New Japan Pro Wrestling: G1 Climax 25 Night Four Review
Location: Kagawa, Takamatsu, Japan inside Takamatsu City Gymnasium
Night three might have been the best of the bunch when it comes to the G1 Climax 25 tournament so far. Now with Block B matches headlining on night four and with some nice main events set for the show, this one looked set to deliver another night of great action.
Once again, New Japan changed things up production wise, giving us a more direct one camera (hard cam) view of the wrestling, but instead of extremely bright entrance lights that almost blinded your eyes, this was an almost dark arena except for the light shining on the ring. So, things may be a little bit harder to see, but at least wrestlers won’t go out of focus like they did at times on night two.
Match 1: 6-Man Tag Team Match: Captain New Japan, Jushin “Thunder” Liger, and Tiger Mask IV vs. Tama Tonga, Cody Hall, & (IWGP Tag Team Champion) Doc Gallows (All Bullet Club)
Winners: Doc Gallows, Cody Hall, & Tama Tonga (After Hitting Captain New Japan with Gallows Pole)
Bullet Club jumped the faces before the bell rang and then for some reason Tiger Mask IV was chosen as the guy to play face in peril (wrong decision.) No one really reacted or cared that the different guys in the BC were beating him up. Liger eventually got the hot tag and ran wild with Palm Strikes and a Frankensteiner on Tonga. Things breakdown and we get Captain New Japan with Doc Gallows. Gallows eventually gets the Gallows Pole after a short exchange and that’s it. This was a pretty basic tag match with very little heat. Doc Gallows wrestles his stablemate Bad Luck Fale tomorrow, so that should be interesting to see how they go about that. ½ *
Match 2: 6-Man Tag Team Match: (NJPW Booker) Gedo, Toru Yano, & YOSHI-HASHI (All CHAOS) vs. (CMLL World Welterweight Champion) Mascara Dorada, (NWA World Champion) Hiroyoshi Tenzan & David Finlay Jr.
Winners: Gedo, YOSHI-HASHI, & Toru Yano (After YOSHI-HASHI Hits David Finlay Jr with Swanton Bomb)
Dorada got a few moments with his Rope Walk and Springboard Dropkick, the most interesting thing was perhaps Finlay Jr and YOSHI-HASHI’s interactions towards the end. Watching Yano try to do Mongolians was funny, but really this was another basic tag match, which had a few nice moves thrown in there. * and ¼ *
Match 3: Tag Team Match: AJ Styles & Bad Luck Fale (Bullet Club) vs. Jay White & Kota Ibushi
Winners: AJ Styles & Bad Luck Fale (After Fale Hit the Grenade on Jay White)
This is basically here to help promote the Styles vs. Ibushi Invasion Attack rematch happening tomorrow in a G1 match. Ibushi got the hot tag in here and gave Styles a nice kick and also got the top rope Moonsault on him as well. AJ would take out Ibushi on the outside with a plancha, which led to the finish. Jay White looked good in there with Fale, showing he wasn’t afraid of the big man and got to hit the Dropkick on him. After Gallows got the win in the first match, it kinda made sense for Fale to pick-up the win here. Nice to see him use The Grenade (Samoan Spike) too. We got a nice tease of AJ and Ibushi, Fale did some power stuff, but in the end it wasn’t anything special. ** ½ * (If you haven’t done so, you should watch the AJ Styles vs. Kota Ibushi Invasion Attack 2015 match. It is pretty damn good and would serve as a nice primer before watching night five.)
Match 4: 6-Man Tag Team Match: Ryusuke Taguchi, Katsuyori Shibata, & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yohei Komatsu, (NEVER Openweight Champion) Togi Makabe, & Tetsuya Naito
Winners: Ryusuke Taguchi, Katsuyori Shibata, & Hiroshi Tanahashi (After Hitting a Second Dodon on Komatsu)
This match completed the very lackluster undercard on this show. Yohei Komatsu did get to have nice interactions with all three guys on the opposite team. His selling of Shibata’s kick made me laugh because I’m sure it truly hurts as much as Komatsu sold it. We got nice teases from Makabe/Shibata and Tanahashi getting upset at Naito because he was literally snoozing on the apron to start the match. The main focus was Taguchi and Komatsu. Taguchi got in lots of ass offense, but at least we got the surprise of Komatsu kicking out of a Dodon and it taking another Dodon from Taguchi to put him away. The reality is, all of the stuff between the G1 opponents felt really basic and like they were just doing moves with nothing behind them. ** and ¼ *
Before we get to the G1 matches, this would be a good time for a reminder of the participants in each block…
A Block Participants: AJ Styles (2nd consecutive appearance), Bad Luck Fale (2nd consecutive appearance), Doc Gallows (IWGP Tag Team Champion, 2nd consecutive appearance) (All Bullet Club) Kota Ibushi (2015 New Japan Cup Winner, 2nd appearance), Toru Yano (CHAOS, 10th appearance), Togi Makabe (G1 Winner in 2009, NEVER Openweight Champion, GBH, 12th consecutive appearance), Hiroyoshi Tenzan (G1 Winner in 2003, 2004, & 2006, NWA World Champion, 20th appearance), Hiroshi Tanahashi (G1 Winner in 2007, 14th consecutive appearance), Katsuyori Shibata (3rd consecutive appearance), Tetsuya Naito (G1 Winner in 2013, 6th consecutive appearance, Los Ingobernables)
B Block Participants: Kazuchika Okada (Defending G1 Champion, also won in 2012, IWGP Heavyweight Champion, CHAOS, 4th consecutive appearance), Shinsuke Nakamura (G1 Winner in 2011, CHAOS, 12th appearance), Tomohiro Ishii (CHAOS, 3rd consecutive appearance), Karl Anderson (IWGP Tag Team Champion, Bullet Club, 6th consecutive appearance), Yujiro Takahashi (Bullet Club, 6th consecutive appearance), Tomoaki Honma (GBH, 2nd consecutive appearance), Michael Elgin (ROH, first appearance), Satoshi Kojima (G1 Winner in 2010, 14th appearance), Yuji Nagata (G1 Winner in 2001, 17th consecutive appearance), Hirooki Goto (G1 Winner in 2008, IWGP Intercontinental Champion, 8th consecutive appearance)
G1 Climax Matches All Block B
Match 5: Tomohiro Ishii (2 points) (CHAOS) vs. Yujiro Takahashi (0 points) (Bullet Club)
Winner: Tomohiro Ishii (After Hitting a Brainbuster)
I really don’t understand why Yujiro has to get so much offense in these matches. No one cares about him at all. He gets mostly silence any time he is on offense. This wasn’t as egregious as the match with Goto, mainly because there was a bit more back and forth here. However, it is just really hard to believe in anything Yujiro does because the people he’s facing are so much higher than him. Yujiro also did a lot of Yano type stuff in this match too. He used the referee for a low blow and Cody Hall got involved early on as well on the outside. Yujiro then did himself in trying for the low blow again, but Ishii blocked it with a Headbutt. Ishii was pretty good here and carried Yujiro to something decent. Ishii kicking out of the Tokyo Pimps was probably the biggest reaction something from Yujiro received. Ishii gets the win as expected and we can move on to better things. ** ½ *
Match 6: (2010 G1 Winner) Satoshi Kojima (0 points) vs. Michael Elgin (0 points) (ROH)
Winner: Satoshi Kojima (After Hitting The Lariat as Elgin was jumping off the top rope)
This was really fun and once again built around not only the strength of Elgin, but in making sure he looks good in the match. Here we see him add the over the ropes Splash, which got a nice reaction from the crowd. The crowd even reacted well when he yelled out his name for their attention. Elgin is quickly getting over in Japan and most of all he is letting his spots have flow and breathe. Case in point, moving Kojima on the stalling suplex and letting the crowd “ooooh and ahhhh” in amazement. He isn’t just going from spot, to spot, to spot, to spot, there is a pacing to everything and especially with a veteran here like Kojima it worked well. Elgin yelling out Kojima’s name at random times was also pretty funny. These two put on a very good performance and I was surprised Kojima got the win here too. Kojima getting an Apron facebuster countering Elgin’s Deadlift Superplex was a highlight. The finish came with Elgin going for a Top Rope Codebreaker and Kojima caught him with the Lariat for a nice ending. I hope Elgin continues to impress with his match against Nakamura next. Kojima got all of his typical stuff in here, but the way it was done was great and we had good near falls too. *** ¾ *
Match 7: (IWGP Intercontinental Champion, 2008 G1 Winner) Hirooki Goto (2 points) vs. (IWGP Tag Team Champion) Karl Anderson (2 points, Bullet Club)
Winner: Karl Anderson (After Mid-Air Gun Stun)
This match followed a lot of the same formula that many Goto matches have, where his opponent controls and then Goto makes small comebacks or one big one. Although, the two consecutive down on the outside until the count of “18” was a bit weird. The apron Powerbomb by Anderson on the first one merited it, the second one right after felt like killing time. Goto would later hit a Sunset Flip Bomb from the top rope on Anderson that was pretty awesome, basically announcing Goto’s comeback. I really liked the ending stretch with Anderson blocking Goto’s lariat a few times, until Goto just had enough and went for the Urushi-Koroshi. Anderson’s counter of the Shouten-Kai was pretty cool and it completely shocked the audience. Anderson has been good for his first two matches and I wonder if this is going to be a big run for him. A win here against Goto also means Anderson could challenge for the IC Title down the line. Goto hasn’t been himself in the first two matches. Hopefully as we get further down the line it gets better for him. This match was good, but felt like it ended before it could truly hit that second gear. ***
Match 8: Shinsuke Nakamura (0 points, CHAOS) vs. (2001 G1 Winner) Yuji Nagata (2 points)
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura (After Jumping Kick)
This was much better than their Intercontinental Title match from Sendai. Nakamura and Nagata started the match trading submissions for some reason and they sort of started to get things going when Nagata gave Nakamura a Running Boot. Nakamura gave Nagata the Knees on the barricade and he came back in at “19.” This is the second match in a row to use this spot. Nagata got some nice spots in this with his Exploder Suplex in the corner that Nakamura sold wonderfully, his Belly to Belly out of nowhere was great, and the best part was the rotating seated Armbar. The closing stretch to this match was outstanding, which started off with Nagata getting a German, which Nakamura looked like he was trying to roll through. Nakamura nails a Backstabber and the Reverse Suplex. Nagata moves and hits a rolling kick in the corner. Nakamura tries for the Boma-Ye again, but Nagata moves and hits an Enziguri. Nakamura hits a Jumping Kick and wins. The match had a great close, but it kind of washes out with the very slow beginning to the match. This one may have had some weird pacing, but I probably liked it more than most. *** and ¾ *
Match 9: MAIN EVENT: (IWGP Heavyweight Champion) Kazuchika Okada (2 points) (CHAOS) vs. Tomoaki Honma (0 points)
Winner: Kazuchika Okada (After Hitting The Rainmaker Lariat)
I loved this because Okada could have easily just made this about wearing Honma down with moves to the neck to both make the Rainmaker more effective and nullify the Kokeshi as well. Okada made his statement early with a Hangman’s DDT off the barricade on the outside and it took Honma all the way until 18 to get back into the ring, which would be the fourth time someone did a spot like this on this show. Okada also didn’t try to appeal to the crowd at all, knowing they were going to be into Honma and the match was also setup to make Honma look like a million bucks. Honma got to counter the Tombstone three different times, his counter of the Rainmaker with a Rocket Kokeshi was great and the crowd absolutely started buying into there could be a chance for Honma. The Fire Thunder Driver spot was as close as Honma would come, but the crowd bought it. The match also built well and every time Honma got to counter something was an escalation and it put more thoughts into your head of “could this be the time for Honma?” Even though we all knew it was never happening. Okada had to fight to win this match and had to do a German Suplex and lift up Honma in one motion to get the Rainmaker and make sure Honma couldn’t counter it. The psychology was great throughout from the neck work at the beginning to how it ended. This was just wonderfully worked. **** ¼ *
FINAL RATING: 7.0 The undercard was completely skippable and you could probably skip at least the first G1 match for sure, maybe even the second. Elgin vs. Kojima was really fun, Nakamura and Nagata had a great last five minutes, and Okada vs. Honma delivered exactly what was needed. The ultimate underdog doing everything he could, but ultimately the champion overcame with it all against him. It seems like the tournament is starting to hit its stride and every night could have some great matches on it. Night Five could be the best of these yet.
