#g1 climax 1998

[skelltan]

jesus fucking christ i'm a noob when it comes to puro but the matches i saw of the 1998 g1. all those guys were masters of psychology and using it to invest the crowd heavily in their matches

[duhragonball]

November Plannin'

All right, I've been thinking it over, and I think I'm gonna have to pull the plug on my NaNoWriMo account. The AI thing irks me, because to me the organization seems to think that it doesn't matter if you use Chat GPT or some other damn thing to reach the goal. And I do think it matters, because to me the whole point of the exercise is that those 50,000 words come from me, and me alone. The only software I need is Notepad.exe. I only downloaded iA Writer because it was like a Notepad.exe for my phone, and I got FocusWriter because it's like Notepad.exe with a wordcounter.

I've heard about the Nano community, and the writing groups, and the public meet-ups, and I'm not knocking any of that stuff, but I never had any interest in that. I just used the website to keep score, and I guess that's what bugs me, because by refusing to condemn AI, they're basically insinuating that the score doesn't matter. "It doesn't matter what you wrote." Someone told me that once and it still gets me kinda hot.

NaNoWriMo doesn't care if I write the words or not. All the org seems to care about is having participants who'll buy the merch and click on their sponsors, or whatever. They're gonna do this shady crap and they take the participants for granted. "What are you gonna do? Leave? You need us to reach your writing goals!"

That's the message I get from them. That's what made me reluctant to decide, because it is handy, and there's a certain anxiety that if I give up the structure the site offers, I might not reach my goal.

And that's the "creative monster" I need to slay this year. When I was in college, I took a semester of creative writing, and there was an assignment called "Killing the Creative Monster", and I interpreted it as a sense of not having enough time to write. Things kept happening, and the stuff I wanted to do seemed like it would take too long with no certainty that it would be worthwhile. That was in 1998. In 2024, the Creative Monster is the idea that I'm dependent on NanoWriMo to get me where I'm want to be.

So I'm gonna close down my account on the site. But I'm not doing it right away, because first I'm gonna save all the stats and stuff that belong to me. We'll start with the banner image I put up on my profile.

This is Zack Sabre Junior. This year, he won the G1 Climax tournament. He made a big deal about how his career wouldn't be complete until he won the G1. Not just any G1, but this year's tournament. I just put this picture in my profile because I was digging his tag team stuff with Taichi a few years ago, but suddenly I'm reminded of him winning the G1 this year. It was a big deal. He's the first guy to win that I actually wanted to win.

I've won NanoWriMo seven times from 2017 to 2023. But that doesn't matter. Unless I win Unaffiliated Autumnal Writing Challenge (UAWC) in 2024, I'll always feel a bit unsatisfied. That's what this one is about. No pep talks from some author I never heard of because I'm too busy watching anime to read. No funky word-count widget that always malfunctions around midnight. Just me and this computer, and a bunch of tekkers. That's how we're gonna do this one.

Good. I finally feel fired up about this one. I was beginning to get nervous. Let's figure out what I need to work on.

Luffa Annual 6. Ironically, this one actually takes priority over the main fic, becuase it's the Christmas Special, so it has a hard deadline. I was gonna work on it last week, but I kind of blew it off.

I don't know that the annuals are all that popular, but I enjoy making them, even if they are a huge pain in the butt to figure out. I'm glad this is the last one in the set, but I won't just slap it together and call it good.

Tellurium. This is a weird side-bet I'm making here. On my main blog, I used to do a series on the discovery of the chemical elements, and this was the next one on my list back in, uh... 2016. The tricky thing here is that the writing is just part of the job. There's research that goes into this stuff, and I don't want to get lose a days' worth of wordcount trying to wrap my head around molecular orbitals. Call me a glutton for punishment. It'd be relatively easy to just do 10-12 Luffa chapters and call it a month, because I've done that before. I feel like this year needs to be trickier. Also, I really, really want to get Te in the books. I don't think I like the chemical elements more than Luffa, but it is telling that I'm even having that conversation with myself right now.

Luffa 225-234. Of course I still plan to stick with what brung me to the dance. Kakarot is behind me but this fic isn't finished. The problem is that I only have a nebulous plan on where to go from here, and it's coming together a lot more gradually than I thought it would. I plotted a cool scene on my commute this afternoon, so that's a good sign, but I need to be realistic here. Last year went really well because I was writing the Luffa vs. Goku fight that I had been dreaming of for years. Motivation-wise, I've got nowhere to go but down. But I had similar problems in 2018-2020, and I prevailed then.

That Bulma project I was horsing around with. Last year, there was some crank on Twitter getting pissy at anyone who shipped Bulma with any non-canon partners, like there's a rule or something. That kind of inspired me to try to do some shorter works featuring Bulma hooking up with different characters. I didn't get very far last year, but I liked having a side-thing that I could jump into whenever I got stuck with the main work.

You know, thinking about it, I really need to use 2025 to work on some non-Luffa fanfic. In the early years, I worried that working on a longfic would eat up time that I could use for one-shots, and I slowly acclimated to just focusing one thing. But now that the Goku fight is done, the pressure is off to finish Luffa before I die. I mean, it's still not finished, but the Goku fight was a major milestone, and I didn't like the idea of never getting that done.

I mean, I still get kudos on that Caulikale fic I wrote in 2018, and the Gochi thing I did. People like that stuff, and I'm pretty good at making it. Maybe I should run a poll.

I dunno, that's probably enough for now. I should go back to bed. But I feel a lot better about November than I did a few days ago, that's for sure.

[cavenewstimes]

Eddie Kingston Reacts To Appearing In NJPW G1 Climax 2023

Feedzy Read More  By /June 25, 2023 11:30 pm EST Eddie Kingston appeared on Tony Schiavone’s “What Happened When” podcast this week to discuss a 1998 All Japan Pro Wrestling match between Kenta Kobashi and one of Kingston’s heroes, Jun Akiyama. Inevitably, his participation in this year’s NJPW G1 Climax came up, and Kingston was still processing the idea that he’s in it to begin with.  “That’s…

[gdwessel]

G1 Climax 30 Night 3 - 9/23/2020; RIP Road Warrior Animal (9/12/1960 - 9/23/2020); Finlay v. Romero in ROH Pure Tournament; Fredericks on Last Night’s Prime Time Live

G1 Climax 30 resumed today, with A Block matches live from Hokkaido. You can see it now on NJPWWorld. 

- 9/23/2020, Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell

Gabriel Kidd d. Yuya Uemura (Double-Arm Suplex, 7:21) 

G1 Climax 30 A Block: Jeff Cobb [FREE] d. Shingo Takagi [Los Ingobernables] (Tour Of The Islands, 11:44)

G1 Climax 30 A Block: Kazuchika Okada [CHAOS] d. Yujiro Takahashi [Bullet Club] (Money Clip, 12:01)

G1 Climax 30 A Block: Taichi [SZKG] d. Minoru Suzuki [SZKG] (Black Mephisto, 12:11) 

G1 Climax 30 A Block: Will Ospreay [CHAOS] d. Tomohiro Ishii [CHAOS] (Stormbreaker, 18:20)

G1 Climax 30 A Block: Jay White [Bullet Club] d. Kota Ibushi (Blade Runner, 20:28)

Switchblade is now 2-0 against Kota Ibushi since Ibushi bested him at the G1 Climax 29 Final last year. Naturally, he declared he will win G1. And he might! Ospreay will not win G1, but is on a streak anyway, because NJPW are high on him and don’t care if he got a woman blackballed from the industry. 

Taichi had a very good homecoming to Hokkaido for once, getting the win over his Boss. NJPW are now calling Okada’s Cobra Clutch the “Money Clip.” And still trying to make it a Thing. Shingo is 0-2 so far, but that means he’ll be assured a good late run. Gabriel Kidd gets his first ever singles win in NJPW!

Current A Block standings:

Ospreay: 4pts (2W 0D 0L) Taichi: 4pts (2W 0D 0L) White: 4pts (2W 0D 0L) Cobb: 2pts (1W 0D 1L) Ibushi: 2pts (1W 0D 1L) Okada: 2pts (1W 0D 1L) Suzuki: 2pts (1W 0D 1L) Ishii: 0pts (0W 0D 2L) Takagi: 0pts (0W 0D 2L) Yujiro: 0pts (0W 0D 2L)

(L-R: Road Warrior Hawk [Michael Hegstrand], Road Warrior Animal [Joseph Laurinaitis], Power Warrior [Kensuke Sasaki])

Just as I was getting ready to start writing this post, it was reported that Road Warrior Animal (Joseph Laurinaitis) had passed away at the age of 60. The Road Warriors are, of course, one of the most famous and well-regarded tag teams of all time in the wrestling business, and Japan were a huge part of their stomping grounds, although in terms of number of matches, they were more known in All Japan Pro Wrestling than NJPW. The majority of Animal’s matches in NJPW came in 1996, when the Road Warriors were still with WCW, and some of those were in tandem with Kensuke Sasaki in his Power Warrior persona (long story). Nevertheless, the Road Warriors were huge in Japan, working in AJPW, NJPW, Tenryu’s WAR promotion, and even Riki Choshu’s ill-fated Fighting of World Japan Pro Wrestling company in 2003. (Road Warrior Hawk, Michael Hegstrand, would die later in 2003.) Animal even wrestled a select number of matches in Battlarts in 1998 and 2000.

Animal’s brother John is pretty well-known in the wrestling biz, having not only been an executive, both on-screen and off-, for WWE, but also as Johnny Ace, most notably in AJPW, where at one time he had a very well-regarded tag team with Kenta Kobashi, among others. His son James played college football at Ohio State University, as well as an 8-year NFL career, mostly at the then-St. Louis Rams, before retiring after a season at the New Orleans Saints in 2017.

Regardless, there’s nothing I can write that will adequately say what Animal, and the Road Warriors, meant to pro wrestling. Our thoughts and condolences to his loved ones and close friends.

While left out of G1 Climax selection yet again, David Finlay Jr. is keeping himself busy, competing in Ring of Honor’s Pure Tournament. This is the revival of ROH’s former Pure Championship, which was unified and abandoned with the ROH World Title back in 2008 in a classic (but ultimately costly, for the competitors involved) match between Brian Danielson v. Nigel McGuinness. 

Finlay’s opponent for this round was Rocky Romero, who he would defeat. This match is on the current episode of ROH TV, but I’m not even sure which Sinclair Broadcasting sub-network it’s on nowadays (Comet? Charge!? It’s not on YouTube in full). We’ll see how far he gets in this. I can’t imagine he’s happy working ROH again tho.

In other news, the LA Dojo’s Karl Fredericks appeared last night on the United Wrestling Network’s iPPV event Prime Time Live #2, shown on FITE TV for $7.99. This concept is through United Wrestling Network, Billy Corgan’s National Wrestling Alliance and Thunder Studios, being run out of Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, a weekly PPV concept. I hesitate to remind that this is how TNA/Impact started.

Fredericks defeated Slice Boogie in the semi-main event of the show. Danny Limelight, late of NJPW Strong, was also on this show, losing to Kevin Martenson. The main event saw Thunder Rosa retain the NWA Women’s Championship against Priscilla Kelly, which is good as it maintains the storyline Rosa is having in AEW right now.

Tomorrow’s show also comes from Hokkaido, and features the second group of B Block matches, including one that may have some implications down the line depending on how the results go.

- 9/24/2020, Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center Hokkai Kitayell

Yota Tsuji v. Yuya Uemura

G1 Climax 30 B Block: Hirooki Goto [CHAOS] v. SANADA [Los Ingobernables]

G1 Climax 30 B Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi v. Toru Yano [CHAOS]

G1 Climax 30 B Block: Juice Robinson v. KENTA [Bullet Club]

G1 Climax 30 B Block: YOSHI-HASHI [CHAOS] v. EVIL [Bullet Club]

G1 Climax 30 B Block: Tetsuya Naito [Los Ingobernables] v. Zack Sabre Jr. [SZKG]

[mccooley]

@fullmetalturtle requested I talk a bit about AJPW.

The company is currently experiencing a resurgence. Most notably known in the western world for their 90s era with Misawa, Taue, Kawada and Kobashi, All Japan is far removed from those times. Still, they managed to survive, providing that same hard-hitting style with a good crop of both veterans and young up and comers. They recently announced a streaming service to come some time this year and I urge everyone to give them a shot.

All Japan Pro Wrestling was established October 21st, 1972, just a few months after NJPW. The death of Rikidōzan in 1963, the founder of the first Japanese wrestling promotion (JWA), caused a rift inside the company. Shohei "Giant" Baba (AJPW) and Antonio Inoki (NJPW) left the JWA to start their own promotions. Both AJPW and NJPW were wildly popular from their beginnings but both would stumble in the 2000s. When Baba passed away in 1999, another rift was created. The board of directors could not agree on which direction to take the company. This caused a mass exodus where most of AJPW's top stars left to create NOAH, only leaving a couple of stars remaining. Both hurting at this time, All Japan and New Japan began working with each other from 2000-2002. That is until Keiji Mutoh decided to make the jump from New Japan to All Japan and took Satoshi Kojima and Kendo Kashin with him. Mutoh would become president of AJPW until 2011. In 2013 he was promised to have regained his position but this did not happen. Angered, Mutoh lead another exodus, creating his own promotion, Wrestle-1. Since July 1st, 2014 Jun Akiyama  has been the president of AJPW and had lead the promotion on a resurgence. The talent pool is somewhat limited and AJPW is a shell of its former self but they remain active and have several promising young wrestlers who hope to bring the promotion back to its former glory.

Owner: Jun Akiyama

Ace: Suwama Budding Ace: Kento Miyahara

Championships: - Triple Crown Heavyweight - Established 1989 by merging the PWF World Heavyweight, NWA United National and NWA International Heavyweight Championships (Current Champion: Joe Doering) - World Tag Team - Established 1988 by merging PWF Tag Team and NWA International Tag Team Championships (Current Champions: Kento Miyahara & Yoshitatsu) - World Junior Heavyweight - Established 1986 replaced the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship (Current Champion: Atsushi Aoki) - All Asia Tag Team - Established 1955 by the JWA. Abandoned in 1973 but brought back in 1976. The oldest active championship in Japan. (Current Champions: Jun Akiyama & Yuji Nagata) - Gaora TV - Established 2012. Gaora is a TV station that promotes wrestling. (Current Champion: Jun Akiyama)

Tournaments: - Champion Carnival - Established 1973, inactive from 1983 to 1990. Double block round-robin tournament held to determine the best singles wrestler. Older than the G1 Climax by one year. (2017 Winner: Shuji Ishikawa) - Jr. Battle of Glory - First held in 1983 as the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title League. Wasn't used again until 1998. Has happened every year since 2014. Now is held as a double block round-robin tournament like the Champion Carnival. (2017 Winner: Koji Iwamoto) - Jr. Tag Batlle of Glory - First held in 1984 as the International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team League. Wasn't used again until 2002. Has happened every year since 2008. Single block round-robin tournament. (2017 Winners: Atsushi Maruyama & Masashi Takeda) - Ōdō Tournament - Established 2013, this is a singles single elimination where the winner receives a shot at the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. (2017 Winner: Suwama) -  Real World Tag League - Established 1977 and has run every year since. Round-robin (sometimes single block, sometimes double). (2017 Winners: Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa)

[puroresu-musings]

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 27 DAY 2 Review (July 20th, Tokyo Korakuen Hall)

Kota Ibushi & Hirai Kawato vs. Zack Sabre Jr. & El Desperado ***3/4

Togi Makabe, Yuji Nagata & Tiger Mask IV vs. Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo ***1/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay Jr. vs. Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens **1/4

YOSHI-HASHI & Jado vs. Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI **3/4

G1 Climax 27 B Block: Satoshi Kojima v. Juice Robinson ***1/2

G1 Climax 27 B Block: Michael Elgin v. Tama Tonga ***1/2

G1 Climax 27 B Block: SANADA vs. EVIL ****1/4

G1 Climax 27 B Block: Kazuchika Okada vs. Toru Yano ***1/4

G1 Climax 27 B Block: Minoru Suzuki vs. Kenny Omega ****1/2

Photos.

Another great day of G1 action which is hopefully a sign of the month to come. Things started off in strong fashion with a heated tag opener in which Kawato really looked like a star-in-the-making. Also of note were Ibushi and ZSJ’s exchanges, building up their match for tomorrow. Desperado locked Kawato in the dreaded Boston Crab which finishes all the Young Lions, but Kawato broke tradition and fought to the ropes to a huge pop. However Desperado then scored the win with Guitarra del Muerte face buster. Tiger Mask pinned Gedo with a crucifix to end a very entertaining and hard-hitting 8-man, and a couple of ok tag bouts ended when Fale pinned Finlay with the Grenade and BUSHI scored a roll up win over Jado.

Then the B Block kicked off and, much like their A Block counterparts, this was all action. Veteran Satoshi Kojima squared off with Juice Robinson in a very good match, with a hot finishing stretch. Kojima hit a lariat to the back of the head and a brain buster for a near fall. Then he hit a left arm Lariat (not the Strong Arm), which Juice kicked at 2.99. Robinson fought back a scored the big win with Pulp Friction. Juice looked great here. Elgin and Tonga had another really good tourney bout next which featured some stiff action that saw Big Mike bleeding from the mouth. The finish was great as it saw Elgin go for a top rope Death Valley Bomb, but Tonga turned it into a Gun Stun outta nowhere for the surprise win.

Los Ingobernables de Japón exploded in the next match as SANADA defeated EVIL in an excellent contest. These guys were working like they had something to prove. This featured some great spots, including SANADA channelling mentor Keiji Muto by hitting an Ace Crusher off the apron to the floor as EVIL was seated on the top rope, much like what Muto did to Genichiro Tenryu in their classic 1998 G1 bout. SANADA kept escaping EVIL’s Banshee Muzzle face lock and EVIL kept getting out of Skull End. After lots of great back-and-forth action, SANADA took the 2 points with the Muto Moonsault. The two bumped fists in the post match. Then CHAOS exploded in the next match as IWGP Champion Okada defeated thieving clown Toru Yano in a very entertaining comedy contest. This wasn't much of a wrestling match but it had me laughing aloud several times. My favourite sequence saw Yano hit Gedo with an inverted atomic drop on the outside, which Gedo sold like death. Okada then tossed Yano into the crowd and went for his dive, but was stopped by Jado. Yano then pushed Jado into Okada and hit both with low blows, then as Yano celebrated this, Gedo recovered and hit a low blow on Yano, leaving everyone prone on the outside. This teased a double count out spot, but both rolled in at 19, then Okada got the submission win with Red Ink. 

The main event, a first time meeting between Kenny Omega and Minoru Suzuki was another excellent match and the best of the night. This was crazy and all-action, Suzuki worked over Omega’s knee all match which Kenny sold tremendously, and actually worked in covering some not-so-smooth spots. After brawling through the crowd, Kenny went for V-trigger, but Suzuki pulled Red Shoes in front of him and the ref took the knee. At this point Suzuki-gun ran out and attacked Omega, which brought out Chase Owens who was swiftly beaten down, which brought out Fale who cleared house. Kenny hit a springboard splash over the barricade onto all the Suzuki-gun members, then fell prey to Suzuki who locked in all kinds of leg locks and kneebars in dramatic sequences. Omega escaped a rear naked choke and annihilated Suzuki with stiff V-Triggers, including one which Suzuki sold like he’d been shot, for a tremendous near fall. A reverse Frankensteiner fell apart as, you know, those aren't the kind of bumps Suzuki usually takes, but it was covered up by Kenny selling the knee, as if he couldn't hit it because of the knee. Omega followed it up with two hard V-Triggers and the One Winged Angel to score the win and the 2 points. This was all fantastic stuff. 

NDT

[lostinyourears]

Hashimoto Shinya kills Genichiro Tenryu in the 1998 G1 Climax Second Round

[placetobenation]

Earlier today it came to light that the wrestling business had lost another family member as it was announced that Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, member of the famous Hart Family and father of current WWE Superstar Natalya, had passed away at home aged 63. I would like to take this moment to pay tribute to the legendary superstar.

Born February 8th, 1955 in Tampa, Florida, James Henry Neidhart was an acclaimed track-and-field athlete in high school. Indeed, he set his school’s shot-put record, which stood for over 10 years. From high school, Neidhart went straight to the National Football League where he was on the practice squad, and played pre-season games, for the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys. It was following his release from the Cowboys that Neidhart moved to Calgary and found his calling.

Neidhart started training with Stu Hart and would debut with Stampede Wrestling in 1979, the same year in which he married Stu’s daughter Elizabeth. Neidhart would have a successful run in Calgary, winning the International Tag Team Championship twice. During this time, he would also get the nickname that he is still known by today – “The Anvil”. The nickname finds its origins from his win in an anvil toss at the annual Calgary Stampede, with a throw of over 11 feet.

In between his Stampede days and his arrival in the World Wrestling Federation, Neidhart would tour the US territories with runs in Mid-South, Memphis and Florida, winning gold along the way.

Anvil finally made it to the WWF in January 1985, debuting at Madison Square Garden under the tutelage of Mr. Fuji. The strange pairing of Fuji and Neidhart was short-lived however, as his contract was soon sold to “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart after his brother-in-law Bret Hart suggested to Vince McMahon that he and Anvil team up. This proved to be a fantastic suggestion to the boss as the newly coined Hart Foundation (named after their manager, not because of the team’s real-life family ties) went on to be one of the greatest teams in company history.

The team won their first WWF Tag Team Championship on the February 7, 1987 edition of Superstars defeating perennial rivals (and fellow Stampede alumni) The British Bulldogs. They would continue through the year as the premier team in the division before losing the titles to Strike Force in November.

Anvil took part in the WrestleMania IV battle royal, eventually won by Bad News Brown. Bret would be the last eliminated from the match which for me would set the tone of most of the rest of Neidhart’s WWF career – Anvil would continually get the raw deal with the company’s attempts to give Bret a singles run.

While the team wouldn’t officially separate, Hart and Neidhart would compete in singles matches throughout 1989, briefly coming together to have a blistering match against the Brain Busters in the opener of that year’s SummerSlam, before once again going back to singles competition. This was short lived as the Foundation would once again the tag titles in a 2/3 falls match against Demolition at SummerSlam ’90, when they held them until WrestleMania VII where they lost them to the Nasty Boys.

The team would split for good after losing the Tag Team Titles but are still revered to this day. The mix of Bret’s technical ability and Anvil’s raw power were a match made in heaven. Whilst Bret was undoubtedly the more successful of the two, Anvil was no slouch and could easily hold up his end of the bargain.

Anvil wouldn’t be without a partner (or brother-in-law) for too long, as The New Foundation would debut in late 1991 with Neidhart teaming with Bret’s younger brother Owen. The team are best remembered for their garish outfits more than high profile moments, and would break up when Neidhart was let go by the WWF in February 1992.

He would return to the WWF in mid-1994 and would be involved in the ongoing Bret vs. Owen feud, but not before he would have short stints in WCW, ECW and New Japan, where he would compete in the 1992 G1 Climax tournament. Anvil would side with Owen after his King of the Ring win and would act as his bodyguard for the rest of the year and into 1995. Bret wrote in his book that the apparent original plan for the Tag Team Title tournament in early 1995 would call for Owen and Anvil to win the titles, but these were scrapped when Neidhart would be let go.

He would make a brief return as the masked character Who in 1996, a gimmick seemingly only created so commentators Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler could make word puns on TV broadcasts, but it was in 1997 that Anvil would be part of a storyline that is still remembered fondly today.

He made a shocking return to the WWF once again on April 28, attacking Stone Cold Steve Austin and reforming the Hart Foundation with Bret, Owen, British Bulldog and Brian Pillman, in their ongoing feud with Austin, Shawn Michaels and the USA as a whole. The peak of this storyline may well be the night of Canadian Stampede in Calgary where the Hart Foundation would win the main event ten man tag team encounter against Austin, Ken Shamrock, Goldust and the Legion of Doom.

There are many matches that can be recommended with Neidhart as a participant, and the WWE Network will probably add a Neidhart collection, but if you do nothing else, please load up the main event of Canadian Stampede. The passion in the arena, the reactions the Hart Foundation get when they come through the curtain (even though 60% of the team weren’t even Canadian!), and just the all-round spectacle of the match are something that I doubt will ever be replicated. This match is my personal recommendation.

The Canada vs USA feud involving the Hart Foundation could be seen as the dawning of the Attitude Era, and everyone involved was at the peak of their powers. Then Montreal happened. We all know what went down that night, so I won’t go into it all here, however it spelled the end of the WWF career of Jim Neidhart as he left a few weeks after the event. He would go on to have a short run in WCW, tagging with brother-in-law Davey Boy Smith. The run would be cut short by a devastating back injury suffered by Davey Boy in the fall of 1998. From there Neidhart would enter semi-retirement, with only a presence in the RAW XV legends battle royal and a match in TNA against Jay Lethal in 2009 being his only appearances on the major stage since leaving WCW.

Jim Neidhart will be remembered by the wrestling world as the imposing figure of the Hart Foundation, known for his trademark beard and extremely distinctive laugh. As mentioned, he was part of one of the greatest tag teams in WWF/E history and his contribution to that team can’t be understated.

It is times like these where we should be even more grateful for the WWE Network, as it allows a new audience to see performers like Jim Neidhart do what they do best to the highest standard. Because of this medium, Jim Neidhart’s contributions to the wrestling world will deservedly never be forgotten.

I’d like to finish off this tribute with a few comments from the Nation, and please leave your own personal thoughts in the comments section below, or on the PTBN Facebook page.

Rest in Peace Anvil.

Greg Phillips – “Anvil was exactly what he needed to be in the Foundation. He was agile, powerful, explosive. The perfect compliment to Bret, who could handle the bulk of the bumping, selling and flow of the match. I love their match with the Brainbusters so much, partly because when Anvil does the slingshot shoulder block, it blew me away. There’s something to be said for a tag team where partners fill different roles. I always liked how the Hart Foundation had that mix of power and speed, and Anvil also brought a ton of charisma to the team to counter Bret’s stoicism.””

Andy Atherton – “RIP Anvil. One of the best laughs in the history of wrestling. He wasn’t the greatest in the ring, but he did a lot of little things that made a difference. He was exactly what the power half of a team should be”

Shawn Kidd – “A couple of stand outs for me. Both Hart title wins over Bulldogs and Demolition. Like Greg said their match with Tully and Arn may have been my first dream match as both teams were my absolute favourites. And who can forget his role in the Savage face turn as he and Bret held him for the Honky guitar shot”

Michael DeDamos – “The energy he put into promos for the Hart Foundation helped the team as much as anything. Can you imagine if Bret had been teamed with someone of similar mic skills and charisma at the time? And the promo style fit so well at the time. Shouting, lots of energy, not a whole lot you could understand. Hogan, Warrior, Boss Man and many others had that similar promo style going on at the time and Anvil was as good at it as anyone.”

JT Rozzero – “The Beyond the Mat scene with him prepping for the promo is the best. Also, I loved his return in 1997, when he shows up and helps Bret attack Austin out of nowhere was really cool and kind of became a glue moment of the Hart Foundation. Finally, it’s is overlooked just how much of a focal point he was in the Bret vs. Owen feud in 1994. They really pushed that Anvil cause the break and was the voice in Owen’s ear the entire time.”

[pwrestlingxpress]

Official Music Video for G1 Climax 28

Down below is the official music video for G1 Climax 28 presented by Sengoku Enbu KIZNA entitled “Break the Contradictions” by Man with a Mission

Enjoy the video above and enjoy the G1 Climax starting this Saturday morning at 5:30 AM Eastern.  Once again, here are the 20 participants competing including NEW affiliates/stables due to what happened over the weekend in San Francisco and the 27 winners of this prestigious tournament. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi

Togi Makabe (GBH)

Michael Elgin

Kazuchika Okada (Chaos)

Jay White (Chaos)

YOSHI-HASHI (Chaos)

Adam Page (Bullet Club/ROH)

Bad Luck Fale (Bullet Club)

“King of Darkness” EVIL (Los Ingobernables de Japon)

Minoru Suzuki (Suzuki-gun)

Reigning G1 Climax Winner Tetsuya Naito (Los Ingobernables de Japon)

Seiya Sanada (Los Ingobernables de Japon)

Tomohiro Ishii (Chaos)

Reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega (Bullet Club/Golden☆Lovers)

Kota Ibushi (Golden☆Lovers)

Tama Tonga (Guerillas of Destiny)

Reigning NEVER Open-weight Champion Hirooki Goto (Chaos)

Toru Yano (Chaos)

Reigning IWGP United States Champion Juice Robinson

Zack Sabre Jr. (Suzuki-gun) 

The 27 winners of the G1 as viewed in the video above including their ages at the time of winning the event:

1991 Winner:  Masahiro Chono (age 27)

1992 Winner:  Masahiro Chono (age 28) 

1993 Winner:  Tatsumi Fujinami (age 39)

1994 Winner:  Masahiro Chono (age 30)

1995 Winner:  Keiji Mutoh (age 32)

1996 Winner:  Riki Choshu (age 45)

1997 Winner:  Kensuke Sasaki (age 30)

1998 Winner:  Shinya Hashimoto (age 33)

1999 Winner:  Manabu Nakanishi (age 32)

2000 Winner:  Kensuke Sasaki (age 34)

2001 Winner:  Yuji Nagata (age 33)

2002 Winner:  Masahiro Chono (age 38)

2003 Winner:  Hiroyoshi Tenzan (age 32)

2004 Winner:  Hiroyoshi Tenzan (age 33)

2005 Winner:  Masahiro Chono (age 41)

2006 Winner:  Hiroyoshi Tenzan (age 35)

2007 Winner:  Hiroshi Tanahashi (age 30)

2008 Winner:  Hirooki Goto (age 29)

2009 Winner:  Togi Makabe (age 36)

2010 Winner:  Satoshi Kojima (age 39)

2011 Winner:  Shinsuke Nakamura (age 31) (Chaos)

2012 Winner:  Kazuchika Okada (age 24) (Chaos)

2013 Winner:  Tetsuya Naito (age 31)

2014 Winner:  Kazuchika Okada (age 26) (Chaos) 

2015 Winner:  Hiroshi Tanahashi (age 38)

2016 Winner:  Kenny Omega (age 32) (Bullet Club)

2017 Winner:  Tetsuya Naito (age 34) (Los Ingobernables de Japon)

G1 Climax 28 presented by Sengoku Enbu KIZNA starts this Saturday from the Ota City Gymnasium only on NJPW World at 5:30 AM Eastern/6:30 PM local time.  Go to timeanddate.com for the time start in your area

[lostinyourears]

Fire Pro Roster Recap #3 : Thunder Pro Wrestling Retsuden

Figured I’d knock this one out since it seemingly has the smallest roster of the console releases for this series. This one is probably one of the last ones I would recommend because it’s rough and earlier edition of Fire Pro. While on the SNES the series became more polished and pretty much perfected the formula by the last few iterations on SNES. This would be the only Fire Pro game on the Sega Genesis and because of that is fairly unpolished and as said above has a small 12 man roster. 

Since most of these were also featured in the first game of the series I will be copying the bios over and will designate those entries with an asterisk which will make future entries easier because I already have a real life photo of them and a written bio.

Akira Maeda (*) : A wrestler who worked for many companies and is credited with being one of the pioneers of the shoot style. He worked for NJPW, Japan UWF(Which he co-created and was a promoter for) and he was even featured on World of Sports working for all 3 of those companies in the 80′s before 1991 rolled around Akira Maeda would found the wrestling promotion Rings, that would later shift focus in 1995 and become an MMA promotion.

Antonio Inoki (*) : Oh boy! Inoki, how can I sum up such a massive and important career in a paragraph? Truth be told I can’t for him or any of these men, but here we go. Inoki is one of the most important wrestlers ever and is credited with the invention of the enzuigiri. When Inoki started down the wrestling path he train with Karl Gotch in old school catch wrestling. Inoki would name his own style of wrestling ‘Strong Style’ which is still used today by many Japanese talents.

Inoki is also credited as being a forefather of the modern MMA boom. Inoki use to fight people from around the world who all were trained in different fighting arts. Many of his fights were scripted, but still showed the world was interested in that kind of competition. Also, he fought Ric Flair in North Korea which drew 150,000 and 190,000 people for the two day event and is still the biggest wrestling show in recorded history.  

I could go on for ages about Inoki as he has a long intriguing history. He ontop of the above listed things also was : founder of NJPW in 1972 which came about after Rikidozan’s(The original Japanese Wrestler/Promoter) Japanese Wrestling Association went defunct having NJPW/AJPW spring up in it’s place. Inoki owned NJPW out right until he sold the company to Yuke’s in 2005. Inoki is also a politician in his home country of Japan where he was elected to positions twice. That’s all for Inoki, if you want to know more feel free to look him up. I’d be surprised if there wasn’t books about the man who has a huge legacy.

Bam Bam Bigelow : Bam Bam first worked smaller promotions before working for WWF in the mid 80′s before going to NJPW from 1989-1992 where he would form a dominant tag team with Vader, the two even capturing the IWGP Tag Titles. After his stint in NJPW he would go on to work for all 3 of the major US Promotions in the 90′s WWF, WCW and ECW. Most notably headlining WM XI versus linebacker Lawrence Taylor in what may be the highest profile match to ever include a non-wrestler. He was also a main event talent in ECW helping lend credibility to the 3rd player in the United States wrestling scene.

Genichiro Tenryu (*) : Genichiro like many wrestlers actually started in a different Martial Art. Sumo, which is of course very popular in Japan. Tenryu started his sumo training at the young age of 13 and would continue down that path for another 13 years before shifting his focus to the Puroresu ring.  He would then be scouted by Giant Baba of AJPW. Tenryu would be sent over to Texas where he was trained by Dory Funk Jr and Terry Funk. In the early 80′s Tenryu would team with Jumbo Tsuruta collectively called  “Kakuryu” (鶴 = kaku = tsuru (the “tsuru” in Tsuruta) + 龍 = ryū in Tenryū).

Tenryu would go on to become one of the most decorated players in AJPW history. The Tokyo Sports awards, a non partisan award for japanese wrestling achievements would give Tenryu Best bout/MOTY award an astonishing 9 times and call him MVP of the year 4 different times.

Hulk Hogan : A man who doesn’t need an introduction or an explanation, but just in case you’ve had the 80′s erased from your memory. Hulk Hogan is easily considered the biggest draw in the 1980′s wrestling scene. Main eventing several Wrestlemania’s, the only wrestlers of the 80′s who can rival him in North America would have to be Ric Flair. He would go on to reinvent himself in the mid 90′s and become a focus of WCW programming when he was the 3rd man in the stable NWO. 

Jumbo Tsuruta (*) : Another huge star for AJPW through the 80′s. Jumbo as mentioned above was a stellar tag team with Tenryu. He also had 7 MOTY’s from Tokyo sports and captured nearly anything of note in AJPW. He would sadly die in the year 2000 after complications from a kidney transplant, just short a year after his retirement in 1999. Though he hadn’t been in serious competition most of the 1990′s where he mostly worked 6 man tag matches that were comedic in tone.

Jushin Thunder Liger : Arguably the greatest Cruiserweight/Junior Heavyweight of all time. Jushin Thunder Liger has done almost anything you can name. While he never worked in AJPW, he had done pretty much everything you can in NJPW including being one of two men who have won BOSJ on 3 separate occasions. He also worked in several North American companies : TNA, CMLL, WCW and most recently a one off match in NXT in 2015. In the early 1990′s he was one of the most beloved wrestlers by WoN who voted him best Technical/Best High Flyer/Most Outstanding All 3, 3 years in a row. 1990-1992. You’d have a hard time finding many more wrestlers more decorated than Liger. 

Kensuke Sasaki : A mega star of Japan who started in the business in 1986, before taking an international excursion which is common for young guys stars of NJPW to do as a way of gaining skills outside the Japanese ecosystem. When he returned to Japan in the early 90′s he formed a popular tag team with fellow wrestler Hiroshi Hase the two having a great series of matches with the Steiner Brothers who were in Japan and worked with NJPW through WCW as well. Kensuke is one of two men to ever hold all three major Japanese Heavyweight titles : IWGP(NJPW), Triple Crown(AJPW) and GHC(NOAH). He also founded his own promotion Diamond Ring which he ran from 2005-2014 when it closed it’s doors. Sasaki has retired, his last match was in DDT in 2015 though his official retirement happened before that. 

Riki Choshu (*) : Riki Choshu innovated a move that would define early 90′s wrestling in the states and most don’t even know it. That move being The Sharpshooter or as Riki Choshu called it : Sasori-gatame.

Riki Choshu is also credited as being the first ever traitor heel in Japan. Turning on his friend Fujinami after being snubbed for the inaugural tournament for the IWGP Heavyweight championship in 1983. Riki Choshu is also one of the few people to do a clean sweep of the G1 Climax where he won every match in the tournament he had.

In 1998 Riki Choshu would retire, his final card he wrestled 5 matches in one night and won 4 of them. After his retirement he would focus more as a booker at NJPW where he spent most of his career. He has moved a decent amount post 2000 and even had a deathmatch in FMW shortly after his retirement. He has wrestled sparingly in the years since, but not full time.  

Stan Hansen (*) : You can’t talk gaijin(Japanese for Foreigner) and not mention Stan Hansen. The cream of the crop when it comes to American assholes in Japan. The man’s career started with a very good case of ‘turning Lemons into Lemonade’ when he accidently broke Bruno Sammartino’s neck via a botched powerslam. The bookers and Hansen rolled with it and instead claimed the break came at the end of one of Stan Hansen’s destructive lariats.

Stan Hansen would leave WWF shortly after that and have a brief run in NJPW where he participated in the first ever G1 Tag League with his partner Hulk Hogan.

He would move over to AJPW where he would make his name winning anything he could get his hands on. He also was awarded MOTY 3 times by Tokyo sports vs great talents Kawada, Giant Baba and Tenryu. He would also win Most Outstanding Foreigner in 1982 and most popular wrestler in 1980. He by no means invented the lariat, but many credit him with it’s incredible popularity in Japan.

Super Strong Machine : Super Strong Machine is an old school 80′s talent who is most known as a tag team competitor having 3 reigns with the IWGP Tag Titles. He had an excursion like many NJPW talents where he played a native character in Stampede wrestling named Sonny Two Rivers in 83/84, before coming back to NJPW where he wrestled mostly as Super Strong Machine though in various points in his career he wrestled without a mask as just Junji Hirata his real name. He still works in NJPW as a trainer, his last match was in 2014 and most of the 2000′s he worked in tag/trio matches. I did a spotlight on him which you can find here.

Big Van Vader : If Stan Hansen isn’t the most important and over villainous gaijin in NJPW. Starting in AWA in the mid 80′s, his career didn’t really take off until he made his way to Japan in 1988 when he pulled a MitB, Inoki had already had a grueling match with Riki Choshu, but Vader appeared and challenged Inoki, who accepted and was quickly slain by Vader. The pro-Inoki crowd went crazy and rioted which got NJPW banned from the Sumo Hall that had been their home arena for a year or so. 

From this giant debut Vader would go on to become the first ever gaijin/foreigner to win the IWGP Heavyweight championship. He would also win the tag titles with Bam Bam Bigelow in the same time period of the early 90′s. Vader would also have famously one of the most stiff brawls ever  when he and Stan Hansen collided as the two big monsters of AJPW/NJPW at a crossover show. 

He would have success in WCW after this and have a less than memorable run in WWF, the less said about that the better. He would come back to Japan working in both NJPW and NOAH. He retired in 2006 before coming back in 2011 where he has wrestled sporadically every year since.

How’s it play? Awful, the first few SNES games are this unpolished, but have larger rosters. The latter half of the SNES Fire Pro games are polished and have bigger rosters and even the first game on TurboGrafx-16 had 16 people on the roster. 

The thin roster, unpolished gameplay and look leave this as perhaps the weakest entry on any console. While oftentimes Fire Pro is the best option for a wrestling game on any given system, I don’t think that’s the case with this Sega Genesis/Mega Drive entry in the series which is the only Fire Pro game for the system compared to the 6+ on the SNES the last 2-3 of which are great. 

[lostinyourears]

ALL ABOARD! THE G1 HYPE TRAIN #1 : Hashimoto Shinya vs Genichiro Tenryu in the 1998 G1 Climax Second Round

This will be a short lived series to build hype for others, but also myself for the upcoming G1 Climax 27. I decided to do this separate of the Puroresu Rewind series mostly because I didn’t want to do 3-5 of that series in the next 10 days leading up to G1 Climax 27, then have to play catch up with it’s two sister series.

 So this series will be it’s own ‘G1 Hype Train’ series. Hopefully if this whole tumblr thing works out next year I’ll revive it to build hype to the G1 Climax 28, but let's not put the cart before the horse.

Today we will be looking at a 2nd round match in the 1998 G1 Climax, which was a single elimination tournament and is also the last time the single elimination format was used for the G1 Climax. 

Video Link for those with NJPW World

Hashimoto Shinya vs Genichiro Tenryu

Who’s who? 

Hashimoto Shinya is one of the most decorated men in NJPW history, his 3rd IWGP Heavyweight Championship reign in 1996 being the longest in the belts history with 489 days. Which might not seem long, but one has to remember this belt was created in 1987 after the era of wrestling where guys would hold a major belt for 1,000+ days. 

Hashimoto is also one (the others being Keiji Mutoh and Satoshi Kojima) of three wrestlers that have held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship(which made the rounds in various places after NWA became a bit irrelevant), the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship(AJPW’s top belt) and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship(NJPW’s top belt).

Genichiro Tenryu is one of the more decorated men in AJPW history, where he held pretty much any honor that promotion could give you. The top of which is their Triple Crown Championship which he held 3 times being #6 all time days with that belt. Tenryu’s roots were in Sumo wrestling where he competed/trained for 13 years from the age of 13 to 26 before leaving it for professional wrestling. 

He more than excelled at pro wrestling having 9 Tokyo Sports ‘Best Bout/MOTY’ awards and 4 Meltzer 5 star match rankings, no doubt considered one of the best wrestlers to ever work in Japan.

What are they wearing?

I gushed so much about both men I forgot to describe who was who in the video. Hashimoto Shinya is wearing long black pants with red trim while Genichiro Tenryu is in black trunks and yellow boots both wearing what is their signature attire. 

How’s the match?

Brutal, it’s just completely brutal and grueling for a 2nd round tournament match. I think the one complaint I have that I could see others having as well is simply the strike heavy bout feels a little one note because of it. Dave Meltzer rated this match a 4.75 stars and I’d probably be a little lower myself. Not that it’s not a fun watch because it is. Had this been 10 minutes or so longer the onenote complaint would be much harsher. Though since this is a 15 minute or so fight the striking focus of the match doesn’t hurt it all that much. 

I’d describe it as 2 guys who showed up without a script or having practiced this fight and just winging it. I don’t mean that in a bad way, as the improv of the match was just, “Let’s have a striking war until one of us can’t get back up.” To steal a line from spinal tap, this is ‘Strong Style’ turned up to 11. If you don’t mind a wrestling bout that’s 90% striking this might be one of your favorite matches. 

I’d argue it’s one note, but when that one note is played so expertly it’s hard to complain. Hashimoto might be one of the best pure strikers to ever step in the ring, every hit of his just feels like a bullet and with that analogy by the end of this match Hashimoto and Tenryu are basically Bonnie and Clyde.

Final Thoughts

Leaving this match, I’m pretty interested to see how the next two rounds played out in the tournament. Neither was reviewed as highly by Meltzer, but I have a hard time imagining the finals of any tournament not to have the excitement ramped up. 

So don’t be too surprised if I cover the Semi-Finals/Finals of the 1998 G1 in this G1 Hype Train series. 

This series will be dictated by what good/great G1 matches I can find on NJPW World and won’t be just G1 as I may likely go back to the precursor tournaments : International Wrestling Grand Prix, MSG League, World Cup Tournament and World League of which there were 17 years of under those various names before the 27 G1s, meaning this tournament by NJPW has actually be going on for 44 years or... more specifically since 1974.

Highlights : 

Hashimoto Shinya vs Genichiro Tenryu in the 1998 G1 Climax Second Round

[lostinyourears]

Masked Matches of May XXIX : Ultimo Guerrero vs Texano Jr. in the inaugural(2009) Universal Title Tournament Finals, June 19th 2009 in CMLL

Video link to the event over at Youtube: https://youtu.be/iFdUipGMpwI

Cagematch page for this match/event.

Who’s Who?

Ultimo Guerrero

Making his debut in 1990 the first part of that decade he would be off the radar. His first wide exposure coming in the short lived Promo Azteca promotion that ran for a few years in the late 1990′s before making his way to CMLL in 1998 where he has been ever since, doing independent dates as well.

At this point the gold on record for Ultimo Guerrero was the CMLL World Tag Team Champion(5x) and Trios Champion(x2). As well as a long reign with the CMLL World Light Heavyweight Championship in the early 2000′s and was currently the Heavyweight Championship which he comes out with in this match.

6-0-0 was his luchas de apuestas record at the time. His 1st unmasking being Mr. Aguila at 1998′s CMLL Anniversary another notable win/shaving was his 6th being Super Parka who was also once known as Volador and is father of the Volador Jr. who is now one of Ultimo’s biggest rivals. 

This match is while Ultimo was already positioned as the top rudo of the company. Him winning Gran Prix the last 2 years for Team Mexico and now fighting in the 1st Universal Tournament. His ticket in being his CMLL World Heavyweight Championship.

Texano Jr.

Making his debut in 1999, he got his start in IWRG before making his way to CMLL in 2003 where he would work until making his way to AAA in 2012 where he has worked since. 

Texano in the decade or so he had been had been working at this point held the Mexican National Trios Champion (with Maximo and El Sagrado) and to get into this tournament was holding the NWA World Light Heavyweight Champion. His first singles gold in any company as far as I can tell. He had by this point won something that never really caught on 2005′s Mexican Junior. G1 Climax CMLL has had many tournaments that didn’t become regular annual things. 

8-1-0 was his luchas de apuestas record at the time. It may have been 7 since the date of his win over Rambo is unknown and could have been after this. He was originally known as Kempo Kid before coming to CMLL where he’d lose his mask to Stuka Jr. which is where the 1 loss come from. 

Texano Jr. around this point would be picking up more steam and this match might be the one that’s considered his start as a main eventer first in CMLL and carrying that momentum over to AAA where he works these days. His tag team with older talent Terrible was very popular in 2009 as well. 

How is the match?

Great, this was something CMLL were probably planning to make annual. So this match had to be a fun one if you want to put the concept of a championship tournament over. Two blocks on 2 Friday shows in a row and then a final. Which would go on to become the norm for all CMLL’s tournaments. Which I think helps make the matches more memorable than when CMLL use to to tournaments all in one night. Having a final like this as a main event is always nice.

I’m going to be honest with you, this was actually a replacement for a match I watched from this year that seemed too onenote to recommend. My internet also died for a portion of today so it probably wasn’t the best choice, but I didn’t want to put anything I thought was too subpar. This is much better than Dos Caras Jr. vs Ultimo Guerrero from February of this same year 2009. It was a little one note and felt like a build to a title match or something bigger. 

Anyways, back to this match which I think is a great clash between champions. Of course the CMLL Heavyweight Champion and NWA Light Heavyweight Champion battle to prove who is the superior champion. Love this concept and glad it’s still going about a decade later with Ultimo likely being in it again like he is most years. Texano Jr. really impresses and show’s that while he is younger than Ultimo he is no rookie. Some of his diving swanton offense here looked perfect. Ultimo rarely disappoints and this match is one of his many classics when it comes to big matches. 

As I said at the end of his section this is really Texano Jr. getting his momentum. Just as this is one of Ultimo’s best matches the same holds true for Texano Jr. and he wouldn’t get singles gold again after this year until getting the AAA Mega Championship in AAA. Texano Jr. being the AAA Standard bearer having the most defenses with that belt and total amount of days over his 2 reigns. So both guys are great talents who have become very decorated since this match happened and both were in big spots at the time too obviously. 

A well fought match with a good ending. I like the finish and I’ll always be down for a well executed Guerrero Special. Gotta love the pomp and circumstance and the Universal title is great. It looks a bit gaudy, but I think that fits for a belt we only see for a few days of the year annually. The confetti too was obviously great too raining down in high quantities. 

Highlights :

Ultimo Guerrero vs Texano Jr. in the inaugural(2009) Universal Title Tournament Finals, June 16th 2009 in CMLL

[lostinyourears]

G1 Hype Train #8 : 1993′s G1 Finals

Card with Guide

I know the G1 Climax is over, but covering G1′s for me will probably continue to fall under this banner. At least the finals, which has mostly been what this series is about. This was voted on by my sole patron, who had 5 options to choose from and being a 10 dollar backer I’ll cover something at his suggestion in the near future as well. 

Tournament Format

The tournament in 1993 was single elimination 16 man tournament.

Hiroshi Hase beat in this order :  Shinya Hashimoto,  Kengo Kimura then Masahiro Chono in the semi finals.

While Tatsumi Fujinami beat in this order :  Yoshiaki Fujiwara,  Osamu Kido and  Keiji Mutoh in the finals. Mutoh was Hiroshi Hase’s tag team partner at the time.

Hiroshi Hase vs. Tatsumi Fujinami(link for those with NJPW World) 

Who’s who?

Tatsumi Fujinami was heir apparent to babyface Inoki as NJPW’s wrestling face. He was the japanese guy holding the IWGP Heavyweight title the most in its early life from 1988 to his 6th reign in 1998. A record that wouldn’t be beaten until Hiroshi Tanahashi had his historic 7th reign in 2014. Fujinami didn’t defend as often as some of the later era champions like Hashimoto, Mutoh, Tanahashi and current champion Okada. Beyond the IWGP Heavyweight Title Fujinami also held NWA belts, WWF belts and throughout the 80′s was awarded various things by both Tokyo sports and Wrestling observer newsletter. So, by the 1993 G1 he was already a very well established singles competitor.

Hiroshi Hase,  while not the well established IWGP Heavyweight Champion that Fujinami was going into this match. Hiroshi Hase was 2 time IWGP Jr. Champion at this point. One of the early champions in that belt’s linage. He was more known as a tag team player though as he had the IWGP tag belts 3 times before this match, with partners : Kensuke Sasaki and Keiji Mutoh. I covered one of these great tag bout with Hiroshi Hase a few months ago as a part of the series on WON’s MOTYs.   

How’s the match?

Starts slow, but it picks up after things go outside the ring. It might be a little too submission heavy for some peoples taste. I think that once throws do start happening it gets a little better. Lacks in strikes completely though, I think you could count the strikes on both hands. That doesn’t make it a bad match, but it’s a little disappointing. 

When this match got hot though, it gets real hot. I love the ending 5 minutes, but hated the first 3 minutes which had me worried the whole match was going to drag. 

The takeaway I had after researching the match is a sadness for Hiroshi Hase who really shines here, but never really got a main event run after this or even a singles run of any significance. 

Great match, but probably not going to be in the top 5 I’ve covered. It’s just that the G1 Finals are full of fantastic matches, I’d recommend watching it still though. Hase and Fujinami are in top form throughout. 

Highlights : 

[lostinyourears]

THE G1 HYPE TRAIN #7 :  G1 Climax 2015 Finals

Card with guide

Another few break days means only one thing! More G1 Hype Train! Yet again, not on purpose I find myself covering another talent who was already covered. I looked at the G1 Climax from a decade ago and Tanahashi was in the finals and we find him in this one from 2 years ago as well.

The 2015 G1 Climax Finals!

Tournament format :

The tournament is the same format we saw this year. 2 ten man blocks with point values of 2 for a win 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. The winners of both blocks taking each other on in the finals. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura(Link for those with NJPW World)

Who’s who?

Hiroshi Tanahashi we’ve covered before, but this is 8 years later so many things have changed about the man. Last we covered him on here was 2007′s final vs Yuji Nagata which he won. That big win would lead to about 8 more years of winning and elevated him to what fans and NJPW themselves call the ‘ace’, which is basically face of the promotion. Hiroshi Tanahashi became basically the John Cena or Hulk Hogan of NJPW. In 2014 Tanahashi would pass a major milestone when he became IWGP Heavyweight Championship a 7th time which broke the old record Tatsumi Fujinami set in 1998 when he won and started his 6th reign with that title.

Shinsuke Nakamura however has not appeared in this series yet. Though he easily could have being the winner of the 2011 G1 Climax. Shinsuke Nakamura wasn’t NJPW’s ace at anytime though he and Nakamura are peers. Nakamura does have the bragging rights of getting the title first, having his first IWGP reign nearly 15 years ago in 2003 when he was still pretty young to be the heavyweight champion of NJPW only 23 years old. Nakamura has had the belt less though only having 3 reigns to Hiroshi’s 7 at the point of this G1 Climax. 

An interesting note I’d mention about Shinsuke Nakamura is at the time of this G1 and perhaps until he left NJPW he seemed to be the IWC(Internet Wrestling Community)’s favorite NJPW talent. With recent matches between Omega/Okada those two have quickly filled that hole. 

Nakamura was as prolific for the IWGP IC title as Tanahashi was for the heavyweight title also having the most reigns with that belt at 5. Which in an of itself is impressive as only Goto and Tanahashi have had it more than once with 2 reigns reach, but it gets much more impressive when you go by Defenses where Nakamura has 17 to the next best IC champion Naito who had 5. 

Nakamura was so prolific with that belt that yes... he was even holding it at the time of this G1 and held it till September where he dropped it since he was heading to WWE. 

How’s the match?

Great! Meltzer gave it 5 stars and if I had personal rankings I might be a little lower. Not that it’s bad by any measure, there is just one particular spot that looked a little goofy because it didn’t land the way it was suppose to. I actually didn’t gif it because it was a long spot, but at one point Nakamura does his catch armbar and rolls Tanahashi into the ropes and the two have to do some strange repositioning to get into a better position. It was one flaw in an otherwise flawless match, but when 5 stars means perfect those are the nitpicks that can keep it from being a 5 stars for me. 

Still, it’s a fantastic final and Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura have great chemistry likely thanks to working in the same company for a decade and no doubt clashing dozens if not hundreds of times before this perhaps even on camera if you are counting tag team bouts, the two of them even being tag team champs with each other early in their careers. 

The two clash with Nakamura throwing blows and strikes towards Tanahashi who relied more on his patented High Fly Flow crossbody. A complaint some people might have is Tanahashi using that move too much, but I like his execution of it so much that seeing it 6(?) times was a plus to me not a negative. 2 were also at the end of the match to win it, so it just felt like Tanahashi making sure Nakamura is done by doubling up. Also, since the HFF can be done one someone standing or on the matt it’s not like we say 6 of the exact same situation for the move to hit. 

Where Tanahashi bested Nakamura in this match is his smarter defense catching Nakamura’s kicks throughout the match and turning them into Dragon Screw leg whip. Also, his finisher was more used though Nakamura too hit his a few times, just not as many times. This match might have my favorite use of either man’s finishes.  

This Shinsuke Nakamura Bomaye looks absolutely brutal and sends poor Tanahashi hitting the mat like a bag of rocks. 

While Hiroshi Tanahashi proved to everyone he can hit the High Fly Flow from any angle on any body he can cross. 

This was a great match and probably one of the best matches in the last 5 years or so of NJPW with two of the promotions flagship talents. If you have the half hour to give this a watch I’d highly recommend that and really that’s been the case for all these highlights. 

This series much like this years G1 Climax is rounding the bases and to make it easier to read old issues of this I’m going to put links here. 

#1 : Hashimoto Shinya vs Genichiro Tenryu 2nd round in the 1998 G1 Climax Second

#2 : Antonio Inoki’s G1 Finals(Only those on NJPW World)

#3 : G1 Climax 2012′s Semi-Final and Finals

#4 :  G1 Climax 2001 Finals

#5 :  G1 Climax 2007 Finals

#6 :  G1 Climax 2002 Finals

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THE G1 HYPE TRAIN #6 :  G1 Climax 2002 Finals

Card with guide

This time I though with the break day I would go ahead and highlight another great G1 Finals. This time with the sad recent news of Yoshihiro Takayama being paralyzed I thought I would see if he ever made it to the G1 Finals... which he did! So we will be taking a glimpse at that today.

The 2002 G1 Climax Finals!

Tournament format :

This years G1 had 2 blocks with 6 talents in each. Much like the 2007 G1 we looked at, the two top point earners of each block would then fight one another. #1 of block A vs #2 of block B and vice versa in semi-finals with the winners then going to the finals. However, unlike the 2007 edition the semi-finals and finals were not on the same night. 

Masahiro Chono vs Yoshihiro Takayama (Link for those with NJPW World)

Who’s who?

Masahiro Chono was/is the most successful person at the G1 behind Inoki, who you could argue never won a G1 though he won the earlier iterations... a rose by any other name. Going into this final Chono had already won 3 G1 Climax’s at the 1991, 1992, and 1994 though many might think his time in the sun was done. 

He had only had the IWGP title once going into these finals. His reign in 1998 was short lived at just over 40 days before having to vacate due to a neck injury. At the 1992 G1, the tournament was for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight title and he beat Rick Rude in the finals. That title reign would be Masahiro’s biggest solo title reign. 

He was more well known as a tag team player for his career in the 1990′s. Tokyo sports awarded him the best tag team award 3 times throughout the 1990′s : 1990(Keiji Mutoh), 1995(Hiroyoshi Tenzan) and 1996(Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiro Saito) with 1997 having him awarded Tokyo Sports ‘Wrestler of the Year’.  

Yoshihiro Takayama is one of the few talents to have all three major belts of Japan : NJPW’s IWGP Heavyweight title, AJPW’s Triple Crown Heavyweight title and NOAH’s Global Honored Crown Heavyweight.

However, it should be noted that at the time of this G1 Takayama had yet to hold any of those belts. Instead before this match Takayama was mostly known as a tag team guy. He and his tag team partner Takao Omori were collectively known as No Fear. In 1999 they held both of AJPW’s tag team belts at the same time and later in 2001 would capture the new NOAH tag team championship together. 

Takayama though had tons of momentum coming into the G1 as he had 2 great performances earlier in the year. At Pride 21 Demolition in June he had a classic fight with Don Frye that Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave best fight of the year for 2002. That’s not all though as NOAH held a tournament to crown the first ever GHC championship, a single elimination tournament in April that had the finals of Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama. Though Yoshihiro Takayama didn’t win he was basically fighting who many consider to be the best Japanese wrestler of all time, so there was no shame in defeat. 2002 would by most measures be called Takayama’s more important year, though he has actually had a very nice resurgence in NOAH as one of their most notable and longest tenured talents. 

How’s the match?

Great! The match features a good use of both men’s signature strikes, Takayama’s knees and Chono’s kenka kick. Probably the spot of the match for me is halfway through the bout when Takayama just knees the shit out of poor Chono, who is just rocked to his core by it. Though Chono gets to show his Kenka kicks off at the end of the match in revenge with Takayama trying to just power through them. 

While I would say it’s a strike focused bout, that’s not all that happens between the bells. We have Chono using his signature STF, probably the most famous Japanese star to use that move. We also get to see Takayama’s signature  Everest German Suplex Hold which is a more elevated traditional bridging german suplex.

I think this might be one of the better finals I have looked at. It was a good balance and both men feel like they are equally matched throughout. While some of the G1 Finals feel very much like 1 guy is obviously going to win. Though to be fair, I know who won or lost going into these so that might hurt my perception. Still, it’s hard not to love this match when 2 of the biggest names in Japanese wrestling clash it’s something to sit down and take notice of. 

[lostinyourears]

THE G1 HYPE TRAIN #5 :  G1 Climax 2007 Finals

Card with Guide

I didn’t really mean to look at 2 Yuji Nagata finals back to back, but looking at a final from 10 years ago seemed like a good choice and Nagata just happened to be in it. I can’t really complain though as I enjoy watching his work and this G1 is obviously an important moment in the career on Hiroshi Tanahashi. So I felt like I should cover this one even if it might feel redundant doing 2 Nagata G1 highlights back to back.

The 2007 G1 Climax Finals!

Tournament format : 

This years G1 had 2 blocks of 6 with the two top point earners of each block going vs the top 2 point earners of the other block in Semi-Finals and Finals after that on the same night. Earlier in this night before these finals Yuji Nagata went over Shinsuke Nakamura while Hiroshi Tanahashi went over Togi Makabe in his semi finals match earlier this same night. 

Yuji Nagata vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (Link for those with NJPW World)

Who’s who?

Yuji Nagata has the nickname Blue Justice which of course in reference to his blue trunks and boots. He was also IWGP Heavyweight Champion here, having the belt for the 2nd time. 

He briefly was in WCW from February 1997 to August of 1998.

Despite his short stint he garnered a North American following after feuding with other Japanese talent Ultimo Dragon and teaming with Kensuke Sasaki to win a WCW tag team tournament that garnered them the #1 contendership though they would fail to win vs the champions.

If you read the last G1 Hype Train you’ll be aware that Nagata won the 2001 G1 Climax over Keiji Mutoh, that would help propel Nagata bove his previous position on the card. Which lead to the great 2002 reign, NJPW giving Nagata bout of the year in 2001(G1 Final) and 2002(Title defense vs Chono). 

Going into this 2007 G1 Climax Nagata had a decent amount of momentum having won the New Japan Cup in March of 2007. Which gave Yuji Nagata a title shot vs the recently first time crowned champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. Which Nagata won and was still holding the IWGP Heavyweight Title during this G1 Climax. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi was a rising star. He was the guy NJPW was pushing as the young new breed of NJPW after the strange years of 2005-2006 when Brock Lesnar left NJPW with the title and refused to return it instead working for Inoki in his new Inoki Genome Project promotion. So with a vacant belt someone new needed to be crowned and that man was Hiroshi Tanahashi who was having a good reign before New Japan Cup winner Nagata dethroned him to capture the belt for the 2nd time. 

At this point in Takahashi’s career he hadn’t won many belts outside of this IWGP Heavyweight championship. He had won the New Japan Cup in 2005 though and was twice IWGP Tag Team Champion with both Shinsuke Nakamura and Yutaka Yoshie in the early 2000′s.

How’s the match?

Fantastic! It’s a pretty great length for any match which is about 20 minutes. Long enough to get invest and see all their great spots, but no so long as to feel like a chore to get through like some matches can feel when they balloon up to 40-60 minute lengths. It also makes sense these two wouldn’t go that long since both men fought earlier in the night. 

This mirrors Nagata/Tanahashi’s G1 bout this year. The old standard bearer vs the new standard bearer, but a decade earlier. It’s very interesting to me that Tanahashi is in a similar spot now to the position Nagata was here. Perhaps even past it at this point Nagata was on his last IWGP run while Tanahashi may never get that belt again now that his epic storyline with Okada has finished and Okada seems to be the office new Ace of NJPW. 

These two guys mesh really well and this is the most competitive bout I’ve seen between the two yet. After this and their G1 match, I think I’ll find myself watching the title matches they had vs one another. I assume those will have a similar quality and want to see these guys clash again and again and again. 

I particularly love the use of the Dragon Screw by Tanahashi throughout this match. It’s an underused move and I think Tanahashi might be the master of it or one of the masters of it as he and Dr. Wagner Jr. both do great variations of it, though I don’t know if Wagner has ever done the neck variation that Tanahashi whips out from time to time... pun not intended. 

I’m not sure how I’d rate this compared to the other G1 Finals I have looked at. One thing I did like is that it was more varied in its offense. Where some of them like Hashimoto/Tenryu or the Inoki years tend to be one note sometimes where they are all strikes or all submissions. This one struck a good balance between the two styles.