Csonka’s NJPW G1 Climax Day One Review

NJPW G1 Climax Day One 7.20.15

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Block A Match: Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Doc Gallows @ 9:17 via submission [*½]
– Block A Match: Togi Makabe defeated Toru Yano @ 6:26 via pin [**]
– Block A Match: Tetsuya Naito defeated Bad Luck Fale @ 10:41 via pin [*½]
– Block A Match: AJ Styles defeated Katsuyori Shibata @ 13:36 via pin [****]
– Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kota Ibushi @ 20:53 via pin [****¾]

* 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.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Doc Gallows: Woof, this was not the best way to kick off this year’s tournament. The crowd was excited early because they love Tenzan, and judging by his older G1 work (which I recently was going through) I get that. But this was just no good. The match was slow, it felt as if Gallows was beating on Tenzan for like an hour; and then time stood still. Tenzan fought back, and hit the anaconda buster and then got the submission with the anaconda. This simply not a good match; Tenzan worked some magic last year, but at age 44 I am not sure what he’ll be able to do this year. I’ve seen worse, but that was not the best way to kick off this year’s tournament. This would have been one of if not the worst match from last year’s G1.

Togi Makabe defeated Toru Yano: Makabe defeated Yano in the second match, and this wasn’t much better than the opener. They used all of the bells and whistles (undoing the buckle, the chair, trademark low blow into the roll up by Yano), and even then they really couldn’t get me into this. Makabe made his comeback, and then ran through the MDK finish (lariat, Death Valley Bomb and then the king kong knee drop) to pick up the win. It felt as if they wanted to do anything but wrestle, just too much bullshit overall.

Tetsuya Naito defeated Bad Luck Fale: Well, 0-3 here, this wasn’t very good either. This was Fale beating down Naito for what felt like an eternity. I am not sure if Fale is injured or not, but he’s put on weight and wasn’t moving well at all here. I didn’t expect a great match, but was hoping for solid at the very least. Between the slow and uninspired work, and the ending that looked like hell (Naito trying to counter the Bad Luck Fall, it looked sloppy) and then the sloppy roll up by Naito (not all his fault) this was simply bad pro wrestling.

* What a rough, rough start to the tournament. It’s not that I expected these matches to be great, but I thought solid/passable would not be asking too much. Thankfully it would get better.

AJ Styles defeated Katsuyori Shibata: AJ Styles defeated Katsuyori Shibata in a very good match, and really went a long way to turn things around following the really rough opening matches. Shibata is working with an injured right arm, but soldiered through and I really enjoyed the match. Shibata kicking the shit out of Styles, I mean, literally kicking him as hard as he could was great stuff. Styles, like last year, looks ready to impress again as he was focused, crisp and working like he did last year in the G1. Styles worked the leg of Shibata (Shibata’s arm has to be too injured because AJ didn’t seem to mess with it much) and I appreciated that because it showed that AJ did NOT want to be kicked anymore than he already had been. The crowd was soft early, and after those three matches before it I couldn’t blame them, but Shibata and AJ did a great job of getting them involved as time went on and they deserve the credit for that. Styles avoided the penalty kick and connected with the bloody Sunday and the clash to pick up the night one win.

Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Kota Ibushi: At age 38 Hiroshi Tanahashi is still a big star for New Japan, but is physically worn down from working the style for so long. This is why I understood them downgrading him for the better part of this year. On one hand it freshens him up because he’s not the focus, and also because it allows him to work a lighter schedule (tons of tag matches) so that he can have matches like this come G1 time. This, to be blunt, was pretty fucking great. They went to battle here, and delivered a major show main event match. I am not sure how many times he will be able to do these kind of matches this year in the tournament, but it felt like he turned the clock back to a few years ago when he was just owning every main event. And don’t get me wrong, because Ibushi was also great here. He’s still dodgy on selling the leg, which often hurts his matches for me, but I still was in love with this. Ibushi with that crazy German in the ropes and also lawn darting Tanahashi into the buckles was wild, and I just didn’t expect this level of intensity in night one. The frantic pacing down the stretch was just awesome. It was a match that I watched and then when I was done, realized I hadn’t written a word about it. This is certainly a MOTY candidate, and worth your time.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”