Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 27, Day 11

[cero2k]

NJPW G1 Climax 27, Day 11
August 1st, 2017
Kagoshima Arena, Kagoshima, Japan

Katsuya Kitamura & Shota Umino vs Michael Elgin & Jyushin 'Thunder' Liger - 5/10
Liger's vacation is over. Umino went heavy on Liger, today he woke up thinking "I'm gonna make a name by kicking Liger's ass". Elgin when he got in started calling out Kitamura, they had a nice little exchange, Kitamura actually had the upper hand for a little bit. Elgin won the match when he hit a double powerbomb on Kitamura, who actually kicked out at 2.99, but the bell rang, so they just went with it. Ok opener, I'm sure Liger was supposed to win since his song played seconds later after Elgin took off.

Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, El Desperado, & Taichi) vs TenCozy & Hirai Kawato - 4/10
Taichi started the match with Tenzan, btu was mocking Kojima doing his chops and the Icchauzo Bakayaro! shout. Suzuki and Kojima did their thing, it was ok. Heat on Kawato a bit, then Kawata went against all three Suzuki guys, Minoru being the one that just beat the shit out of him. Finish saw Desperado hit the Guitarra de Angel for the win. After the match, Kojima was dead, Suzuki was just kicking him in the face, eventually Kojima woke up and they got in a pull apart. This was all kinda crappy, nto Kawato, he was awesome, he did a springboard dropkick.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & BUSHI) vs Taguchi Japan (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) - 4.5/10
LIJ got the heat on Finlay for a while, Juice Robinson with the hot tag that lasted about a minute before Finlay was back in the ring. SANADA made Finlay tap at the end. Short match, nothing to it.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & Hiromu Takahashi) vs Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Chase Owens) - 5.5/10
Kenny and Chase come up with a plan to hump EVIL, but it backfires and LIJ jump Kenny. BC got the heat on Takahashi for a while, Omega and Hiromu having a nice exchange themselves. Finish saw EVIL defeat Chase Owens. After the match, Omega took out both LIJ members, choked out EVIL at the end, they teased hitting each other's finish.

Bullet Club (Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi) vs CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano) - 5/10
Okada was doing his super entrance in the corner and never noticed that BC were beating the shit out of Yano, when he turned around, he got jumped, and BC stole their entrance robes, Tama Tonga wearing the Rainmaker robe and Yujiro wearing Yano's. Bullet Club cut off Yano for a while, eventually he gets his robe back and tags in Okada. Yano hit the lowblow/roll up combination for the win.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Bad Luck Fale (6) vs YOSHI-HASHI (2) - 7.5/10
I'm just realizing YH is still at two, when he started it felt like he would do better, but I guess I was wrong. YOSHI-HASHI started the match and was a bit over his head because they ended up in the crowd with Fale throwing him over the chairs for a near count out. This was the usual big man vs small man match we've seen already with Fale, with Fale being quite strong, but slow enough that he is easily dodged, so that's where YH can get some offense in.

YOSHI-HASHI at one point reversed the Bad Luck Fall into a sleeper, and he almost had Fale but decide to let it for for a series of kicks that Fale kicked out of. YOSHI-HASHI kept going for submissions and wrapping himself around Fale, one of which was a guillotine, which YH dropped himself rolling Fale for the pin. This was somewhat short, but I liked this match, it felt like YH has to play it smart. I also just noticed that YH high fives the fans with his stick, I felt that was kinda douchy to not do it with his hand.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Zack Sabre Jr (6) w/El Desperado vs Togi Makabe(6) - 8/10
Sabre was awesomely cocky in this match, constantly challenging Makabe to 'come on, mate!'. Sabre initially worked Makabe's leg, but later on started getting more arm stuff WHILE working the leg. Sabre at the end made Makabe Tap! he locked in what looked like a reversed Figure 4 and Makabe had to give up. My only complain about this match was that Makabe at one point hit the King Kong Knee Drop, which Sabre dodged, but Makabe landing knee first, didn't sell it as much being the leg Sabre had been working on. Sabre looked like a killer in this match.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Tomohiro Ishii (6) vs Yuji Nagata (0) - 9/10
Nagata's shirt is all torn up, does it represent his current health? I always feel sad that Nagata arrives looking so happy and then he loses. Have you ever wonder what wins a fight between chops vs kicks? this match will give you an approximate answer. Nagata kicked, Ishii chopped, they both forearmed, the both hurt a lot. They did a little big of the "younger" (he's only 8 yr younger) Ishii calling out old man Nagata, who would get pissed enough to bring it for a while and prove he still had it.

The last 5 minutes of this match were awesome, they started going 100 mph, Nagata was coming at Ishii with everything he had, to the point that even this far in his story, I thought that maybe, just maybe, Nagata could win this one. Ishii was throwing everything at Nagata and he just wouldn't give up, except for the brainbuster, which at the end did the deal. Fucking Nagata and his awesome matches.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Tetsuya Naito (6) vs Hirooki Goto (6) - 8.5/10
This match started at a good pace, early on they did the 20 count tease and they didn't slow down all match. They both worked the head, and towards the end they were both racing to hit their finishers. Goto kicked out of a Destino, but fell to a second one. Great match.

G1 Climax 27 Block B

Hiroshi Tanahashi (8) vs Kota Ibushi (4) - 9.75/10
This match you just need to go watch, nothing much more to say, it was awesome! Ibushi got people booing Tanahashi, that's pretty good for him. You can tell that both these guys had been saving themselves for this match, Ibushi pulled off a bunch of this big spots, and Tanahashi wasn't hiding the arm that much and also doing more big spots.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
What a fucking main event! As usual, the undercard was just there, but the block matches make the show worth watching.