G1 Climax 24 - Day 1

G1 Climax 24

(2014/7/21)

1.      Block A: Bad Luck Fale vs. Tomohiro Ishii

I loved this, such a swell “irresistible force vs. immovable object” story, with Ishii being an underdog again, but also being tough enough to bring Fale down, to make him – resistible. Hard-hitting match, nasty lariats and vicious headbutts, you know it. By leaps and bounds, Fale is the most improved wrestler of the year, I’m really enjoying the big push he’s getting.

***3/4

2.      Block A: Doc Gallows vs. Shelton Benjamin

Fuck me, another Shelton Benjamin match from 2014 I enjoyed. It’s hard for two heel gaijins to make things work when they’re wrestling each other, so this was a tremendously tough task. They made it work, though, by creating simple dynamics with Doc working as a big badass brawler, and Benjamin working from behind by relying on big hope spots. The crowd recognized it too, and I fucking adored the finish. By the way, the match was very rough and stiff, Doc was throwing some gnarly punches.

***1/2

3.      Block B: Karl Anderson vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan

Never doubt Tenzan. Seriously, I was in awe here, such a feelgood match, to see Tenzan going like it’s 2004… chills. Very good match right here, with zero dull moments and some awesome taunts. Small things, that’s it, that’s what makes me a happy camper.

***1/2

4.      Block A: Yuji Nagata vs. Satoshi Kojima

To be frank, I was quite surprised to witness the severe lack of praise for this one, because it rocked. What we got here is two veterans laying heavy smacks at each other for eleven straight minutes, like it’s nothing, like they’re in their twenties. Awesome crowd reactions, frantic pace, smart work, killer finish, I seriously loved this. What is wrong with everyone?

****

5.      Block B: Minoru Suzuki vs. Toru Yano

This never-ending feud needs to be killed with fire. I’ve lost a track on this shit months ago, how many times will Yano embarrass MiSu? At least they kept it very short, kudos there.

bad

6.      Block B: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Tetsuya Naito

These two are never gonna bust out a four star classic, I’ve made my amends with that fact long time ago. This is the maximum, I guess, because after all, Naito is not a wizard like Ishii to carry Yujiro to a MOTYC. Yujiro has become very reckless in the ring lately, he almost broke Naito’s neck here. First Ishii (twice), and now this. Well, at least his new finisher looks fine and dandy.

***1/4

7.      Block B: Hirooki Goto vs. Togi Makabe

They carried over the heat from the tag feud they have/had, and it was all good stuff. Intensity, organic feeling, nasty suplexes and lariats… goodies everywhere. Makabe is just ridiculously over everywhere.

***3/4

8.      Block A: Tomoaki Honma vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

MOTN, and a very strong MOTYC. I’m insanely high on this match, I’m telling you. Honma > > > Ibushi, and it showed here. And I’m an Ibushi fan. No one books underdogs better than New Japan, the crowd is extremely pro-Honma, and the GOAT Tanahashi recognizes it, and heels it up. Taunts, teases and build everywhere. Hot finishing run, yada-yada-yada, a fucking excellent match.

****1/2

9.      Block A: Katsuyori Shibata vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

So, I see many polarizing thoughts on this one. I, for one, loved it. First few minutes were all about fake calmness and smartass psychology, it was just a matter of time before someone snaps and goes all out HAM. One might criticize Shibata’s partial lack of focus and structure here, but you can go the other way too – he just grabs whatever he can, whether it’s a leg, or arm, or neck, it doesn’t matter. Shinsuke’s selling of slams, suplexes and vicious strikes was sublime, and they were throwing in a lot of elements from the decade ago, as well as from the 80s. I can totally see why would others dislike this, but I hope they see why many of us dig the match. If Shibata were more focused and coherent in the early stages, and if Shinsuke sold his leg for few moments, this would’ve been a MOTYC.

***3/4

10.  Block B: AJ Styles vs. Kazuchika Okada

Aaaaand Yujiro wins the award for the most useless fucking interference of the year. Without it, the match could’ve been borderline great, instead of being just good. We already got the good, twice. Shame, really shame, this way we got at least six or seven matches better than this one.

***1/4

Very strong opening day, super promising, enjoyed the show tremendously.

Why Did I Avoid Jarrett's AAA Stuff? Fuck...

AAA 2014/6/20

La Anarquia (Daga, Eterno, Steve Pain) vs. Joe Lider, Drago, Australian Suicide

The beginning was very nice and coherent, but step-by-step, it all went down the shitter eventually. Too contrived and stupid match. I like Australian Suicide, tho, dude can go.

bad

AAA 2014/6/20

El Hijo del Perro Aguayo, Averno, El Zorro vs. Myzteziz, El Cibernetico, Psycho Clown

Nothing but LOVE for these AAA main event trios. LOVE! Funny thing is, Zorro might be the match’s most valuable player. Ehhh, I’m so uninspired at the moment, can’t write for shit, just look at dem snowflakes, damn it… Very good match.

***3/4

AAA 2014/6/27

Myzteziz, Psycho Clown, Electroshock vs. El Texano Jr., Jeff Jarrett, Averno

First of all, there’s a MASSIVE crowd heat throughout entire duration of the match. Jarrett calling people trash and Spanish language primitive most certainly helped. This was a great trio brawl, chaotic and messy, the first half was rudos dominating and making Electro bleed hard in the process, then tecnicos made their big comeback right before the awesome finishing run. Everything is so basic and so effective, these AAA main event trios have become one of my favorite things in pro-graps these days.

****

The Dates Are Shifted, But Who the Fuck Cares?! It's the New CMLL!

CMLL 2014/6/24

??? Championship: Arkangel de la Muerte vs. El Gallo ©

Very nice lucha title match, clean and slick, with many gracious sequences and stuff… Okay, I know it doesn’t sound much on the paper, but trust me, it was swell, particularly the super creative finish. Never watched much of Arkangel, but he looks like a maestrish old fuck who can still hang with everyone. Gallo, though, is very over with the crowd.

***3/4

CMLL 2014/6/24

Los Indeseables (Rush, La Mascara, La Sombra) vs. Shocker, Euforia, Niebla Roja

Solid contest, but should’ve been much, much better. The pacing was kind of off, and some things just never clicked. Not bad, though, we still got Rooosh mauling everyone. And Shocker constantly changes his beef targets, lel, now it’s Mascara.

**3/4

CMLL 2014/7/1

Campeonato Nacional Femenil: Zeuxis vs. Estrellita ©

Very good. This was my first ladies lucha match in a long time, and these girls can wrestle. Estrellita busted out two rather impressive holds to win her two falls, one of them being among the most impressive surfboard stretches I’ve ever seen. Nice lucha style mixed with puro, I’d say, some mind games, and voila – this was totally swell.

***1/2

CMLL 2014/6/16

La Mascara, Marco Corleone, Stigma vs. Shocker, Ripper, Kraneo

Basically, this is where the Shocker/Mascara beef started. Or at least that’s what I got. Idk, anyway, good trio, some heavy smacks were fired, Marco can be really violent sometimes. Shocker is someone I appreciate more and more each and every day, and I like to think he’s the Mexican version of Finlay. Fuck you, I just said it, and it’s true.

***

CMLL 2014/6/16

Campeonato Mundial Semicompleto de CMLL: Atlantis vs. Rey Escorpion ©

There’s just something in the air when Atlantis works big matches, I can’t really describe it, that sense of importance and tradition… This was pretty fucking awesome, sheeeeeit, sometimes lucha title matches give you all this matwork with no spark at all, well, that was not the case here, you got buckets of  fluidity and common pro-wrestling sense, everything was well organized, yet organic. Fuck, now I wanna see Atlantis/Virus.

****

CMLL 2014/7/1

Volador Jr., Valiente, Angel de Oro vs. Euforia, Ephesto, El Hechicero

Looking at the cast, I knew this would rock, and it did. Of course Hechicero was the absolute diamond of the match, of course his sessions with Valiente and Volador were excellent and could lead to mouthwatering 1-on-1 matches. Then there was Angel de Oro for some flash, and Euforia for some major dickery, including the GLORIOUS finish. “Hola jefe, you wanna jump around? How ‘bout I just kick you in the balls, amigo?"

***3/4

CMLL 2014/7/1

Triton, Dragon Lee, El Cachorro vs. Misterioso Jr., Skandalo, Sangre Azteca

How long before Dragon Lee and Cachorro become the next big thing in Mexico? Seriously, though, those two rock on so many levels already, especially Cachorro. This was totally sumptuous, classic old school lucha progression through the caidas, loved it. Also, you live and learn, had no idea Sangre Azteca and Misterioso could be that good.

****

CMLL 2014/6/27

Ultimo Guerrero, Rush, La Sombra vs. Atlantis, Mr. Niebla, Shocker

Yet another Guerrero/Atlantis feud advancer, but with a hella supporting cast, sheeeeeit, Shocker and Rush just actively hate each other. Two quick submission exchanges by Guerrero and Atlantis, and tercera was longer and real deal, this time with Sombra and Shocker doing a very fine ending. Apuesta, pls.

***1/4

King of DDT '14

King of DDT 2014

(2014/6/29)


1. Akito, Konosuke Takeshita, Tetsuya Endo vs. Keisuke Ishii, Soma Takao, Kazuki Hirata

Fun, short sprint. Hirata’s pre-match dance routine is something else. Oh, and Takeshita throws insanely dangerous Germans, btw.

**3/4


2. King of DDT 2014 – Semi-Finals: Shigehiro Irie vs. KUDO

Damn shame everyone’s busy with their irrelevant pro-wrestling trivia, because they’re missing Irie’s smashing ’14 run. IRIE.

***3/4


3. King of DDT 2014 – Semi-Finals: Kota Ibushi vs. Isami Kodaka

Not good, not bad, the match just… happened. Cool moment with both on top of the entrance gate, though, that was nice.

**1/2


*** Takeshita/Tanahashi announced for August in Sumo Hall, Tanahashi shows up and looks like the coolest fucker alive… GOOSEBUMPS! ***


4. ELIMINATION MATCH: Michael Nakazawa, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Danshoku Dino, Makoto Oishi vs. Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, MIKAMI, Antonio Honda

Impeccable elimination strategies, rigged ref Minoru Suzuki, and the god of Korakuen – Jun Kasai. Oh, yeah!

GOLD


5. Yukio Sakaguchi & Masa Takanashi vs. Kenny Omega & Daisuke Sasaki vs. HARASHIMA & Yasu Urano

Match of the night, one thing DDT does fucking great is 3-way tags, they come up with something unique and charming each and every time. Needless to say, Masa Takanashi was the best.

***3/4


6. KO-D Openweight Championship: Super Sasadango Machine vs. HARASHIMA ©

Okay, the match itself was mediocre really, but that was not the point. Sasadango is the ultimate underdog here, he cashed in his title shot contract and then cut a five minute long promo about his researching what it takes to be the man, and showed a PowerPoint presentation of his research. TLDR, he came up with Vertical Drop Riemann Shock (DDT), and hitting it three times will bring him the title? Can he make it?

**


7. King of DDT 2014 – FINALS: KUDO vs. Isami Kodaka

Good strikefest, my favorite moment of the match was Kodaka making a callback on his rivalry with Generico by teasing the Brainbustah! Goosebumps. It’s incredible to see Kodaka pushed in non-deathmatch environment, he can go and deserves it. He still needs to work on some things, though, things that prevent his matches from being great. But, he’s getting there.

***1/4

Huh? An Obscure Lucha Brawl? Mmm, Yes Please!

XMW 2014/6/21

Pentagon Jr. vs. Arez

Ouch! Poor Arez, alls I’m sayin. Honestly, Pentagon looked like the most vicious motherfucker on god’s green Earth here, he was on offense all the time, all Arez had to do is bump like a madman and hit few hope spots. It all worked. Pentagon was shining this barbaric, merciless, menacing vibe, really reminded me of Super Dragon. This was such a great brawl, held in a piece of shit venue with the roof leaking heavily. Awesome.

****1/2

TAJIRI's WNC + Kash/Aries

WNC 2013/3/31

Satoshi Kajiwara vs. TAJIRI

What a cool match, TAJIRI took Kajiwara to school, and then some more. You’ll rarely see someone using the most basic pillars of pro-wrestling like this, it’s like TAJIRI studied the rulebook from A to Z and then decided to troll the shit out of his opponent. Can’t wait to see TAJIRI in W-1 full time.

***3/4

WNC 2013/3/31

Zeus vs. Osamu Nishimura

So basically, Zeus is trying to play the Japanese version of Scott Steiner. Okay… I can live with that. However, most of the time he was dull on offense here, but thankfully his opponent was Nishimura, one mean and tough motherfucker. He brought out the maximum here in order to save the match, and he pulled it off. Dat finish!

***1/4

WNC 2013/3/31

WNC Championship: Emil Sitoci vs. AKIRA ©

The first half was not particularly interesting, I mean technically it was alright, it just lacked emotion. But the second half is where it is, Sitoci’s legwork finally started paying off, they structured and paced it well enough. Good little title match with a strong finish.

***1/4

TNA Final Resolution 2011

(2011/12/11)

TNA X Championship: Kid Kash vs. Austin Aries ©

So, I rewatched this cute little heel/heel match, didn’t regret it at all. Negative things first: Impact Zone, ohhh, those sacks of shit who pretend they’re fans… Oh my god, they’re so dead, pardon moment here and there. Of course Tenay’s gonna try to cover for them by saying that both competitors are bad guys not worth rooting for, lel… FUCK YOU! There were also one or two dry moments, but overall this was a fun match with two guys trying to outcheat and outsmart each other. Sheeeeit, Aries’ title reign was so good back then, it kind of revitalized the division for awhile.

***1/4

Kizuna Road '14: KUSHIDA vs. Ibushi in Korakuen!

Kizuna Road 2014

(2014/7/4)


1. BUSHI, Sho Tanaka, Fuego vs. Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, Mascara Dorada

***


2. Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma), Cpt. New Japan, Ryusuke Taguchi vs. TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima), Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi

**1/2


3. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Takashi Iizuka, TAKA Michinoku) vs. Toru Yano, Kazushi Sakuraba, YOSHI-HASHI

Bad video.

N/A


4. Alex Shelley vs. El Desperado

***1/2


5. CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Tomohiro Ishii, Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov) vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Yujiro Takahashi, Tama Tonga)

***3/4


6. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito

****


7. IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship: KUSHIDA vs. Kota Ibushi ©

Damn shame Kota got KTFOed early in the match, this could’ve been a classic, a la the BOSJ Finale. Despite the concussion, Kota continued, even performing most of his spots and bumping really hard for a man with smashed brains. Kudos there, big fucking kudos, that’s toughness 101. KUSH deserves a lot of credit for saving the match too, he put it on the ground to slow things down and save Kota’s life. But he still kicked him in the head few times, though, lel. Despite all of it, good match, which is pretty damn remarkable, IMO.

***1/2


At this point, I’m not sure it’s possible for New Japan to have anything less than a good show in Korakuen. Good opener, solid 8-man tag, very good Shelley/Desperado match, yet another awesome CHAOS/BC multi-man tag, TaNaito/Friends fucking rocked (seriously, watch it), and main event was not only good, but newsworthy as well.

Kizuna Road '14: Yujiro vs. Ishii in Korakuen!

Kizuna Road 2014

(2014/6/29)


1. BUSHI, Yohei Komatsu, Fuego vs. Jushin Liger, Tiger Mask, Mascara Dorada

**3/4


2. Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Cpt. New Japan vs. TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) & Ryusuke Taguchi

***1/4


3. Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka vs. Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI

**3/4


4. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata vs. Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma)

***3/4


5. CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazuchika Okada, Rocky Romero, Alex Koslov) vs. Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, Tama Tonga)

****


6. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Time Splitters (KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley) vs. Tetsuya Naito, Kota Ibushi, El Desperado

***3/4


7. NEVER Openweight Championship: Yujiro Takahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii ©

****1/4


A fine terzetto of solid matches before the awesome GBH/Best Friends tag with great heat, Makabe was totally godlike in it. Dude’s a total beast. The BC/CHAOS rivalry is reaching epic proportions with all these great multi-man tags, it’s absolutely compworthy. The all-face semi-main was very good, Desperado continues to improve, and Ibushi/KUSHIDA chemistry looks promising. Main event was fantastic, very stiff, physical and dramatic, awesome choice to book this in Korakuen, and the only reason Ishii didn’t break his neck is because he has no a neck to break.

Isn't BJW Simply the Best?!

2014/6/15


4. Ikkitousen 2014 ~ Strong Climb ~ Block A: Atsushi Maruyama vs. Shinya Ishikawa

Honestly, you could put this match under the BattlARTS banner, and almost no one would notice any difference. Had no idea who Maruyama was until his current Big Japan run, this is his first big singles match, and fuck, it rocks on so many levels. He totally outclassed and outsmarted the Strong Champion on the mat, bringing out the nastiest out of him. Great, great organic match-up, contains the nastiest dropkick to the face I’ve seen in a long time.

****1/4


5. Ikkitousen 2014 ~ Strong Climb ~ Block B: Manabu Soya vs. Daisuke Sekimoto

Two short, stacked tanks going HAM at each other, first there was a totally swell test of strength, so typical for modern puro, but they put a lot of heart and emotion into it, and the rest was just an awesome, gritty warzone with many, many heavy smacks that made my juices flow.

***3/4


7. BJW Tag Team Championship: Kazuki Hashimoto & Daichi Hashimoto vs. Twin Towers (Kohei Sato & Shuji Ishikawa) ©

Uh, oh, sheeeeeeit… The rematch! And it delivers again! The Wrestler of the Year with dat head-slicing headbutt on Kohei, DAAAYUM! Hard-hitting, smashmouth affair with a plethora of violence. Can the enthusiastic Hash duo finally overcome the behemoths? Have they learned anything?

****


8. LIGHTTUBE, BLOCK, SPIKEBOARD DEATHMATCH for BJW Deathmatch Championship: Yuko Miyamoto vs. Ryuji Ito ©

Good, but not very good or great. Didn’t feel too organic. I don’t expect too much from Ito at this stage of his career, but I do expect much more from Miyamoto. But still, I won’t complain too much, it was good enough, bonus points for the finish. Thank fuck Takeda is back.

***1/4

Two Smashing Maestros and Their Bag Full of Tricks

CMLL 2014/6/22

LIGHTNING MATCH: Blue Panther vs. Ephesto

Number of punches and Irish whips: ZERO. All they did was exchanging holds in the middle of the ring in a highly grueling fashion, and it was fantastic.

****1/4


Noches de Coliseo 2014/6/22

UWA World Middleweight Championship: Silver Star vs. Charles Lucero ©

Where has the old fuck Lucero been my whole life? Smh… The old maestro displayed some of the most scientific pro-graps I’ve ever seen, and you know funny thing? Silver Star is not too much behind. The sanctity of clean title matches in lucha was respected to a T here, and I don’t really know what to write about the match other than “tons of slick, gracious matwork and catapults done at a frantic pace”. This was a pure, sinewy struggle with an amazing finish. Lucha MOTY.

****1/2