It is going to be hard for anyone to top Katsuyori Shibata vs. Kota Ibushi from night seven, but I’m sure many will try. The good news is that Shinsuke Nakamura is back for tonight and he faces one of his CHAOS mates Tomohiro Ishii in the semi-main event. Hopefully, that match delivers like their contest last year did. Tonight also sees Michael Elgin take on Tomoaki Honma and we have a Champion vs. Champion match in the main event when IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada wrestles IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto. It looks like night eight could be a memorable one. I think it is time to get to the action.
New Japan Pro Wrestling: G1 Climax 25 Night Eight Review
Location: Osaka, Japan inside the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
This show did see the return of a full show for New Japan, as it was a TV Asahi production. This means commentary can be heard, unlike with Samurai TV productions, and there is dubbed music as well. The Osaka crowd is usually one of the most vocal in all of Japan. So, let’s hope this all combines for a good show.
Match 1: Tag Team Match: Cody Hall & (IWGP Tag Team Champion) Doc Gallows (Bullet Club) vs. David Finlay Jr. & Jay White (Young Lions)
Winners: Gallows and Hall (After Gallows hits the Gallows Pole on Jay White)
Doc Gallows faces his Bullet Club mate AJ Styles tomorrow, so that’s why we have this tag match here. Since obviously Bullet Club guys aren’t going to face off against each other unless they have to do so. This was your basic tag match. The Young Lions worked hard and got in some uppercuts, elbows, and dropicks. Finlay Jr got the heat segment, which the crowd did respond to well. Hall looked good doing a Rib Breaker into a Fallaway Slam. Gallows was his usual meh self. Not really much to this one honestly. **
Match 2: 6-Man Tag Team Match: Kota Ibushi, (CMLL World Welterweight Champion) Mascara Dorada & Tetsuya Naito vs. Yohei Komatsu (Young Lion), (NWA World Champion) Hiroyoshi Tenzan & (NEVER Openweight Champion) Togi Makabe
Winners: Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito, & Mascara Dorada (After Dorada Hit Dorada Screwdriver on Yohei Komatsu)
Naito is absolutely hated in Osaka, even when he was clearly a face. Earlier this year at the New Beginning in Osaka show, he was literally booed out of the building. So, Naito’s heel stuff works wonders here because the crowd just gets even more of a reason to boo Naito. Naito refuses to face Makabe at the start, so Tenzan and Ibushi have to start things instead. Dorada and Komatsu get to have a lot of the fun, as Dorada does a Kart Wheel out of Yohei’s Rana and then they take it to the outside and Dorada hits an Asai Moonsault. They would also be involved at the end in the finish as well. Ibushi and Tenzan would go at it again, with Ibushi hitting his kick combo and two standing moonsaults for good measure. Naito would eventually come in against Makabe, but after a while he just leaves because he doesn’t care. Everyone got to get in a few things, Yohei and Dorada worked hard to entertain. In the end, this was about watching Naito get booed for the most part. ** and ½ *
Match 3: 6- Man Tag Team Match: Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale, & AJ Styles vs. Captain New Japan, Tiger Mask IV, & Katsuyori Shibata
Winners: Bullet Club (After Tonga Hits Headshrinker DDT on Captain New Japan
This was enjoyable because everyone took it seriously. Fale and Shibata had a stare down and some interactions, but not really anything major that get you excited one way or another for their match tomorrow. AJ really had issues with Tiger Mask in this, as he just kept pulverizing Tiger Mask’s leg, although Tiger does get to hit the Tiger Driver on AJ out of desperation. The best part of this had to be the short Shibata vs. AJ interaction. Shibata and AJ decided to counter each running to the diagonal corner. AJ wanted to make sure to avoid the Basement Dropkick from Shibata. Shibata would punch AJ down, but AJ would get up and follow Shibata to the other corner to stop him. This had a couple of passes until Shibata got frustrated and just pummeled AJ with elbows until he stayed down and Shibata delivers the Dropkick. Shibata puts in the Sleeper, but AJ blocks and then hits a Pele. It probably didn’t take more than one minute, but just alluding that they previously had a match with each other did wonders for the crowd and for the viewing audience as well. Tonga would get the pin again in successive tag bouts over CNJ. I don’t get much for that match tomorrow, but I sure wish I could see AJ vs. Shibata again. ***
Match 4: 6-Man Tag Team Match: Ryusuke Taguchi, (IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion) KUSHIDA & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Gedo, YOSHI-HASHI, & Toru Yano
Winners: Hiroshi Tanahashi, KUSHIDA, & Ryusuke Taguchi (After KUSHIDA Makes Gedo TAP OUT to the Hoverboard Lock)
Yey! One of my favorite guys in all of New Japan is back, as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, KUSHIDA, makes his first appearance of the tour, after spending some time in GFW and doing a few other things. KUSHIDA was booked pretty strongly here, but that also ends my excitement for this match. Yano does his break routine to annoy Tanahashi. Tana fires back with a knockdown and a Springboard Crossbody and that was really the extent of their interactions really. This match was built around Gedo and KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA did some wrenches to the arm and dropkicked Gedo’s arm too. KUSHIDA and Tanahashi do have some fun just tagging each other and working over that arm for a bit, in probably the best segment of the match. YOSHI-HASHI and Taguchi probably had their most blah showings of the tournament of this match. YOSHI got to do his Neckbreaker to Tanahashi at one point. Taguchi used his ass and got a top rope Ass attack too. Like I said, KUSHIDA and Gedo. This was the ending too, as Tanahashi and Taguchi hit Plancha’s on their opponents. KUSHIDA and Gedo were left alone. KUSHIDA had his moonsault blocked by Gedo’s knees, Gedo goes for Gedo Clutch, but KUSHIDA counters and Gedo taps. This really felt like everyone going through the motions and bring an end to a middling undercard for this show. ***
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 25 Matches: All B Block
Match 5: (2010 G1 Winner) Satoshi Kojima (2 points) vs. Yujiro Takahashi (Bullet Club) (2 points)
Winner: Yujiro Takahashi (After Hitting Miami Shine)
My lord those New Japan cameras were just all up in Yujiro’s girl’s business. I don’t think I needed an underneath view of, well, I’ll just leave that up to your imagination what it was. Yujiro has now picked up wins against two veterans in succession due to Cody Hall interference and a referee bump. The action actually wasn’t that bad with Kojima hitting an apron DDT and a Super Cutter at one point, Yujiro hitting a Buckle Bomb, and a crowd that was at least on the side of Kojima and not just dead silent. So, of course when Kojima hits The Lariat, Cody Hall pulls out the referee and sends him over the barricade. Kojima fights him off, but he turns around into a Yujiro low blow and Miami Shine. I’m surprised Yujiro has this many points, so someone has some faith in him. This was just fine and that’s all I have to say. ** ½*
Match 6: (2001 G1 Winner) Yuji Nagata (2 points) vs. (IWGP Tag Team Champion) Karl Anderson (4 points) (Bullet Club)
Winner: Karl Anderson (After Hitting Gun Stun)
These two worked really well here. Anderson constantly making fun of the Blue Justice taunt was just great. I liked that Anderson watched his fellow Bullet Club member’s match from before and continued to work on the ribs in this match. Nagata may not have sold it perfectly, but rib injuries are the kind that you just have to grin and bear by nature. So, what Nagata did in the match made sense and the one time that Anderson played around too much, he ate a Super Exploder Suplex for it. I also enjoyed the callback to their tag match with the TKO Gun Stun counter to the White Eyes Armbar. I should also note that Anderson also does one of the best Spinebusters in the business as well. They had a very cool final exchange with Nagata standing up Anderson on the Stun Gun to block it and then hitting a Wheel Kick to the back and an Enziguri to the front. Maybe Gun Stun out of anything should start trending on twitter because Anderson has really made that a thing in this tournament. Maybe this wasn’t anything super special, but still an enjoyable match with a nice mixture of comedy, psychology, and fun action. *** ¼ *
Match 7: Michael Elgin (2 points) (ROH) vs. Tomoaki Honma (0 points)
Winner: Michael Elgin (After Hitting a Pop-up Powerbomb right into a Buckle Bomb right into an Elgin Bomb)
This was wonderful, just wonderful. They didn’t play around and do all this extra stuff. There was just straight action here and it suited the styles of both men. Elgin has been improving along with the tournament and he put on a great match here with everyone’s favorite loser and my boy, Tomoaki Honma. Elgin hits an Oklahoma Stampede, his patented stalling suplex, and a beautiful Deadlift Superplex into a Falcon Arrow. Honma countering their trading of blows with a DDT was nice and then he scored with his Deadlift Brainbuster to the delight of the crowd. It seemed as though we’d only get the one Kokeshi in this match, but then Honma surprised with a hell of spot. Elgin had to work to hit the Buckle Bomb, only for Honma to no sell it and hit a Rocket Kokeshi. Honma gets another Rocket Kokeshi to the back and he’s rolling to the top rope, but he misses the final Kokeshi. Elgin hits a SICK Lariat for a 2 count. The Deadlift German that Honma no sells spiked the crowd into a frenzy, only to see him suffer three straight bombs for the less. Great stuff here, something you should go watch, if for nothing else so people can finally shut up about Michael Elgin being chosen for this tournament. The match seemed to take a lot out of Honma, as he had to be helped to the back and even fell down on the ramp. You can’t say he doesn’t put himself through a lot to put on these great matches.****
Match 8: (2011 G1 Winner) Shinsuke Nakamura (2 points) (CHAOS) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (6 points) (CHAOS)
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura (After Hitting Falcon Arrow and Boma-Ye)
Shinsuke Nakamura makes his awaited return after missing three nights with an arm injury. Once he takes off the jacket, we can see the arm is heavily bandaged and Ishii does nothing to it the whole match. Nakamura did a lot more variations of kicks then we’ve seen him use in a long while due to the injury as well. Early on it was a lot of Ishii no selling blows and Nakamura figuring out ways to get him down. Ishii then got his big flurry with the combo in the corner, lariat, and Brainbuster for 2. Things started to heat up when Ishii hit Nakamura’s trademark Reverse Powerslam, hit a Powerbomb for 2, and then hit a Superplex as well for 2. Nakamura hit an Axe kick for a 2 count as well. Then after this, we get a Reverse Powerslam from Nakamura and a Sliding Kick for 2. We get some great counters here, as Ishii blocks Boma-Ye and hits an Insane Lariat that turns Nakamura inside out. Ishii hits the Sliding Lariat and gets ready for the Brainbuster, but Nakamura counters with a Big High Kick and a Boma-Ye, but he can’t make the cover. So, he goes up to the second rope and hits a Boma-Ye, but Ishii kicks out. Nakamura is able to block an Ishii lariat with a Cross Armbreaker, but Ishii rolls through blocks it and hits a Dropkick. The Falcon Arrow and Boma-Ye combo wins it for Nakamura, but it was hard fought. This wasn’t anything blow away, but for Nakamura wrestling with only his right arm essentially, they still pulled out a solid match here that had nice counters and different stuff from Nakamura. *** ½ *
Match 9: MAIN EVENT: (IWGP Intercontinental Champion, 2008 G1 Winner) Hirooki Goto (4 points) vs. (IWGP Heavyweight Champion, 2-Time & Defending G1 Winner) Kazuchika Okada (6 points) (CHAOS)
Winner: Hirooki Goto (After Hitting the Shouten-Kai)
As I said in my review of the night seven show, it was going to be hard for these two to get out of their shells and deliver something great. After getting Shibata vs. Ibushi it is going to be hard for matches to compare to that. However, there is something to be said for a more traditional match that just builds to a crescendo. I know a lot of people complain that Okada’s and Goto’s for that matter are roughly the same. In some respects, I can understand and agree with it. I thought they tried to go through phases here. Goto dominated the early feeling out exchanges. Once things went to the outside it was all about Okada. Then things got a bit more even, but it was still mostly about Okada and him getting his offense in, while Goto was able to comeback or counter when he could. The whole countering of pins is something you see more in American wrestling and it was a nice change of pace that went immediately into an Okada Neckbreaker. Goto countering the Rainmaker with the Urushi-Koroshi started the crazy ending sequence. Goto then hits the Ura Shouten, but has the Shouten-Kai blocked. They went to the corner where Okada was able to block a Super Urushi-Koroshi and we get a nice Deadlift German. Okada holds on to it, but has Rainmaker attempt blocked by a Headbutt. Shouten-Kai gets blocked again, Goto goes for Discus Lariat, Goto blocks Rainmaker with two headbutts this time and finally able to hit the Shouten-Kai for the win. This was a great match and felt like a big time deal. Champion vs. Champion matches rarely happen and the announcers put over that this contest was not just about two points. Goto winning now sets up the main event of a future big show and proves that he is worthy of holding the Intercontinental Championship. Now Goto can continue on his quest to unify the belts and Okada suffers his first loss of the tournament. **** ½ *
Here are the standings after eight nights of action…
A Block: Katsuyori Shibata, Tetsuya Naito & Bad Luck Fale (6 points), Hiroshi Tanahashi, AJ Styles, Kota Ibushi, & Togi Makabe (4 points), Toru Yano, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, and Doc Gallows (2 points)
B Block: Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto, Karl Anderson and Tomohiro Ishii (6 points), Shinsuke Nakamura, Michael Elgin, & Yujiro Takahashi (4 points), Yuji Nagata & Satoshi Kojima (2 points) Tomoaki Honma (0 points)
FINAL RATING: 9.0 Another lackluster undercard and underwhelming first G1 match combined with two great matches and two more very good ones kind of wash each other out. It was good to see Nakamura return to action tonight and hopefully he can be careful with that left elbow for the rest of the tournament. Anderson continues to surprise, so does Michael Elgin for that matter, and the two champions put on a terrific main event. I’d recommend for sure go back and watch Elgin vs. Honma and the main event. Nakamura vs. Ishii and Nagata vs. Anderson are worth watching, but not totally necessary either. Well, that does it for night eight, I’ll be back at some point with a look at night nine in Aichi.
