NJPW G1 Climax 25

July 20, 2015 (Night 1)

Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center

Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Watch: NJPWWorld.com



This miraculous day has finally fallen upon us. Today, my friends, is the opening day of 25th annual G1 Climax tournament. In recent years, it’s become one of the biggest tournaments of the year in professional wrestling, drawing big crowds in Japan and is one of the bigger topics of discussion in America when it comes to Japanese wrestling. This year is very different than the other tournaments, however – since there are 19 shows, that means more of the tournament matches are spread out, meaning there’s slots open for other matches. So that means a lot of tag team matches on the undercard. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but when you’ve seen as many six man New Japan tags as I have…eesh.

But let’s not put a damper on this. We still have Hiroshi Tanahashi taking on Kota Ibushi in the main event, which sounds really interesting and exciting. And not only does the co-main, AJ Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata also sound exciting but I’m sure it’s bound to be painful for one Mr. Styles. We might not have easy cards of the year like in previous years, but this G1 tournament promises plenty of fresh matches, just not all on the same day.

Yohei Komatsu & Tiger Mask & Jushin Liger & Yuji Nagata vs. Tomoaki Honma & Mascara Dorada & David Finlay & Jay White

Soo….we open with the normal six man NJPW tag match. Match seemed to be aimed around Honma and Nagata. They opened things up, then left it to the others. Honma did hit a kokeshi on Nagata at one point. Good, but nothing memorable. Jay White’s hair is certainly interesting at this point, though. Nagata pins David Finlay with the backdrop hold. Nagata and Honma faced down one another after the match. They face off on the next show on 7/23. **3/4

Hirooki Goto & Captain New Japan vs. Cody Hall & Yujiro Takahashi

Most of this match was Captain New Japan being worked on by the heels. He tried to do a test of strength with one point. Astonishingly, Cody Hall was in fact, stronger that Captain New Japan and took control of the match. Largely uninteresting. The babyfaces were being worked upon until CNJ and Goto cradled both heels and got the pin simultaneously. Well at least they went for a different finish. **

Shinsuke Nakamura & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga

Solid match. People were very into the CHAOS team. When Yoshi-Hashi was doing his comeback on Anderson people were very into it. He’s one of those who are perhaps more over than their push. Nakamura made a hot tag and took out Anderson, then eventually pinned Tama Tonga with a boma ye. **3/4

Michael Elgin & Satoshi Kojima & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo

This was a very interesting match because again, it teased a lot of interesting upcoming bouts. Kojima/Ishii, Elgin/Ishii…and well, anything involving Ishii or Kojima, really! Elgin got his own entrance and everything, he fit in very well, including doing a huge delayed vertical suplex. Several people tried to break it up but he no sold it. He also deadlifted Ishii with a German that people popped for. Okada is tagged in and pins Taguchi with the rainmaker for the win. Very good stuff; not only was the work solid but it built up to some future matches. ***1/4

Kojima and Ishii got into it big time after the match, continuously brawling and and had to be separated repeatedly.

A Block: Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Doc Gallows

Gallows actually choked out Tenzan with the gallows he carries to the ring. I don’t recall the last time he actually did that. They tried, but this felt very sluggish and was just there. Wouldn’t have went with this match to open the G1 tournament. Gallows hit the Gallows poll for a nearfall. Tenzan came back and hit the mongolian chops then went for the Anaconda buster for another nearfall. Still locked in, Gallows eventually taps. **

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/623037780805963776

A Block: Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano

Yano immediately blindsides Makabe with a roll up, the most devastating maneuver of 2015, for a near fall. A chair is introduced quickly, and it is quickly introduced into Makabe’s face when the referee is distracted. There was a turnbuckle removed somewhere and Makabe ran into it. Yano went to do his catchphrase, but Yano actually DUCKED and pointed to his head. That was amazing. He nearly had the match won with a low blow and backslide but Makabe came back with a lariat and pinned Yano after the king kong knee drop. A fun few minutes. **3/4

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/623040636539830272

A Block: Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale

Naito came out wearing a suit and skull mask, I guess a callback to his Los Ingobernables crew over in Mexico. I recall La Sombra wearing something similar during the Fantasticamania tour in January. This match was largely ok. Naito worked hard but Fale just seemed slow and the finish was all sorts of messed up. Fale went for the Bad Luck Fall, Naito counters into a hurricanrana but it just kind of fell apart there when Naito was dropped back to the floor. Naito hit an enziguri then did his flash pin, hooking both legs. Again, largely just ok. **1/4

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/623045319467606016

A Block: A.J. Styles vs. Katsuyori Shibata

This is where the show finally picked up. Shibata just pelted him with kicks early, including kicking him so hard he went through the barricade to the floor. That had to smart. Shibata’s arm, I should note, was totally bandaged up. Not sure what kind of injury he has but it doesn’t look fun in the least bit. Regardless, this was a fantastic match. Styles looked incredible here, his offense looked awesome and the work on the leg was a nice touch. Shibata looked great with his kicks and together they had a awesome back and forth match. Shibata missed the penalty kick, which allows AJ to hit the Bloody Sunday DDT and the Styles Clash for the victory. First great match of the tour. ****

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/623049818831777792

A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi

This was another match where the leg was extensively worked on. Tanahashi targeted it early and became the main source of his offense. And if you’re wondering why he’s been feuding with Yano for six months, it’s because so he can do high fly flows off the apron like he did here. Ibushi came back here and there, including doing his moonsault and the standing corkscrew press.Tanahashi went for two high fly flows but Ibushi got the knees up on the second. Ibushi’s response to this was to grab Tanahashi and throw him into the turnbuckle as if he was a lawn dart. Ouch. He follows with the deadlift German suplex off the apron for another nearfall.

From here Ibushi unleashes a ton of offense, including a huge deadlift German off the apron. After completely missing a top rope hurricanrana, Tanahashi cuts him off and dragon screws his bum leg. Ibushi still fights back but walks into a Dragon suplex then follows with the High Fly Flow for the win. Excellent match with the last few minutes just being damn awesome. Tanahashi’s still got it when he needs to have it and Ibushi is really great at giving it his all in these kind of match situations. Add the fact the crowd was really into this made this a great, great match. ****½

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/623055782591004672

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/623056741262098432

Final Thoughts: The co-main and main events are worth watching. Skip everything else. Not that I was expecting blow away shows with these kind of cards, but before the top two matches started this was shaping up to be a pretty bad card actually. The last four saved the show. My hopes are that there will be better overall cards than this one down the road, but if there’s at least one main event that’s as good as the one we saw here tonight than these next eighteen shows will be fine.

NJPW G1 Climax 25 Pick’em Standings – Updated after Day 1

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