G1 Climax 24 - Day 2

G1 Climax 24

(2014/7/23)

1.      Block A: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Satoshi Kojima

This was pretty crazy, and their best match together, yes, even better than the NJC 2013 opener. Kojima is 43, Ishii is almost 40 (shocking, yes), but they were bumping like madmen right, left and centre here, like they were some green ass rookies with a chip on their shoulder, shit was impressive. I’m such a sucker for these 10 minute long sprints with fast pace and heavy smacks. Jesus, they were hitting each other hard. From a kayfabe perspective, Kojima made a colossal mistake by letting Ishii dictate the rollercoaster pace. It worked against physically more limited Nagata, but this Ishii fella is just something else.

****

2.      Block A: Bad Luck Fale vs. Shelton Benjamin

The NJC semi-finals rematch, this one was short as well. The story I got from this one is that Shelton gained tremendous confidence from the Gallows victory, so he was able to dismantle Fale’s pacing here, he caught him off guard with the hard-hitting blows. Quite back-and-forth action, and in the finishing stretch Fale made a mistake by not hitting Shelton with a Samoan spike as a prep for the Bad Luck Fall, and he screwed himself hard that way. Yet another stiff and super effective superkick + Paydirt finishing combo from Shelton, I’m digging it. Two days of the G1, two wins for Shelton against the Bullet Club giants.

***

3.      Block B: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Hirooki Goto

Had no interest in this whatsoever, but shit, I’m glad I watched because it was super sweet, almost great. Judging by these two days of the tournament, it looks like they found a perfect and simple formula to make Goto’s stuff much more interesting and compelling, and that’s working from behind where he gets dominated which builds to hard-hitting comeback spots. It really did wonders for him here, and Yujiro gets big credit too, for being a relentless prick and putting Goto over as a FIP. Shockingly very good.

***3/4

4.      Block B: Lance Archer vs. Tetsuya Naito

Joys and sweetness everywhere, oh dear… This was one hella 8 min long sprint with simple and effective big man vs. small(er) man formula that worked like a motherfucker. Tons of cool moves and counters; slick combos by Naito, grumpy smacks by Archer, such a cool little match.

***3/4

5.      Block A: Tomoaki Honma vs. Yuji Nagata

Very similar to Ishii/Kojima in terms of smashmouth style and pacing, with hellish blows and awesome… awesomeness. HONMA~!

***3/4

6.      Block A: Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Much better than their NJC match, but still not particularly good. Good enough, yes, but not very good, which is a shame because their encounters from the last year rocked. Technically and execution wise, this was almost flawless, but from an emotional side, the first half was quite dry, sometimes even bland. However, the second half has many cool moments that elevated the match to an acceptable territory. Btw, I’m all for goofiness, but Davey Boy’s facial expressions are just way too much these days, he’s trying too hard, and it doesn’t work, at all.

***1/4

7.      Block B: AJ Styles vs. Toru Yano

Solid, fun match, but not good, although the character and ring style differences in dynamics were very interesting, but hey, isn’t that the case with almost every YTR match? I’d rate the match higher if Styles bothered to hit Yano with something else before executing him with the Styles Clash, you know, that move Tanahashi uses as a transitional move. I know Yano is low on the totem pole, but I doubt Tanahashi would defeat him with the Styles Clash. Eh, maybe it’s that thing where many wrestlers use lariato, but only some of them use it “properly”, aka in a decapitating fashion.

**3/4

8.      Block B: Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Tenzan’s best match in years, and you wanna know the best part? He wasn’t carried to it, just like he wasn’t carried to it by Karl two days before. Coincidence? I think not. He looks and moves very well, is motivated, but for fuck’s sake, he needs to stop missing those knee crushing moonsaults, I cringe every damn time. Same with Naito and Makabe. Stay safe, fellas. Okada? Oh yes, he was class too, but you already knew that.

***3/4

9.      Block B: Karl Anderson vs. Togi Makabe

Makabe’s astonishing charisma and overness aside, this was not good. While I greatly appreciated the story continuity with Makabe’s injured jaw, which he sold very well, I just wasn’t a fan of Makabe kicking out of the Super Gun Stun only to win the match one minute later, it simply didn’t click with me, and that’s the reason why I don’t think highly of this. Solid, but not good.

**3/4

10.  Block A: Doc Gallows vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Doc’s pants = five stars and more! This was a very enjoyable main event, where they got the most out of the basic setup and storytelling, it was simple and effective (I know that phrase gets repetitive, but it is what it is). It worked because Tanahashi translates his immense charisma into matches like almost no one else, and Gallows is an awesome brawler, traditional dirty style from America. He used nice shortcuts to gain control, such as pulling the Ace’s hair, and stuff like that. Doc’s palm strikes look and sound quite vicious, it meshes so well with Japanese dudes. Tanahashi’s underdogish taunts were awesome, he also bumped and sold for Gallows properly, and there was a 19 count spot with a nice twist. Since the match was only 11 minutes long, they skipped a phase or two in the climax, but it didn’t hurt the match at all. Long story short, this was a totally fine main event.

***3/4

Another strong show, you know shit’s great when an opener is your MOTN, and the show still never misses a beat or falls off. JOY~!