G1 Climax 24 Day 2 Review

Day 2 of the 24th annual G1 Climax comes at us live from Aomori, Japan in front of 3,000 of the loudest fans I've heard in quite a while. This crowd is BLAZING hot which really made the show more enjoyable. Real fun show here, so without further ado.

G1 Climax 24 Block A Match: "Stone Pitbull" Tomohiro Ishii vs Satoshi Kojima

Ishii is coming in with a chip on his shoulder after getting dominated by Bad Luck Fale on day 1. Kojima is coming in with confidence after knocking off a fellow veteran in Yuji Nagata. What we get as a result is two amazing talents giving us their all for a little over ten minutes of fast paced hard hitting action with the crowd(and me) loving every second of it.

About what you would expect from an Ishii/Kojima match. Two dudes beating each other up and selling it terrifically. Kojima keeps dropping Ishii on his head and neck, Ishii fights back with big elbows and Tenryu throat chops. A fun back and forth with a hot crowd and some nasty bumps, if they had 5-10 more minutes this could have been a MOTY contender. Ishii hits a big combo on Kojima, picks him up for a disgusting looking(in a good way) brainbuster and gets his first 2 points of the tourney.

Overall Rating: Good

G1 Climax 24 Block A Match: Shelton "X" Benjamin vs Bad Luck Fale

Both these men are coming into this match with 2 points. Bad Luck Fale scored a big win over Ishii on day one and Benjamin was able to knock off one half of the IWGP Tag Team champions in Doc Gallows. Whoever can get the win will advance into the head of the pack in their block.

Really simple back and forth here. Benjamin does a great job selling for Fale, Fale does his big guy thing. Benjamin picks up the win with a nice super kick, Paydirt combo. I'm really enjoying Benjamin's performance so far in the tournament. If he was this fired up every time he was in the ring he would probably get booked more. Benjamin goes into day three with 4 points.

Overall Rating: Average, enjoyable match but nothing real special happened.

G1 Climax 24 Block B Match: "Wild Samurai" Hirooki Goto vs "Mr. Rated R" Yujiro Takahashi

Another match where both men are coming in with 2 points. Yujiro beat Naito to a pulp during day one and Goto got a big win in his grudge match with Makabe.

The crowd is 100% behind Goto and he gets a nice pop when he comes out for his entrance. Yujiro has done some very good heel work since winning the NEVER Openweight title and this is no exception. Right out of the gate Goto is going full force which Yujiro isn't so keen on. This is where the dirty tactics come in as Yujiro pulls out every heel trick in the book. Biting, baiting to the outside, eye rakes, anytime Goto gains momentum Yujiro squashes it then laughs while thrusting the air. Goto goes for the headbutt to Shouten Kai combo and Yujiro meets the headbutt with a stiff elbow into a bridging german suplex. Goto manages to kick out, Yujiro goes for the Miami Shine, Goto powers out hits the big headbutt into a big lariat, Shotuen Kai 1-2-3. Fun match, the crowd really helped make this one. Goto now has 4 points moving into day three.

Overall Rating: Good

G1 Climax 24 Block B Match: "Stardust Genius" Tetsuya Naito vs "American Psycho" Lance Archer

Lance Archer's first match in this years tournament as him and his tag team partner Davey Boy Smith Jr. had a bye on day one. Naito is coming off a loss to his former partner Yujiro. Both men are going to be trying to score their first points here.

Big pop for Naito when he enters the arena and big Naito chants as soon as the match starts. Archer charges in but Naito is too quick for him. After a few minutes of Naito running all over, Archer is able to catch him and takes control. From here its all Archer throwing around Naito, and Naito making archer look like a beast. Back and forth, Naito hits a reverse DDT and does one of the best Stardust Presses I've ever seen. Unfortunately he misses and Archer takes back control. Big chokeslam from Archer, then he goes for some sort of full nelson move which Naito counters into a cradle for the win. Really enjoyable Speed and Technique vs Size and Power match. Archer's new tights looked awful.

Overall Rating: Good

G1 Climax 24 Block A Match: "Blue Justice" Yuji Nagata vs "Kokeshi" Tomoaki Honma

Honma is one of the best sympathetic underdogs in the world. Yuji Nagata is a legend who is pissed off from his loss on day one. We got two guys with no points and lots of killer intent looking to show they have more to offer then how they are currently booked.

Crowd is behind Honma as anyone with a heart should be. Some really fun "testing the waters" back and forth sequences in the beginning, but then something happens. Honma goes for a knuckle lock test of strength spot, Nagata acts like he is going to lock up and then slaps Honma right in the face. The reaction and look of sadness on Honma's face is unable to be expressed in words. He looks betrayed. Its beautiful, and a testament to how great a story teller the man can be. That's the moment any sense of sportsmanship vanishes and they go all out. He charges at Nagata but gets a knee and thrown into the corner. Honma takes some elbows then reverses Nagata into the corner and returns the slap to the face as if to say "YOU WANT IT THIS WAY? OKAY THEN!". Great stuff. After that Honma remains control then tries to hit the Kokeshi only for Nagata to move and stand up looking at Honma like he is the biggest fool in the world. Which Honma answers by trying to do it again only for the same thing to happen. Blue Justice starts to work over the arm with some holds and kicks to the shoulder. Honma answers with chops and is met with a knee. Nagata trips after hitting the knee but manages to roll off his back and regain composure with a nice little "phew" gesture which the crowd loved. These two are so endearing in everything they do. Nagata controls the match until Honma does his signature corner elbow, bulldog combo right into a kokeshi headbutt that actually hits! The look of satisfaction on his face when he hits that headbutt after missing so many times will always pop me. Nagata goes for the Exploder and Honma turns it around in mid air into a crossbody Then Nagata goes for his corner knee which Honma catches into a ring shaking jumping power bomb, then into a disgusting vertical drop brainbuster. A really intense hate filled strike exchange happens that Nagata gets the better of. He hits Honma with a release german suplex and Honma pops up full of fire only to eat a boot and a Backdrop Suplex Hold for the finish. Nagata gets his first win of the tournament and celebrates with the fans while Honma is helped to the back by a young lion. Fantastic bout that was dragged down by a few botches from Nagata.

Overall Rating: Good. Without the botches and with a little more time could have been a great one. Probably still my Match of the Night.

G1 Climax 24 Block A Match: Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura is looking to recover with a win here after getting taken out by Shibata on day one. Davey Boy is looking to tie up his match series with Nakamura at 2-2 while getting some much needed points. These two have had some good matches together in the past and have great chemistry.

Smith heels it up while taunting and talking smack. At one point Davey has a headlock on Shinsuke and he grabs his hand to make him tap out and then raises his arms in victory proclaiming he tapped. Good stuff. Pretty much everything about this match was good up until the finish where Shinsuke hit the weakest looking Boma Ye I have ever seen. Never seen him mess that up before, it might have just been the camera angle. Match was good, finish not so much.

Overall Rating: Good.

G1 Climax Block B Match: AJ Styles vs Toru Yano

AJ is not in the mood for Yano's shenanigans after finally losing to Okada on day one. Yano is his same jovial, dvd shilling, trickster self.

This match was way better than it had any right to be. AJ went all out and forced Yano to go all out. Yano did some good selling, AJ made some of Yano's moves look credible and they did some classic Yano Toru shenanigans. Watching YTR barely getting by on his self described "noblest brain" against the champion was very fun to watch. Any time they teased the Yano upset the crowd popped huge. AJ Styles gets better and better every time he steps in the ring for New Japan and I'm loving it.

Overall Rating: Good.

G1 Climax 24 Block B Match: "Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada vs "Raging Bull" Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Tenzan pulled off a big win over Karl Anderson on day one much to the joy of the crowd. Okada finally toppled the man who he lost his championship to, and overcame the challenge that is AJ Styles. Another match up of guys with two points apiece. Who can break ahead of the pack?

Its no secret that Tenzan can't go like he used to. Tenzan has become this years sympathetic veteran. The crowd knows he isn't going to win, and they know he isn't going to put on the best matches, but that doesn't matter to them because he is trying his best and he has given so much to them in the past. His day one win was a feel good moment much like Okada finally overcoming AJ and the Bullet Club interferences. This match much like the match before it had no right to be as good as it was. Okada sells big for Tenzan, Tenzan sells big for Okada. It's really surprising how good Tenzan has been looking in comparison to last year where he didn't have any good matches and had to drop out of G1 with broken ribs. Some really good spots in this one and an overall solid effort. Okada wins with the Rainmaker.

Overall Rating: Good

G1 Climax 24 Block B Match: Karl "Machine Gun" Anderson vs "Unchained King Kong" Togi Makabe

Anderson can't be happy after losing to Tenzan on day one and Makabe is never happy. What we get here is a pissed off unchained king kong and a crafty Anderson trying to score their first points.

The broken jaw of Makabe is the target here. Anderson works that jaw over every chance he gets and when he isn't working the jaw he is selling his ass off for Makabe. Good bout with hard hitting action and at least three gun stuns. It really bugs me that Anderson does all these gun stun variants and the only one that ever gets a win is the regular version. Why would I react to your move if I know it never gets the win? Makabe hits the spider german suplex into the king kong knee drop to pick up his first two points. Match was fine but I felt it was missing something, didn't really stand out to me.

Overall Rating: Average

G1 Climax 24 Block A Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs "The Outlaw" Doc Gallows

Gallows comes in with no points, Tanahashi with two. This match is all about the big heel vs the top guy, and whether the big heel can get an upset win.

Gallows and Tanahashi both display a large amount of charisma in this one. Gallows mocks Tanahashi's height and Tanahashi responds by hopping up on the turnbuckle and shouting at Doc. Most the early stages of the match are then controlled by Doc. He beats Tanahashi up on the outside then brings him back in the ring for some nice looking strikes and elbow drops. Tanahashi sells well for Doc and makes him look great. Gallows goes for a Vader Bomb style splash, Tana gets the knees up and hits the Slingblade. Some back and forth counters until Doc hits his old WWE finisher. Doesn't get the three. He hits a nice looking back breaker and some head kicks while taunting the crowd. Gallows goes for the Gallows Pole again and eats a knee to the face. Tanahashi hits the Slingblade again into two High Fly Flows for the win. Gallows sells the ribs like they are broken after the match which was great. After he leaves we get a nice Tanahashi promo and an air guitar concert, and before the ace makes his exit he makes sure to show love to all his fans.

Overall rating: Good


Overall I really enjoyed day two and the crowd was one of the best NJPW crowds of the year. While nothing stood out as super amazing the whole card was full of good matches. Day two felt like a more balanced show than day one, meaning everything was more equal in terms of quality compared to day one which was more top-heavy with a decent first half and an amazing second half. Hope you enjoyed the review and don't hesitate to give me feedback on twitter: @Original_Bonski .

You can watch the show here if you are unable to afford it: http://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x3arz9_original_bonski_njpw-g1-climax-24-day-2/1#video=x21ze8m

But please if you can support NJPW for all the good wrestling they give us. Buy some merch or something.

G1 Climax 24 Day 1 Review

Another summer, another G1 Climax tournament. New Japan Pro Wrestling's G1 climax is the biggest tournament in professional wrestling, and the highlight of the year to many wrestling fans around the world. This year the G1 is bigger then ever, having twenty-two participants and spanning over two months. The wrestlers are split into two blocks of eleven and the members of each block all face each other once. A victory nets you two points, in the case of a draw one point goes to each participant. After every match up in each block has happened the leader of block A and B face off in the finals with the winner becoming the G1 Climax 24 champion, and receiving an IWGP Heavyweight title shot at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in the Tokyo Dome. Here is a list of the participants of both block A and B, as well as a run down of my thoughts on each of the matches of the first day of the tournament. The whole tournament is available to buy and watch live via ustream.tv/njpw as well as on delay via my dailymotion for poor people(if you can afford it give NJPW money they deserve it).

Block A:
*Bad Luck Fale
*Shelton X Benjamin
*Doc Gallows
*Tomoaki Honma
*Tomohiro Ishii
*Satoshi Kojima
*Yuji Nagata
*Shinsuke Nakamura
*Katsuyori Shibata
*Davey Boy Smith, Jr.
*Hiroshi Tanahashi

Block B:
*Karl Anderson
*Lance Archer
*Hirooki Goto
*Togi Makabe
*Tetsuya Naito
*Kazuchika Okada
*A.J. Styles
*Minoru Suzuki
*Yujiro Takahashi
*Hiroyoshi Tenzan
*Toru Yano

 G1 Climax Block A match: Bad Luck Fale vs "Stone Pitbull" Tomohiro Ishii

Bad Luck Fale coming off winning the IWGP Intercontinental championship is looking to continue his run of dominance in the very first match of the tournament. Tomohiro Ishii fresh off losing the NEVER Openweight title to former stable mate, now bullet club member Yujiro Takahashi is looking to get revenge on the bullet club for costing him his championship. This match is a classic David vs Goliath story between two men from warring factions. Ishii digs down deep trying to topple the behemoth, fighting his heart out as the crowd cheers him on. Unfortunately he comes up short in the end, succumbing to the Bad Luck Fall. 

Really enjoyable match. Ishii made Fale look good and he continues to be one of the best sellers in professional wrestling today. Going so far as to crawl/stumble his way to the back after the match ended. I thought Fale did a pretty good job considering his limited experience, but for a guy presented as a big bad monster his striking is really light. He also busted out a spear midway through the match that looked awful. You are a giant guy, you should probably just shoulder block the guy and knock him on his ass instead of going for a move that requires agility. 

Overall Rating: Average

G1 Climax Block A Match: Doc Gallows vs Shelton "X" Benjamin

 

This is Doc Gallows first G1 Climax and as far as I know his first singles match in NJPW. Shelton Benjamin was in last years G1 Climax but finished in the middle of the pack. Both men are looking to prove their worth and test their mettle here and it doesn't disappoint.

Gallows gets overwhelmed early but uses his size and power (with the help of steel guard rails and a chair) to overwhelm Benjamin and take control. Both men gave it their all in this one and both impressed me. Gallows has some great, believable strikes which Benjamin sold wonderfully. Benjamin sold his ass off for Gallows and Gallows returned the favor when it was time. Nice give and take and some great athleticism. Probably Gallows best showing in his short NJPW run, but it suffered from little to no crowd reaction.

Overall Rating: Average

G1 Climax 24 Block B Match: Karl "Machine Gun" Anderson vs Hiroyoshi "Fighting Bull" Tenzan

Tenzan was a great wrestler in his prime and the only active wrestler in New Japan to have won multiple G1 Climax, but the major injuries he has sustained over the years really show these days. Karl Anderson is one of the best wrestlers in the world, whether it be Heel or Face the Machine Gun is always able to put on exciting matches and get reactions from the crowd. The loved and respected hometown guy vs the disrespectful foreigner is the story to this match up.

Anderson is great and spends most the match getting heat from the crowd and working hard to make Tenzan look good. Tenzan gets some good reactions as the crowd respects him for all he has done for the company.  Some good sequences. Tenzan gets all his signature spots in. Anderson heels it up. Tenzan beats Anderson with a modified Anaconda Vice.

Overall Rating: About as good as you can get from 2014 Tenzan(Average) 

G1 Climax Block A Match: Yuji "Blue Justice" Nagata vs Satoshi Kojima

Kojima is a former G1 Climax champion and had an outstanding showing in last years tournament. Nagata is fresh of a run as the GHC Heavyweight champion(NOAH's Top Belt). What we got here is two grizzled veterans duking it out and I loved it. Nagata busting out the Nakanishi signature suplex in tribute made me happy.

Simple back and forth match with great sequences, Kojima is amazing at selling his arm. Lots of fun. Kojima hits the Cozy Lariat for the win.

Overall Rating: Good

G1 Climax 24 Block B Match: Minoru Suzuki vs Toru Yano

Yano and Suzuki have been having a feud for over a year. Nothing has changed since it started. Yano trolls the crap out of Suzuki, Suzuki gets upset and makes a mistake, Yano capitalizes on the mistakes, Suzuki gets even angrier. It is the never ending feud of Yano trolling then getting his ass kicked then trolling more then getting his ass kicked. This is one of the ones where he gets his ass kicked then ends up winning via shenanigans while Suzuki throws a tantrum.

Overall Rating: Dud, Nothing much to this one that we haven't seen before.

G1 Climax Block B Match: "Stardust Genius" Tetsuya Naito vs Yujiro Takahashi

Naito won G1 last year and had his push royally screwed up by shaky booking and a hostile crowd. He comes in looking for redemption from last year and finds...his former tag partner whom he beat multiple times last year. Yujiro has been picking up wins steadily since defecting from CHAOS and joining Bullet Club and what we see here is pretty much the exact opposite of their matches last year. Naito spends most the match making Yujiro look like the strongest mother fucker on the planet. The dude sells his ass off and takes the craziest bumps of the show. The commentators at one point said something along the lines of "Power vs Technique" and that's exactly what this was. A couple non-offensive botches, but overall a hell of a match. 

Overall Rating: Good

G1 Climax 24 Block B Match: "The Wild Samurai" Hirooki Goto vs "Unchained King Kong" Togi Makabe

Makabe and Goto are both former G1 winners and as of late have been on the opposite ends of a lot of tag team matches. The Unchained King Kong is going into this match with a rehabbing jaw that he broke against Goto a month or two back. Goto uses this to his advantage and controls most of the match targeting the broken jaw. Makabe wasn't having any of that and made fiery comebacks that drove the crowd wild but got stopped in his tracks anytime Goto was able to target that jaw again. 

Best match of the show so far. Crowd is 100% behind Makabe and pop big for his comebacks. Great simple psychology with Goto using the broken jaw to his advantage and factoring it into the finish by headbutting Makabe right in the mouth and hitting the Shouten Kai.

Overall Rating: Great

G1 Climax 24 Block A Match: Hiroshi "1/100" Tanahashi vs Tomoaki "Kokeshi" Honma

Both men start the match waving the crowd on to cheer and much to Tanahashi's chagrin the arena is fully behind the underdog Honma. Honma wasn't even supposed to be in the G1 this year, but Kota Ibushi who was originally scheduled had to pull out after suffering a major concussion. The thing I love the most about Tanahashi is when he senses the crowd rooting for his opponent, he turns the cockiness way up. Tanahashi has the presence and awareness to put on the match the crowd in the building wants to see on any given night. Honma does his job as the underdog face fantastically and Tanahashi is the perfect foil for Honma's bursts of smash mouth offense. The crowd erupts anytime it looks like Honma might get the upset victory. Incredible match that the underdog Honma just comes up short in, when he isn't able to muster the strength to avoid a High Fly Flow.

Overall Rating: Great

G1 Climax Block A Match: "King of Strong Style" Shinsuke Nakamura vs "The Wrestler" Katsuyori Shibata

As soon as the match card pops up on the screen in the building the entire crowd erupts in excitement. These two haven't had a match together since 2004 and fans have been salivated at the thought of this match up since Shibata returned to NJPW in 2012. Last time they met Shibata came out victorious which lead many to think that Shinsuke was a lock for winning this one. As Jesse "The Body" Ventura once said, THINK AGAIN! This match is full of everything I want in my wrestling. Realistic strikes, hate, realistic grappling, more hate and a hot crowd. What more do I need to say? Go watch this match.

So many great exchanges and sequences I wanted to GIF them all. Shibata hits his best friend KENTA's move Go 2 Sleep into his own finisher the PK for the upset victory as the crowd and commentary go nuts.

Overall Rating: Great. Must See Match.

G1 Climax Block B Match: AJ Styles vs "The Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada

 

 AJ Styles came in to NJPW and in his first match ended Okada's historic championship reign. Now the new IWGP Heavyweight champion who has defeated Okada two more times since then, is looking to put him away for good. Okada is looking to prove AJ doesn't have his number, that AJ Styles can be defeated, and more importantly that he WILL get his championship back. I genuinely believe this is AJ Styles best match ever. I also believe that this is Okada's best match of the year. Can not say enough good things about this match. Both men show more personality and charisma then they have ever shown. Just an incredible back and forth match with awesome transitions, callbacks to their previous matches, a hot crowd. If I have to poop on anything that happened in this match I'd poop all over that Yujiro run in. Really sick of a run in happening in every Bullet Club match. If I wanted shenanigans like that on every show I'd watch WWE. With that being said, they handled the run in angle incredibly well and it worked out for the match this time. At one point AJ misses a 450 and appears to have face planted so hard his head bounced back off the mat a few times. Really glad he seemed to be okay after that and worked the rest of the match with no issue. 

This match was stupendous. Okada fights back against the interference and is finally able to get a victory over Styles. After the match Okada and Gedo cut an awesome promo that @puro_yottsume on twitter translated for us. 

 Okada: "It's Okada-'san', by the way. There are three things I need to say. First, next time we meet in the ring, I'm taking that belt. Secondly, I'll win all matches in G1 Climax. And finally, I have nothing to say in particular. I'll leave the rest to Gedo."

 Gedo "The summer you've never seen before is coming! Rainmaker just beat the IWGP champion. And I know the rest of the roster is tough...But you know why he's going to beat them all? Cuz he's on an entirely different level! He's coming back to Hokkaido as the champion!"

Overall Rating: Great. Must See Match.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the review and the GIFs. I'll try to do this for every NJPW show as well as any other wrestling show I end up watching. Please let me know what you think!