Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 27, Day 16

[cero2k]

NJPW G1 Climax 27, Day 16
July 8, 2017
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

Tomoyuki Oka vs Chase Owens - 4.5/10
Virtually the same match as Kitamura vs Owens. Owens wins with the Package Piledriver.

Suzuki-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr & El Desperado) vs Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Shota Umino - 3.5/10
Sabre's style helps hide some of Tenzan's limits, but he still looked like he couldn't manage Sabre's speed when moving around submissions. Heat on Tenzan for a while, Shota with the hot tag getting some good offense on Desperado. Shota tapped to the Stretch Muffler.

Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi) vs Yuji Nagata & Katsuya Kitamura - 6.5/10
This had to be one of the softest wrestled matches all tournament, they really kept it light in terms of stiffness. Heat on Kitamura for a while, who took the Pimp Juice for the loss. Fale and Nagata were good, but like I said, they played it really safe.

CHAOS (YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, & Hirooki Goto) vs Togi Makabe, Kota Ibushi, & Hirai Kawato - 6/10
Dang, Ishii seems to have a black eye from Tanahashi's match. YOSHI and Makabe started the match, they did their thing with YOSHI going over. Ishii and Kawato came in next with Kawato wanting to commit suicide, he was taken out quickly and CHAOS continued cutting off Makabe. Ibushi eventually got the hot tag and went against Goto. Kawato and Ishii were the last inside, they fought for a bit with Kawato getting some offense in, but after a really close nearfall, Ishii tapped him out with a boston crab. Good stuff.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, BUSHI, & Hiromu Takahashi) vs Taguchi Japan (Hiroshi Tanahashi, David Finlay, & Ryusuke Taguchi) - 6.5/10
LIJ jumped the good guys from the get go and kept the heat on David Finlay for a long while. Tanahashi made the hot tag and him and Naito did their thing until the rest of LIJ got in there. Finish saw Taguchi tap out BUSHI with the ankle lock. Outside the ring Naito worked on Tana's arm and legs.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Tama Tonga () vs Satoshi Kojima (2) w/Hiroyoshi Tenzan - 7/10
Tonga kept it up with the mocking and robe stealing from the last show. Tonga worked Kojima's injured right arm, the one he mostly uses for the Lariat; Kojima on the other hand, mostly worked his spots and eventually started going for the Lariat with either arm. Finish saw Tonga hit the Gun Stun for the win.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Toru Yano (6) vs Juice Robinson (4) - 4/10
Short match, they did two count out teases, one with both Yano and Juice running around UNDER the ring, the ref counted and no one had an idea where neither was. Second was Yano tied up Juice's hair to the barricade. Inside the ring, Juice did quick work of Yano who went for all his cheats, but Juice hits the Pulp Friction for the win.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Michael Elgin (6) vs EVIL (10) - 8.5/10
This was a hoss fight like we rarely see in NJPW now a days. Tons of lariats and slams, a superplex, and tons of bombs at the end. I'm really surprised they gave the win to Elgin, since not only is EVIL coming from a big win, but he was the only one that could potentially go for the finals not named Okada or Omega. Great match.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Kenny Omega (10) vs SANADA (8) - 9/10
A really fast paced awesome match with no shenanigans, just straight fighting. Finishing sequence was awesome with both men just hitting each other with everything and ending with a One Winged Angel to put SANADA down for the 3 count. SANADA definitely has the wrestling skills to be a top guy, but something is missing there, he takes the Ingobernable gimmick too seriously.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Kazuchika Okada (12) vs Minoru Suzuki (8) - 9.5/10
These guys went to a 30 minute tie, the only in the tournament (so far), so Okada doesn't get that far away from Omega. Okada is coming in with an injured neck/shoulders, taped up.

Early in the match as Okada is dominating Suzuki outside, Desperado and Taichi interfered and so they were expelled and carried out by the young lions, but the damage was done and Suzuki started his work on Okada's neck and shoulders. Both guys went hard most of the match, by the middle of the match they were already dropping piledrivers on each other. Not long after that, those piledrivers became intents to hit Gotch Piledrivers and Rainmakers.

Some great near falls towards the end, mainly because Suzuki can lock in a sleeper as a counter to anything. Last minute or so, they just slapped each other a bunch, Okada hit a Rainmaker, but couldn't make the pin (a la Dominion).

OVERALL THOUGHTS
A really strong second to last show for Block B. The two final matches were definitely worth going out to see. So now Okada is at 13 points and Omega at 12. EVIL stayed down at 10, so he is eliminated since he lost to Omega.

[Big Red Machine]

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Kenny Omega (10) vs SANADA (8) - 9/10
A really fast paced awesome match with no shenanigans, just straight fighting. Finishing sequence was awesome with both men just hitting each other with everything and ending with a One Winged Angel to put SANADA down for the 3 count. SANADA definitely has the wrestling skills to be a top guy, but something is missing there, he takes the Ingobernable gimmick too seriously.

He's the "Cold Skull." Of course he takes it seriously. He's a baseball-bat wielding badass. Of all of LIJ, he is by far the one with the coolest look. I'd love to see him as a more babyface version of Bad News Brown where is a total loner, but doesn't do anything heelish (and swinging his baseball bat at interfering heels to boot).