#G1 Climax 27

[kopw]

[princedevitt]

Will Ospreay - G1 Climax 33 - 7/27/23

[shotaumino]

G1 Climax 34 Night 5 - 7/27/24

[kaitokiyomiya]

G1 CLIMAX 33

It is a moving day for the Yamagata event.

And today, I turn 27 years old.

I will make it the year of the leading role!

[yuhbvvhj]

新日本プロレス「G1 CLIMAX 27」オカダ・カズチカ vs ケニー・オメガ | 新しい未来のテレビ | ABEMA

[d2kvirus]

27/8/23 Fact or Fiction

Statement #1: Tetsuya Naito was the right choice to win the 2023 G1 Climax. FACT - At the time my immediate response was a groan, in fact that was my response when the final was going to be another go-round of Okada/Naito when the tournament was the perfect time to launch Will Ospreay into the stratosphere, but with the realisation that this leads to Naito having a showdown against former LIJ stablemate Sanada, and doing so on the tenth anniversary of the NJPW fanbase brutally rejecting him and his IWGP title match against Okada was bumped out of the headline spot in favour of Tanahashi/Nakamura for the IC title, the multiple narratives coming together does make Naito winning the tournament the right call

Statement #2: The G1 tournament should have less entrants and feature only those with a good chance of winning. FICTION - On the one hand I most certainly agree with the tournament having fewer entrants, as increasing the number of blocks in the G1 to four has made the tournament feel bloated, but ultimately the reason to slim the G1 down again is less to do with featuring talent with the best chance of winning and more to do with not featuring talent who will habitually stink the joint out and weaken the tournament as a result

Statement #3: This year’s G1 theme song “Born in the Ring” was better than 2021’s awesome “Max the Max”. FICTION - Max the Max sounded like a boss theme from a Yakuza game. Born in the ring sounded like the end credit theme of something Crunchyroll keeps recommending but I get bored of within three episodes

Statement #4: You CARE who wins the NJPW G1 Climax. FACT - Even though it is fair to say that the G1 Climax winner can often feel like the safe choice when there's the chance to strap a rocket to somebody's back (ironically because they tried to strap a rocket to Naito's back in 2013, and the NJPW crowd said "Īe" in response, it does set the stage for Wrestle Kingdom perfectly - and let's be honest, the sigh of relief everyone breathed when EVIL was knocked out underlines that people certainly care

Statement #5: SANADA will still be IWGP Champion by Wrestle Kingdom 2024. FACT - Sanada turning his back on Naito and LIJ is still fresh in people's minds, and that does tie into Naito winning the G1. True, EVIL splitting from LIJ was the more acrimonious split...but fucking hell does the idea of EVIL winning the belt between now and WK fill me with dread given how routinely his matches stunk out G1 cards, and indeed plenty of NJPW cards in general, and I'd rather not have 'Nam flashbacks to JBL's title reign thank you very much

Statement #6: A surprise in pro-wrestling is only good when it is something you want to happen or is the “right” decision by the booker. FICTION - I went back and forth on this one, as there's plenty of arguments to be made either way, but ultimately there's been plenty of surprise results which were the "right" decision and they made all the sense in the world, yet they just didn't pan out. Case in point Rey Mysterio's 2006 Rumble win and subsequent title win at WM22 were both surprises and there was plenty of support for them happening...and yet calling his title reign lackluster honestly feels like a compliment. Same goes for Chris Jericho doing the honours for Action Andretti, which at the time felt like a pleasant surprise and did fit the storyline that was going on at the time but in reality there were plenty of people who would have been more deserving of the rub, most obviously Konosuke Takeshita would have been perfect for getting the rub and that would've fit with how Takeshita was being booked at the time

Statement #7: The card for AEW’s All In show at Wembley Stadium looks pretty lame so far. FICTION - While the card has certainly been hamstrung by injuries, most obviously Jamie Hayter being unable to perform as that would've been the ideal moment to have her regain the women's title and refocus the women's division going forward, to say the card looks lame is frankly the sort of thing I expect from the Twitter accounts that the billionaire manchild shoved into my feed from people whose only identifiable personality trait is their performative hatred for AEW. Could the card be better? No denying that, either by extenuating circumstances such as missing Hayter and Danielson or because the matches feel like filler (i.e. House of Black vs The Acclaimed & Billy Gunn, which could easily be saved for All Out so it wouldn't feel like a cooldown match) but on the other hand there's plenty which is offering to deliver such as MJF/Cole, FTR/Bucks (but, please, keep the belts off the Bucks), Punk/Joe and Ospreay/Jericho could certainly deliver if Jericho doesn't try and make a Forced Epic out of it

Statement #8: Not only will Wrestlemania take place in London in a few years but it will also be the location for John Cena’s retirement match. FICTION - If the plan is to have Cena retire at WrestleMania, and the word "If" is doing some legwork there, then logically he would hang his sneakers up at a WM which takes place in the USofA. As for a UK-based WM, I still don't see that happening for the simple reason that the only viable stadium for it would be Wembley - but Wembley can't have a roof due to that bloody great arch they erected on the stadium to make it look "iconic" (or, more accurately, so people wouldn't immediately spot it's just a slightly bigger version of Arsenal's stadium), and that risks the British weather causing the show to be almost as much of a washout as the 2016 edition of WM

[pwrestlingxpress]

G1 Climax 33 Blocks and Match Cards Announced

As if the day couldn't get any crazier, NJPW just announced the blocks for the 32 participants with an interesting twist. First up though, here are the four blocks of 8 for "G1 Climax 33"

For those wanting Kiyomiya/Okada II may have to wait until the Knockout stage since as seen above Kaito will be in Block A while Okada will be in Block B. Plus, instead of each match going 30 minutes, 20 minutes are on the clock which makes this G1 much faster than previous G1 Climax Tournaments in its history.

Blocks A and B will be competing on July 15, 18, 21, 25, 27, and August 1 with Both Block Finals set for Osaka on August 5th and 6th.

Blocks C and D will be competing on July 16, 19, 23, 26, 30, and August 2nd with the C Block Finals taking place on August 8th in Yokohama and the D Block Finals taking place on August 9th in Hamamatsu

A more interesting change is how the G1 Climax 33 winner will be determined. The Top 2 from each of the four blocks will advance to a knockout stage that'll start on August 10th in Funabashi

The Four winners from August 10th will then advance to the semi-finals on August 12th in Ryogoku with the two winners from those two semi-final matches facing each other in the finals to determine the G1 Climax 33 winner.

In addition, block matches have also been announced down below:

July 15, 2023 in Sapporo Night 1:

B Block Match: El Phantasmo vs. YOSHI-HASHI

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Chase Owens

B Block Match: KENTA vs. Tanga Loa

A Block Match: Ren Narita vs. Shota Umino

B Block Match: Great O-Khan vs. Kazuchika Okada

A Block Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Yota Tsuji

B Block Match: Will Ospreay vs. Taichi

A Block Match: Hikuleo vs. SANADA

July 16, 2023 in Sapporo Night 2:

C Block Match: David Finlay vs. Tomohiro Ishii

D Block Match: Toru Yano vs. Hirooki Goto

C Block Match: Aaron Henare vs. Mikey Nicholls

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Shane Haste

C Block Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Shingo Takagi

D Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

C Block Match: EVIL vs. Tama Tonga

D Block Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Tetsuya Naito

July 18, 2023 in Yamagata

A Block Match: Chase Owens vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

B Block Match: KENTA vs. Great O-Khan

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Hikuleo

B Block Match: Tanga Loa vs. Taichi

A Block Match: Yota Tsuji vs. Ren Narita

B Block Match: Will Ospreay vs. YOSHI-HASHI

A Block Match: Shota Umino vs. SANADA

B Block Match: El Phantasmo vs. Kazuchika Okada

July 19, 2023 in Xebio Arena Sendai

D Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Toru Yano

C Block Match: David Finlay vs. Mikey Nicholls

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Jeff Cobb

C Block Match: EVIL vs. Eddie Kingston

D Block Match: Shane Haste vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

C Block Match: Aaron Henare vs. Shingo Takagi

D Block Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto

C Block Match: Tama Tonga vs. Tomohiro Ishii

July 21, 2023 in Niigata at Ao-re Nagaoka

B Block Match: Tanga Loa vs. YOSHI-HASHI

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Ren Narita

B Block Match: Great O-Khan vs. El Phantasmo

A Block Match: Chase Owens vs. Hikuleo

B Block Match: KENTA vs. Will Ospreay

A Block Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Shota Umino

B Block Match: Taichi vs. Kazuchika Okada

A Block Match: Yota Tsuji vs. SANADA

July 23, 2023 in Nagano

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

C Block Match: Mikey Nicholls vs. Tama Tonga

D Block Match: Shane Haste vs. Hirooki Goto

C Block Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Aaron Henare

D Block Match: Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano

C Block Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Tomohiro Ishii

D Block Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

C Block Match: EVIL vs. David Finlay

July 25, 2023 in Korakuen Hall Night 1

B Block Match: Great O-Khan vs. Will Ospreay

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Shota Umino

B Block Match: KENTA vs. Taichi

A Block Match: Chase Owens vs. Yota Tsuji

B Block Match: El Phantasmo vs. Tanga Loa

A Block Match: Hikuleo vs. Ren Narita

B Block Match: YOSHI-HASHI vs. Kazuchika Okada

A Block Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. SANADA

July 26, 2023 in Korakuen Hall Night 2

C Block Match: EVIL vs. Aaron Henare

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Hirooki Goto

C Block Match: Mikey Nicholls vs. Shingo Takagi

D Block Match: Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

C Block Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Tomohiro Ishii

D Block Match: Shane Haste vs. Tetsuya Naito

C Block Match: David Finlay vs. Tama Tonga

D Block Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

July 27, 2023 in Tokyo at the Ota City Gymnasium

A Block Match: Chase Owens vs. Shota Umino

B Block Match: Taichi vs. YOSHI-HASHI

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. Kaito Kiyomiya

B Block Match: Great O-Khan vs. Tanga Loa

A Block Match: Yota Tsuji vs. Hikuleo

B Block Match: KENTA vs. El Phantasmo

A Block Match: Ren Narita vs. SANADA

B Block Match: Will Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada

July 30, 2023 in Aichi at the Dolphin's Arena

C Block Match: David Finlay vs. Aaron Henare

D Block Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Toru Yano

C Block Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Mikey Nicholls

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Tetsuya Naito

C Block Match: EVIL vs. Tomohiro Ishii

D Block Match: Shane Haste vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

C Block Match: Shingo Takagi vs. Tama Tonga

D Block Match: Hirooki Goto vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

August 1, 2023 in Kagawa at Takamatsu

A Block Match: Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Hikuleo

B Block Match: Great O-Khan vs. YOSHI-HASHI

A Block Match: Chase Owens vs. Ren Narita

B Block Match: El Phantasmo vs. Taichi

A Block Match: Gabriel Kidd vs. SANADA

B Block Match: Will Ospreay vs. Tanga Loa

A Block Match: Yota Tsuji vs. Shota Umino

B Block Match: KENTA vs. Kazuchika Okada

August 2, 2023 in Hiroshima

D Block Match: Alex Coughlin vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

C Block Match: EVIL vs. Mikey Nicholls

D Block Match: Shane Haste vs. Toru Yano

C Block Match: Aaron Henare vs. Tomohiro Ishii

D Block Match: Jeff Cobb vs. Hirooki Goto

C Block Match: Eddie Kingston vs. Tama Tonga

D Block Match: Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tetsuya Naito

C Block Match: David Finlay vs. Shingo Takagi

August 5, 2023 in Osaka - A Block Finals (Full Match Card/Order to be announced at a later date):

Gabriel Kidd vs. Yota Tsuji

Chase Owens vs. SANADA

Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Ren Narita

Hikuleo vs. Shota Umino

August 6, 2023 in Osaka - B Block Finals (Full Match Card/Order to be announced at a later date)

KENTA vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Will Ospreay vs. El Phantasmo

Tanga Loa vs. Kazuchika Okada

Great O-Khan vs. Taichi

August 8, 2023 in Yokohama at the Yokohama Budokan - C Block Finals (Full Match Card/Order to be announced at a later date):

Mikey Nicholls vs. Tomohiro Ishii

Aaron Henare vs. Tama Tonga

EVIL vs. Shingo Takagi

David Finlay vs. Eddie Kingston

August 9, 2023 in Hamamatsu - D Block Finals (Full Match Card/Order to be announced at a later date):

Alex Coughlin vs. Toru Yano

Shane Haste vs. Jeff Cobb

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hirooki Goto

Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

G1 Climax 33 starts in Sapporo on July 15th and will end on August 13th in Ryogoku. All 19 events will air on NJPW World with English Commentary. Go there to find the start time for each event and see who'll be "Born in the Ring".

[wrestlingisfake]

Wrestling Dontaku preview

SANADA vs. Hiromu Takahashi - This is Sanada's first defense of the IWGP world championship. Hiromu is the IWGP junior heavyweight champion, but that title is not at stake (not that Sanada would make the weight limit anyway). Regardless of the outcome here, Hiromu is already booked for this month's Best of the Super Jr. tournament, which will likely determine the next challenger for the junior title.

This is the second time that a member of Los Ingobernables de Japon defected from the group during the New Japan Cup, won the whole tournament to earn a title shot, won the title, and then immediately got challenged by Hiromu. The whole LIJ group isn't thrilled with Sanada dumping them for Just 5 Guys, but Takahashi clearly takes this stuff more personally than the rest. Sanada would only accept the challenge on the condition that one of his new teammates, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, would receive a junior title match. Hiromu defeated Nobu on April 27 to satisfy that condition.

To say Hiromu has no chance of winning this match would be an understatement. In New Japan, junior heavyweights are generally at a severe disadvantage against heavyweights. A top junior like Hiromu or KUSHIDA can buck that trend when facing a heavyweight midcarder like Tomohiro Ishii, but never against the heavyweight champion. More to the point, they haven't spent years deferring Sanada's big title win over Okada just to immediately have him lose his first title defense. The point here is not to see who wins. The point is to see two top performers who've rarely been on opposing sides of the ring put on a good show, before Sanada retains.

Tama Tonga vs. David Finlay - Tama's NEVER openweight title is at stake. Finlay pinned the champion during the New Japan Cup, which made him a natural top contender. But the story didn't really heat up until April 8, when Finlay blindsided Tama with the belt.

It's an auspicious occasion for this match, since May 3 marks the tenth anniversary of Bullet Club, when Tama joined forces with Prince Devitt, Bad Luck Fale, and Karl Anderson. At the time, Finlay had only been a pro wrestler for six months. A decade later, Finlay is the leader of Bullet Club, and Tama is the valiant babyface standing against him.

It seems too early for Tama to drop the title, but Finlay really needs a big win here. After he took over Bullet Club he needed to make a big statement, and he couldn't do it at the New Japan Cup because Sanada needed that big statement just a little bit more. If he comes up short again, I don't think he'll be in title contention again until after the G1 Climax, which would really kill his momentum.

There had been talk a couple of months ago about Tama possibly leaving New Japan to join WWE, but the latest reports suggest a hiring freeze that might have shut down that possibility. Either way, the smart move is to take the belt off of him now, and potentially rebuild him later. I like Tama so I'm not wild about that, but it's Finlay's time now.

Ren Narita & Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado vs. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Hiroshi Tanahashi - Narita issued a challenge to Okada to find two partners and challenge Strong Style for the NEVER trios title. Okada has been teaming with Tanahashi a lot lately, but Tana was hurt last month and it wasn't immediately clear if he'd be available here. In the meantime, Ishii signed on, but he wanted it to be three guys from CHAOS, so he says he won't do it if Tana comes aboard.

The real issue here is Narita and Okada, which will have to be settled in a one-on-one encounter someday. Okada is out of Ren's league, so Narita really needs a win to keep the story going. That suggests we won't see a title change, but I'm curious how the Ishii/Tanahashi stuff will factor into it. Would Ishii really walk out on Okada over such a simple thing? Would he turn heel over it? We'll have to wait and see.

Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Jeff Cobb - This is for Sabre's NJPW World television title, so there's a 15-minute time limit. This will only be their third one-on-one encounter; Sabre won the first two back in 2016. Sabre has mostly been working against younger, lighter opponents lately, so facing a 40-year-old refrigerator of a man should present an interesting challenge. Regardless, I expect Sabre to retain.

KENTA vs. Hikuleo - KENTA is putting the STRONG title on the line. I've completely forgotten how this program started, but I guess Kenta clocked Hikuleo with the belt. Since the title was created for use on New Japan's US brand, this is the first time it's been defended on Japanese soil. It makes no sense to do a title change here. The more interesting angle here is if El Phantasmo shows up looking for payback after Kenta turned on him along with the rest of Bullet Club last month. But there's no guarantee we'll get that on this show.

Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi & BUSHI vs. Taichi & DOUKI & Yoshinobu Kanemaru - Naito and Taichi's factions have been at each other's throats since Sanada defected from one to the other. Already on this tour we've had Naito beating Douki, Hiromu Takahashi beating Kanemaru, and Takagi losing the KOPW title to Taichi. I don't think LIJ and J5G are going to settle this anytime soon, so the outcome of this one battle won't matter in the big picture. I could see Shingo pinning Kanemaru or Taichi pinning Bushi.

KUSHIDA & Kevin Knight & Shota Umino vs. Francesco Akira & TJP & Aaron Henare - On April 27, the Jet-Setters (Kushida and Knight) defeated Catch-22 (Akira and TJP) to win the IWGP junior heavyweight tag title, so this is sort of an epilogue to that program. I don't think Shota and Henare have much of an issue, but that could easily change if they're looking to book Umino in a singles feud he can definitely win. I think Kushida's team should win, but it doesn't make much difference in this type of match.

Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher & Great-O-Khan vs. Shane Haste & Mikey Nichols & Kosei Fujita - On April 29, Aussie Open (Davis and Fletcher) defended the IWGP heavyweight tag title against Haste and Nichols. The weak link here is Fujita, who is no match at this point for anyone on the United Empire team. So I'm pretty sure the TMDK side has to lose.

EVIL & SHO & Yujiro Takahashi & Dick Togo vs. Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI & Toru Yano & YOH - Goto and Yoshi tried to challenge Aussie Open for the tag title, but Evil and Yujiro laid out all four guys (with help from the rest of the House of Torture) to stake their own claim. I'm guessing this will lead to a three-way, which means it won't make any difference who wins this match. Togo is the most expendable guy here, so logically he should get beat.

[kopw]

[shotaumino]

G1 Climax 34 Night 5 - 7/27/24

[mitchtheficus]

i made this as an example of the “fun” kota had in the G1 Climax 27

[zackmephisto]

[heartsoulrocknroll]

Rewatching some G1 27 matches so I can relive the joy of Naito's G1 win. Happier times.

But first, Okada/Omega III. Excellent, just like every time those two have stepped in the ring together. Omega's reverse rana to Okada on the floor. Omega pulling Okada away from the doctor. Omega's unrelenting attack on Okada's neck. Omega totally dominating the first half of the match (THAT MONSTER URANAGE!!!!!!!) and Okada making his superman comeback at the end, only to ultimately fall to the One Winged Angel. After those two insane wars at WK 11 and Dominion that went a collective 106 minutes, Omega finally vanquishes Okada in 25. Beautiful. (P.S. Okada is a rock star.)

Naito/Omega was just as insane or perhaps moreso than their match from the previous year. NAITO PILDRIVES OMEGA ON THE TABLE!!! HITS OMEGA'S HEAD ON THE EDGE OF THE TABLE AND THEY LAND ON THE FLOOR!!! MY GOD. OMEGA SLAMS NAITO'S HEAD INTO THE TOP OF THE RING POST!!! BUT NAITO COUNTERS OMEGA'S TOP ROPE POWER BOMB ATTEMPT INTO A RANA SECONDS LATER!!!! AND IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWS UP WITH A TOP ROPE REVERSE RANA!!! WHAT IS HAPPENING!!!! NAITO ATTEMPTS THE STARDUST PRESS AND I NEARLY FALL OUT IN THE FLOOR!!! STARDUST PRESS MISSES. DOUBLE UNDERHOOK PILEDRIVER FROM OMEGA. NAITO KICKS OUT. V TRIGGERS AND A GUTWRENCH POWERBOMB. NAITO KICKS OUT. ONE WINGED ANGEL ATTEMPT COUNTERED INTO A REVSERE RANA. DESTINO ATTEMPT COUNTERED INTO CROYT'S WRATH. RAINMAKER V TRIGGER. ANOTHER ONE WINGED ANGEL ATTEMPT THIS TIME COUNTERED INTO DESTINO. OMEGA RUNS FOR THE V TRIGGER AND NAITO COUNTERS WITH THE ROLLING KICK. NAITO FOLLOWS UP WITH A DRAGON SUPLEX. TWO DESTINOS AND IT'S 1! 2!!!! 3!!!!!

My heart still overflows at hearing the fans so firmly behind Naito. And hearing/seeing them go crazy when he finally got the win. Naito pretends to throw the trophy but says lol jk tranquilo. Chono gives Naito the LIJ fist bump. I love it. I love it all.

[puroresu-musings]