G1Climax 23 事事しい、旅 Air Raid

[air_raid]

Quick update from todays New Japan G1 Climax show at Korakuen, I'll probably write All Japan up tomorrow - which by the way was very enjoyable.

 

MVP beat La Sombra in a 4:59 which was nigh on a squash. After the initial back and forth Sombra got in one dive off the top and then only one of his pin roll up attempts before falling to Oyasumi. Not really the way he would have wanted to sign off, and I was more than a little worried that MVP thus moved onto 12 points along with Nakamura and Suzuki.

 

Wataru Inoue - one of the more consistently popular wrestlers on the circuit (Bernard and Hash, for instance, have had "their" towns but EVERYBODY loves Wataru it seems) had another spirited match with Kojima. It's such a shame there is a bottle neck of top guys, and everyone is being moved up any time soon, it's Naito, so Inoue has nowhere to go. Koji gave him quite a lot here, and at the end Inoue was fixing to charge in, and we all knew it would either be Spear of Justice or lariat. Unfortunately for Wataru, it was lariat. With that win, Kojima also moved onto 12, and with Tenzan tomorrow it feels unlikely that he wont move onto 14 and be a factor in the confusion about who will come out of that group.

 

Speaking of Tenzan, he was up next against Karl Anderson. The two had a solid back and forth, Anderson surprising the crowd by standing up out of an Anaconda Vice, then equally the natives popped big when Tenzan survived the TKO. Not sure why, he never wins with it. Ultimately Anderson escaped a TTD attempt and blasted Tenzan with the Gun Stun for a popular and deserved win.

 

Next the wildly popular Yuji Nagata put away Lance Archer with relative ease. Not a great deal to say really, Nagata kicked hard and won with the backdrop hold, I really haven't taken to Archer in any role since his fiery babyface days in the Retard Zone.

 

Up next my personal favourite Minoru Suzuki took on Strong Man. The finish involved Strong Man picking MiSu up in his backbreaker out of a sleeper. Twice Suzuki clamped on the sleeper again and brought Strong Man to his knees but twice he found himself elevated again, the final time into the falling slam, and that was the pin. No result on any pro-wrestling card has EVER made me as angry as that one. MiSu stays put on 12, and I'm never talking about it again.

 

After intermission Tetsuya Naito and Bernard had a good back and forth beast vs junior match, unfortunately Naito hasnt really learned yet to vary his offence depending on who he's wrestling and it makes him luck dumb consistently trying to German suplex these much bigger brutes. Finish came when they were brawling outside. At 18 count Bernard went for a powerbomb, which Naito reversed into a rana then slid back in to beat the count. On a big American card I'm sure some fans would boo that finish, but here it kind of made sense.

 

Togi Makabe came out next to try and keep his chances alive (or so I thought) against Takayama, who had reverted to trunks for today as opposed to his old man long tights. For the first three minutes or so he beat the hell out of Takayama with fists, forearms and headbutts and I thought a murder was on, but it did eventually settle down. In the end Makabe fell victim to an Everest German, with Takayama joining he and Nagata on 10 pts.

 

We weren't finished by mild upsets, not by a long shot. Goto banished the memory of his easy defeat to MiSu and disappointing loss to MVP by putting down our tournament favourite, Shinsuke Nakamura. Both men brought out plenty of big hits, but Nakamura was unable to get his Boma Ye and usually met a stiff lariat every time he tried. In the end Goto span him around and slammed him face first into the mat then lamped him with Shouten Kai for the win, joining the rest of the field on 12 and preventing Nakamura from sticking his nose out in front, to my relief as a Suzuki fan.

 

Finally came Tanahashi vs Yano, the match where yesterday I had remarked that Tanahashi losing two straight was unthinkable in terms of letting Makabe back in. This match had nuclear levels of Cena-heat on Tana. He played to it mind, and the atmosphere was electric. After low blows, ref bumps galore and all kind of shenanigans Yano got great near falls off the Oni Koroshi and chair use, and finally the place erupted when he pinned the champ after a Kagamiwari (fisherman into Emerald Frozien type move). I couldnt believe my eyes. In terms of atmosphere and back and forth drama, easily best G1 match I've seen so far.

 

We popped down to Akihabura for a meal and a drink at a maid cafe before being spirited back to the Dome for the free All Japan show courtesy of Hailey Hatred, but thats for the next update.

We left the building convinced that only Hash or Naito could win that group after Makabe losing, and knowing that MVP, MiSu and Nakamura all had 12, but that's nowhere near the full story.

 

Tanahashi is out in front on 12 and faces Naito on the last day who has 10.

Yano has 10, he wrestles Bernard tomorrow.

Nagata has 10, he wrestles Saito tomorrow.

Makabe has 10, he wrestles Yujiro tomorrow.

Takayama has 10 with Archer tomorrow.

 

If Hash wins, he makes the final. If Naito beats him and the other four all lose (unlikely) then he makes the final. Any other combination and we have to get into who has the best record among the matches between those tied on 12, and I can't get my head around that.

 

As for the other group,

 

Nakamura and Suzuki wrestle each other, both on 12.

Goto is on 12 and wrestles Strong Man.

MVP is on 12 and wrestles Karl Anderson.

Kojima is on 12 and wrestles Tenzan.

 

Nakamura or Suzuki can go to the final by winning in the event the other three all lose (unlikely).

If only Nakamura and MVP win, MVP goes through by virtue of beating Nakamura on Day 1.

If only Suzuki and MVP win, Suzuki goes through because he beat MVP in the group stage.

 

Any more thinking is beyond me. There are no dead rubbers tommorow, every match involves at least one party with a chance of making the final, plus Golden Lovers challenge Apollo 55 for the junior tag straps. Can't fucking wait.

 

To be continued...

[cobystag]

No result on any pro-wrestling card has EVER made me as angry as that one. MiSu stays put on 12, and I'm never talking about it again.

 

This. Oh Jesus, THIS!

 

I've completely finished the first nine days and am now waiting for the finals to surface online.

 

But Jesus, being spoiler free for that....... Ugh I can't even imagine my levels of fury and vitriol if I had witnessed that injustice live.

 

Some really good reviews there, I'm glad you're having such a great time.

[air_raid]

Well guys, I'm back home now, but here are my thoughts from the final two shows I went to.

 

Had freebies to All Japan at Korakuen the saturday evening thanks to Hailey Hatred and gratefully was sat with her. My host was shattered after guiding me around Akihabaira all day and actually fell asleep a few times. All in all a decent show, got to see Osamu Nishimura and Masanobu Fuchi tie up a couple of young buys, the travesty of the irredeemably awkward KENSO (formerly Kenzo Suzuki in WWE) go over Takao Omori in a weird gauntlet/captain's fall "death match" which played out under no DQ rules and involved random undercarders running in to interfere at regular intervals. My lord, this man looks so out of place on the ALL TOGETHER main event.

 

Seriously, look at this, and spot the odd one out.

 

Hiroshi Tanahashi, Go Shiozaki & Suwama VS Shinsuke Nakamura, Takashi Sugiura & KENSO.

 

Ah, doesn't matter, the whole card's an abortion anyway.

 

To the top matches, Suwama tagged with Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo to take on Taiyo Kea and the All-Asia tag champs, Seiya Senada (who Ms Hatred has a thing for) and Manabu Soya. My host and I thought this was great, even though Hailey described it as the "match that never ends." Soya pinned Kondo in 29:26 after an AMAZING exchange of lariats.

 

On top, KAI made his second defence of the Junior Heavyweight title against Hiroshi Yamato. This was a fierce contest that went 22 minutes despite concerns that they had gone past their 3 hour curfew, which holds a big fine at Korakuen. KAI retained after high spots from each, and convincing false finishes, hitting a frog splash for the pin. A finer show for free, I'll never see.

 

RIGHT, on to Sunday, G1 Climax Finals and Sumo Hall.

 

Firstly, the venue was stunning, the atmos amazing. But then, I knew that was going to be the case. The standings largely made it impossible to guess what was going to happen (especially after the upsets of the day before) but we suspected that the Suzuki/Nakamura and Naito/Tanahashi matches would hold the most sway, although it would only prove decisive in determining the finalists if all the rest of the chasing pack were booked to lose.

 

And guess what? THEY WERE. Said results were a mixture of satisfying, surprising, and shocking.

 

Thankfully we were still being shown our seats by a kind stranger (usher had been useless) and got to miss Hideo Saito beating Yuji Nagata, which would have made me feel ill. My host had promised it would happen and no-one would finish winless, and as we glimpsed Saito dragging Nagata to the ring having attacked him in the dressing room, it did seem obvious, but no less disheartening. I assume he'll get some "Blue Justice" at a later date.

 

Up next (say it like RVD) YANO!-TO!-RU! could not hope to follow up his heroics from Saturday with Hash, and went down to Bernard. His cheating was no less entertaining, but he couldnt overcome the size differential and fell to a Bernard Driver which in truth was more of a traditional tombstone. Bernard made his tiresome "Shin Nihon, ICHIBAN!" roar afterwards.

 

Takayama rumbled with Lance Archer next, and just like Yano managed to find himself out of the running. I was disappointed that Takayama didnt murder Archer and downright shocked at how handily he was beaten after, in succession, a chokeslam, moonsault and Dark Days - incidentally, it's the worst inverted DDT in the world. His arm comes away as they are falling, so there is no "driving" the head into the mat at all. Sloppy as.

 

Continuing the run, Makabe was upset by Yujiro in another fun match after interference from Gedo and Jado, and an impressive Tokyo Pimps. Yujiro has had a decent tournament after all, pinning first Naito now a former IWGP heavyweight champ.

 

Which brings me to Naito. He got in the ring with Tanahashi in what effectively became a semi final after all the other group matches made things nice and simple for us. The noise for Naito was incredible. Both men went balls to the wall in pursuit of a quick victory knowing that they would have another match later on, and it resulted in one of the best five minute matches I've seen. Hash was going all out to hit his best holds but when we got to the five minute mark, Naito realized it was a flash pin that had his best chance. He went for a few different variants including the roll that pinned Archer and Takayama, and eventually stunned Hash with some intricate cradle to get the pin in just over 5 minutes. Place went mental.

 

I expected an intermission here but things kept rolling on. We guessed that all the remaining group stage matches would be on, THEN the intermission, then Jr tag belts, then the final, in order to give the winner of Nakamura/Suzuki a longer rest if they needed it - and we anticipated that they would.

 

Worryingly then, the next match was Goto/Strong Man. Goto gave the big lummox too much if he wasn't winning I thought, and then erred in going for Shouten Kai, which he obviously was never going to complete. Strong Man planted him with his rack slam/"Blockbuster." After being beaten so handily by MiSu the other night and now this, Goto needs a lot of rebuilding.

 

Up next came Anderson and MVP, and the night's booking so far filled us with hope that Anderson was going over. Loud "Bad Intentions fan" girl from Korakuen was back, and it was adorable to hear the shout of "KARRLLL" resonate. The match followed a similar structure to Anderson's other matches we had seen, and as usual hitting the Gun Stun or not was the key to victory for him. This time he struck, and put an end to any lingering fears we had of a Naito/MVP final.

 

Next was a match I was dying to see when the cards were announced - TenKoji explode (again)! Admittedly the booking made it bloody obvious Tenzan would win in the end, but the atmosphere was incredible (these two are both very much loved) and the drama was incredible. Both avoided or escaped the other's big moves/holds up until the point when Tenzan went for his moonsault but Koji crotched him on the top. Kojima went for a hanging neckbreaker but Tenzan wasnt stretched out far enough and instead came right down on his head. We feared he was legitimately hurt, but was up again soon throwing big bombs, and ended up putting Kojima away with a sitout TTD. Remarkably Hailey's friend Tsukasa told us afterwards that Kojima ended up going to the hospital, for what he couldn't say.

 

Up next and rounding out the group, the other effective semi-final between Nakamura and Suzuki. This was an all-out war, and I so badly wanted Suzuki to win, even though all common sense pointed to Nakamura/Naito. Suzuki almost had me convinced when he took one of his sleepers over in the over-the-shoulder throw, but it wasn't to be, and as long as Nakamura had the Boma Ye up his sleep, I feared the worst. He did unleash it, and he won. C'est la vie.

 

After the break, the Golden Lovers reignited their feud with Apollo 55 - well, if you can say it's ever really been off with Ibushi taking the singles title off Devitt at Dominion, and defending against Taguchi at the start of this tour. Each team had their period of heat and there were some cool (if contrived) mirror spots with sequences and dives. It was shorter than their other matches and felt less epic, but was still exciting. After Omega kicked out of the Black Hole Vacation (WTF?) and was saved after a combo Dodon/double stomp, he fell victim to a Taguchi-assisted elevated Bloody Sunday and was pinned by Devitt.

 

Finally, the final itself. The story of 'is it finally Nakamura's turn?' against the popular upstart who after losing his first 3 matches had been ruled out by many but had then won six straight. Both looked intense but Nakamura had his usual dickish swagger to him. Both had spells on top, the ten minute mark came and went, Naito took convincing near falls off the roll ups he had used to beat Takayama/Archer and Tanahashi, and the emotion level in the building was off the scale willing Naito to win, just as it had been from the start.

 

Of course, happy endings dont always happen, and in the close after Nakamura dropped Naito with a Boma Ye to the back of the head and both lay still for an eternity, it really felt like it wasn't to be, and that beating Tanahashi and Nakamura back to back was just a bridge too far for anyone. So it proved, and after scaring Nakamura a couple of times, a Boma Ye put him down and deflated us all. As Shinsuke was presented with endless trophies and accolades, the camera followed Naito back down the entrance, and he seemed to be crying. He probably wasn't the only one.

 

Back in the ring, the crowd did acknowledge Nakamura finally winning the G1 with a rousing chant of "SHINSUKE! SHINSUKE!" and he cut a promo thanking them. This of course leads to another round of Tanahashi/Nakamura, and I think they will give Nakamura a longer run this time. As for Naito? He can reflect on a great tournament and set about putting Yujiro in his place before moving onto bigger and better.

 

As for me? I return to Blighty enriched with an unforgettable experience. On the whole, the last day of the G1 was the best card bottom to top, although the journey through the last day of the Fire Festival and the incredible performance of Daisuke Sekimoto probably pipped it for what I'll remember with most fondness.

 

THE END

[Loki]

A strong finish to the pCc Japan tour. Return to home base to receive your leather jacket.

[air_raid]

Cheers for the kind word and bump.

 

Anyone who's been following or keep an interest in Joshi or New Japan, here is the best of what I could find on YouTube so far.

 

JWP Pure Slam

Build up vid

The Wanted!? VS Black Dahlia

Ayumi Kurihara VS Hanako Nakamori

JWP VS Sendai six-woman tag

3 Titles match : Hailey Hatred VS Kaori Yoneyama

Post Show

 

G1 cherry-picked matches

Yokohama

Yuji Nagata VS Togi Makabe

Yoyogi

Minoru Suzuki VS Wataru Inoue

Shinsuke Nakamura VS Karl Anderson

Hiroshi Tanahashi VS Giant Bernard

Korakuen

Shinsuke Nakamura VS Hirooki Goto

Hiroshi Tanahashi VS Toru Yano

Sumo Hall

Shinsuke Nakamura VS Minoru Suzuki

Apollo 55 VS Golden Lovers

THE FINAL

 

No-one seems to have Hash/Naito. Can't find Zero1 or All Japan yet.

 

Oh and as much as I love "Kaze Ni Nare" I believe Nakamura's "Subconcious" has overtaken it and is now up there with Grand Sword among my all-time favourite puro themes.

[Richie Freebird]

Is there going to be a

[air_raid]

Is there going to be a

[cobystag]

No-one seems to have Hash/Naito. Can't find Zero1 or All Japan yet.

 

Download links but still:

 

http://www.fileserve.com/file/RNRnXQf - Hash/Naito

 

FILESERVE 1 LINK

http://www.fileserve.com/file/9x4Wtcu/Zero...OS.Fight-BB.mp4

[air_raid]

Ta!

 

I reckon Tanahashi/Naito might be my favourite 5 minute match since Raven/Goldberg.

[cobystag]

http://www.fileserve.com/file/Dwjspxy/AJPW...OS.Fight-BB.mp4

 

Matches from the 13th of August show.

[Evolution4life]

It has been really cool reading this diary as me and a mate are planning a trip to japan and want to fit in a load of wrestling at some point. How easy did you find it to get to the shows etc. I see you had a host/friend who lives there to help, how do you reckon you would have got on without them? How do you get the tickets etc. ? Given the language barrier and all.

 

Also just general questions to anyone, what is the best time of year and base location to visit to get in as big a variety of wrestling as possible when visiting japan? Also how do you guys keep up to date with the Japanese wrestling scene? Cobystag you always seem to be watching the latest stuff, I have tried to get the G1 climax to watch for example and have days 1-5, is this the lot? It doesnt seem like it and other things like the TV shows seem a nightmare to find. I have also tried looking around for a good website resource and possibly community but to no avail, at least not any active ones.

[cobystag]

PM sent.

 

I too am interested what the travel between venues, ease of transport and language barriers are like.

 

I'm not going to be able to go without my fiancee - Who has made it quite clear she wants to see the sights and experience Japan, whereas I want to camp and live outside Korakuen Hall.

[air_raid]

How easy did you find it to get to the shows etc. I see you had a host/friend who lives there to help, how do you reckon you would have got on without them? How do you get the tickets etc. ? Given the language barrier and all.

 

Getting to the shows was a piece of piss, in fact getting around in general is a piece of piss due to the fact that all the platform signs in the train stations have the English on, and every train I wanted to catch had a route map (stops in English) and either a digital "next stop" indicator or voiceover announcement, or both. The trains are all labelled "local," "semi express" or "express" etc and the route maps dotted around the stations (and on the trains) are nicely colour coded so you know whether the train stops where you want to go as well. They're regular (like clockwork) and punctual. Even on days where trains were announced as delayed, I dont remember waiting for longer than 5 minutes for any connection, and most of the connections involved simply crossing over to the other side of the platform.

 

The venues for the shows themselves are usually a very short walk from their nearest train station and all the venues across Tokyo prefecture (Sumo Hall, the Dome, Yoyogi) that I went to were easy to get to, and even Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium is well-signed (in English) in the street from the moment you get off the train.

 

Actually getting the tickets is trickier, I'm informed that Japan is very much a cash society and as a result my mate that lives there bought most of the tickets in person from the New Japan shop, except Yokohama where we just turned up on the night safe in the knowledge it probably wouldnt have sold out.

 

Language barrier wasnt as bad as I thought because lots of menus/service listings do include English or at least pictures you can point at, for wrestling tickets learning the numbers is important so at the box office you can say what price ticket you want and how many of.

 

I mostly survived on

 

"___ des" - I am/my name is ___

"___ wa doko desuka?" - where is ____

"Hajimemashite!" - nice to meet you!

"Arigato!" - Thank you

"Sumimasen" - Excuse me / sorry

"Kawaii!" - cute!

"Biru, futatsu" - two beers

 

and

 

"DOMO!!!! HARD GAY DES!!!!"

 

Also how do you guys keep up to date with the Japanese wrestling scene?

 

I use Purolove, but were I not fluent in German it might be a bit of a chore trying to understand the write ups for the major shows. Strong Style Spirit robs all its content and recycles it into English for New Japan results, and through its forum you can keep up with other promotions.

 

The best time to go is undoubtedly the first two weeks of August since the G1 and Fire Festival both run and there is always some Joshi, All Japan and Noah going on. Depends on how long you can go for and your budget, and what matters.

 

Honestly my original plan was to go for January 4th show, and while it would have been nice to see a IWGP title match, I wanted to cram in as much wrestling as possible so G1 was the way to go, and I got as excited on the final day (and at the Fire Festival final) as any other shows I've ever been to, even though it was trophies they were fighting over rather than those promotions' top belts.

 

Well, trophies and in Daisuke's case, a sword.

[air_raid]

SO, as I have attempted to allude to with my beautiful combination of Okada avatar and bullet train sig, I am back off to Tokyo on Friday for another bout of absorbing Japanese wrasslin and their culture, and exposing myself to them. I am to going to continue to use this thread as personal means of logging my activities as well as hopefully providing an interesting read for other Puro fans on here.

 

I fly out Friday afternoon our time to arrive Saturday teatime their time, then come home a week Monday after the G1 Climax finals. My host TSVE has the week off and we already have tickets to the Fire Festival finals, Noah at Korakuen and New Japan in Yokohama and the G1 Finals at Sumo Hall. Detailed below are the shows we are attending as announced, and others that we are hoping/considering to go to.......

 

On the Sunday, Stardom run Korakuen Hall the afternoon before the Fire Festival, and it's a pretty safe bet we'll attend, much as we did JWP last year. The difference this time round is I haven't ever seen any of these gals wrestle, but I'm sure it will be at least watchable.

 

1. Io Shirai vs. Natsuki*Taiyo

2. Eri Susa & Yuuri Haruka vs. Mayu Iwatani & Natsumi Showzuki

3. Kairi Hojo & Yuhi vs. Saki Kashima & Act Yasukawa

4. Miho Wakizawa vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto

5. Natsuki*Taiyo vs. Kyoko Kimura

6. World of Stardom Title: Nanae Takahashi © vs. Yoshiko

7. Wonder of Stardom Title: Yuzuki Aikawa © vs. Yoko Bito

 

Of course that will be a prelude to the Zero One Fire Festival Finals in the same building, and the announced group stage final matches have really excited me, on top of a final we obviously can't call this far in advance. The outsider Shiozaki against New Japan junior legend Shinjiro Otani should be a great match, and I am overjoyed that the night will play host to a rematch of Tanaka VS Sekimoto, which was absolutely the best match I've ever seen live, and can't wait to see them rumble again.

 

1. Fire Festival - Block B: Kohei Sato vs. Mohammed Yone NOAH

2. Fire Festival - Block B: Masato Tanaka vs. Daisuke Sekimoto BJW

3. Fire Festival - Block A: Ryouji Sai vs. Tomoaki Honma

4. Fire Festival - Block A: Shinjiro Otani vs. Go Shiozaki NOAH

 

On the Tuesday New Japan run Sendai which is two hours away on the bullet train. It's possible I could persuade my mate that we can go, but it would be the cost of the train travel rather than inconvenience that might rule it out.

 

On Wednesday Big Japan are in Yokohama running a different building to New Japan, I will propose we have a day of it there are find out if they are running earlier than New Japan, if so it doubles up for a decent double shot and another chance to see Daiskay wrestle, this time on his home turf. Of course, main course will be New Japan at Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium. Highlights for me will be finally getting to see Marufuji again live after a seven year gap, and in singles, against my personal surprise package from last year, Karl Anderson. "The Machine Gun" seemed persistently on the verge of an upset big win last year, though I dont expect one here. Tanahashi and Minoru Suzuki will close the show, I expect that will be something special.

 

1. G1 Climax - Block A: Karl Anderson vs. Naomichi Marufuji NOAH

2. G1 Climax - Block A: Toru Yano vs. Yujiro Takahashi

3. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Rush CMLL (Mexiko)

4. G1 Climax - Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Lance Archer

5. G1 Climax - Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. MVP

6. G1 Climax - Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Yuji Nagata

7. G1 Climax - Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

8. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki

 

Thursday we already have our tickets for Noah which completes my set of getting to see them, New Japan and All Japan all within the hallowed halls of Korakuen Hall which of course has my scribbled tribute to "us" on the wall. I can't wait for this one as I love Nakajima and get to see him in the ring with Kanemaru, a rare chance for me to see KENTA and another look at Marufuji, one of my favourites. The main event looks really special with two absolute diamonds, Jun Akiyama and the ageless Masato Tanaka on opposite sides of a six man.

 

1. NOAH vs. Diamond Ring 1st: Ricky Marvin vs. Mitsuhiro Kitamiya

2. NOAH vs. Diamond Ring 2nd: Taiji Ishimori vs. Satoshi Kajiwara

3. GHC Jr. Heavyweight Title Skirmish, 3 Way Match: Super Crazy vs. Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima

4. BRAVE vs. von Erich Brothers: Takeshi Morishima & Mohammed Yone vs. Marshall von Erich & Ross von Erich

5. NOAH vs. Diamond Ring 3rd: Go Shiozaki vs. Kento Miyahara

6. KENTA is back to KORAKUEN: KENTA vs. Atsushi Kotoge

7. Special Tag Match: TAJIRI & Naomichi Marufuji vs. Maybach Taniguchi & Genba Hirayanagi

8. S.A.T vs. ZERO1 Special Six Man Tag Match: Jun Akiyama, Kotaro Suzuki & Atsushi Aoki vs. Masato Tanaka , Ikuto Hidaka & Daichi Hashimoto.

 

Friday there are a few options - New Japan in Niigata is probably out due to distance, while I personally would love the novelty of WWE at Sumo Hall I think I'd have a hard time persuading my host. Big Japan in Yokohama again looks the viable option and will be doubly attractive if Wednesday's show does end up clashing with New Japan.

 

Saturday is all about New Japan at Korakuen Hall. My host informs me it is sold out apart from the Y10,000 tickets, so I have manned up and volunteered to pay for his if they still have left. Fingers crossed. I'd be a bit gutted to come back from the tournament having only seen one match from Okada (two if he makes the final), even if he is only wrestling that cunt MVP on the Saturday. Kojima v Yano, Marufuji v Yujiro and MiSu v Shelton Benjamin (WTF) all interest me, and Tanahashi v Nagata is always a belter.

 

1. G1 Climax - Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Rush CMLL (Mexiko)

2. G1 Climax - Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Toru Yano

3. G1 Climax - Block A: Shelton Benjamin vs. Minoru Suzuki

4. G1 Climax - Block A: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Naomichi Marufuji NOAH

5. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Tetsuya Naito

6. G1 Climax - Block B: Kazuchika Okada vs. MVP

7. G1 Climax - Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Hirooki Goto

8. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata

 

Finally, Sunday. JWP, Japanese home of Hailey Hatred (who has promised to catch up with me during this trip) are running Tokyo Kinema Club and I have to imagine that takes place prior to the G1 finals, not clashing with them. Alternatively Noah run the following little card at Fujisan Messe in the shadow of Mount Fuji, which is 74 minutes away on the train. Again, timing may allow it, although we might consider the card to be a shade too similar to the Thursday show, so might end up going to the Joshi show instead anyway.

 

1. Super Crazy vs. Satoshi Kajiwara

2. Ricky Marvin vs. Kento Miyahara

3. Mohammed Yone & Taiji Ishimori vs. Marshall von Erich & Ross von Erich

4. S.A.T vs. NO MERCY: Jun Akiyama, Akitoshi Saito & Atsushi Aoki vs. KENTA, Maybach Taniguchi & Genba Hirayanagi

 

And then, the reason I'm going, G1 Climax Finals at lovely Sumo Hall. Goto v Naito will be extremely interesting after the twelve months Naito has had, and the darkhouse factor to Goto. He has unsuccessfully challenged in three of Tanahashi's successful title reigns previous, if they ever want him to be champion winning this year could be catalyst. However, I expect the placement of Okada v Makabe as the last match to be telling, and I expect Okada to seal his place in the final. Likewise, I foresee Hash going over Anderson to make it an Okada v Tanahashi final, where they get to write another chapter in their rivalry this year.... and I have to go with Rainmaker. Hopefully a Junior match will be added prior to the final like last year's Apollo 55 v Golden Lovers blinder.

 

1. G1 Climax - Block B: MVP vs. Lance Archer

2. G1 Climax - Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Tetsuya Naito

3. G1 Climax - Block B: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

4. G1 Climax - Block B: Togi Makabe vs. Kazuchika Okada

5. G1 Climax - Block A: Toru Yano vs. Naomichi Marufuji NOAH

6. G1 Climax - Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Minoru Suzuki

7. G1 Climax - Block A: Satoshi Kojima vs. Shelton Benjamin

8. G1 Climax - Block A: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Karl Anderson

9. G1 Climax - Final:

 

Yup, excited.

[WWFChilli]

Out of curiosty Air_Raid how much does this end up costing you. It sounds fantastic, I'd love to try it sometime in the future.