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.