G1 Climax 25 - Final Day

G1 Climax 25

(2015/08/16)

1.       Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada, David Finlay vs. Jushin Liger, Yohei Komatsu, Sho Tanaka

Rather fun until the botched ending. The usual fire of Young Lions was captivating, Finlay Jr. hit other people VERY fucking hard, shit flew very well, but of course the fucking director had to miss Dorada’s tope suicida and almost ruin my enjoyment. But nonetheless, this was an acceptable opener in front of the hot crowd.

**1/2

2.       Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Jay White vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Cpt. New Japan

Fun match… I really don’t know what else to write, lol. No complaints here.

**3/4

3.       Michael Elgin vs. YOSHI-HASHI

Mike Erugan should build some fucking monuments in honor of Gedo, Jado and YOSHI-HASHI. My man Y-H better be in G1 next year!

***3/4

4.       Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga) vs. Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Kazushi Sakuraba

A Bullet Club B-squad match, featuring YTR.

**3/4

5.       Togi Makabe, Tetsuya Naito, Tomoaki Honma vs. Hirooki Goto, Katsuyori Shibata, Kota Ibushi

Pretty good match with great post-match brawls. A lot of things were advanced here, mainly Ibushi going after Makabe’s NEVER strap and Shibata wanting to absolutely annihilate Naito el Ingobernable, that little shitbag. So yeah, this match was sweet.

***1/2

*** It’s motherfucking GREATEST WRESTLER OF ALL TIME AKA GENICHIRO FUCKING TENRYU coming to New Japan ring, OMG OMG OMG! He calls out Gedo!!! The “Rainmaker” name is dropped, OMG! Tenryu wants to punch Gedo’s filthy mouth! Here comes OKADA OMG! He says he bets TENRYU’s happy they didn’t work in the same eras. TENRYU is not impressed, you Toryumon trainee motherfucker! AND OMG TENRYU’s retirement match is set against OKADA, FECK YEAHH! This is the greatest shit ever! Okada will need a new mouth! ***

6.       IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish) vs. Young Bucks (Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) ©

And here is Jr. Tag Division continuing to be the biggest disappointment in 2015. O’Reilly is fucking clueless out there. Watching him wrestle makes me loathe this beautiful entertainment.

bad

7.       IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: Ricochet vs. KUSHIDA ©

Not on the levels of the last year’s BOSJ Final classic, but still a great match in front of a hot crowd. They did some things that slightly annoyed me, but in a grand scheme of things the match kicked ass, awesome shit.

****

8.       Kazuchika Okada, Michael Bennett, Matt Taven vs. Bullet Club (AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows)

The Kazuchika Okada show! Everything he did was incredible, so smooth and captivating. Also I really want to see the Kanelis trio millions of miles away from New Japan. Can I get that already? Pls?

***1/4

*** Oh look, it’s Chono and Muto coming to commentary booth to provide the special commentary! Cool! ***

9.       G1 Climax 25 – FINAL: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

Really surprised to see all the “best shit ever; five stars” praise on pro-graps media and fanbase for this match. Was it a great one? Sure, mos def, but it wasn’t particularly fantastic, and when it comes to 2014/15 series between these two, I’d place it at No. 4, in front of only WK8 and behind G1 24, The New Beginning and the untouchable Invasion Attack. The huge upside for this encounter is that 32 minutes just flow by and it’s an easy watch. But realistically, they did their same old thing, with very little innovation. Don’t get me wrong, Nakamura vs. Tanahashi will always be a great match, it’s just that I wish they spiced things up a little bit, you know, but nevermind. Nakamura’s increasing sloppiness is starting to become a problem, though, this match made it clear once again that Tana is way superior wrestler.

****1/4