Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 27, Day 10

[cero2k]

NJPW G1 Climax 27, Day 10
July 30, 2017
Gifu, Japan

Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, & Chase Owens) vs David Finlay, Katsuya Kitamura, & Tetsuhiro Yagi - 4/10
Kitamura and Yujiro were in one of yesterday's Bullet Club match, so they played on some spots from that match, they started the match, with Bullet Club getting control from the get go. They worked on him for a while, Yagi and Finlay came in, they all had their little spots here and there, but BC dominated this match. Owens dropped Yagi with the Package Piledriver for the win. Hmmm, an Owens winning with the Package Piledriver.

Suzuki-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr & El Desperado) vs Togi Makabe & Shota Umino - 4/10
Heat on Umino for a while, Makabe with the hot tag. The Sabre vs Makabe part of this match was virtually like watching Sabre vs Goto, which I just saw yesterday. Finish saw Desperado tap Umino out with a stretch muffler while Sabre had Makabe in his own submission. Makabe went after Sabre after the match, they got separated by a single young lion, so I guess it wasn't that heated.

Tomoyuki Oka & Yuji Nagata vs CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) - 5.5/10
I think Nagata vs Ishii will be awesome, but I actually kinda rather watch Oka vs Ishii now. Nagata and Ishii started things, back and forward, all chops and forearms. Oka got the tag and immediately CHAOS started cutting him off. Nagata got the hot tag, he spat on his hands...to throw kicks. what? Anyway, finish saw YH submit Oka for the win, and even tough he got the win, YH probably took the most punishment this match, Oka was beating the shit out of him for a while.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi vs Kota Ibushi & Hirai Kawato - 6.5/10
I'll be the only one who'll say this, but I just saw Tanahashi walk away from Kawato. Ibushi and Tana started the match, it was good. Kawato got the tag and Taguchi Japan cut him off for a bit, some Taguchi comedy, and Ibushi got the tag again. From here on it was mostly back and forward. Taguchi and Kawato had a great finishing sequence race where Kawato looked great.

Los Ingobernables de Japin (Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi) vs CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & Gedo) - 6.5/10
Seems like Hiromu may be finally over Daryl's death. Clean Code of Honor between Hiromu and Gedo, then Hiromu offered another one and NOW he tried to kick Gedo. Goto got the tag quite early, and now I realize how things have changed that it's Goto with the heel tactics over Naito and Takahashi, and I mean, Naito still does them, but it was surprising that Goto would.

Match was great for an undercard, Goto vs Naito parts were good, but I really liked the Hiromu vs Gedo parts the most. Takahashi made Gedo tap for the win. After the match Naito tried to piss off Goto by spitting on him, Goto didn't really react.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Toru Yano (2) vs EVIL (6) - 3/10
This was a super short match, Toru Yano kept trying to cheat, EVIL kept kicking his ass stopping him every time. At the end Yano low blowe EVIL, who worked through that and instead of getting rolled up, hit the STO for the win. Seems like LIJ has Yano's number.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Minoru Suzuki (4) vs Tama Tonga (4) - 8.5/10
Aw man, this was brilliant, but it could had been better. As Suzuki is making his entrance, Tonga attacks Desperado from behind and steals the Suzuki-Gun banner. Tonga starts walking behind Suzuki, covering his face with the banner, but before coming in to the ring, Suzuki turns around and Tonga lowered the banner enough to reveal his face. I'm pretty sure that was the plan, but I would have loved for Suzuki to do the whole entrance, and then as he stands in the corner and Desperado (Tonga now) stands on the corner, Tonga uses the banner to choke Suzuki from behind.

Anyway, what happened is that they started brawling like crazy all over the arena, throwing each other anything they could find. This was exactly the brawl I wanted to see between these two, even when they made it back to the ring, they would just pull each other out again. It was until they both teased a double count out that they both made it inside the ring.

Once inside the ring the fight seemed like it would be clean, but like a minute or to later, there was a ref bump and Tong and Suzuki went straight for chairs and went medieval with them. Tonga got the upper hand of the exchange and got a clear pin, but with no ref. When recovered, Tonga went for another cutter on Suzuki, but he reversed it into a sleeper and transitioned into the Gotch Piledriver for the win. This was mostly all brawl, but a great one at that. Tonga came off looking great taking it to Suzuki like that, too bad Suzuki is not the type of man that will give you credit once the match is over.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
SANADA (4) vs Michael Elgin (4) - 8.5/10
This match took a while before it got into a good pace, the chemistry between these two started to grow as the match progressed. SANADA kinda started working Elgin's legs, but then transitioned more into the upper body; Elgin, on the other hand, kept up with his power moves. They went back and forward all match, the turning point being when SANADA drops Elgin with a huge powerbomb, after that these two started racing for the finish, with SANADA dropping him with the Skull End and following up with a Rounded Body Press for the win. I'm actually quite surprised that Elgin took this loss, especially coming from defeating Omega.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Kenny Omega (6) vs Satoshi Kojima (0) - 8/10
We unfortunately got goofy cocky Omega again, this comes from Omega saying in a promo that this are his house show tights, meaning he considers Kojima a house show level guy. Match started with Kenny dominating, being all cocky, antagonizing Tenzan for no real reason. Kojima would make a comeback in which he rips Kenny's shirt off, and at this point, Kenny kinda woke up and got a bit more serious, and thus the match got better. They would go back and forward the second half of the match, with both men failing to hit their finishers on several occasions. At the end of the match, these two were trading V-Triggers and Lariats until Kenny finally hits the OWA for the win.

I wonder if Kenny constantly forgetting to carry the title means something.

G1 Climax 27 Block B
Kazuchika Okada (8) vs Juice Robinson (2) - 9/10
Looks like Juice's leg is somewhat better tonight. Good guy Okada started working the back of Robinson, but later on transitioned and worked the legs too. Robinson had some good offense here and there, enough that I would say that the match was somewhat balanced, but the overall story was that Robinson wasn't exactly at the level of Okada (I mean, he wasn't, this is Juice's biggest match), and so throughout the match Okada pushed him and pushed him to overcome his limit and finally bring it.

Finish saw Okada getting ready for a Rainmaker, but Juice reversed it into a hell of a strike, he grabs Okada to hit the Pulp Friction, but as Okada lifts himself, Okada grabs him mid-air, drops him to a German, lifts him up, Rainmaker, and 1-2-3. Great sequence. Okada is now 5-0, first to reach 10 points.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good G1 show, up and down here and there, but an enjoyable show for the most part. I'm still kinda excited about that Tonga vs Suzuki brawl.

[Big Red Machine]

Seems like Hiromu may be finally over Daryl's death.

I sure hope this isn't the case. It's way too soon. Why even do something like this if it's not going to matter for more than a few days and will have almost no effect on any matches. We never even got anything close to a pay-off, like Hiromu seeking revenge on the much larger Fale.

[cero2k]

Seems like Hiromu may be finally over Daryl's death.

I sure hope this isn't the case. It's way too soon. Why even do something like this if it's not going to matter for more than a few days and will have almost no effect on any matches. We never even got anything close to a pay-off, like Hiromu seeking revenge on the much larger Fale.

you're asking for a feud between a jr and a super heavyweight, it's not gonna happen, this is not WWE where they book Kalisto beating Strowman, Takahashi would have to lose that match, so it's better they don't. I would love to see Hiromu go berserk on someone, but at the same time, if it means he loses at the end, it's better not to

[Big Red Machine]

Seems like Hiromu may be finally over Daryl's death.

I sure hope this isn't the case. It's way too soon. Why even do something like this if it's not going to matter for more than a few days and will have almost no effect on any matches. We never even got anything close to a pay-off, like Hiromu seeking revenge on the much larger Fale.

you're asking for a feud between a jr and a super heavyweight, it's not gonna happen, this is not WWE where they book Kalisto beating Strowman, Takahashi would have to lose that match, so it's better they don't. I would love to see Hiromu go berserk on someone, but at the same time, if it means he loses at the end, it's better not to

Is this not what the NEVER Openweight Title is for?
If you're not going to be able to deliver a payoff, then you shouldn't book the angle at all. Ripping Darryl up is a great angle, so why do it with Fale as opposed to someone who you can actually draw some money with like Scurll? Some of New Japan's rules are just so stupid. If they were so strict about separation of the weight classes they wouldn't let guys like Zack, Kota, and Kenny jump, and they wouldn't have heavys and juniors interact all the time in tag matches. Even within their own framework, there is no logical reason that a Jr. Heavyweight shouldn't be able to beat a heavyweight if there are weapons involved, so why not book an actual weapons match that actually has a reason to be a weapons match and let Hiromu win?

[cero2k]

Is this not what the NEVER Openweight Title is for?
If you're not going to be able to deliver a payoff, then you shouldn't book the angle at all. Ripping Darryl up is a great angle, so why do it with Fale as opposed to someone who you can actually draw some money with like Scurll? Some of New Japan's rules are just so stupid. If they were so strict about separation of the weight classes they wouldn't let guys like Zack, Kota, and Kenny jump, and they wouldn't have heavys and juniors interact all the time in tag matches. Even within their own framework, there is no logical reason that a Jr. Heavyweight shouldn't be able to beat a heavyweight if there are weapons involved, so why not book an actual weapons match that actually has a reason to be a weapons match and let Hiromu win?

yes, but that's a title, this is just a random undercard story. Not everything that happens in the ring has to be an angle and lead to a payoff, this was just a small thing that happened and that's it, chances are Fale acted without thinking and they just played around with it. Also, weight classes are for titles, not for feuds, it just happens that 90% of feuds happen to be over a title.

[Big Red Machine]

Is this not what the NEVER Openweight Title is for?
If you're not going to be able to deliver a payoff, then you shouldn't book the angle at all. Ripping Darryl up is a great angle, so why do it with Fale as opposed to someone who you can actually draw some money with like Scurll? Some of New Japan's rules are just so stupid. If they were so strict about separation of the weight classes they wouldn't let guys like Zack, Kota, and Kenny jump, and they wouldn't have heavys and juniors interact all the time in tag matches. Even within their own framework, there is no logical reason that a Jr. Heavyweight shouldn't be able to beat a heavyweight if there are weapons involved, so why not book an actual weapons match that actually has a reason to be a weapons match and let Hiromu win?

yes, but that's a title, this is just a random undercard story.

So put the damn belt on Fale, have him glue a Darryl head on it, and have Hiromu go after the belt!

Not everything that happens in the ring has to be an angle and lead to a payoff, this was just a small thing that happened and that's it, chances are Fale acted without thinking and they just played around with it. Also, weight classes are for titles, not for feuds, it just happens that 90% of feuds happen to be over a title.

Everything that appears to be important, should be. Otherwise, what's the difference between some random heels jumping a guy after a match and Ibushi coming out to give Nakamura a German Suplex after the main event of Power Struggle 2014 to set up for their match at the Tokyo Dome? Why did that matter and this not matter. Everything that happens should serve some purpose, even if that purpose is merely "these two guys had a wrestling match and this guy won." To randomly introduce something like Darryl to Hiromu's character, then have Darryl be viciously destroyed by Fale for no reason whatsoever other than that he wanted to be an asshole, and then not make something of it- to not even have it affect Hiromu in a tangible way- is utterly atrocious storytelling. If Fale just did it in the moment, and I'm Gedo, then I'm spending the entire next day reworking my post-G1 plans (and making possible changes to Hiromu's G1 undercard matches or any LIJ vs. Bullet Club matches) in order to make an angle out of it.

[cero2k]

there you go Red, the reason why hiromu is now calm about his grief

[Big Red Machine]

He should still be out for revenge.

[cero2k]

there's still a chance, it's ok to plant seeds during the G1, but you probably don't want to kickstart a big feud while one of the guys still has to do a bunch of matches against everyone, and the other only does undercard stuff

[Big Red Machine]

there's still a chance, it's ok to plant seeds during the G1, but you probably don't want to kickstart a big feud while one of the guys still has to do a bunch of matches against everyone, and the other only does undercard stuff

Which is what makes doing this here so damn baffling. Why not wait until the Destruction Tour to start it? Or at least until the final day of the G1.

[cero2k]

there's still a chance, it's ok to plant seeds during the G1, but you probably don't want to kickstart a big feud while one of the guys still has to do a bunch of matches against everyone, and the other only does undercard stuff

Which is what makes doing this here so damn baffling. Why not wait until the Destruction Tour to start it? Or at least until the final day of the G1.

it was the only interaction between Fale and LIJ during the tournament, so either Gedo had it planned for this part of the year, or it was completely improvised and unexpected and you work with what you have.

[Big Red Machine]

there's still a chance, it's ok to plant seeds during the G1, but you probably don't want to kickstart a big feud while one of the guys still has to do a bunch of matches against everyone, and the other only does undercard stuff

Which is what makes doing this here so damn baffling. Why not wait until the Destruction Tour to start it? Or at least until the final day of the G1.

it was the only interaction between Fale and LIJ during the tournament, so either Gedo had it planned for this part of the year, or it was completely improvised and unexpected and you work with what you have.

I would hope it is the latter because if you have it planned for this part of the year, then starting it when they did is silly when you could have done it on the final day of the G1. And it wasn't the only interaction between LIJ and Fale during the tournament. You're forgetting the Fale vs. Naito match the very next show.

[cero2k]

And it wasn't the only interaction between LIJ and Fale during the tournament. You're forgetting the Fale vs. Naito match the very next show.

well yeah, but Himoru wasn't out there