chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
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Post by chrom on Sept 19, 2020 11:00:29 GMT -5
So how much of a sad panda will Goto be after Kenta beats him tomorrow?
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Post by The Kevstaaa on Sept 19, 2020 11:49:37 GMT -5
NJPW G1 Climax 30 Night One September 19th, 2020 | EDION Arena Osaka in Osaka, Japan | Attendance: 2,401
It’s a bit later than usual but the G1 Climax is back. It’ll be an interesting year considering the lack of crowds and just how strange 2020 has been overall. Just a note of how I’d rank the G1s that I’ve seen so far. 24 > 27 > 28 > 26 > 23 > 29 > 25.
A Block: Will Ospreay [0] vs. Yujiro Takahashi [0] I will do my best to not harp on it but it’s disgusting that Willy is still being booked by NJPW. I always knew he was scumbag and the #SpeakingOut movement only added to it. I feel the same way about the others continuing to be booked, so it has nothing to do with how I previously felt about him. No PIETER with Yujiro, so is it really even the G1? My biggest complaint about Willy’s G1 outing last year was that they tried to make him into the a guy that he wasn’t. He’s not the 25-30 minute guy. He’s at home in shorter matches and thankfully, this was kept short. It helps that Yujiro isn’t a guy who works long, so this might be a one-off. Hopefully not. This allowed Ospreay to get all of his signature stuff in and showcase the fact that he can still move quickly despite bulking up. Yujiro also wrestled this straight-up, avoiding underhanded tactics. Ospreay won with Stormbreaker in 7:34. [***]
Post-match, Ospreay cut a HILARIOUS promo where he called himself the best wrestler in the world. And people thought it was funny when Seth Rollins said WWE had the best wrestling in the world. I don’t expect Will to win this but if he does, it’ll be a really bad look for the company.
A Block: Jeff Cobb [0] vs. Taichi [0] Cobb beat Taichi in the G1 29 (**¾). Both guys had pretty mediocre runs last year. I think the only great match either man had was with Ishii. Taichi opted for a more traditional and straightforward approach. Maybe without Fale and Tama Tonga around, the G1 will actually feature less nonsense but Gedo’s booking so I doubt it. When Taichi drops all that, he’s pretty solid. This worked out to be a good match that featured Cobb’s power game against the cunningness of the Suzuki-Gun member. A lot of this followed the G1 formula of starting slow before picking up down the stretch. Once Cobb began throwing him around, it got better. Taichi won with Black Mephisto in 12:47. Good, quality pro wrestling and I can’t ask for much more from these two. [***¼]
A Block: NEVER Openweight Champion Minoru Suzuki [0] vs. Tomohiro Ishii [0] Their last G1 meeting came way back in 2013 (****). Their other singles matches were over the RevPro Title. I saw two of those (***¾ and ****¼). As you’d expect, they went right into it by hammering away at each other. There’s no wasting time with these two. They are there to beat the hell out of each other and go home. I love that mentality. This reminded me a lot of Suzuki’s New Japan Cup bout against Yuji Nagata in that it just felt angry. You got the sense that they disliked each other even if they don’t have a long history. There were points where they weren’t even hitting each other hard. They were just slapping and kicking each other as a way to talk shit. After tons of strikes, they moved into counters, blocking each other’s suplexes and such. Eventually, Suzuki used the Gotch Style Piledriver to win in 13:00. We’ve seen it a ton from these guys and together, they do it well. A sprint where two guys tried to murder each other. Look NJPW, just keep things short and sweet. [****]
A Block: Jay White [0] vs. Shingo Takagi [0] White beat Shingo in last year’s G1 (***¼), ironically on the same night as Taichi/Cobb. It’s Jay’s first match in Japan since the pandemic. He was back to his old shenanigans of taking a powder at the bell and doing all of the little heel things expected of him. The issue for him was that Shingo had the size advantage. Wild to think that the man was booked as a junior heavyweight for a while. He battered White whenever he got an opening and the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion looked overwhelmed. You also got the sense that White was a bit rusty as some of his stuff didn’t quite have you’d want from it. After a ref bump, White hit a low blow and Blade Runner to win in 19:28. Another good match but one that felt like it needed White to be a bit more ready for this spot after so much time off. [***¼]
A Block: Kazuchika Okada [0] vs. Kota Ibushi [0] This was mostly protected for a while. They met in 2014 (****¼) when Ibushi was Jr. Champion and in 2017 when he was Tiger Mask W (****). Last year, Ibushi beat him in the G1 to win his block (****) and Okada bested him at Wrestle Kingdom this year (****¼). Early on, we got the expected G1 slowdown as they soaked in the crowd adoration. Almost immediately, you could tell that this would follow Okada formula. However, those who watched the New Japan Cup saw that it doesn’t really work with lesser crowds as it often relies on the crowd reacting big late. Of course, you know that Okada formula means the final few minutes were pretty fantastic. I liked the way they cut off some of each other’s top moves, clearly having scouted one another. Whenever they moved to strikes, Okada found himself in trouble and was wobbly-legged. Okada avoided Kamigoye but then Ibushi got going with a sitout powerbomb and running knee. He added Kamigoye for a surprisingly definitive ending after 21:35. I appreciated them seemingly building towards testing the time limit only for Ibushi to snuff him out in the end. Very good main event but a step below their prior matches. [***½]
Overall: 7/10. A good start to the tournament. You had nothing bad and everything got at least ***, with one match clocking in at ****. Consistent and relatively short, which is just what I’m looking for.
A BLOCK | POINTS | B BLOCK | POINTS | Kota Ibushi | 2 (1-0) | EVIL | 0 (0-0) | Jay White | 2 (1-0) | Hirooki Goto | 0 (0-0) | Minoru Suzuki | 2 (1-0) | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 0 (0-0) | Taichi | 2 (1-0) | Juice Robinson | 0 (0-0) | Will Ospreay
| 2 (1-0) | KENTA | 0 (0-0) | Kazuchika Okada | 0 (0-1) | SANADA | 0 (0-0) | Shingo Takagi | 0 (0-1) | Tetsuya Naito | 0 (0-0) | Tomohiro Ishii | 0 (0-1) | Toru Yano | 0 (0-0) | Jeff Cobb | 0 (0-1) | YOSHI-HASHI | 0 (0-0) | Yujiro Takahashi | 0 (0-1) | Zack Sabre Jr. | 0 (0-0) |
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,565
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Post by chrom on Sept 19, 2020 16:48:23 GMT -5
So tomorrow's showstealer looks to be Evil vs Sabre.
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Post by Some Baritone guy IS REDEEMED! on Sept 19, 2020 16:48:59 GMT -5
I have very mixed emotions on Ospreay being in the G1 Climax. On one hand he is a fantastic performer whose matches are at the very least entertaining and at times actually great, so his matches are something I usually look forward to.
That being said, what he's actually done makes it hard for me to fully enjoy his work.
And I can understand doing something stupid when you're 23, I can understand standing up for your friend, and I can even understand questioning the allegation given his only experience with Pollyanna was apparently her bullying his girlfriend.
That being said, attempting to kill her career by blocking her from getting booked in other companies was juvenile at best, and terrible at worst. But what really sours me on him is the fact that even after acknowledging that he was wrong to doubt her accusations, he still denies that he did what she says he did, even when evidence was presented to prove him wrong.
I could honestly forgive it, literally all of it, as all just being a mistake made by a dumb kid, if he would just own the whole thing, and try to make amends and do what he could to help Pollyanna get back on her feet.
Sadly he just seems to want to pay lip service to it, so I can't get fully behind it.
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Sept 19, 2020 17:12:44 GMT -5
Should this be pinned since it is a big event and ongoing for the next month?
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Sept 19, 2020 17:22:21 GMT -5
I'm surprised Okada lost to Ibushi, but I'm glad, honestly, I feel like it was the right call.
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Post by Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) on Sept 19, 2020 17:41:04 GMT -5
I'm surprised Okada lost to Ibushi, but I'm glad, honestly, I feel like it was the right call. I'm not all that surprised I been calling for it. Feels like it is the first step for redemption for Ibushi in gaining momentum to the IWGP title
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Mochi Lone Wolf
Fry's dog Seymour
Development through Destruction.
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Post by Mochi Lone Wolf on Sept 19, 2020 19:04:45 GMT -5
I can say that there's not a single booking decision I disagreed with here.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
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Post by chrom on Sept 19, 2020 21:56:46 GMT -5
Night 2 starts at 1am
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2020 22:23:19 GMT -5
Shouldn’t this thread say September 18?
Or is that the finals or something?
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
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Post by chrom on Sept 19, 2020 23:01:45 GMT -5
Shouldn’t this thread say September 18? Or is that the finals or something? Yeah that's the finals
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Post by AwamoriRock on Sept 19, 2020 23:12:41 GMT -5
I guess I’ll pick White. I’ll probably be wrong again though lol. My preference would be Naito, him dropping the IC to somebody, and picking Hiromu for WK, but that’s all super biased fan fiction lol
I really have liked White for a while, I really hope his matches don’t get too much Gedo/BC stuff.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Sept 19, 2020 23:20:15 GMT -5
I can say that there's not a single booking decision I disagreed with here. Yeah, like the only one of these I could have gone either way on is Cobb/Taichi, and given Cobb beat him last outing, I think this makes sense if they're meant to be at about parity with one another.
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Post by AwamoriRock on Sept 19, 2020 23:48:23 GMT -5
I can say that there's not a single booking decision I disagreed with here. Yeah, like the only one of these I could have gone either way on is Cobb/Taichi, and given Cobb beat him last outing, I think this makes sense if they're meant to be at about parity with one another. I’m thinking Taichi is probably going to get a bit of a run and start being an IC/Never guy.
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Sept 19, 2020 23:55:25 GMT -5
Yeah, like the only one of these I could have gone either way on is Cobb/Taichi, and given Cobb beat him last outing, I think this makes sense if they're meant to be at about parity with one another. I’m thinking Taichi is probably going to get a bit of a run and start being an IC/Never guy. Definitely possible. When they were able to have regular crowds, I remember Taichi getting over in a big way with people these last couple of years.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
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Post by chrom on Sept 20, 2020 0:00:29 GMT -5
We are live from Osaka
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Convoy
El Dandy
Rusev admits to being a sex addict to large applause.
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Post by Convoy on Sept 20, 2020 0:46:57 GMT -5
Juice as a Blues Brother was good, but SANADA finally getting rid of those ripped pirate pants is the bigger news. Mask is a step back, but the overall look is improved and less hobo-y.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,565
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Post by chrom on Sept 20, 2020 2:04:18 GMT -5
Kenta has a new finisher name, Game Over
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Post by BRAINFADE on Sept 20, 2020 2:14:55 GMT -5
Naito and Tana have incredible chemistry.
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Post by BRAINFADE on Sept 20, 2020 2:20:46 GMT -5
What a main event. IT'S THE G1 CLIMAX, BABY!!
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