Paid Members air_raid Posted August 4, 2011 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 4, 2011 What exactly brought you to Japan if you dont mind me asking? The wrestling, simple as. Having a mate who lives here was extremely convenient. As far as I can tell, he moved here for the wrestling. Did you take a camera air raid? Any pics would be appreciated (especially of panty dispensers.) I did. I'll figure out how to post them once they are on my laptop (using hosts right now). So far I have a few, nothing ground-breaking. Photos of sashimi and other things that have gone in my mouth, shots of endless rows of Power Rangers/Pokemon toys, dildos, love eggs and lube/massage oil (not sure) masquerading as Coca-Cola, Ice Ribbon poster on the side of a phone box. Normal stuff. I'll take plenty of course at the cards themselves. Oh aye, air raid - if you get a chance... visit 'Donkey Burger'... its not how it sounds, and is completely lush. Duly noted. I haven't even been to Mr Doughnut yet! Which G1 shows are you going too? Yokohama, Yoyogi x 2, Korakuen and the final night at Ryogoku. The run-in, basically. Right, off to explore now. Going to pick up some Blue Hawaii and stroll up to train station and have a look at Shibuya or Shinjuku, haven't decided. Climate is crazy with humidity despite thinking "it's not ACTUALLY that hot" but you're nearly sweating again by the time you've dried from the shower. Then my host tells me to bring a brolly but after ten seconds in the sprinkle I think "in Manchester I wouldn't have bothered with a brolly for this type of rain for the same length of walk" but of course put it up anyway for fear of locals thinking "saft Westerner, he has a brolly is his hand but isn't using it. They're weak in the head. Time to invade." WWWYKI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 things that have gone in my mouth... Power Rangers/Pokemon toys, dildos, love eggs and lube/massage oil... Ice Ribbon poster You need help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 4, 2011 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 4, 2011 You need help. YKI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Kaz Hayashi Posted August 4, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted August 4, 2011 things that have gone in my mouth, shots of endless rows of Power Rangers/Pokemon toys, dildos, love eggs and lube/massage oil (not sure) masquerading as Coca-Cola, Ice Ribbon poster You need help. Na man, their all just different flavours of crisps in Japan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Carbomb Posted August 4, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted August 4, 2011 Climate is crazy with humidity despite thinking "it's not ACTUALLY that hot" but you're nearly sweating again by the time you've dried from the shower. Then my host tells me to bring a brolly but after ten seconds in the sprinkle I think "in Manchester I wouldn't have bothered with a brolly for this type of rain for the same length of walk" but of course put it up anyway for fear of locals thinking "saft Westerner, he has a brolly is his hand but isn't using it. They're weak in the head. Time to invade." Keep in mind they're just coming out of the wet season. No point carrying a brolly, you'll either be drenched in rain or sweat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richie Freebird Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I think "in Manchester I wouldn't have bothered with a brolly for this type of rain for the same length of walk" but of course put it up anyway for fear of locals thinking "saft Westerner, he has a brolly is his hand but isn't using it. They're weak in the head. I definitely think it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperstarNeilC Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Kaz Hayashi Posted August 4, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted August 4, 2011 Not only is the pink rod magical, look where its pointing. Thats right, towards the arse of a farting warrior Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 9, 2011 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 So now I've actually been to some shows, thought it best for an update! I've had lots of fun all over the place stuffing my face with sushi in Sagami-Ono, teriyaki steak burgers at Vickys and a trip to Yokohama's Chinatown, and taking in the treasures of Man-darake in Nakano and tearing eardrums at karaoke in Shinjuku until 5:30 AM, but that's all rather "off-topic," and I definitely came here for the wrestling! Sunday lunchtime my host and I went to JWP Pure Slam at Korakuen Hall, through tickets my host had been left at the door by Hailey Hatred, JWP Openweight Champion. Having a chat with Hailey before finding our seats was surreal, but there was plenty more surreal to come later. Korakuen Hall itself was smaller than I imagined and had a "Broxbourne Civic" feel to it, although it seats about double that particular venue with standing room in the balconies too. The seats were clearly not designed with the idea that a "Western" pelvis might want to occupy them - and why would they have? - but I got it. Squeeze it was, but never truly uncomfortable. I should add at this point going up the steps to our seats and looking at all the wrestlers' (and fans) signatures/writing/doodles on the famed walls was akin to a religious experience for me. I'm taking a marker pen on Saturday to immortalize my visit, but I'm not sure what to write... The show itself kicked off bang on time. The opener was a 2-minute exhibition between two schoolgirls making their debuts and was inoffensive. Rabbit Mito (ahhhhhhhh), the smaller of the two, sold the match-ending powerslam as though she were in the pain that, well, a girl of her stature should be after taking a powerslam. Next the wildly popular masu-me and Manami Katsu went down to Aoyi Yagami & No Kamatsu in a spirited match, but as my host commented, masu-me "needs a lot of work" as there were several botches and times she didnt know what to do next. Thirdly Command Bolshoi defeated Ice Ribbon's Hikari Minami in a good cat and mouse tale which saw the cat eventually catch the mouse. The top half of the card was excellent in a "something for everyone" way. Last match before intermission was a near 15-minute six-woman between Black Dahlia and three babyfaces calling themselves "The Wanted!?". Admittedly the build video made it seem the feud was built around Dahlia catching one of the faces stuffing their bra, but I'm sure there is more to it than that. Black Dahlia came across as the Japanese version of the Beautiful People, except whip-toting and all clad in black. The major differences being that the whips came into play, and all three seemed very competent workers. The match itself was a fun-packed combination of comedy and fierce fighting. Some of the forearms to the chest that Misaki Ohata endured resonated through the hall! She ended up getting the last laugh capturing the pin on Sachie Abe. Dahlia, in particular Yumi Ohka, will be in my dreams tonight. Up next after intermission was Ayumi Kurihara vs Nanako Nakamori. The build video showed there was quite a history/rivalry between the two, so we expected some bad blood, and we were not disappointed. I have had limited exposure to Ayumi from her recent appearances in ROH, and she was bang on form here. Both girls looked great and registered some great nearfalls. Kurihara eventually put Nakamori away after a sick-sounding headbutt stunned Nakamori and she fell victim to a wrist-clutch/armtrap uranage. A popular result, too. An even more popular one was to come. Leon teamed up with the JWP Tag Team Champions Kayako Harayuma & Tsubasa Kuragaki to face the outsider trio of Meiko Satomura, Toshie Uematsu & Ran YuYu, all of which I am very familiar with from (initially at least) GAEA on TWC. I won't wax lyrical on Meiko other than to say she is my favourite active lady wrestler, I never thought I would get to see her wrestle and other than Sekimoto/Tanaka seeing her was what I was most looking forward to on the day. I marked out big time for the girls, singing along to Meiko's music. The match itself was another stormer. During the babyfaces early advantage, Leon got some good hits in on Satomura, which I was sure would come back to bite her. How wrong I was. In the end, Harayuma escaped a Death Valley Bomb/driver attempt and obliterated Satomura with the Keene Hammer (Emerald Frosien) for the win. A challenge for a singles match down the road seemed to follow. The main event came, with Hailey defending three titles including the first defence of her JWP Openweight title against the woman she had taken it from, Kaori Yoneyama. Admittedly we were biased, but it was hard not to cheer for the American to put down the shrieking little bitch. The match was very good and stiff, leaving Hailey somewhat of a shiner and as we came to see later, actual teeth marks down her arm. I'd have thought it was easy to work a biting spot, but guess not. Both got in plenty of heavy hits and big moves, and there were plenty of innovtive spots that could have gone wrong, but nothing did. My favourite spot was Hatred countering a top rope Yoshitonic/Code Red by shifting momentum in mid-air and simply sitting on Yoneyama for a nearfall. Hailey retained as expected after surviving a Yoshitonic then hitting a vicious lariat and the match-winning Ligerbomb on her much smaller opponent. After the match Yoneyama made allusions to her forthcoming retirement, and her and Hatred seemed to make friends. My host and I temporarily departed Korakuen at this point and made for the New Japan shop. I bought a G1 Climax shirt but "XL" in Japan is a shade smaller than "XL" over here, so it will remain strictly a "display" piece for now. We then dashed through the torrential rain to grab some lunch after nipping to the box office to grab Zero1 tickets and waited excitedly for that show to start, while reflecting that everything on the Joshi show - our first - had entertained on some or multiple levels. To be continued... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Kaz Hayashi Posted August 9, 2011 Paid Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 Great write up, i'm looking forward to reading more!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 9, 2011 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 9, 2011 OK, so soon headed back in for the Zero1 Fire Festival finals. On paper, really straight forward. The winners of the Sato/Akebono and Sekimoto/Tanaka matches would contest the final. I was really looking forward to Sekimoto/Tanaka and even though I love Tanaka, my head said it would be Sekimoto's day. I was also looking forward to seeing Sato, and only knowing the Fire Festival matches announced I was also keen to see what Ryouji Sai and Shinjiro Ohtani were doing on the card. Ohtani in particular has been a favourite since his days as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Admittedly some of the guys wrestling I didnt recognize and had to check on Purolove after the fact, but I ended up more than satisfied with the card overall, and the drama that unfolded across three matches makes it a shoe-in for hottest show I've ever seen live. Prior to the opening bell was the contract signing of Takuya Sugawara & Kaijin Habu Otoko defending their NWA Intercontinental Tag Team titles against Ikuto Hidaka (YAY!) and Takafumi Ito. The gist of the banter seemed to be that the champs were claiming Ito's choke sleeper to be illegal, and that SUWA would be the special ref. Two youngsters, Nick Primo & Mineo Fujita, started us off proper by besting two surly veterans, Shito Ueda and Yoshizaku Yokoyama. Six minutes, top rope splash finish. Inoffensive, did what it was meant to. In the first Fire Festival group match, a dead rubber, Zeus came out for his match with Kenta Kakinuma. He isn't billed inappropriately is that lad, he is built like a brick shithouse. It's quite a testament to how they build you up over time in Japan that Kaki got in only a handful of basic moves before succumbing but the crowd were rabid for the firey babyface. He took a vicious lariat before falling to Zeus' Jackhammer. Oh and finally... Zeus came out to Iron Man. Up next Fujita "Jr" Hayato trotted out. He's a small fry that kicks very hard, but sometimes falls into that trap (for me) of being just too small to believably beat much bigger guys. Doesn't really matter, since in Japan juniors can make perfectly good careers for themselves only wrestling other juniors. Unfortunately it was near impossible to judge the quality of his match with sword-waving megaheel Atsushi Sawada as the first time they spilled into the crowd, a fight broke up between a group of Sawada's loud, drunk fans and some others. "Fight" probably doesnt really do it justice, this was the first time I've seen a chair thrown by a fan - bouncing off the ring ropes, nearly entering the ring. Remarkably no-one was ejected and even more remarkably all involved were persuaded to return to their seats and calm down. Just as things were dying down, Sawada took the win with a slightly messy one-armed powerbomb. Incidentally later on in the night I discovered Hayato is dumb enough to bail on seeing a girl claiming he has broken ribs, even though he knows she is attending his next show and will see that he hasn't. The massive Akebono was up next in his group-deciding clash with Kohei Sato, who it must be said looked a lot more muscular than I remember him. It also must be said that I'm not sure "Gasolina" fits a mammoth like Akebono for an entrance theme. You wouldn't expect Mark Henry to come out to Las Ketchup, after all. Sato played underdog very well and the drama level was high, Sato never quite managed to get the big man down for long and there was something Earthquake-like in 'Bono's methodical attack once he regained control. Ultimately he missed his big falling pin finish (splash implies leaving his feet, which he doesn't) and Kohei got a sneaky two count off a La Magistral, then kicked the behemoth in the head before he could regain his feet for a dramatic, popular and utterly believable win. The final match before intermission was the match we were looking forward to, the match personally I had paid the dosh to see, Daisuke Sekimoto vs Masato Tanaka. One point seperated the two, the draw favouring Sekimoto. Words probably can't describe the intensity and crowd heat of the last ten minutes of this match. Both had a spell in command but at the end it was a plethora of big bombs. Sekimoto threw Tanaka around with ease and nearly took his head off with beastly lariats, but he was on the receiving end of all manner of Sliding Ds, lariats, forearm smashes and frog splashes. Most of the match was fairly even, but the last three minutes ago had the feeling that Sekimoto was holding on a little. In the last sixty seconds before time, Daisuke put Tanaka down firmly and headed to the top rope, seemingly his last chance to win. He finally hit a top rope elbow that he had missed earlier, but Tanaka kicked out. The bell rang to signal thirty minute time limit was up, with both men lying flat on their faces. Sekimoto had survived 30 minutes with the imperious Tanaka, and he was a finalist. This was easily the best match I've ever seen live. We speculated Daisuke would have a hard time doing much against Sato, but the backlash in the building if he fell would be enough to turn Sato heel! After the break came the tag team title match, which was excellent entertainment all the way. SUWA subtly, then not-so-subtly played bent ref in favour of the champions, much to the chagrin of challengers and the real ref ringside. Ultimately Otoko got fed up and turned face on Sugawara, and after Ito had made Sugawara pass out, SUWA counted three (with "help" from the real ref) to cap the title change. After that, I finally got to see Ohtani alongside the young prodigy Daichi Hashimoto and Yuchiro Nagashima up against the imposing Ryouji Sai, KAMIKAZE and Muenori Sawa. The exchanges involving Nagashima and Sawa were also in the "hard kicking juniors" mold, but in that respect Hashimoto had no equal. Admittedly he has the unfair advantage of being able to captivate a Zero1 crowd simply by being his father's son, but his fire was undeniable. Ultimately as his partners held the other heels in submissions, Ohtani splattered Sawa with a Spiral Bomb for the happy ending. Finally came, uhh, the final. As Sekimoto came out, TSVE (my host) remarked "he can barely walk." The final was utterly absorbing as Sekimoto was a complete wreck, but everything that Sato threw at him would not keep him down, and he kept coming back. The actual happenings of the match have become somewhat blurry in the drama, but after Daisuke survived Sato's final big bombs, he was able to (shockingly) execute his deadlift German for a two count. He maintained the waistlock, and as my host shouted "keep doing it until he dies!!" Sekimoto rolled over and hit a second German with bridge, for the roof-raising victory. Afterwards Daisuke was presented with the Fire Sword and the new NWA Premium World Heavyweight title, as we all speculated that Tanaka would want the first shot, as well as which of the major groups should make him an offer. Though appearing humble and modest at the end, Sekimoto ascended to god-like status in our eyes that night. To top off the evening, we rumbled outside to find Hailey Hatred waiting for us, along with the friend she had watched the finals with - dubbed "Tits Magee" by my host - who turned out to be Mia Yim, indy fans. Mia had to jump on a train, but TSVE, Hailey and myself proceeded to Shinjuku where we drank a shedload of cocktails while chatting about working, and some of the more interesting nuances/personality traits and even sexual habits (tee hee) of certain Puro, Joshi, indy and WWE wrestlers. The night ended with two hours of karaoke, followed by trawling the streets of Shinjuku like three drunken pirates looking for a McDonalds at Hailey's request as the salarymen looked on bewildered. Got back to TSVE's flat about 6:30 for a few hours sleep ahead of the trip to Yokohama for the first of five courses of G1 Climax, but that's for my next update. To be continued... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted August 9, 2011 Share Posted August 9, 2011 Panties update? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 10, 2011 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 10, 2011 OK, here are my thoughts from the G1 Climax, Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium show from Monday night, as I prepare to set off for Yoyogi. Firstly, the "medium-sized" venue was great for wrestling, TSVE remarked it had a "Skydome feel" to it and that's certainly the closest to it I've been to in England, other than the lack of ice underneath and no stalls selling the world's limpest hot dogs. Joyfully our entry came with a complimentary poster advertising something and a small silver sachet with "SAMPLE FRIENDSHIP" printed on it. It contained two capsules of unknown contents. The poster had a picture of Tenzan and Nagata, roaring with laughter, toasting each other with huge glasses of lager, as the concerned looking ref behind the bar leans forward and offers them a box of Friendship. We believe it might be a hangover cure/resolve. I'll stick to the usual I think - up the nose, or not at all, Eddie! Right, onto the matches. Wataru Inoue vs Karl Anderson was a strange one for me as Inoue seems to be the definition of "making up the numbers" since his move to heavyweight. Anderson's "machine gunning with the belt" is very cool. The match cut a lively pace, Anderson got a nearly fall off a TKO but never really got a chance to hook a PROPER Gun Stun, and Inoue managed to take him down with a Spear of Justice as Anderson was attempting a leapfrog, which came as a bit of a shock, but looked great. Satoshi Kojima came out next, still selling his bad arm (and rightfully so) for the task of dragging something watchable out of Strong Man, which he did, only through herculean effort and great selling. Of course, we never doubted he would win, which he did, after a thunderous lariat. Continuing through a run of (we thought) predictable results, the Godzilla that is Yoshihiro Takayama rumbled with Yujiro. Thankfully the exploits of Gedo & Jado ringside stopped this from being as one sided as it could have been. Takahashi spent a lot of time working the big man's leg, which might cause him grief in the big matches he has left. Yujiro even managed to wallop Takayama with Tokyo Pimps, which made me look foolish as I said it was impossible. Nonetheless, Takayama rallied with all his big strikes and finished with the Everest German. Yujiro's former partner Tetsuya Naito was up next, and boy is he over like rover. Unfortunately his opponent here was Lance Archer who is dull as ditchwater. Against someone so much bigger/stronger, Naito had to play underdog, and was victorious via high angle front cradle/victory roll. Next! The next match was tough to swallow, as the once-mighty Tenzan went face-to-face with WWE reject MVP. I won't hide it, I don't like MVP. He is not good enough to be top gaijin, and I never cared for his antics, most of which are still part of his act, including that stupid "balling" elbow. I hoped Tenzan had him beat with the Anaconda Vice, but MVP escaped, and during an exchange of strikes I remarked "don't get too close!" and almost instantly it was too late, as MVP took him down with an armbar and applied the (Nakamura-killing) Irreversible Crisis a/k/a Crippler Crossface. Sadly, that was that. After the intermission La Sombra had the near impossible task of looking competitive against the FORMIDABLE Shinsuke Nakamura, even if the haircut makes him look a wally. Sombra I had said, was very smooth, but 100% lucha and therefore didn't really belong in the G1. He pulled out neat stuff including a moonsault to the floor and an Ibushi-esque "missed quebrada" into standing moonsault, and I'm ashamed to say pulled out some convincing near falls, but in the end Nakamura wasn't forced to work too hard and took the win after a Boma Ye. Up next THE CHAMP came down to try and get something out of Hideo Saito. This was a very tough match to watch because of Saito's current persona, and the ref was utter toss. At the first choking spot, he used his hands to try and get Saito off instead of using his count. At the second, he used his count but reverted to trying to physically get between the wrestlers when Saito didnt break at five, instead of disqualifying him. Later, he resorted to pulling Saito's hair and even kicking him. Ridiculous. In the end the ref tried to stop Saito choking Tanahashi, and when Saito was distracted stalking the ref to choke him - which would have been thoroughly deserved - he fell victim to a Sling Blade, then a High Fly Flow, and THATS YOUR MATCH. I'm going to try hard to forget this match with Tanahashi up against Bernard tonight, as I'd quite like that to be how I remember my first exposure to a real Tanahashi match, and not this mess. The semi main was the match I'd really forked out the yen to see, Minoru Suzuki vs Hirooki Goto. I really think Goto deserves the chance as champion, but am starting to fear he'll never get it. TSVE and I agreed that if he had a chance to go to the final, he could have done with winning this, against Suzuki who I love as much today as I did when I first saw him on TWC all those years ago. The sight of him kicking away the ring boy when he gets on the apron, beautiful. MiSu was his usual grumpy self here, kicking Goto as if he'd mugged his elderly mother. Goto got in some good strikes of his own but aside from a top rope elbow never really seemed to have Suzuki in trouble. He got caught in a sleeper late on, but just as he was coming back to his feet, Minoru wisely transitioned into the Gotch-style (cradle) piledriver, and there was no kicking out of that. MiSu was handed a big novelty check by some bikini-clad lovelies as Nakamura and Tanahashi had before him, and he looked happier than either of them, pulling them close as he did his wonderfully "sticking tongue out" face, much as he had for most of the match. Finally came Nagata v Makabe, and the fireworks I expected didnt quite materialize at first as the two started off the match with - imagine this - wrestling! Nagata seemed to have the best of most of the match with exploders (including one off the top) and a lengthy mid-match Nagata Lock. As the match broke down though he traded punches with Makabe, and that really was his undoing. Nagata - who it has to be said, has looked in great form so far - absorbed a stiff lariat then fell to the King Kong knee drop, and Makabe stood tall. It would be grossly unfair to compare this to the Fire Festival finals the night before, it was what it was - a B show. The undercard did have a handful of mismatches, but they worked out ok. The top of the card delivered enough action to make it worth attending - just. I'm assuming there will be much better pickings from the roster the next two nights in Yoyogi and the weekend at Korakuen and Sumo Hall, but there was a slice of "good" (Suzuki/Goto) and two rounds of "better than expected" (Takayama/Yujiro and Nakamura/Sombra), and nothing offended if you discount MVP winning. Well, apart from Tanahashi/Saito which was quite frankly a minor disgrace. To be continued.... Panties update? It might be more at home in Off Topic, but I'm sure I'll update you by week's end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 11, 2011 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 11, 2011 Last night went to G1 Climax at Yoyogi (Gymnasium 2). The arena was very cool, perfectly round with seats that didnt pen you in (thankfully) but were fairly hard on the buttocks so one had to constantly shift to avoid getting sore, never mind. The arena probably holds about 3000 when full, which it wasnt close to last night, although all the seats on the floor were sold and most of the first tier, so the atmosphere was very good. The arena is in the vicinity of Harujuku which is definitely worth a wonder including down what my host described as "Yes Street" in regards to the attractiveness of the girls that wander down it. I concurred. ANYWIZ, matches. Yujiro vs Lance Archer started off, and TSVE made good use of that fact by breaking to the concession stand, his perception rightly being that Archer is bland and Yujiro is a jobber. Archer took the win after Dark Days. Toru Yano v Hideo Saito followed an identical formula to Saito's match with Tanahashi and was about as inspiring. Yano won after an Oni Koroshi. Strong Man again showed me little, and fell to Tenzan's Anaconda Vice. Kojima vs La Sombra was exciting enough - and some really sexy girls near us were going wild for La Sombra, who Hailey Hatred later informed us is only 20 and pretty fit under the mask, haha! After convincing near falls off some roll ups, Sombra fell to a lariat. MVP worked fairly stiff against Goto, at one point pulling down his top (revealing his Malcolm X tatoo) to allow Goto to knifedge chop his bare skin. Any hope we had for a Goto renaissance in the tourney was killed when he fell victim to the Irreversible Crisis. CUNT! Minoru Suzuki v Wataru Inoue exceeded expectations, there was logical flow as a lot of Inoue's offence including shoulder charges in the corner and a Spear of Justice on the apron focused on MiSu's gut, and he showed a lot of fire. Safe to say he won over Yoyogi. After a convincing false finish off being trapped in a front guilotine choke, Wataru ended up trapped in Suzuki's sleeper and in a similar manner to Monday night with Goto, Suzuki switched to his piledriver before he got bored, and took the pin. Nakamura vs Anderson was also much more competitive than I expected. Anderson has really come on lately and this was a great match, he took convincing near falls off a TKO and top rope diving neckbreaker, but ultimately failed to get in a decisive Gun Stun and went down to two Boma Ye. Tetsuya Naito vs Takayama was an odd one as Naito kept letting Takayama get back to his feet instead of taking advantage when he had him down, and trying to get in German suplexes. Despite wrestling ostensibly a dumb match, Naito was able to win via the same cradle as monday, rolling forward out of an Everest attempt. Finally, THE CHAMP came down to wrestle perennial opponent GIANTO BERNARDO. The crowd must have been 80% Bernard as well. There was a really inventive spot where Tanahashi jumped over the gaurd rail off a whip and looked really happy about it, so Bernard kicked the gate and it span around and blasted Hash in the back. Bernard also surprised using a sunset flip and late in the match a La Magistral to try and win. Much like Naito earlier, Tanahashi made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes, in particular going for German suplex. When he had Bernard in trouble off a High Fly Flow to the back, his follow up missed and he absorbed a brutal sit-out Last Ride. Ultimately he was able to escape the Bernard Driver and grab a desperation crucifix for the pin. This match told a great story for me : Tanahashi made mistakes, he wasnt his best - BUT HE WON. That's a champion. The crowd did react very strongly after the match for Hash, showing that while on the night they favoured Bernard, they have much respect for the champ. Really good show, sets the stall out for the rest of the week nicely with Nakamura and Suzuki now tied on 12 points each, and Tanashi leading the way on 10 in his group with Takayama, Bernard and Makabe all in pursuit on 8. To be continued... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted August 12, 2011 Author Paid Members Share Posted August 12, 2011 So, hopped along to G1 Climax at Yoyogi again, here are the happenings... Naito was blessed with an easy win (we thought) by being up against Saito. Rather than doing his usual routine, Saito came out in (I believe) Super Strong Machine mask, and actually did a dab of wrestling. Once the mask came off, Saito resorted to his usual choking. Naito rallied and hit a Stardust Press for the win. After the match he teased throwing the mask to the crowd, but then stuffed it down his pants instead. Which seemed a shade heelish. Inoffensive, which is more than I can say about his Tanahashi match on Monday... Next up, La Sombra contested a match with Tenzan which was structured almost identically to his match with Kojima the night before, hitting his nice moonsault block, then his "missed-quebrada" standing moonsault. You'd think people would learn to roll towards the ropes instead of away after seeing him do it five or six matches straight! Sombra went into his familiar roll-up/flash pin sequence, but screwed the last one up rather, which was a shame. Tenzan dropped him with a TTD then clapped on the Anaconda Vice for the win. Decent. Wataru Inoue was just as popular as he was the previous night in the third match against Hiooki Goto. Goto badly needed the win here after losing two straight, not for any chance of winning - that was long gone - but for not coming out looking really like a glorified JTTS. There was more fine from Inoue and some sensible leg work before he inevitably went down, to a Shouten Kai. Yano pinned Lance Archer next by out-cheating him, bashing him with a low blow and Oni Koroshi after the ref was shepherding a chair out of the ring which Yano had bought in after the ref was bumped, but which was in Archer's hands when he woke up. Amusing finish, nothing more. MVP did a lot of decent returning to the arm (which he had worked on) against the irredeemable Strong Man, who weirdly enough we actually cheered for out of blind hate of MVP. Strangely enough there was really hot girl there both nights - near us in the cheap seats on Wednesday, in the good seats near Hailey Hatred on Thursday - who was WELL into MVP. And La Sombra. When Porter realized he didn't have the strength to wrench down for the Irreversible Crisis (ugh) he wiped Strong out with a limp looking hammerlock DDT. He kept motionining "shhh" afterwards and making a Beefcake-esque "naptime" motion afterwards. I learned from Purolove that its because the move is called "Oyasumi" which means Goodnight. Just piss off, MVP. Karl Anderson was up next, and despite having a load of fans against Nakamura the night before, he was well behind tonights opponent Kojima in the popularity stakes. Anderson put in another convincing performance before going down to a hell of a lariant. We both agree Karl probably deserves a win against an opponent with some name value this tournament. Maybe he'll get it tomorrow at Korakuen against Tenzan? Bernard hopped into the ring against Makabe suddenly looking vulnerable after such a strong start - his loss to Tana the night before meant that another slip up here would in fact put him out of the running if Hash got the expected win over Yujiro, as the best he could do would level Hash's tally if he won both his last two (possible) and Tanahashi lost both of his (unlikely), but the champ of course had beaten him directly. Bernard, like Anderson, was not as popular as he had been the night before against Tanahashi. This was an enjoyable slugfest, Makabe took a bit of a beasting at times, but was able to come out on top and equal Tanahashi's tally, which in real sport would be perceived as putting pressure on Hash to win his match, but come on, he was up against Yujiro. Hash had a really good match against Takahashi in truth, Gedo & Jado didn't get involved much, but the champ gave Yujiro a lot. Arguably he gave him too much. They teased Tokyo Pimps twice, and the second time was really convincing that Tana was about to slip up in order to give Makabe chance to creep into the frame and avoid the (allegedly pointless, according to my host) scenario of Tanahashi in the final, especially considering he had just missed a High Fly Flow, seemingly in desperation. Much like the night before, the weary champion gutted it out, nailing his second Sling Blade of the evening then the High Fly Flow for the popular win. Finally, Takayama (the third man in the group with 8 points at the state of play along with Makabe and Bernard) stepped in with Nagata, possibly the most popular man on the tour after Tanahashi. We did forecast that the match would serve the purpose of putting grumpy old Takayama out of the running, and that it did. The match was understandble brutal, and there was also some good arm work from Nagata although it didnt work into the finish, Yuji avoiding a running knee and hitting a backdrop hold for the three. After the match, just as Tanahashi had treated us to some air guitar the night before, Nagata broke out what TSVE calls "crazy old man dance." That REALLY sent us home with a smile. By "home" I mean to a nearby bar balcony for nachos and Mojitos with Hailey Hatred and Lucious Latasha. They took the piss out of me for liking Devitt. Apparently he flakes out after three Heineken, which sounds strange for an Irishman. Hailey has also sorted us out free tickets to All Japan tomorrow! As we stand, only Tanahashi or Makabe can win their group which requires Makabe to win both his matches - plausible - and Tanahashi to lose to both Naito on the last day - which we both have speculated was going to happen all along - and also to Yano tomorrow. THAT I can't see. Nakamura and MiSu had Thursday night off so no change at the top of their block. Barring something shocking, they will battle for a place in the final on Sunday. For the record, TSVE sees Hash collapsing (he does look shattered) leading to a Makabe/Nakamura final, repeat of two years ago. Personally (blinded by bias) I see Tanahashi making it, but MiSu doing the IMPOSSIBLE and going over Nakamura and Tanahashi on the same night, setting up a fresh title match later. "Kaze Ni Nare!" To be continued... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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