Here we are, the halfway point of the G1 (I think…there are 12 shows right?). So far the tournament is already surpassing last year’s tournament, and many considered that tournament was one of the best of all time, so think of how good it’s going right now. Pretty good show it sounds like tonight, including a main event that can’t miss, so let’s get to the action!

1. Bad Luck Fale vs. Doc Gallows: Since they are both Bullet Club members, they did the wolfpac hand shake as the bell started. They start off with big guy spots, culminating in Gallows being clotheslined to the floor. Gallows whips Fale into the guardrail for the first barricade spot of the night. Watching 6 New Japan shows in the span of a week or show makes me realize they do a TON of barricade spots. Like, in every match almost. Fale works him over in the corner. Gallows fires back and clotheslines Fale to the floor. Another barricade spot, this time by Fale. Back in the ring, Fale tries a grenade but Gallows blocks it and hits the Gallows pole for a nearfall. Fale mounts an offensive, but he eats a bicycle kick by Gallows and he scores the pinfall. Not terrible, but pretty dull with no heat. *3/4

2. Yuji Nagata vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr.: Chain wrestling starts this one off. DBS starts laying in kicks but misses a leg drop. DBS takes him to the barricades and they brawl on the outside for a bit before DBS bodyslams him on the floor. He makes it to 19, but DBS continues the assault, applying a sleeper. Nagata mounts a comeback, but DBS cuts him off. Nagata fires off some kicks, but DBS grabs him and throws him over in a overhead suplex for a nearfall. DBS goes to whip him but Nagata drags him down and does the armbar. Nagata then unleashes a flurry of offense, including a german suplex, a kick to the head and finishes off with the exploder suplex to score the victory. Pretty fun match. ***

3. Yujiro Takahashi vs. Togi Makabe: They immediately start brawling once Takahashi jumps Makabe. He throws him into the barricade, puts him on the stage and does a running dropkick to the chest. Yujiro is working on Makabe’s jaw, which is fractured. Or, at least that’s the story. Makabe nails him with a lariat to send him down. He does the punches to the corner, but Yujiro cuts him off and hits a perfectplex. Makabe regains control and hits a powerbomb, but misses the king kong knee drop. They go back and forth until there’s a ref bump. Yujiro low blows him, hits a buckle bomb and lands the Miami Shine and that’s it. This was fine. **3/4

4. Satoshi Kojima vs. Katsuyori Shibata: Back and forth to start. Shibata whips him into the barricade. and pelts him with kicks but Kojima clips his knee on the apron then follows with a DDT onto the apron. Kojima starts his comeback, but Shibata nails him to the floor with a kick as he was attempting the elbow. Kojima nails him into the barricade again. After a struggle, Shibata suplexes him onto the floor. Shibata works him over and goes to a corner, but Kojima fires back with a lariat that sends him loopy. Shibata locks in a sleeper, but Kojima fires back with a back suplex only for Shibata to get up and give him his own. Running kick to the corner, then a suplex for a nearfall. Shibata tries the GTS, but Kojima countered with a diamond cutter. Tries a lariat, Shibata misses the first time but gets it the second time. Brainbuster, nothing. Shibata fires back with a dropkick. Kojima with a flurry of elbows, but Shibata hits a spinning backfist, then follows with a GTS and a scary looking penalty kick right to Kojima’s face for the pinfall. Excellent match, particularly the closing stretch. ****1/4

Katsuyori Shibata defeats Satoshi Kojima with one hell of a Penalty Kick #NJPW #G124 http://t.co/a1XsPser4k — LARIATOOOOO!!! (@SenorLARIATO) July 31, 2014

5. Karl Anderson vs. Hirooki Goto: A fierce back and forth starts things off. Winds up on the outside, where Goto is thrown into the barricade and Anderson uses a chair to take him out. Goto makes it back at 15 and Anderson continues to work him over. Anderson works him over for a while, but Goto fires back, including a spinning wheel kick to the corner, but Anderson counters, sends a boot to the corner and fires with a powerbomb for a nearfall. Anderson goes for a superplex, but Goto counters and his his sunset flip bomb off the top rope. Anderson fights back with a kick to the back of the head, but Goto nails his neckbreaker. He misses the southern kai and a spinning backfist, but he tries another only for Anderson to hit with the stun gun. He covers him, and that’s it. Really good match. The finishing sequence was something else. ****

6. Lance Archer vs. Minoru Suzuki: Archer starts off hot, but Suzuki catches him arms and armbars him on the ropes. Suzuki wraps Archer’s leg on the barricades and smashes it and works on it. Suzuki takes him into the ring and headbutts him repeatedly and works on the bum leg. Archer starts a comeback and hits a sidewalk slam for a nearfall. He tries for his finish, but Suzuki counters it into a sleeper then goes for the Gotch piledriver but Archer counters, only for Suzuki to take him down, hits a big boot as Archer gets up and locks in saka otoshi for the submission . This was pretty fun. ***1/4

7. Shelton Benjamin vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: Shelton jumps Nakamura as he does his pose on the ropes. On the outside, he slams his knee on the apron and starts working on Nakamura’s knee using the barricade. Shelton continues to work on it until Nakamura starts fighting back, hitting an enziguri and hitting the kick to the corner. He hits the reverse exploder and goes for the boma ye but Shelton hits a superkick and a German suplex for a nearfall. Paydirt misses as Nakamura counters into an armbar. Nakamura hits the boma ye, then a second and gets it. Pretty good while it lasted. ***1/2

8. Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. AJ Styles: It starts off relatively simple with Tenzan getting the advantage early. AJ does the mongolian chops, which the crowd reacts big time to, but falls down after Tenzan hits the real mongolian chops. Tenzan tries to whip him into the guardrail, but AJ leaps over and superkicks him from within the crowd. AJ continues to work on him while he goes for the Styles Clash, but Tenzan reverses and in the process throws him over the top rope onto the floor. From here, he starts working on AJ, but soon AJ cuts him off again. Styles goes for the Styles Clash, but Tenzan fight out and hits a headbutt and follows that up with the anaconda vice but AJ escapes. Tenzan with a spinning heel kick and follows with a top rope headbutt but AJ kicks out. Anaconda vice again, lifts him up and slams him and at this point AJ struggles valiantly to make it to the ropes and he does. Tenzan goes for the moonsault but misses. Styles hits the superman punch from the top rope for a nearfall. Tries for the bloody sunday, Tenzan avoids it, but AJ hits the pele kick and follows that with the Styles Clash to secure the pinfall. This was a totally awesome match thanks to one AJ Styles, and even Tenzan looked pretty good here too all things considered. ****

9. Kazuchika Okada vs. Toru Yano: Okada gets him in a hammerlock early and Yano immediately goes to the ropes. Okada does his rainmaker pose, and Yano responds with his shrug. Amazing. Yano posts him on the outside and tries to use a chair, but Gedo doesn’t allow it. Okada runs into them and accidentally smacks Gedo with the chair. Yano throws him into the guardrail and Yano throws him into the crowd, onyl to come back to the ring and expose the turnbuckle. Yano whips him into the exposed turnbuckle and starts working on him. Okada cuts him off and starts his comeback. Goes for the Rainmaker but Yano counters it into a slingshot into the exposed turnbuckle. Okada tries to go for it again, but Yano does a ref bump and rolls up Okada for 2.99. The crowd reacted huge to that nearfall. Yano tried to do it again, but it backfired as Okada hits the rainmaker and scores the pinfall. Pretty fun for what it’s designed to be. ***

10. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii: Hot back and forth to start. Ishii no sells a lot of Tanahashi’s offense. Tanahashi dropkicks Ishii in the knee then dragon whips it, essentially working on the knee. A cloverleaf is locked in, with Ishii eventually grabbing the ropes. Ishii cuts him off with an enziguri then starts working on his leg, applying a sharpshooter.Tanahashi writhes, but ends up grabbing the ropes. Ishii follows that with a superplex, but still nothing. Tanahashi gets back with a sling blade. Dragon suplex followed by another sling blade gets a nearfall. High fly flow connects the first time, but Ishii rolls out of the way a second time. Ishii hits a lariat to the back of the head followed by a headbutt and a sliding D. A lariat doesn’t get the job done. Ishii missed a brainbuster and Tanahashi turns it into another sling blade. Tanahashi hits a piledriver then goes to the top rope for the high fly flow and gets the pinfall. This was an excellent match, but the finish felt like it came out of nowhere. Not as good as their match from last years G1, but still great. ****1/4

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Not as good as other days. BUT, with that said, this was a great show with some great matches, particularly the main event, AJ/Tenzan, Goto/Anderson and Kojima/Shibata. The funny thing is, the tournament has been so awesome so far a show like this would be considered on the lower end of the totem pole. It doesn’t really matter though; it was another great day of matches.

G1 Pick’em Standings (Updated July 31):