Csonka’s NJPW G1 Climax Day Nine Review

NJPW G1 Climax Day Nine 8.02.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Block A Match: Kota Ibushi defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan @ 11:15 via [***]
– Block A Match: Katsuyori Shibata defeated Bad Luck Fale @ 7:50 via [***½]
– Block A Match: AJ Styles defeated Doc Gallows @ 10:15 via pin [***]
– Block A Match: Togi Makabe defeated Tetsuya Naito @ 15:40 via [***½]
– Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Toru Yano @ 15:50 via pin [***½]

* 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.

Kota Ibushi defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan: Kota Ibushi has been having a hell of a tournament, but he had his hands full facing off with Zombie Tenzan on night nine. While I was worried about them having issues working well together, this was a good opening tournament match. Ibushi got his shine, and moved around a lot to cover up Tenzan’s lack of mobility. Tenzan got the heat and did his slow and methodical beat down, which worked just fine. Tenzan looked to have things locked up as he went for his Anaconda buster, but Ibushi back flipped out and that led to his comeback and victory with the Phoenix splash. They worked the best match they could here, and it was better than the usual shit we get as far as tournament openers.

Katsuyori Shibata defeated Bad Luck Fale: Shibata’s been having an awesome run here in the tournament, and now he gets an extra gold star because he made me enjoy a Bad Luck Fale match. They worked a simple and basic match, Fale beat down Shibata for a lot of the way and Shibata sold it very well. By keeping it simple and just making sure the basics were really good, they got a great reaction and the story spoke for itself, and it just worked very well. Shibata escaped the Bad Luck Fall, and got the sleeper and then after a trip to the floor, the penalty kick ended Mr. Fale’s night. Shibata continues to be great. Also, what we have reinforced so far tonight is that keeping things relatively simple and working to the strengths of an opponent and covering the weaknesses is the basics of a good match

AJ Styles defeated Doc Gallows: Continuing the trend of great workers making the most out of very little, AJ Styles defeated Doc Gallows in a surprisingly entertaining match. I had a lot of faith in AJ, but Gallows is the exact opposite of good as a singles worker. They had some John Cena moments here calling spots loudly, which was mainly noticed because there was no live commentary. That shit annoys me to no end. I mean, awesome, call it in the ring but don’t spoil the rest of the match for me. Gallows worked basic big man offense, AJ uses his speed and knowledge to try and break down the bigger man. AJ won with the bloody Sunday, and he also continues to be great.

Togi Makabe defeated Tetsuya Naito: This was another strong match, on the level of Fale vs. Shibata from earlier in the show. Makabe didn’t care about Naito’s new attitude or outfit an attacked him when he took too long to drop it and start the match. They had some quality back and forth here, things just seemed to work easy for them. Makabe missed the king Kong knee drop, which led to Naito taking control and going for flash pins, which got the crowd into the match. Makabe battled back, and slammed Naito to the post, which busted him open late. This led to Makabe hitting the knee drop and that was that, and added to what would become a hell of a logjam in the block. The work between the two seemed pretty effortless and it was a very easy watch.

Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Toru Yano: For as much as Yano can annoy me, and for as much as I didn’t want to see him against Tanahashi again, I enjoyed this. Yano using his whole bag of dirty and cheap ass heel tricks, while Tanahashi worked his ass off and sold for all of that shit; but people cared and they did it very well. I do not need Tanahashi doing running cross bodies into the steel pos tin matches like this, because I want him to make it all the way through the tournament, but the man is on the next level. After a ref bump, Yano tried to use a chair but he failed as Tanahashi took him down with the slingblade. The high fly flow got the win and all was right in the world. Tanahashi continues to prove that the rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated, and that he has figured out how to have entertaining matches with Yano.

BLOCK A
– Katsuyori Shibata – 8 POINTS [4 wins, 1 losses]
– Tetsuya Naito – 6 POINTS [3 wins, 2 losses]
– Bad Luck Fale – 6 POINTS [3 wins, 2 losses]
– AJ Styles – 6 POINTS [3 wins, 2 losses]
– Hiroshi Tanahashi – 6 POINTS [3 wins, 2 losses]
– Kota Ibushi – 6 POINTS [3 wins, 2 losses]
– Togi Makabe – 6 POINTS [3 wins, 2 losses]
– Hiroyoshi Tenzan – 2 POINTS [1 win, 4 losses]
– Doc Gallows – 2 POINTS [1 win, 4 losses]
– Yano – 2 points [1 win, 4 losses]

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“I’m out…”