Paid Members waters44 Posted July 22 Paid Members Share Posted July 22 The Takeshita match was definitely the match of night 1. Absolutely loved it! Watching him through this tournament will be a real treat. He worked DDT yesterday so had a day off of G1 duties, but he’s got Jeff Cobb tomorrow I think @JLM! I seem to love the stuff that other people tend to moan about - Gabe Kidd, House of Torture, the commentary, dick jokes - I’m here for all that Gabe Kidd has got my attention. Sometimes his whole crazy sweary hard man schtick is a bit OTT but I think he has fun matches. So far he’s got great matches out of EVIL and Great-O-Khan which both included wild brawls through the crowd. I just wish he was called something else, his name is Gabriel. He should be trainspotting or something, not smashing up blokes Shota looked pretty slow on Saturday and I thought he was injured, but then had a great match with Shingo yesterday so hopefully he’s alright. The commentary keep alluding to a hip injury sustained in AEW but fingers crossed he can keep performing Other quick notes - Not seen much of Jake Lee before but he’s great and nearly kicked SANADA’s head off in night 1 I had a big work project in Kazakhstan so I always like to see them do well, which means I’m backing Boltin Oleg all the way! David Finlay somehow managed to lift a running Yota Tsuji up for a big powerbomb which looked awesome! G-O-K threw ZSJ through the guard rail on night 1 and it looked really nasty, glad he seemed to escape that one without injury. El Phantasmo put in one of the best baby face performances against Ren Narita on night 2. After the show he limped past the backstage area, looked sad and said “I don’t belong here man” ? so hopefully that’s a story that progresses through the tournament Loving it all so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted July 24 Paid Members Share Posted July 24 (edited) G1 23/07/24 Takeshita vs Jeff Cobb Oh boy oh boy did I enjoy this, it was exactly the Kaiju battle I hoped it would be. Notable very loud "Takeshita" chant early on in this one. They had the briefest feeling out process, then they were straight into throwing massive bombs at each other like the freak athletes they both are. Two mighty units throwing almighty haymakers. I rewound and rewatched like five of the spots in a match that only lasted ten minutes. The strikes were glorious, Cobb pouncing Takeshita to the moon, Takeshita hitting his deadlift/delayed bridging German suplex like it was nothing. That move is always a thing of beauty, but on a guy Cobb's size it was jaw-dropping. Cobb had my favourite sequence though, catching Takeshita's flying knee and pivoting into the Spin Cycle., then following up with an absolutely outrageous standing uranage , almost slamming Takeshita straight through the mat using just one arm. The Tsuji match on night one was a better match by most metrics, but this one spoke to me on a visceral level and I loved it. Spoiler Also notable that Takeshita beat Cobb inside 15 minutes, so has a strong case for demanding a shot at Cobb's TV Title. I will take any justification for a rematch.  Edited July 24 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted July 24 Share Posted July 24 The boy's going to end up the most over guy of the tournament if this continues, this is the absolute perfect place for him to show everyone on both sides of the ocean that he's a main event star. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted July 24 Paid Members Share Posted July 24 (edited) Also Takeshita’s DDT match was an all out war with Masato Tanaka. BRB G1 Climax, got to go and avenge a loss against a hardcore legend real quick. Watching Tanaka in 1998 I honestly didn’t expect he’d be able to walk unaided 25 years later, let alone still be working at this level. What a magnificent nutter he is:   Edited July 24 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted July 26 Paid Members Share Posted July 26 (edited) G1 25/07/24 Takeshita vs Yuya Uemura Uemura is in an interesting spot in New Japan. He is one of the Reiwa Four, the four former young lions who all returned from international excursions over the past two years to a New Japan desperate to create new top guys. There has been talk of his peers Yota Tsuji, Shota Umino and Ren Narita being the new "three musketeers" of New Japan. They have big shoes to fill. The original three musketeers were Masa Chono/Keiji Muto/Shinya Hashimoto. The second generation to be given the moniker were Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura and Katsuyori Shibata. With Tanahashi winding down, Shibata and Nakamura both gone and the losses of Okada and Ospreay amongst others, the spots are definitely available. Uemura is in the unfortunate position of being guy number four. He has been pushed, he has a fanbase, he is a capable wrestler, he looks the part and is still positioned as a guy who could be a future star for the company, but so far hasn't quite had the X factor of the other three. Much like the Tsuji match, Takeshita is an outsider but he's facing a generational rival who has followed a near identical career path. Uemura even has a match on AEW Dark under his belt from his own U.S. excursion. They both go into the match with a perfect start to the G1, sitting on two wins/four points each. This is also the main event of the evening, Uemura's first singles main event. The commentators play up that this has been the question levelled at Uemura; he is very technically sound, but can he "wrestle like a main eventer?" Can he produce that extra bit of fire, step outside of his comfort zone and ascend to that next level. It is also notable that Tsuji has already failed to beat Takeshita in this tournament, so the opportunity is there for Uemura to do what his rival couldn't. This story was told so well during the match. Uemura starts off out-wrestling Takeshita doing all the stuff he normally does. Crisp arm drags, drop kicks, back suplexes and, crucially, begins to go to work on Takeshita's left arm with fundamental submission holds. It works briefly, but Takeshita's explosiveness and physical dominance quickly shut him down and they even tease an early count out loss for Uemura after a big brainbuster on the floor. For a while it looks like Takeshita is going to steamroll. Takeshita is selling the left arm, but Uemura is still getting beaten up. He's hanging in there, getting some hope spots and staying in the fight, but he's swimming against the tide. Takeshita continues to beat him up on the outside and it's looking like disaster for Uemura, but then he suddenly starts to summon that fire and aggression he'd been missing. He baits Takeshita into throwing a giant elbow strike right into the ring post. This injures Takeshita's RIGHT arm, so now Takeshita has both of them injured. Uemura follows it up by wrapping Takeshita's arm around the guard rail and then hitting a brutal running drop kick to try and finish the job on the right arm. This is completely out of character for Uemura and is the first time in his career he's taken that extra, hyper-aggressive step when he needed it the most. Takeshita was brilliant in this match once again. His physical charisma and incredible offense are almost a given at this point, but we haven't often seen him wrestle a long singles match like this with the classic pro wrestling story of an injured body part. One particular highlight was a sequence where he hit Uemura with a left, then a right elbow, realised he didn't have full power in either of them any more so just went for a headbutt instead. Tremendous. The closing stretch was really good stuff. Uemura's finish, the Deadbolt, is a double overhook suplex with a bridge, so everything in the match so far had been designed to set this up. He'd managed to capture Takeshita's arms once or twice, but the big man had been able to power out. During this closing stretch though, Takeshita was looking less and less capable of escaping it. Takeshita did an amazing job showing his increasing panic and desperation as this went on, throwing wild haymakers to try and put Uemura down. Uemura finally gets the arms hooked for the final time, Takeshita throwing headbutts because he doesn't have the strength to free his arms. Takeshita makes one last surge to try and escape but it isn't enough. Brilliant pop from the crowd here when Uemura manages to keep the arms hooked. Uemura is finally able to land the Deadbolt, secure a massive, massive victory and go 3 and 0 in the G1. This was Uemura's moment, but what an excellent use of Takeshita here, and another phenomenal performance from him. New Japan is clearly using this G1 to have a crack at getting Uemura over the hump. He's already had an amazing start to the tournament, but he still really needed this and Takeshita gave him what could be a career defining win in yet another outstanding match. Edited July 26 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted July 29 Share Posted July 29 I'm never going to live up to JLM's write-ups so won't even try but fuck me that was a hell of a battle between Takeshita and Henare! Interestingly he really heel'd it up after that loss to Yuya (Japanese commentary must have noticed as I kept hearing Don Callis mentioned) but all it really did was awaken an absolute beast in Henare who starting throwing the sickest bombs and was well on his way to win until Takeshita had to go up a gear or two and match his intensity. They both just went ape shit after that and threw everything at each other. Another two points for Takeshita after a multiple brainbuster combo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted August 2 Paid Members Share Posted August 2 G1 28/07/24 Takeshita vs HENARE I am so bloody glad I decided to follow Takeshita's G1 run. What a treat this has been so far. I know he's been doing this for quite some time now, but I hadn't actually seen Aaron Henare as HENARE before this match. He is waaaay more fun to watch doing the berserker rage Maori warrior thing. That traditional face tattoo and shaved head is also a much cooler look. Embracing his indigenous heritage has also, as pro wrestling has taught us, granted him the power of the extra sturdy head. He had been talking smack before this match, saying he gave up everything and left his home to train in the New Japan system. Takeshita said it was his dream to wrestle for New Japan as a child, and the commentators keep telling us every match how he sent NJPW his CV at 9 years old to ask for a spot in the dojo. HENARE wants to know why he left if that's the case? He said Japan may be Takeshita's country, but New Japan is HENARE's home, and he will not let an outsider invade it. So HENARE is working this match full of Maori warrior spirit, but also with a massive dose of defiance and all-round "fuck you" energy. Both guys on 4 points going into this one as well, with HENARE picking up wins against El Phantasmo and Oleg Boltin earlier in the tournament. This is a very unusual thing to single out, but the initial collar and elbow tie ups at the start of this match were awesome. So much force and struggle put into them, and just a perfectly on the nose depiction of HENARE not wanting to give this outsider an inch of his territory. As @Merzbow says, Takeshita is being a bit more disrespectful than normal and trying to bully HENARE, quite possibly giving him a fuck you right back for his comments. Also for the perverts, Takeshita is still selling the arms a little bit from the Uemura match. I like the long term story telling OK, don't kink shame me. But yeah, Takeshita is dominating until HENARE wakes up and decides it's a fight to the death. After that it is somehow even more of a haymaker-fest than Takeshita/Cobb. HENARE throwing everything he can possibly muster. Headbutts, beautiful kicks, giant power moves. Just unleashing the fury, all the while no-selling or shaking off anything that targets his head. Takeshita on the other end is trying to figure out how to finish off this man with an unsmashable head, because he's usually so good at smashing heads and this is new for him. Again as @Merzbow says, Takeshita has to step his game up, match HENARE's intensity and eventually put together a sequence of so many consecutive bombs that he can't shake it off. The classic Zombieland double tap. Not a single miss from The Alpha so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted August 2 Paid Members Share Posted August 2 G! 31/07/24 Takeshita vs David Finlay w/Gedo Prolific shit-talker (and Finlay's stablemate) Gabe Kidd on commentary for this one. Currently doing well in Block A. Takeshita commented on him in an pre-G1 interview: "Gabe Kidd would be interesting too (to face). I haven’t had the time to be as up on watching everything recently, but I still hear Gabe Kidd’s name coming up as someone with a lot of buzz. I’m sure he’s a nightmare for the standards and practices types in the company, but that’s the kind of wrestler I always enjoyed watching as a kid. I’d enjoy beating him up as well." Takeshita takes a little stop off at the commentary desk to stare Kidd down before the match. Finlay the leader of Bullet Club Wardogs and IWGP Global Heavyweight champion. One of the favourites to top the group, with Takeshita himself calling Finlay the biggest threat in the block. That said, Finlay is on 4 points going into this against Takeshita's 6. Completely different flavour of match here. Takeshita the sympathetic babyface with the whole crowd behind him, up against the conniving scumbag heel using every trick in the book. Takeshita faster, stronger and more technically sound, but Finlay is cunning and devious. Throat chops, hair pulls, last minute dodges to bait Takeshita in, then much more overt heel shenanigans later on with weapon shots, ref bumps and interference from Gedo. Finlay isn't a spectacular wrestler but he was an effective villain here. Winding up the crowd, bullying and provoking Takeshita, literally spitting on the people at one point. Takeshita played it up as well, showing a lot of emotion and at times looking overwhelmed by all the nonsense he was up against. My favourite bit was him snapping after the first few minutes of Finlay's horseshit and reverting to DDT tactics because his hand was forced, burying Finlay under a pile of chairs and landing a massive tope onto the pile. Not the pure sports-like pro wrestling story of the Uemura match, but had loads of drama and told a story using your more typical US pro wrestling tropes. It did that very well, and was cool to see Takeshita excelling once again but this time in a totally fresh scenario. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted August 4 Paid Members Share Posted August 4 (edited) G1 Climax 04/08/24 Takeshita vs Hirooki Goto Goto the veteran of the whole G1 at 45. A very reliable and capable wrestler who has had many many tag and midcard title reigns. He has a G1 win under his belt, has flirted with the main event but has never quite been the top guy or captured the IWGP World title. Along with Tomohiro Ishii, he has been used as a gatekeeper for the main event scene. Sometimes an up and comer will beat Goto on their path to the top, but more notably it has been guys losing to Goto in a high profile match, then using that loss as their motivation to improve and break through to the next level. Goto is respected, talented and has been successful, but many consider him to be a guy who never quite got the spot he deserved. Takeshita had said this is the match he was most excited about when he was announced for B Block. Goto has said Takeshita may be a name in AEW and DDT, but somebody needs to show him what true New Japan Strong Style is all about. The Outsider people are calling the future vs The home team Veteran. Great heat for this one right from the start, big chants for Goto, clearly the massive sentimental favourite. Gabe Kidd talking all of the shit about Takeshita on commentary. He is really not a fan. First five minutes establishes that Takeshita is bigger, faster and stronger. He wins the shoulder block exchange, he wins the strike exchange, he overpowers and overwhelms Goto at every turn. Goto is so great at building sympathy here. Taking a knee, looking immediately disheartened and demoralised. Takeshita also leans heavily into the bully role. He seems angry and disappointed that the guy he was excited to face is just a frail old man. Goto stays in the match purely through his experience and veteran wiles. He misdirects Takeshita running the ropes, he follows Takeshita in when the big man turns his back to build momentum. He cannot win the raw physical battle but he has been around the block more times than Takeshita. Then, as it goes on, Goto's  belief and fighting spirit builds and builds. Each failed attempt by Takeshita to put him down makes the crowd louder and Goto's resolve stronger. So cool how the heat builds here. Initially the crowd is encouraging him and worried about him because he's getting his ass kicked, but then their belief that he can win grows in sync with his own. It turns from "can he survive Takeshita" to "can he find the right move to put him down". Electric closing sequence here, Goto working through his array of signature/finishing moves, all the while teasing that Takeshita might catch him with the big spinning falcon arrow and crush everyone's dreams. Wonderful pop and "Goto-o!" chant when he finally gets it done. This was tremendous. The classic story of the beloved old-timer trying to prove he's still got it against a new generational talent. Gabe Kidd also did a good job on commentary. He is abrasive by design basically doing a Brummie Connor McGregor schtick, but despite playing heel commentator here he constantly harped on the importance of a New Japan veteran not letting the young outsider turn up and embarrass him. The crowd took it over the top though, easily the loudest and hottest I've heard them during any of these matches, fantastic stuff. This was somehow the best Takeshita G1 match so far for me, which is crazy given the standard he's set already. Edited August 4 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted August 7 Paid Members Share Posted August 7 (edited) G1 07/08/24 Takeshita vs El Phantasmo El Phantasmo is not a happy man. Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Hikuleo have all left for WWE, leaving him without a family. He has also had a very tough G1. As @waters44 mentioned, he was completely demoralised after his loss to Ren Narita on night 2. There is a lot of  support for him here and it is much needed as, sitting on four points, he is facing elimination if he loses. The legendary Korakuen Hall is the venue tonight, and the commentators play up that Phantasmo has had the best matches of his career in this venue. Cool entrance from him too, rocking the Jericho-esque light up jacket and fans in the crowd with glow sticks, like a mini version of Jey Uso's entrance. Big "E-L-P" chants right from the  start. There are competing "Takeshita" chants during the match, but EL-P is so sympathetic and in such a tough position that he is the firm favourite by the end. Good powerhouse/speedy guy stuff to start, Takeshita hitting harder but Phantasmo nimble and hard to pin down. He also shows he's not scared to try and throw strikes with Takeshita even if he comes off worse in the exchanges. Phantasmo also has nothing to lose. He has a great rally early on in the match with his daredevil high flying stuff, including a springboard moonsault right into the first row. Jado is EL-P's second and adds to the drama by trying to talk Phantasmo down from doing the reckless shit he's willing to do to stay in this tournament. The high flying from Phantasmo is eventually shut down in spectacular fashion: Seriously, how is every Takeshita Blue Thunder Bomb the best one he's ever done? The throughline for the middle of the match is a table Takeshita sets up on the outside. He took Phantasmo out at Forbidden door with a massive blue thunder bomb from the apron through tables, so they do a long sequence of teases around that where I could not tell who was going to go through it or how. What's great is that they both go for it on multiple occasions, but the match organically finds its way back into the ring for a bit, Phantasmo lands two of his big signature spots and gets some big near falls, *then* they go back to the table spot. Keeps the whole thing unpredictable and milks every shred of tension out the big high spot of the match.  Eventually Jado DOES manage to talk Phantasmo down as he's going for a moonsault from the top through the table, and this hesitation allows Takeshita to hit a Bastard Driver from the apron through the table which looks absolutely brutal and cuts EL-P's back quite badly. The great thing about the New Japan 20 count is how well it works for spot like this. It's too big a spot to tease a ten count, but Phantasmo having 19.999 seconds to work with allows for so much drama. He's down for most of it, he's able to get up, stumble over the table, fall back down, then juuuuust barely get back in before the 20, with the people losing their shit the entire time. After this it was just balls to the wall high drama. I was on the edge of my seat for this one, can't recall biting on so many nears falls in a match this year, I was utterly gripped. Some brilliant counters to stuff Takeshita has already done in the tournament. He goes for another Bastard Driver, and when people have escaped this previously he's turned it into his deadlift wheelbarrow suplex, but Phantasmo is able to counter *THAT* into a quesadora into a roll up for 2. Phantasmo countering the falcon arrow into a small package and ducking the world class elbow into a schoolboy were also incredible near falls, helped by just how late Takeshita kicked out of them. The ref's hand was millimetres from the mat I swear. Loved this match. Brilliant heat, spectacular action and packed with emotion, drama and suspense. I can't even call if this or the Goto match was better, but both are up there with the best matches I've seen this year. So, our boy is on 8 points with two matches to go: Very tight in B Block at the moment. He has Oleg Boltin next and I expect he'll win that one, so it could come down to him vs Ren Narita, another of the three musketeers, to get into the play offs. Narita is notorious for the shenanigans and bullshit that come with his matches, so it could be similar to the Finlay match where Takeshita is the babyface up against low blows/weapons/interference etc. Hope the lad makes it. Edited August 7 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted August 11 Paid Members Share Posted August 11 (edited) G1 10/08/24 Takeshita vs Boltin Oleg Oleg is a former gold medal winning freestyle wrestler and absolute unit of a man from Kazakhstan. He trained in pro wrestling in the New Japan dojo, and is one of only three wrestlers in the promotion's history to have won a title while still sporting the black trunks as a Young Lion. He graduated from Young Lion status in April 2024 and has had significant buzz around him since his debut. This year's G1 had two qualifying tournaments for the final spots in Block A and Block B. These qualifiers were very indicative of New Japan's commitment to creating new stars and focusing on the next generation. The qualifiers had G1 staple competitors, veterans and legends in there, including Tomohiro Ishii, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Satoshi Kojima, but both were ultimately won by up and comers. In Oleg's case, he scored massive upsets over the veteran Taichi and The Ace himself, Tanahashi, to secure his spot in this block. Although he wasn't expected to, and indeed hasn't, made it out of this block, this tournament has still been a great showcase for him on the big stage. The fans are getting behind him, his performances have largely impressed and he will be a name to look out for in the coming years. They start the match doing a bit of amateur-wrasslin but Boltin gets the better of it. Takeshita switches up and goes for one of his big elbows, but Oleg is able to withstand it and then damn near suplexes Takeshita out of his boots, tossing him across the ring and tumbling to the outside. Unlike so many of his opponents in this block, Takeshita is NOT bigger and stronger. He is more experienced though. He outfoxes Oleg with some stalling and baiting on the outside and gains the upper hand. He gets a bit cocky here and starts trying to bully Oleg, not taking him seriously enough. This allows Oleg to rally and start hitting Takeshita with his exceptionally beefy offense. Takeshita completely loses his head after this and gets goaded into a bomb throwing contest. It's pretty awesome. Oleg has said one of his influences is Brock Lesnar and it definitely shows here. They trade humongous German suplexes, and Boltin also uses the F5, which he calls The Verdict. Takeshita is confident he can out-bomb Boltin and, in his defense, this play did work against both Cobb and HENARE. However, it proves to be a mistake here. Oleg seems to keep getting more and more powerful as this goes on, and Takeshita's desperation to put him away is playing right into Oleg's hands. He should have stuck to the initial plan of outsmarting him but it's too late, Oleg rallies, Takeshita eats a few bombs too many and Oleg gets the huge upset win! This didn't quite hit the heights of the Cobb and HENARE matches for me but it was still a belter. The "worst" Takeshita G1 match is still pretty damn good as the standard has been even higher than I anticipated. I liked this one having a slightly different story too. This time Takeshita is the more experienced head and pays for his over-confidence and under-estimation of his opponent. Similar to Uemura, this was a great use of the Takeshita guest spot to give a New Japan prospect a belting match and big statement victory. So the only result I attempted to predict I was dead wrong. Takeshita is not out yet but now needs to beat Narita *AND* needs other results to go his way. Also in a really shitty development for all concerned, Yuya Uemura is injured and has had to pull out of the G1. So shit after his star making match against Takeshita in this block. Going into the final night with Uemura injury taken into account, the standings are: So on the final night it's: David Finlay (10) vs Phantasmo (eliminated) Hirooki Goto (8) vs HENARE (eliminated) Jeff Cobb (10) vs Yota Tsuji (8) Takeshita (8) vs Ren Narita (10) After that we go to the play offs 2nd and 3rd in the group face each other in the play off quarter final, 1st place gets a bye to the semi final. I have no bloody clue what's going to happen. it Tsuji beats Cobb and Takeshita beats Narita, all four of them would be on 10 points, but Takeshita would have beaten all three of those guys so would he be ahead of them based on that? If the above happens but Goto also beats HENARE, then he would ALSO be on 10 points, and he beat Takeshita. If not for the injury, Uemura would have been yet another guy who could get to 10 points on the last day. It has been an insanely tight block! I think for the final night I'm gonna have to watch the whole show and have the commentators break it down for me and watch it all unfold. There are many many permutations, but what I *do* know is that Takeshita isn't out of it just yet! Edited August 11 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merzbow Posted August 12 Share Posted August 12 I accidentally put on an English language bootleg.. I hope Gabe Kidd injures his vocal cords, the absolute fucking worst commentator of all time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members JLM Posted August 15 Paid Members Share Posted August 15 (edited) G1 14/08/24 Skipped the undercard but, as per my last post, watched all four of the block matches here as every single one of them had the potential to decide who goes through to the play offs. HENARE (Eliminated) vs Hirooki Goto (8 points) Quite remarkable that, at aged 45 with many titles and a G1 win on his record, Goto has still been something of a break out star in this block. He is the people's choice to go through tonight and, if I wasn't so keen for Takeshita to go through, I'd be rooting for him as well. I haven't given him a shout out yet, but Walker Stewart doing the English commentary has been exceptional for every match I've watched in this tournament. I've done some research and have on again/off again followed New Japan over time, but you could go into this completely blind and he'd still guide you through it with the back stories, statistics and anything else you might need to know to get invested in these matches. He drops another great one about Goto here, adding to Goto's "always the bridesmaid" story:  he holds the distinction of highest number of challenges for the IWGP World heavyweight title without ever winning it. HENARE really impressed me in his match with Takeshita. Similar to Boltin Oleg, he is mathematically eliminated but this G1 has been an enormous win for him overall. An additional subplot here is HENARE holding the NEVER Openweight Championship. Goto is regarded by many as the greatest champion in that title's history, having held it five times. Hard hitting, back and forth affair here. HENARE younger, sturdier and with more force behind his strikes, Goto full of fighting spirit and with the experience edge. Goto trying a variety of different things to put HENARE down, hitting his signature moves, at one point nearly putting him out with a sleeper, but just can't quite get it done. In the end it devolves into a battle of sheer brute force and strikes, and in that battle there is only going to be one winner. Goto fights bravely and the people are willing him on every step of the way, but eventually HNARE's strikes, headbutts and his resistance to Goto's own strikes prove to be too much. The sentimental favourite goes down, HENARE gets a big statement win despite being eliminated from the tournament.  Not a must-see match like everything else I've watched so far, but a significant win for HENARE and another good performance from him. Goto was the star though, he conveys so much emotion that it's impossible not to root for him. Still the righ result though. This G1 has been heavily focused on elevating the New Generation guys, and this was one of many examples of how effectively they've done that so far. El Phantasmo w/Jado (Eliminated) vs David Finlay w/Gedo (10 points) Finlay guarantees a play off spot if he wins here and is also, as mentioned previously, the most villainous bastard in the block. ELP already eliminated, very much a sympathetic favourite here as he has been for the whole tournament. Finlay also kicked Phantasmo out of the Bullet Club as ELP had started to question his leadership. Phantasmo then joined the Guerillas of Destiny but, as mentioned previously, they have all left for WWE. Phantasmo with nothing to lose and a chance for revenge against the guy who started him on his current arc of complete misery. ELP is suitably fired up, Finlay is a complete prick, trash talking and disrespecting his opponent for the duration. Classic formula for this one: ELP gets beaten down for most of it with the people trying to will him on to his comeback. Eventually ELP does start to rally. This was done really well, with Finlay proceeding with his offense as he had been, gradually increasing the intensity and impact of the moves as he goes, but Phantasmo gradually starts pulling out last ditch counters to every move. At first going for sneaky roll ups to try and steal it, but eventually reversing and replying with high impact offense, including landing some of Finlay's own moves. The tide turns completely, Phantasmo hits the CR2 and then his Thunderkiss '86 big splash. He has it won, but that rat bastard Gedo drags the referee out of the ring at 2.999. The way NJPW does hokey heel interference finishes has been a consistent complaint for some time, and this one was definitely pretty silly. Gedo pulls the ref out but does it stood next to Jado (ELP's second for the match). When the ref recovers, he stands up and acts like he doesn't know which one of them pulled him out of the ring. Why the hell would Jado have done it though?? Stupid. Finlay uses the ref bump to whack ELP with the shillelagh just like his dear old dad and take the win. I get that they didn't want to give ELP the big revenge win over Finlay just yet and this was a way to continue it. The match was getting good and it was a good heel move to deny everyone the big moment and continue the story of a downtrodden ELP going through his darkest time. That story has caught on big time during this G1 and, again, has been an example of this G1 benefitting someone even If they didn't do that well. However, the ref pretending he didn't know what happened/who did it was so bloody silly that it left a sour taste in a "that doesn't make sense" way rather than "I hope ELP gets his revenge on these bastards" way. I still hope he does, though. ELP beating Finlay at Korakuen Hall to a thunderous pop is a great moment they have in the back pocket going forward. Soo to recap at this stage: Finlay advances on 12 points. He is also guaranteed top of the group. He has beaten both Cobb and Narita, so even if they get to 12 points he'd still be ahead of them on head to head records. Goto is out on 8 points after the loss to HENARE.  With the last two matches: Takeshita (8) vs Ren Narita (10) Jeff Cobb (10) vs Yota Tsuji (8) All four can still advance! Konosuke Takeshita vs Ren Narita So this one is for all the marbles! If Takeshita wins he advances, as he'd be even on points with Narita but beat him on the head to head result. The Cobb/Tsuji match would then only determine if he finishes in second or third place in the block, with Takeshita in 3rd place for a Cobb win and 2nd place for a Tsuji win. Ren Narita matches are known for being bullshit. He was trained in the ways of strong style and was lined up as the successor to Shibata, but he has strayed from the path, he cheats at the first sign of trouble and his matches are constantly riddled with Bullet Club House of Torture nonsense. For this match they didn't even wait for Narita to start losing. Takeshita is dragged down to the ring by Dick Togo and EVIL, who are still in the process of beating him down and fucking up his leg. He is dumped into the ring still wearing his ring jacket, Narita immediately slaps on a knee bar and the ref rings the bell to start the match! What the hell man, give him a minute at least. The crowd for this show hasn't been as hot as they were on the other nights and, to be fair to them, the matches haven't been as hot either. This one has the most heat of the evening by far. Fans are sick of House of Torture bullshit, both in and out of kayfabe. As the commentator says, New Japan has been "praying for a saviour" so the story of the match is whether or not this outsider can be that guy. Despite opening with bullshit and featuring further run-ins from Togo and EVIL later in the match, there's still plenty of good shit here in the meantime. Great near falls and obviously some good teases with submission holds on the leg. Hard to get more sympathetic than a guy who was rolled into the ring mid-beatdown and STARTED THE MATCH ALREADY IN A SUBMISSION HOLD(!!!). Takeshita does an incredible job working most of this on one leg, launching himself off the ropes using his hands, springing off the other leg to deliver desperation strikes and clotheslines to buy himself some respite. When Togo and EVIL get involved later he gets to be a superhero too, fighting them both off as best he can, all the while appealing to the ref to do SOMETHING about this BULLSHIT he is up against. The turning point is the realisation that, by the time Togo and EVIL are finally sent packing by the ref, they have still not done enough to put the boy down. Narita tries to finish him off but Takeshita is not having it. He kicks out of Narita's finish, he manages to get to the ropes to escape a leg grapevine, nothing is going to stop him at this point. He then he tries to launch Narita into the sun with a German suplex before shattering his face with one of the best looking elbow strikes I've ever seen from him for the 3! Takeshita advances!! Probably the worst match of his G1 run so far, but that was not his fault and I didn't care because I was just desperately hoping he'd overcome the nonsense and win, and the beautiful bastard went and did it. Jeff Cobb vs Yota Tsuji A criticism I've seen levelled at Tsuji is that he isn't good at slowly building a match and crafting an epic New Japan style main event. He does fun high spots and he can do a brilliant closing stretch, but he doesn't have the 25 minute epic in him. However, if your strength is putting together an exciting and explosive 10 minute slobberknocker, Jeff Cobb is the opponent for you. These two have great chemistry and this was loads of fun. There was absolutely no need for it to be 20 minutes long. The story was simple, Cobb is older and more experienced and he is challenging Tsuji to show he can handle the pressure of competing in a main event with everything on the line. Cobb positioning himself as a very literal immovable object, and Tsuji trying to keep escalating his power and intensity to overcome the obstacle. Over the 10 minutes that's how it plays out. Cobb is too much for Tsuji at first, then Tsuji starts to gain a foothold, then it's a 50/50 bomb-fest, then it tips in Tsuji's favour and he's able to bring it home. I just love a 10-12 minute Jeff Cobb match, so this was always going to work for me, and he definitely brings out the best in Tsuji as well. The crowd was split and, at times, very vocal in their support for Cobb as he's wrestled a brilliant G1 and is such a charismatic and entertaining performer, so that probably didn't quite align with what New Japan was going for. Once again though, this is a statement of intent result to put a new generation talent in the play-offs.   Saw an interesting tweet which highlights just how drastic a change of direction this G1 has been for New Japan. G1 winners over the past 13 years: Since 2012: 4x Kazuchika Okada (2012, 2014, 2021, 2022) 3x Tetsuya Naito (2013, 2017, 2023) 2x Hiroshi Tanahashi (2015, 2018) 2x Kota Ibushi (2019, 2020) 1x Kenny Omega (2016) Shows you how incredibly conservative their booking has been, and how having their hand forced with the departures/injuries/ageing out/declining business might just be exactly what they needed. This year's play off bracket has none of those people in it, so we are guaranteed a first time winner. More notably than that though, is how much groundwork has been laid during these blocks for those who didn't qualify. In block B, Boltin Oleg, El Phantasmo, HENARE and Yuya Uemura all come out of the G1 with much higher stock than they went in. Over in Block A, Jake Lee, and Callum Newman both made their first appearances in the tournament and elevated their stock. Gabe Kidd had a stand out showing despite not making the platy offs. Zack Sabre Jr. is not a new guy, but him completely crushing his block with 14 points is an indicator that he's finally getting the top guy push they've been teasing for several years. Great O-Khan is not everyone's favourite, but again him making the play offs is a big step up for him when he'd previously finished in the 4-6 point range.  Soo the play-offs: Yota Tsuji vs Konosuke Takeshita - > Winner faces David Finlay in the semi final. The Great O-Khan vs Shingo Takagi - Winner faces Zack Sabre Jr. in the semi final. After Takeshita's first match in the tournament against Tsuji I said:  Quote It was a decent length at 17 mins, but still felt like a bit of a teaser for many more showdowns between these two, who .... will be long term generational rivals. So I wasn't wrong about that one! Unfortunately for our man, I have to believe Tsuji's beating him. It makes so much sense story-wise, and Takeshita will also go into it with the leg injury from the Narita match. It would be a potential star-making win for Tsuji and, unless they have an agreement to keep Takeshita for a longer spell or are very confident they'll eventually sign him, it seems mad for him to beat Tsuji twice in this tournament. But hey, I was certain Takeshita would beat Boltin Oleg too and was dead wrong there, so I haven't given up just yet. Regardless of the outcome, New Japan should move heaven and Earth to sign Takeshita when his AEW deal expires. He has been in his element in this tournament, their fans adore him, the top guy spot is his for the taking. It makes all the sense in the world. It would be a massive fumble from AEW and I would be gutted if he leaves having never reached top guy status in America, but honestly after watching his run in this tournament it feels like it's his destiny.      Edited August 15 by JLM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TildeGuy~! Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 Royal Quest 4 has just been announced for October 20th at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, presale starts on 26th of August. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitsky's back acne Posted August 18 Share Posted August 18 1 hour ago, TildeGuy~! said: Royal Quest 4 has just been announced for October 20th at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, presale starts on 26th of August. Nice! I've booked tickets for Doncaster the night before so am hoping to see the New Japan stars there too. Fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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