shoe Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 Night 13 Ibushi vs Fale Fale is using his size to beat down Ibushi. They do a good job of giving Ibushi hope spots only for Fale's size to be too much. This even makes more sense this late in the tourney. They tease a Razor's Edge on the floor, but Ibushi escapes and delivers an Asai Moonsault. It looks like Ibushi is about to make a run, but Fale cuts him off with a Samoan Drop. Some more and eventually it builds to a finish. From a story this was pretty basic, and honestly they needed it to be. 2 3/4* Naito vs Yano Some comedy early. Naito kicking Yano's ass. Some Yano shennanigans. 1 1/2* Styles vs Tenzan AJ with some fun hair pulling. AJ is working another smart match. Tenzan has now busted his mouth. AJ selling the Koppo kick big. Nasty kick in the corner by AJ. Styles working the leg. Calf Slicer!!!!! Followed up by a Figure 4. Tenzan comeback after AJ mocking him. I bought Tenzan's nearfall. I like how the story went back to Tenzan's leg. I bit again on AJ's close call. Yes and I loved that the leg work was paid off. I can't wait to see AJ next month. He can go so many different ways in a match and tell so many different stories. He's a lot like Billy Robinson in that regard. 4* Gallows vs Makabe Hoss fight. Gallows choking Makabe with his own chain. Now he's punching him with it. Big sternum bump into the guard rail by Makabe. Gallows smashes a guard rail and chairs on Makabe. I guess the ref is giving him leeway. Makabe comeback. Gallows bumping good for him. A cursing battle to boot. Gotta give Makabe credit, he's taking an ass kicking, and his strikes seem on point. A fun match. 3* Tanahashi vs Shibata Liking the mat work to start. The battles for positioning is really cool. Very old school build with a modern update. Tanahashi's ankle pick was sweet. Tanahashi doesn't give Shibata a clean break. A nice piece of history in the match. Shibata transitions into an Abdominal Stretch into a Figure 4. I'm really liking the chess build here. Shibata beating Tanahashi down. Tanahashi tricks him and gives a low level drop kick. Dragon Screw by Tanahashi. Tanahashi presses his advantage on the floor. Shibata does a fighting spirit comeback, but at least it's after 2 Tanahashi pussy elbow strikes. Shibata with some nasty work in the corner. A modified Octopus by Shibata. A kick stops Shibata cold. Tanahashi going back to the leg was awesome. This feels epic and a total battle. Super hot finishing sequence. What a match. The finish was perfect NWA champion. 4 1/2* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 Night 14 Elgin vs Anderson Elgin when he comes back to ROH should come back with a new name like Lone Wolf Michael Elgin, or Michael "The Wild Bull" Elgin. It might give him some color. Loving Anderson's forearms on top. Nasty European forearm by Anderson. A lot of good moments in the match. Cool finish. 3 1/4* Nagata vs Kojima A battle of vets. A nice trick out by Nagata. I like the grizzly feel the match has. Kojima going after Nagata's injured peck. 2 1/2* Takahashi vs Okada Okada mocking Cody Hall was a nice touch. Takahashi makes his comeback in front of his stripper. I like Okada, but he's become a pretty formula worker. Takahashi's clothesline in the corner was rookie level bad. Their is no reason for this to go as long as it has for Okada to go over. 2 1/2* Nakamura vs Honma Nakamura slams Honma into the crowd. Nak focusing on Honma's neck. The work has been pretty basic. Nice delayed suplex by Honma to escape the front facelock. Pretty basic match that tells a story. 3 1/4* Goto vs Ishii This was fun in the sense watching 2 guys beating on one another. The difference Goto had a plan and eventually it paid off. Overall, I didn't think this was high end work. It was good though. I can see people being on both ends of the spectrum on this match. 3 1/2* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 I should watch it again but on first watch Anderson/Elgin was one of my favorite matches of the tournament, to my surprise. This was by far the best night of the tournament I thought. Goto/Ishii was very good but like a lot of big matches of this tournament could've been about 3-5 minutes shorter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted August 9, 2015 Report Share Posted August 9, 2015 Oddly I thought Anderson might've been Elgin's worst match thus far in the tourney. Just didn't click for me and felt like they were stopping & resetting between every spot without much flow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WingedEagle Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 Tanahashi vs Shibata Liking the mat work to start. The battles for positioning is really cool. Very old school build with a modern update. Tanahashi's ankle pick was sweet. Tanahashi doesn't give Shibata a clean break. A nice piece of history in the match. Shibata transitions into an Abdominal Stretch into a Figure 4. I'm really liking the chess build here. Shibata beating Tanahashi down. Tanahashi tricks him and gives a low level drop kick. Dragon Screw by Tanahashi. Tanahashi presses his advantage on the floor. Shibata does a fighting spirit comeback, but at least it's after 2 Tanahashi pussy elbow strikes. Shibata with some nasty work in the corner. A modified Octopus by Shibata. A kick stops Shibata cold. Tanahashi going back to the leg was awesome. This feels epic and a total battle. Super hot finishing sequence. What a match. The finish was perfect NWA champion. 4 1/2* Wanted to echo the love for this match. I'm not a huge Shibata fan because his matches always seem to become both guys striking one another as hard as possible. They worked this very differently and only sparingly went to strike vs. strike like the Goto & Ishii matches that got a lot of love. Pretty comfortable saying this is the best Shibata match I've seen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pol Posted August 10, 2015 Report Share Posted August 10, 2015 Anderson's goofy mugging is insufferable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Cooke Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Goto vs. Ishii from yesterday was not a disaster like I thought it would be but it isn't the MOTYC that is being thrown around. Ishii was a Choshu trainee (pretty sure about that) and obviously didn't take away Choshu's strengths. For a bull versus bull match, this was no Hashimoto vs. Choshu. When Meltzer talks about this period in New Japan being reminiscent of Crockett in 1987-1988, something else he is missing from the working side is the game of top this. If two wrestlers throw 15 lariats at each other and don't go down until the last one, what do you expect will happen the next time the match occurs? 20 lariats? 30 lariats? It's the All Japan/NOAH lesson of "top this" will either: a.) make matches on the undercard seem completely irrelevant when people actually do sell (but this is also the better case) or b.) leads to the body breaking down much quicker. Goto's move that he does on his knee almost never looks good because if you truly take that one your head, you are probably going to get knocked out or concussed. So his opponents, rightfully so, aren't able to take it in a realistic manner and it ends up looking like a bad 2001 CM Punk move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LariatMMBOPPO Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Goto vs. Ishii from yesterday was not a disaster like I thought it would be but it isn't the MOTYC that is being thrown around. Ishii was a Choshu trainee (pretty sure about that) and obviously didn't take away Choshu's strengths. For a bull versus bull match, this was no Hashimoto vs. Choshu. When Meltzer talks about this period in New Japan being reminiscent of Crockett in 1987-1988, something else he is missing from the working side is the game of top this. If two wrestlers throw 15 lariats at each other and don't go down until the last one, what do you expect will happen the next time the match occurs? 20 lariats? 30 lariats? Nah, this shit never adds up in any way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pol Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Some really shitty booking on today's show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Why is Ibushi having such a shitty tournament? What's the logic of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbo Slice Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Yeah, that's baffling to me. He was pretty hot the early part of the year, drew a great gate with AJ at Sumo...him being a flop of this tournament is just mind boggling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTNW Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 He's just returning some jobs from the 2013 G1. Nothing more to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Does Yano REALLY need his heat back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOTNW Posted August 11, 2015 Report Share Posted August 11, 2015 Yes. It would affect the DVD sales. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W2BTD Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Why is Ibushi having such a shitty tournament? What's the logic of that? He won New Japan Cup and had an IWGP title shot earlier this year, so there wasn't a pressing need to push him hard here. I agree he could have won another match or two, but his performances, especially early on, were MVP caliber. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 HONMA WINS HONMA WINS And he actually beat Ishii. I was sure that it would come down to him and Yujiro and probably makes more sense to be honest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted August 12, 2015 Report Share Posted August 12, 2015 Night 15. Naito vs Gallows I liked this. They cut a fun pace. I'd like to see someone tap to Naito's submission to get it over. They didn't build to the finish real well. 2 3/4* Shibata vs Tenzan Fun match. It was hard hitting. Shibata bringing it. Tenzan going for his finish throughout. Fun stuff. 3* Ibushi vs Yano Oh Vey Styles vs Fale Styles bump to the outside got Fale over as a killer more than anyone the last 2 years. Totally different than the rest of the tourney. 2 3/4* Tanahashi vs Makabe Makabe best match of the tourney. Love Tanahashi sucking Makabe in and began working the leg. Makabe cuts him off and uses a variety of suplexes. We got good leg selling. Good stuff. 3 3/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 Night 16 Anderson vs Takahashi I'm liking all the BS. That was entertaining. The match ehh. 2* Goto vs Elgin This is a battle. Goto going after the neck. Nice DVDR by Elgin on the apron. Nice drop kick by Elgin and the crowd is with him. Elgin is looking like a beast with his power moves. Elgin has a cravat and throws knees. Hearing the crowd it feels Elgin is a made man. I loved the finish where Goto sneaks out the victory. Elgin looks like a million bucks. This is Ric Flair making a star, This is Bret/Austin Survivor Series, This was a worker high on the pecking order making a midcarder. Great stuff. 4* Nakamura vs Kojima Some chain wrestling to start. It's turning into a battle of strikes. Last year at the G1it felt Nak was peaking. I know he's banged up, but here he feels he's limping. Loving Nak just going after Kojima's arm. Still the match felt empty in a way. 3* Okada vs Nagata Super fun exchanges to start. Nagata taking down Okada early. Stage 1 in destroying Nagata's neck is the hanging DDT on the floor. It looks like Nagata is selling a floating rib injury. Okada tries to exploit it with a rolling senton, and kicks at it. Nagata lighting Okada up with kicks. Okada with a big elbow from the top. Nice counter of the Rain Maker by Nagata. We've had a lot of strike exchanges to fill up time. Great drama with the arm bar submission. I like Nagata taking the Rain Maker away. It's interesting that Okada went away from the rib work to back to his standard finishing run of moves till we get the Rain Maker. 3 1/2* Ishii vs Honma Loving Ishii rubbing his forearm across Honma's forehead. Fuck I loved Honma's delayed vertical. The rope running strike exchanges are ugly. The chop exchange was overkill, felt like a long tennis volley. Both guys selling a battle. A fun match. 3 1/2* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stomperspc Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 As Meltzer pointed out, booking Gallows to upset Naito a couple of days ago is a real head scratcher. From a booking standpoint nothing was gained from it. While I appreciate that they don’t have everyone grouped within two wins of one another like in 2012 & 2013, I am not sure why they would pass up the opportunity to add a little more drama to the final day of round robin by keeping Naito in contention. If Naito beat Gallows, he would have advanced to the finals with a win over Tenzan on Friday because he holds the tie breakers versus Tanahashi and Styles. They could have ran Tanahashi-Styles in the semi-main event spot, with the winner of that match looking on at the Naito-Tenzan match. Theoretically, the fans would want Styles or Tanahashi to advance over Naito and would also be pulling for Tenzan to pick up the win big win. That would have been a potentially cool scenario and would have turned a now meaningless match into something potentially memorable. Instead, none the A block undercard matches mean anything tomorrow. Seems like a wasted opportunity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pol Posted August 13, 2015 Report Share Posted August 13, 2015 I think there's a good chance Naito loses to both Gallows and Tenzan since they generally seem to want to give everyone some minimum number of wins. Last year with the 11 man blocks everyone got at least 4 wins, this year 3 is the number. I really dislike the way they book this thing. It makes many matches, especially in the early going, feel completely meaningless when you know almost anyone can lose to almost anyone else to engineer the desired point totals, so wins and losses that would otherwise feel big don't actually matter at all. If Baba was booking this thing, Naito going on a tear like he did early by beating the two top guys in his block - setting aside that Baba would never book a 2nd rung guy to do do that - would mean he's a huge favorite to take the block, but here it feels flat because no matter that he just beat the top two guys in his block, he can still lose to fuckin' Toru Yano and Doc Gallows. I'm not proposing they be quite as rigid as Baba but I think they would benefit in many ways if they took more influence from that style of booking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammerva Posted August 14, 2015 Report Share Posted August 14, 2015 I think there's a good chance Naito loses to both Gallows and Tenzan since they generally seem to want to give everyone some minimum number of wins. Last year with the 11 man blocks everyone got at least 4 wins, this year 3 is the number. Well unfortunately you hit the nail on the head with that one. I have kind of the same mindset where it would make a wrestler look stronger to be win near the end of the G1 than the beginning. So Naito being an early leader was promising but now he is losing to mid carders and tag team specialist which really isn't helping. They did the same thing with Ibushi who had a great beginning of the G1 and then proceed to lose to Fale and Toru Yano in like 16 seconds. If they weren't going to make these guys relevant in the final decision then I would think they should have separated the wins and losses better. Don't understand the reasoning for making guys that nobody believes is a main eventer (Gallows, Tenzan, Elgin) strong in this tournament? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quentin Skinner Posted August 14, 2015 Report Share Posted August 14, 2015 Styles vs Tanahashi was really great stuff. Gonna have to rewatch some stuff, but I would put it in my top 3 matches of the tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tim Posted August 14, 2015 Report Share Posted August 14, 2015 NJPW booking is just unbearable. Do they really have to run one of the two most boring, stale and overdone match-ups they have as the final? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pol Posted August 14, 2015 Report Share Posted August 14, 2015 I mean the building has long been sold out already so it makes sense not to give anything away. I'm more concerned about the booking of their upper midcarders, which has been abysmal in this tournament. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted August 15, 2015 Report Share Posted August 15, 2015 Night 17 Shibata vs Gallows A fun little match. 2 3/4* Fale vs Yano Loved the finish. 1/2* Naito vs Tenzan Loved Naito's work on top softening the neck. They need for him to win with his submission because he's getting no response. Overall a tad long, but good. 3* Ibushi vs Makabe Ibushi working a smart match here. Working over Makabe's limb is smart. It's taped up from the Tanahashi match. This has been pretty good. Loved Ibushi's counter of the top rope German. Ibushi with kicks. 3 1/4* Styles vs Tanahashi Both guys are really making the holds matter. Tanahashi looks to be going after the back, though now it looks like the leg. AJ selling the leg pretty damn good. AJ just constantly shaking the leg out. Nice payback and AJ begins working a leg. Both guys throwing out big moves. Tanahashi back to the leg. This has the Rocky Feel to it. Calf Slicer by AJ. Loved AJ's counter into an ankle lock. Tanahashi back to the leg. The finish stretch here is epic. Loved the counter to the Pele' kick. It's a shame the High Fly Flow is a terrible finisher . Man this was an epic encounter. A few small things bothered me, but pretty inconsequential in the grand scheme of an epic match. My new favorite match of the G1 4 3/4* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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