sees an opening, he takes it, and doesn’t stand around wondering what he should do next. Instead of being a scared little pansy whenever Hashimoto tries to kick or chop him, he hands it right back to him. They hold absolutely nothing back, at one point when Yamazaki is kicking the living hell out of Hashimoto in the corner, Tiger Hatori tries to intervene and Yamazaki just tosses him aside. The only real pro style move that gets used is Hashimoto’s DDT, and when he tries to follow up with the Vertical Drop, Yamazaki goes down to one knee and blocks it, forcing Hashimoto to take it to the mat. Hashimoto plays right along, hooking on a Triangle Choke, along with his usual array of kicks. When he clamps on the armbar everyone knows its over, Yamazaki won’t tap out though, so Tiger Hatori just has to stop it. Not much of a surprise, that it’s the best match of the first round. ***

DON FRYE vs KAZUYUKI FUJITA (Non tournament)
This is only to set up a future match down the line. It has its good moments, the chain wrestling sequences are where the match really hits its high points. Fujita the New Japan Dojo boy, is actually keeping up with, the UFC bad ass, on the mat. Frye’s heel bit is welcome for the most part. His stuff like not breaking the hold, when Fujita gets the ropes, really heat up the crowd. When Frye finally gets Fujita into a position to finish him off, and he opts to just slap him disrespectfully, the crowd eat it up once again. Frye gives Fujita a few openings, and Fujita takes them just fine, but Frye fails to really put over being shocked or surprised that a green boy like Fujita is countering him, or locking him up in submission holds. It comes off like Frye was expecting it, or that he knew he’d be by the ropes to save himself. Frye finally just finishes him off, and even grape vines the leg, before he locks up the choke, just so we know that its over. **

KENSUKE SASAKI vs BUFF BAGWELL (Quarter Finals)
A clean sweep of the first round by the nWo. This has its enjoyable moments. Bagwell’s constant need to stall and pose gets tiresome after a bit, but when Sasaki slaps the taste out of his mouth, its that much more enjoyable. Bagwell was never that much of an actual worker, so Kensuke has to carry the bulk of this, and with a guy who can’t really work, it just doesn’t work out. Buff doesn’t bump too well, and he’s useless on the mat, so its turns into the basics, with a lot of hitting. Buff goes on offense, and he tries the Norton method of stomping and kicking, which doesn’t go with a smaller guy like Bagwell. When Kensuke survives the Blockbuster, the look on his face is pretty good, and Kensuke takes the openings and hits the Ippon Seionage to give nWo Japan, their first loss of the G1. **1/2.

HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs SATOSHI KOJIMA (Quarter Finals)
These two were dead equal around this time, the only thing really separating them was the nWo membership. They started around the same time, frequently teamed up, when they were rookies, and Tenzan was then known as Hiroyoshi Yamamoto. They both got their first shot at the IWGP Title against Shinya Hashimoto. In the previous two matches, it was easy to get behind these two, because it was watching the young guy Tenzan against the sumo veteran Yasuda, and the young guy Kojima, against the British veteran in Regal. But now that we’re one on one, its hard to find a reason to get behind one, over the other, and that’s where this match starts to fault. Neither of them at this point, have much to play off in terms of character. Sure, Tenzan is advancing his career by joining the nWo, while Kojima is doing it the old fashioned way, but Tenzan isn’t exactly soaring to the top, and Kojima is the one who currently has a title belt around his waist.

They go out there and do their best, but they don’t, and can’t tell a good story yet, because they have nothing to base it on. The fans like the near falls, and Kojima gets to play the face, but its mostly just an exhibition of what they can do at this point in their careers. Kojima can work the crowd really well, and when Tenzan survives the Koji Cutter, and he calls for the elbow off the top, the fans eat it up, thinking its going to be enough. Tenzan can’t work the crowd as well as Kojima can, so he reciprocates by pulling out the more devastating looking stuff. Kojima is able to take the diving headbutt, so Tenzan does a Mountain bomb off the top. Kojima just barely survived the TTD, and when Tenzan drops the moonsault, its over. I’d take issue with the moonsault over the more credible looking TTD for the finish, but by winning both of his matches with the same move, Tenzan is helping to establish some credibility to his moonsault. **1/2. Just to hammer home that Tenzan’s moonsault = death, Kojima is carried off on a stretcher.

SCOTT NORTON vs GREAT MUTA (Quarter Finals)
The downside of the nWo winning all of the 1st round matches they were involved in, is that they’ll be facing each other. Mutoh’s workrate tends to go out the window when he wrestles as Muta, so this could have been a lot better. Muta with the mist right away and they brawl to the floor. It meanders for a bit, with Muta hitting some stuff, going to a rest hold, and then Norton hitting stuff. Muta is more concerned with looking into the camera, and crawling over to the ropes and biting the bottom rope, rather than wrestling a good match. Muta survives Norton’s powerbomb, which he’d used to finish off Hirata, and then Norton survives the rana, which had put away Nakanishi. So its firmly established that its either going to take a surprise, or a big move to end the match. Muta tries to tease the mist, and the just sprays it into the air, letting Norton sneak in the powerslam for the win. *1/2.

SHINYA HASHIMOTO vs MASAHIRO CHONO (Quarter Finals)
Hashimoto is entering this match on the heels of Hatori having to stop his previous match, so he’s firmly established as the bad ass of the tournament, the guy to look out for. He’s also the IWGP Champion, which makes him the leader of New Japan, so you have the leader of New Japan against the leader of nWo Japan. Chono has the rest of nWo Japan with the exception of Muta watching his back, and Hashimoto has some New Japan guys to watch his back.

If its possible to have more psychology, than wrestling in a match, this is that match. Chono’s attacking before the bell makes perfect sense, he needs to get an advantage over Hashimoto fast, especially after how Hashimoto won his last match. Being the IWGP Champion, means having to be ready for anyone, no matter how they wrestle. Hashimoto beat Yamazaki at his UWFi style of wrestling, and he kicks and chops, to beat Chono at his mindless brawling style. Hashimoto even takes a cheap shot at Chono’s leg, to remind him that he almost got beat by a guy who has no business going for the IWGP title, and now Chono is in there with the champion. The brawl between the teams on the floor was just a matter of time. Hashimoto, the man who defends the Tokon Spirit, as the IWGP Champion, is just about done dealing with Chono. Ohara survived the STF, so there is no way that Hashimoto can be expected to fall to it. Hashimoto also knows that Chono has a bad neck, and what better way to dispose of him, as well as keep that bad ass image going, than to drop him with the Vertical Drop Brain Buster and score his second victory by referee stop. About as much psychology as you can have in a five minute match ***.

HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs SHINYA HASHIMOTO (Semi Finals)
This is quite the fitting semi final, given the circumstances of how they got there. Hashimoto by being an ass whooping machine, and Tenzan with two hard fought wins. Tenzan is definitely out for revenge, after Hashimoto gave Chono a very haste exit the day before. This starts out with Tenzan all over Hashimoto with the Mongolian chops, its repetitive, but it serves its purpose, which is getting over the way Tenzan is out for revenge, as well as personal glory. It does have its good points though, such as with Tenzan locking in the Triangle choke on Hashimoto, as a big slap in the face. This picks up a great deal when Hashimoto takes over though. Tenzan’s bump off the two DDTs is pretty scary, as he lands totally vertical, almost doing a headstand. Hashimoto really unloads with the kicks and the chop, bloodying up Tenzan. Even though he’s all but dead, he still knows to avoid the Vertical Drop Brain Buster at all costs, and does so, by dropping to one knee, which is a perfectly acceptable block, as well as still putting over his fatigue. The Chono interference would have been better, had it not occurred, but its not too bad, since Chono doesn’t actually touch Hashimoto, its more to just buy Tenzan some time, and get him the advantage again.

The TTD would have been fine for a finishing blow, but Tenzan’s switch to the headbutt is okay. After the first two, its almost fitting that he got himself tangled up in the corner, as he went for number three, because there is no better way to kill your finisher, than to hit it many times and not use it to win. With his success against Kojima and Yasuda, the moonsault would have been more appropriate, rather than four consecutive diving headbutts. Especially with Tenzan going over the IWGP Champion in another hard fought match, but the G1 is all about taking the young guy, and helping him up the ladder. Hashimoto gets up as soon as the referee counts three. Tenzan may have got by him, but just barely. ***.

SCOTT NORTON vs KENSUKE SASAKI (Semi Finals)
This is no selling 101 and overkill 102. In the shortest match of the tournament, they manage to do a whole two things that work at all. Norton working over Kensuke’s shoulder is fine, since the shoulder breaker is one of his big moves, as well as taking one of Sasaki’s biggest assets, in the lariat, away from him. But Norton doesn’t actually work over the shoulder, with anything other than the shoulder breaker a few times. Kensuke sells the arm at first, even after hitting his first lariat. Then he throws the selling right out the window to hit the NLB, now if it was the finish then it would have made sense, for him to risk it all and block the pain to end it early, but it wasn’t the end. Norton replies with another of his big finishers, the power bomb, to which Kensuke hits another lariat, and doesn’t even try to put over his bad shoulder, and then another NLB to end the match. About ten lariats, with an arm that was attacked with numerous shoulder breakers, and a finishing move that had to be done several times. Not exactly a good way to set up the finals. No rating at all.

HIROYOSHI TENZAN vs KENSUKE SASAKI (Finals)
Eight minutes is not nearly long enough for the finals of the major tournament of the year. Even with Kensuke having a cakewalk in his Norton squash, while Tenzan nearly got himself killed getting through Hashimoto. Tenzan went through three wrestlers, while Kensuke only had to go through two. The story of Tenzan continues though, as he knows he’s pretty much screwed, so he goes nuts early to hopefully wear down Kensuke, and even though he picks up a few near falls with the TTD and the diving headbutt, the ridiculously short length of the match prevents them from being anything close to convincing. After six minutes, and a bunch of Mongolian chops, and headbutt, its simply not even near the realm of believability that Tenzan would win, and the 2.9 near fall after the diving headbutt looks more silly than nail biting. I still have to question exactly why he didn’t go with the moonsault it would have given him a much for believable near fall.

The pull apart brawl with the nWo and NJPW wrestlers used in the quarter final match with Chono and Hashimoto, would have been more welcome here, because it may have added an edge to the big journey of Tenzan. Kensuke isn’t really too offensive in the match, because he also knows that he’s going to have an easy night, and as soon as Tenzan tires out from his futile attempt to wear him down, he starts to take him apart. Tenzan kicking out of the NLB at one does work though. You know that he probably just spent all his energy on that, hoping to get an edge. Kensuke isn’t fooled and he just demolishes him with the lariat, and then just hits another NLB to seal the deal. Give them another ten minutes to properly wear each other down, and do some work on the near falls, and you have a perfectly acceptable final match. However, the match as it is, is an embarrassment to the great G1 finals of the past. **3/4.

Conclusion: The G1 Climax is supposed to be the pinnacle of the New Japan heavyweights. They did a great job in helping to elevate Hiroyoshi Tenzan up the card, but the best matches in the tournament only hit ***, and when it’s the major event of the year, that just isn’t acceptable. Recommendation to avoid the 1997 G1 Climax tournament.