By Joseph Currier for F4WOnline.com (updated on July 3rd)
The return of an ace and the debut of several key talents were the most notable takeaways from Monday morning’s announcement of the participants in New Japan Pro Wrestling’s 26th annual G1 Climax tournament, made during the promotion’s Kizuna Road show.
Hiroshi Tanahashi will make his return to the NJPW ring after a shoulder injury had kept him sidelined since May 21st. Tanahashi was written off in an angle with Kenny Omega and hoped that rest would allow his shoulder to heal in time for Dominion’s IWGP intercontinental championship ladder match. But after being replaced by Michael Elgin in that match, it became unclear whether he would be able to participate in this year’s tournament.
After the losses of Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, Kota Ibushi, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows from NJPW, the rest of the field is full of fresh faces along with a veteran in Hiroyoshi Tenzan who is returning for his 21st tournament.
Kenny Omega headlines the six participants making their first G1 appearance in this year’s tournament. He is joined by Tama Tonga, Yoshi-Hashi, Seiya Sanada, Evil, and Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Katsuhiko Nakajima. Nakajima and NOAH stalwart Naomichi Marufuji are the only outsiders among the field.
Captain New Japan & Juice Robinson vs. Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi
This did not last long at all. Fale pinned Captain New Japan quickly with the grenade in under 3 minutes. I don’t know why Yoshitatsu let this guy in his Bullet Club Hunter club, he’s worthless in every way.
Tiger Mask & Ryusuke Taguchi & Jay White & David Finlay vs. Kazushi Sakuraba & Yoshi-Hashi & Will Ospreay & Gedo
Fun little match. Usual good eight man match you’d see on the first half of any New Japan show. Ospreay’s offense is so dynamic. He had a great dynamic with Finlay as they did some fun spots together. He did the Sasuke special at one point during the match, taking everyone out in the process. He ended up getting the win for his team after a springboard diamond cutter.
Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta vs. IWGP Junior Tag Champs Matt Sydal & Ricochet
Really good match. I think they’ve had better, but this built up nicely and had some good near falls toward the end. RPG Vice had the heat early. Ricochet did this great move where he caught Baretta in mid air while he was executing a tornado DDT, countered into a northern lights suplex, floated over then gave him a brainbuster. Sydal gave Baretta a reverse rana, then aided Ricochet in laying out Romero with a double Benadryller. They followed with the stereo shooting star presses and pinned RPG Vice to regain the junior titles.
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Yoshitatsu vs. NEVER Six-Man Tag Champ Kenny Omega & Young Bucks for Never
Good match, though like the previous match, their last bout was a bit better. Unlike their previous match, where they had crazy spots just about everywhere, they mostly kept this in the ring for most of the match. Elgin made a great comeback for his team. Tanahashi and Omega were in there when Omega went to use the hairspray but it hit Tiger Hattori instead. Elite acted like they were helping him, but then Omega low blowed him because he’s mean.
That’s when the weapons were brought out. Elgin powerbombed Matt Jackson into a ladder, but Omega came back and with the help of the Bucks, powerbombed Elgin through a table on the floor. They gave Yoshitatsu the triple kick, then Omega pinned Yoshitatsu with the One Winged Angel to win the titles.
Tanahashi cut a promo after the match, asking Kenny Omega for a rematch, saying he is the next Intercontinental champion. Kenny said no, but then took out the ladder and said if he wanted a ladder match, then he would say yes. They both climbed to the top of the ladder and shook hands, so it’s on.
Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa for IWGP tag team titles
Okay match, mostly picked up toward the end. Guerrillas of Destiny just lack something here. Makabe and Honma are great singles guys, and have had great matches but this program just doesn’t seem like it’s going anywhere. Tama Tonga and Makabe had some great back and forth that got the crowd into the bout. Tonga and Tanga took out Makabe on the outside as they cornered Honma. He tried to fight his way out of losing, but didn’t work as the brothers laid out Honma with their finish to retain the titles.
This year’s Best of the Super Junior lineups:
A Block: Kushida, Ryusuke Taguchi, Kyle O’Reilly, Matt Sydal, Rocky Romero, Gedo, Bushi, Matt Jackson
B Block: Jushin Thunder Liger, Tiger Mask, Nick Jackson, Will Ospreay, Trent Beretta, Bobby Fish, Ricochet, Volador Jr.
No real surprises other than Volador Jr. He and Will Ospreay make the B block far more interesting. I’d really like to see how their singles match goes down.
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Yuji Nagata for Never title
Good match. Started off slow with some mat wrestling, then picked up from there. They had a better G1 match, but this was good stuff while it lasted. Shibata went for the penalty kick but Nagata grabbed him and gave him a big boot and backdrop driver. Shibata mounted a comeback but Nagata put him down on the ground, gave him a penalty kick and pinned him with the backdrop driver to win the title. Shinpei Nogami, the biggest fan of Yuji Nagata you’ll ever see, freaked out after the match and kept screaming “JUSTICE!”
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kushida vs. Jushin Liger
Really good match. Different than most junior heavyweight matches. Kushida is one of th best all around workers in wrestling today just by how he’s able to adjust to any style and have a great match no matter what.
This was a more traditional match, working on body parts and applying submissions. Liger worked on Kushida’s leg early in the bout and kept working on it throughout. Liger can’t fly like he did back in the day but as far as technical wrestling goes he’s really good. Liger hit the shotei once, then went for it again but Kushida blocked it and countered with the hoverboard lock. Liger took a while, but eventually submitted.
Kushida grabbed a mic and said that he’d like to see Liger wrestle for many years to come. Liger said if the champion thinks so, he might have to challenge again down the line.
Hirooki Goto vs. Evil
Another good match. Kinda short, but it was explosive as they went at right away. A lot of brawling, and a lot of back and forth stiff shots. Goto kicked out of a fireman’s carry into a spinebuster, but then Evil gave him the STO and pinned him clean in the middle, just like that. Pretty surprising.
Kazuchika Okada vs. Sanada
Really good match. Another match that had some good back and forth early. Sanada’s really good, definitely upper midcard/main event kind of character. Okada did the rainmaker pose but Sanada came back and put him in the Skull End submission. He missed the moonsault. Okada went to go for the rainmaker but Sanada kept dodging and trying for the Skull End. Sanada got him back down to the floor but Okada transitioned back to the tombstone, laid out Sanada with that then pinned him with the rainmaker. That’d probably put him in line for a rematch against Naito soon.
IWGP Champion Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Awesome match, especially in the last ten minutes or so. Sure enough, Okada was out there with Ishii to second him, along with Gedo. They had a straightforward match for a while, pretty solid back and forth offering until Evil interfered, hitting Ishii with a steel chair. Ishii was working on Naito’s leg and had an ankle lock in as Chaos warded off Los Ingobernables.
Eventually they got free, but Ishii held his own until Okada made the save. Ishii hit the sliding D and went for a brainbuster but Naito countered with a DDT. Ishii countered the Destino and laid him out with an inverted brainbuster (that’s a new one!) for a nearfall. Finally, Ishii whipped Naito across the ropes but he came back with a forearm, then pinned him with Destino to retain the title.
Okada took shirt off and stared down Naito after the match. He didn’t respond at first, but eventually they had a staredown as Okada left. After all the ceremonies, Naito cut a promo asking Kidani to see the pop he’s getting in front of his crowd, and that he knows Okada wants a title shot but he has to “tranquillo”.
– This was a really good show. Everything was good for the most part, with the IWGP and Jr. title matches being really exceptional.
This week’s show was our final look at Dominon, held last July at Osaka Jo Hall.
Okada is this week’s interview subject. The interviewer mentions how this is the first wrestling card in over 20 years. Okada says he should be thanked for that, but it also felt good to see the arena packed. As far as AJ goes, he wanted his title back. He’s a great wrestler. It was tough, no doubt about it.
I loved the early parts of this match with the interference. Now, Bullet Club freely interferes on many occasions; this is hardly news. But this felt like the culmination of every other time they ever interfered because this time, Red Shoes had enough of their shenanigans. He told the Bullet Club to suck it, then told AJ to suck it. It’s a little detail in this match, but I thought it was a nice touch.
As for the match itself, it was awesome. It was just two guys who know how to have a great match going out there and giving it everything. Once the Bullet Club was ejected the workrate was high, and they totally delivered. The last few minutes were excellent with Styles and Okada trading some high profile offense until Okada hit his second or third Rainmaker for the win. Another nice touch was that even though Okada laid out Styles with multiple rainmakers, he didn’t pin Styles until he knew he had him beat. In an era where finishers are spammed to death, it’s nice to know New Japan protects them for when it’s most important.
It kinda hit me while watching this match that as good as AJ Styles was in New Japan, he’s never going to be that good in WWE. Not that he won’t have good matches, he’s already proven that in spades. But even if WWE gives someone like AJ enough time to have a PPV quality match, he’s bound to a bunch of road agents who are commanded to tell people how to work a certain way. AJ came to his own in New Japan as a ring general and flourished. In WWE, that ain’t happening. It’s a shame, but this match proved just how much AJ upped his profile within a years’ time in New Japan.
Gedo cuts his usual promo after the match, saying Okada’s at a whole other level and that the future of pro wrestling is in his hands. Okada has three things to say. His first two points is as champion, he’ll definitely compete and win in the G1. The third point…well, he doesn’t have a third point. He promises that it’ll rain money all over New Japan as a big confetti celebration starts
AJ didn’t have anything to say backstage. Okada said it was a great fight, and seeing so many people live was awesome. He was happy to get the result he wanted, and hopes NJPW can do it every year. They have a toast with some beer, with Okada jokingly noting that Gedo is really washing it down.
He was nervous going into the match, but was happy with the result. AJ was a tough person to beat, and was also happy to do it in front of so many people. A lot of wrestlers watch his matches, so he is grateful he faced such a great wrestler as it brought up his caliber. Great show this week. Check it out if you haven’t seen this match before.
Jay White submitted David Finlay with a Boston Crab
They traded some cool spots and boston crab submissions. Standard, solid fare from these two.
Yoshi-Hashi, Rocky Romero and Trent Baretta defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask and Captain New Japan
Good action, especially when RPG Vice were in the ring. Romero’s totally underrated in terms of knowing what to do in order to get a match over. Yoshi-Hashi got the win for his team with a submission over, why yes, Captian New Japan. How did you know?
Katsuyori Shibata, Juice Robinson and Kushida defeated Jushin Liger, Yuji Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi
Much like how Shibata’s been kicking Nagata in the face all these weeks leading to their big match, Nagata returned the favor during this bout. Shibata responded by laying in some ugly sounding kicks. Pretty good match. Shibata scored the win for his team, pinning Nakanishi with the penalty kick.
Shibata kicked Nagata in the face again after the match and put him to sleep. Interestingly, Liger and Kushida brawled into the stands. I thought they were friends? I guess they aren’t anymore.
Sanada and Bushi defeated Kazuchika Okada and Gedo
Fun match that the crowd was hyped for. Sanada looked great in his offense as he was the main focus here, working over Okada. He and Gedo went at it for a bit, but eventually Gedo fell to Sanada’s new waistlock dragon sleeper.
Today, Okada got the red mist instead of the usual green after the match for his troubles.
Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto defeated Tetsuya Naito and Evil
Crowd was really hot for this match and were all over it. Some high profile moves from Ishii, including a big time superplex to the floor. Crowd ate up the last few minutes. Goto hit the neckbreaker on the knee and Ishii hit the sliding D for a nearfall. Ishii then blasted Evil with a lariat for another nearfall, then got the win after a brainbuster. This was one of the better matches of the weekend, mostly thanks to the awesome crowd though the work was great here as well.
Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi and Guerillas of Destiny defeated Great Bash Heel, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Yoshitatsu and Michael Elgin in an elimination match
Another good match to cap off the show, about the same par as last nights show. They worked the first ten minutes with no eliminations, then went full force with them. Tanga Roa is the first one eliminated when Makabe punches him as he was jumping off the apron. Makabe gets dumped not too long after that. Honma and Tonga end up on the apron. Fale went for a lariat but hit Tonga, eliminating him. Honma tried to fight back, but was taken out with a grenade by Fale. Tanahashi battled him next and did the skin the cat spot. He went for it a second time but Omega distracted him, allowing Fale to dump him. Elgin immediately eliminated Fale.
The four remaining guys battle it out until Yujiro’s eliminated by a Elgin bomb. Elgin has the upper hand on Omega, but the rest of Bullet Club freely interfere and he’s eliminated after Omega uses his hair spray on Elgin, dumping him to the floor. Last two guys are Yoshitatsu and Omega. They have great chemistry with one another. Yoshitatsu manages to use the hairspray to his advantage, but Omega takes him out with a knee strike and pins him with the One Winged Angel.
Manabu Nakanishi, Tiger Mask and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Roppongi Vice and Gedo
One dude doesn’t fit here. Not only is Nakanishi immobile but he’s a bit heavier than his opponents, I gotta say. Everyone took a bump for him as he threw the trio around. Standard match. There was a funny spot near the end where Taguchi and Tiger Mask did stereo hit attacks, then wanted Nakanishi to do one. He obliged, but his feet barely left the ground in doing so. He submitted Gedo with the torture rack.
Jay White and David Finlay vs. Great Bash Heel
The young lions showed great fire with their back and forth against the champions. Finlay actually took a spike piledriver to the floor. Kinda sad that it used to be one of those moves that used to put you out for months, and now it’s just a spot in a match. Solid work all around regardless. Honma got the win for his team by pinning Finlay with the sitout piledriver, which I think is the first time in forever he’s pinned someone with that.
Juice Robinson and Captain New Japan vs. Guerrillas of Destiny
Captain New Japan has aligned himself with Yoshitatsu as they have formed a “Bullet Club Hunters” faction. Too bad one half of this team is a guy who never wins a match. Mostly a match designed for GoD to look strong, which they did. I think Robinson continues to improve in every match he’s in, though, he looked good here. CNJ was pinned after a elevated DDT finish by GoD.
Katsuyori Shibata and Kushida vs. Yuji Nagata and Jushin Thunder Liger
These guys had a long match, pretty good in a lot of places. Liger and Kushida worked together and were pretty good. Shibata and Nagata were great as they not only did some grappling but also made sure to strike one another pretty fiercely. At one point Liger/Shibata and Nagata/Kushida worked another, which was pretty cool because you don’t see that happen too often, though it’s been popping up a bit more recently. Liger got a flash pin over Kushida with a bridge pin.
Nagata tore into Shibata after the match, pummeling him with kicks and of course had to be pulled apart. Ended up being another staredown between the two teams.
NEVER Six Man Titles: Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin and Yoshitatsu vs. Kenny Omega, Bad Luck Fale and Yujiro Takahashi
Yoshitatsu’s new gimmick is that he mimics Triple H by doing his water spot on the apron when making his entrance and now wears the same kind of tights. That’s just as lame as Taguchi doing the Nakamura spots, but at least he’s doing it for comedy. Pretty good match. Elgin and Omega worked together for a bit and worked really well in their preview for next week. Yoshitatsu and Tanahashi did topes to the outside, leaving Elgin and Takahashi. The latter tried to get a sneaky win with a low blow and roll up, but Elgin kicked out and after some back and forth, pinned Yujiro after a buckle bomb and a power bomb.
Elimination match: Yoshi-Hashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii and Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito, Evil, Bushi, and Sanada
It was your typical eight man for a lot of the match in that everyone got to work with one another- Goto/Evil, Ishii/Naito, etc. Sanada worked a lot of the match and looked right at home. He’s had potential ever since he was a rookie in All Japan. Naito was the first one eliminated, deciding to eliminate himself. Ishii soon followed after a distraction by Naito sent him to the floor. Goto beat up Evil some more and tossed him to the floor to eliminate him. Bushi came in and briefly got his butt kicked, but managed to get Goto to the apron then sprayed him with the mist to eliminate him.
Okada tried to give Bushi the rainmaker but Sanada blocked him. Bushi and Okada made it to the apron as Okada tried to eliminate Bushi but Sanada dropkicked Okada, sending him to the floor and leaving just Yoshi-Hashi to fend for himself. He managed to eliminate Bushi as he and Sanada went at it. They had some pretty good back and forth between one another. Yoshi-Hashi had the better of it as he went to the top rope but Evil held on to him as Sanada recovered and gave him a superplex, then eventually submitted him with a dragon sleeper into a waistlock.
Everyone from Chaos was laid out after the match. Evil gave Goto the STO, Sanada laid out Okada, Bushi gave Ishii the mist as Naito cut a promo. Ishii tried to attack him again but he was laid out once more as Los Ingobernables made their exit.
The original alternate is back with a singular subject – New Japan’s Invasion Attack, with all of it’s awesometicity and whatnot. Topics include, but aren’t limited to: being jealous of The Kayfabulous Gaijin Pilgrimage, Tired Mike Says Words, the amazing Will Ospreay, an awesome main event, and so much more. It’s not just a podcast; It’s the Adam and Mike BIG AUDIO NIGHTMARE~! Here at WrestlingObserver.com.
