Csonka’s NJPW G1 Climax Day 12 Review

NJPW G1 Climax Day 12 8.07.15 (New Japan Pro Wrestling “G1 CLIMAX 25 – Day 12″, Act City Hamamatsu in Shizuoka)

OFFICIAL RESULTS
* Block B Match: Michael Elgin defeated Yuji Nagata @ 11:00 via pin [**¾]
* Block B Match: Karl Anderson defeated Tomoaki Honma @ 11:30 via pin [***]
* Block B Match: Hirooki Goto defeated Satoshi Kojima @ 12:40 via pin [***½]
* Block B Match: Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Yujiro Takahashi @ 10:30 via pin [*]
* Block B Match: Kazuchika Okada defeated Tomohiro Ishii @ 17:00 via pin [****]

* Disclaimer I will be doing what I did with the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, I will just be reviewing the tournament matches from each day. They are what matters, and I don’t worry about burning out.

* This is a single camera, no commentary show.

Michael Elgin defeated Yuji Nagata: Elgin has been having a good tournament so far and I am an admitted Nagata mark, so I was pretty excited for the match. They worked a slow, methodical match with a lot of stiff offense. It was fine, the work was clean but I never got what they were going for as far as the end game. They kind of did stuff, it was a fine, and then they had a fun closing stretch; it lacked some substance. Also Elgin seemed toned down here as opposed to his previous tournament matches; which took away from it for me. The homestretch of the match was really good, but it felt as if they did stuff and never worked into it as smoothly as they should have. It was really good at the end, and Elgin scored the win with the buckle bomb/Elgin bomb combo. It was a solid, and even good match overall, but a bit disappointing, especially considering how well Elgin has done in the tournament.

Karl Anderson defeated Tomoaki Honma: This started really slow, with Anderson doing the “wear down the opponent” grind with strikes and a lot of rest holds. The overall match was slow and felt toned down, similar to the opener, as compared to previous matches involving the two guys. Thankfully HonmaMania started to run wild, and the action got really good down the final portions of the match. It’s amazing how he can get the crowd to buy into him at this point; they love him so damn much. Honma went for the top rope kokeshi and got caught with the gun stun, and that was his downfall. Good match.

Hirooki Goto defeated Satoshi Kojima: In many ways I think that this match was exactly what everyone would expect. Nothing overly flashy, but there was an energy due to the stiff offense and the fact that they worked a smart and clean match that felt as if it had a nice built throughout. Goto picked up the win with the Shouten Kai, and that was that. This was the best match on the show so far, but I wish they actually got more time. They were building something really nice here and I felt as if we may get something special, and then it just ended. On one hand I appreciate them not working forever and going too long, but I was really getting into this and then they were like, “You like this match Larry? FUCK OFF IT’S OVER!”

Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Yujiro Takahashi: Even before the injury I wasn’t exactly excited by Shinsuke Nakamura’s efforts in the tournament. They weren’t bad by any means, but felt like he was largely coasting and the matches lacked a lot of the usual things that make me enjoy a Nakamura match. Takahashi isn’t the greatest guy for him to be working, so when you add that to the equation, this was white toast. It was bland, filled with Nakamura doing as little as possible early. They tried to pick up the pace, and then Takahashi got to kick out of the Boma ye and I just threw my hands in the air. Takahashi is not the guy that one of your top stars should burn THREE finishers on. We had lazy work and a maddening layout; fuck this match.

Kazuchika Okada defeated Tomohiro Ishii: Thankfully after the bullshit of the last match, the main event delivered. In a way it felt odd, because on many of the shows the main event has not been the best match, but tonight Okada and Ishii worked hard and made sure that it was. They did some crowd brawling, which was hard to follow due to the single camera deal; that was a really bad layout decision by these guys. Thankfully once that was over, we were treated to a really good back and forth match. They worked hard, the crowd got into it and there was one, maybe two times, and I really bought an Ishii near fall hard, which is a credit to these guys. Ishii was doing well, but Okada spiked him with a nice bridging German suplex, and then rolled to his feet and hit the rainmaker for the win. This was a very good match and a great way to end the show.

BLOCK B Standings
~ Kazuchika Okada – 10 POINTS [5 wins, 1 losses]
~ Tomohiro Ishii – 8 POINTS [4 wins, 2 losses]
~ Karl Anderson – 8 POINTS [4 wins, 2 losses]
~ Hirooki Goto – 8 POINTS [4 wins, 2 losses]
~ Shinsuke Nakamura – 8 POINTS [4 wins, 2 losses]
~ Michael Elgin – 8 POINTS [4 win, 2 losses]
~ Satoshi Kojima – 4 POINTS [2 wins, 4 losses]
~ Yuji Nagata – 2 POINTS [1 win, 5 losses]
~ Yujiro Takahashi – 4 POINTS [2 wins, 4 losses]
~ Tomoaki Honma – 0 POINTS [6 losses]

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“I’m out…”