G1 Climax 25 - Final Day

G1 Climax 25

(2015/08/16)

G1 Climax 25 - Day 14 (from Korakuen, aka the REAAAAL G1 Begins!)

G1 Climax 25

(2015/08/09)

G1 Climax 25 - Day 3 (Lazy-Ass Edition)

G1 Climax 25

(2015/07/24)

G1 Climax 25 - Day 2 (Lazy-Ass Edition)

G1 Climax 25

(2015/07/23)

G1 Climax 25 - Day 1

G1 Climax 25

(2015/07/20)

NJPW on AXS TV: Episode 7

New Japan Pro-Wrestling on AXS TV

Episode 7, February 27th 2015

Naito talks about admiring Tanahashi and being his fan. He mentions the toughness and major struggles to march through the grueling tournament.

G1 Climax 23

(2013/8/11)

G1 Climax 23 - FINAL: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Great match that would’ve been amazing if Naito was a slightly better seller, in both physical and emotional fashion. He sold the damaged leg (mostly) good, although it could’ve been better, but emotionally his displays were kind of empty and dry, his facial expressions left a lot to be desired. Tana took advantage of his right leg and he did it fine, like he always does, Naito sold it very strong at first and then kind of sporadically as the match was moving away, although he did his best to make the selling subtle at times, gotta give him credit for that. He also sold it after the match and backstage, for whatever it’s worth. So yeah, the physical aspect of it was good, but like I said, emotionally I wasn’t feeling him, he did very little to make me emotionally invested into him and his struggles to overcome the Ace of the promotion. The fact he has the punchable rat mug certainly doesn’t help to be honest, so he really has to dig very deep and do his best acting efforts possible to make people love him. Sometimes he pulls it off, sometimes he doesn’t, waddaya gonna do. That’s why Tanahashi has tons and tons of charisma, enough for both, lol. The match had some great moments for sure, such as Tana’s outstanding plancha, the Frankensteiner reversal into Styles Clash, the opening catch game was good enough, etc. The tournament had at least a dozen of better matches, but this one was far from failure, it felt big enough and they got the crowd invested.

****

Tanahashi is shown backstage, he can’t even stand on his own but he says he’s okay and not tired at all. LOL.

Naito is doing the post-victory promo inside the ring and gets emotional talking about returning from the difficult injury. He mentions the heavyweight belt, Okada and Masato Tanaka.

Backstage, Naito is celebrating and then getting emotional again.

To cap off the episode, Naito’s reflecting on the match and talks about having to go through the pain and all that jazz.

NJPW on AXS TV: Episode 6

New Japan Pro-Wrestling on AXS TV

Episode 6, February 20th 2015

They’re airing three matches from the fourth day of G1 23, which is one of the greatest wrestling events ever, with plethora of great matches. Everyone has heard of Shibata/Ishii and Ibushi/Nakamura. The latter is the center of this episode, but we’re not getting former which aired in the previous episode I think, but that one didn’t get picked by AXS TV. Shame. But still, we got the clipped version of Anderson/Tenzan and full version of DBSJ/Kojima. Anderson/Tenzan was a good 10 match that was trimmed down to five minutes, and I don’t see the purpose of it. This way the viewers might get an impression it’s just an ordinary match with few neat counter attacks, but no, it was much more. Both guys brought it and it was so enjoyable watching Tenzan climbing the mountain again. ***1/2

DBSJ/Kojima was fucking awesome, much better than remembered, and I gotta thank TV Asahi and AXS TV for this “discovery”, the match truly rocked. Davey Boy sporting his badass powerhouse abilities and Kojima’s mix of lariats and elbow strikes made this match one super fun clash with everything executed down to a T. All the reversals and counters were nifty in front of amazing Osaka people. The finish was amazing. Probably the best DBSJ match ever. ****1/4

Somewhere in the production room, Swagsuke is talking about the Kota Ibushi match and the novelty of facing a Junior Heavyweight in the G1. He also mentions having to go after Shibata/Ishii, which is one helluva tough task.

G1 Climax 23

(2013/8/4)

Block B: Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Mauro Ranallo calls Ibushi a speed demon. That’s awesome. For some reason I gave this match only ****1/2 eighteen months ago. Blasphemy, total blasphemy. I guess I was burnt out or something. Because, this match is fucking amazing and the definite MOTD contender. Everything about this was impeccable, Shinsuke was extra aggressive here going after an indie high flyer who also happened to be – a Junior Heavyweight. Shinsuke was throwing some seriously vile blasts at Kota who sold it like a motherfucker, I can’t imagine the pain he suffered from all the rough knees, stomps, etc. Shinsuke was a gnarly, surly motherfucker going after Kota’s scalp. The moment where he lost his cool and proceeded to annihilate Kota with all the vicious strikes was glorious. Then Kota got pissed off and went all in on him with some awesome looking palm strikes. Magnificent. Then that kickout at 1 happened, and it’s probably the greatest kickout at 1 in pro-wrestling history. Everyone and their mothers know Kota is done but this motherfucker still has some instincts left inside him. Another Boma Ye and he’s finished. Amazing match-up to cap off the amazing show, and I think this classic might be even better than Shibata/Ishii.

*****

Ibushi is shown backstage, he can’t even stand on his own. He looks like being hit by a truck. He’s not done with Shinsuke. He says he gave everything he had and it still wasn’t enough, because Shinsuke is just on a whole different level.

Nakamura is also shown backstage, he doesn’t look good and is breathing heavily. He praises Ibushi for good fighting.

Back in the production room, Nakamura’s talking about the match and let me tell you something, his stream of thoughts is rather fascinating. He’s praising Ibushi and all that jazz, but does it in a far more clever fashion than what we’re used to.

Power Struggle Is Tomorrow, Needed to Get My Homework Done

Road to Shibata/Nakamura V:

- G1 Climax 2003 (8/10) ****1/2 

- Summer Struggle 2004 (7/4) ***3/4 

- G1 Climax 2004 (8/8) ****1/2 

- G1 Climax 2014 (7/21) ***3/4