NJPW G1 Climax 27, Day 7

Taguchi Japan (Juice Robinson & David Finlay) vs Bullet Club (Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi) - 5/10

Robinson's leg is still injured, so match starts with BC working it. David get the hot tag, run wilds, the G1 competitors fight on the outside, inside the veteran pins the rookie. It's been the same formula, it was well executed. All of Juice's stories have been about his injuries, so I don't even look forward to his tag matches. After the match Tonga, looking straight into the camera, said something about looking out for the throne, he's definitely coming for Omega.

CHAOS (Toru Yano & Jado) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (SANADA & BUSHI) - Dud

I can honestly describe this whole match. LIJ jump the CHAOS guys, they all fight for a minute, SANADA puts Jado in the package, Yano hockey pulls each dude's shirts over, low blows them both, rolls BUSHI up and pins him. Yano almost forgot to undo Jado's knot.

Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki & Taichi) w/Desperado vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & Hiromu Takahashi) - 6/10

This is gonna be a violent one, LIJ jumped Suzuki and Taichi and started brawling outside. EVIL is choking Suzuki with a cable and so Suzuki starts stabbing EVIL in the face with a pen. Once back in the ring, match was mostly EVIL and Suzuki by themselves, they kept the juniors away from the heavyweights. Finish saw Hiromu hit Taichi with the mic and the roll him up with Taichi's usual roll up. The fight between EVIL and Suzuki has the potential to be awesome, EVIL looked legit bringing it to Suzuki.

Taguchi Japan (Michael Elgin & Ryusuke Taguchi) vs Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Chase Owens) - 5/10

Taguchi was babyface in peril for a while, so all that part of the match had a lot of comedy, but once Omega and Elgin got the tags, they did more straight wrestling, mostly displaying Elgin's strength and agility. Elgin won with an Elgin Bomb on Owens.

CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Gedo) vs TenCozy - 5/10

The cocky champion is not fully respecting the veteran, so the Kojima beats some respect into him, or at least he tries. Really boring well-wrestled match, it's like everything was in slow motion sometimes. Kojima pinned Gedo for the win. After the match Okada teases Kojima that hell give him the attention of facing off, Okada completely ignores him.

G1 Climax 27 Block A
Tomohiro Ishii (2) vs YOSHI-HASHI (2) - 5.5/10

Man, there's something really sad in trying to see YOSHI-HASHI try to have an Ishii fight and go toe-to-toe with him, YH really needs to stick to his style. Seriously, there was a spot where YH went for the Kawada kicks on Ishii and they look weaker than a Lance Storm chairshot. Match did slightly improve when YH started doing more submissions and moves. I just found this match to be really long and dull. Ishii won.

G1 Climax 27 Block A
Zack Sabre Jr (4) w/El Desperado vs Bad Luck Fale (4) - 8/10

Exactly as I expected, a Submission specialist Spider Monkey vs a Gorilla. They did an amazing job of making Sabre's submission work seem like a legit threat to even the biggest motherfucker in the roster. Fale was easily slamming him every chance he got, but Sabre could get a submission out of any position Fale found himself in. Finish saw Sabre roll up Fale to win, which makes good sense because there was no way that Sabre would pin Fale clean, and at the same time, Fale was so strong that Sabre couldn't keep any of the submissions locked for long enough to choke him out.

Honma is on commentary! He's back to his usual beardless and blonde head. I really wished they had shown his entrance, it would had been a good moment.

G1 Climax 27 Block A
Kota Ibushi (4) vs Togi Makabe (2) - 8/10

This was mostly wrestled like a Makabe match, but with a little bit of Ibushi speed added. Most of the match felt like they were showing that Ibushi's youth was just too much for Makabe, but at one point Makabe, feeling close to a loss, starts making a comeback that ends with him landing a sick looking knee from the top rope to a standing Ibushi and following it up with the King Kong Knee Drop for the win. Good match, but I was expecting a bit more.

G1 Climax 27 Block A
Tetsuya Naito (4) vs Yuji Nagata (0) - 7/10

Match was a continuation of yesterday's tag match with Naito constantly mocking Nagata, and at the same time, Naito was just wrestling circles around Nagata, who would at most cut him off every now and then, but with no proper follow up. Eventually Nagata does get pissed off after Naito spits on him and finally makes a proper comeback.

The match would be more balanced now with Nagata bringing it as much as taking it. Nagata would come close to submitting Naito with Shirome, but Naito survives to hit a Destino for a near fall, and a second one for the win. Good match, but not the best either man has had in this tournament.

Post-match - Naito antagonized Honman telling him to get back in the ring. Honma was like "fuck that".

G1 Climax 27 Block A
Hiroshi Tanahashi (4) vs Hirooki Goto (4) - 8.5/10

Pretty awesome match, just one complain. So Goto obviously focuses on the arm of Tanahashi, who sells it for a long time actually, good work selling it, but then him and Goto get into a forearm exchange and Tanahashi is using the injured arm to do that, and sure, the injury is in the biceps, but still, come on!

As I mentioned, Goto worked the arm, Tanahashi worked the leg. Match saw a lot of Tanahashi working with the good arm, so we could argue that was the reason why Goto had so much offense, at points it really felt like Goto was dominating the most. The finals minutes of the match were the best, with Tana trying desperately to hit anything he can on Goto, but Goto blocking everything since the arm is injured, so in a quick reversal, Tanahashi finally is able to drop Goto, follow with a Slingblade and a High Fly Flow for the win. I'm really surprised that Tanahashi won, I figured this was a match that Tanahashi could afford to lose.

Post-match - Usual Tanahashi promo, he plays his invisible guitar and the fans go crazy. I think he re-injured himself playing guitar.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Not the best G1 show this year, the undercard was boring as fuck, the block matches were up and down, good wrestling quality, but the matches per say were not very attention grabbing. Goto vs Tana was definitely the best match, but I personally enjoyed Fale vs Sabre a lot more. I've heard people raving about Ishii vs YOSHI-HASHI, but I just haven't been liking YH this year.