BRM Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 26: Day 1 (great)

[Big Red Machine]

NJPW G1 Climax 26: Day 1 (7/18/2016)- Hokkaido, Japan

TOMOAKI HONMA, CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, & KUSHIDA vs. JUSHIN “THUNDER LIGER,” TIGER MASK IV, KATSUYORI SHIBATA, & MANABU NAKANISHI- 6.5/10
Fun opener.

KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA & TORU YANO vs. SATOSHI KOJIMA & JUICE ROBINSON- 6.75/10
Less comedy than usual from Yano. Hopefully this is a sign of thing to come from him in the G1… but I’m not getting my hopes up.

CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI & Gedo) vs. BULLET CLUB (Kenny Omega & Yujiro Takahashi)- 4/10
Oh. So that’s where Yano’s comedy spots went: Omega & Yujiro stole them. Omega choked Gedo with a broom right in front of the referee. There was no DQ for this. After that crap stopped, it was fine, but that was half way through the match.

DAVID FINLAY JR., YUJI NAGATA, & MICHAEL ELGIN vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPON (Tetsuya Naito, EVIL, & BUSHI)- 6.75/10
Good action. Naito attacked Nagata’s legs after the match.

BLOCK A MATCH: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (w/Satoshi Kojima)- 8/10
I’ve never cared about Tenzan before, but this storyline where he wasn’t even included in the original list of participants and wanted to prove that he could still compete in the tournament that he has had so much success in in the past, and then his best buddy Kojima donated his spot to him has REALLY gotten me behind the old bastard.
Tonight he faces that hardest hitter in his entire block. Good luck!
Tenzan came out of the gate firing to prove that he wasn’t afraid of Ishii and took it to Ishii for a while, working over his arm and shoulder to set up for the anaconda vise. Ishii managed to survive it and the came out firing with his usual lariats and headbutts and stuff, and after every lariat or powerbomb where Tenzan went down you just had to hope that the old f*cker wasn’t knocked out… but he kicked out every time, fought back, going toe-to-toe with New Japan’s hardest hitter, and finally getting the win with a moonsault. A strong statement from a man who has been derided as old and broken down. These Tenzan matches could turn out to be something special.

BLOCK A MATCH: Togi Makabe vs. Tama Tonga- 6.5/10
A lot of hitting each other in the head. The quick fighting spirit spot was well-done. Tonga definitely fought like a guy trying to impress in his first G1 outing.

BLOCK A MATCH: Bad Luck Fale vs. Hirooki Goto- 5.25/10
Not much to say about this one. Goto puts the big man down with a sleeper and then what appeared to be a rather unnecessary GTR (I thought the referee had declared Fale to be unconscious). Some of Fale’s offense looked bad. The Grenade in particular comes to mind.

BLOCK A MATCH: Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Sanada- 8.25/10
This “Cold Skull” Sanada look is SOOOO awesome! He worked over Tanahashi’s injured shoulder while Tanahashi worked over Sanada’s knee.
HOLY F*CKING SH*T!
Well… if they’re going to push Sanada enough to beat Tanahashi, he’s going need to deliver awesome matches, and this was a pretty great start.

BLOCK A MATCH: Naomichi Marufuji vs. Kazuchika Okada (w/Gedo)- 7.75/10
Marufuji worked the arm. He eventually won with the Pole Shift. They’re really trying to send a message here with these big upsets.

A great start to the G1. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Sanada, Marufuji, Tanahashi, and especially Tenzan fare in the rest of the tournament.