With the dust settled and many words spilled, it is time for
one last consideration of this year’s G1 Climax tournament. An introduction to
the concept and the happenings throughout have been well documented throughout
these pages.
Here is a quick rundown of some takeaways:
Different from last year: The biggest difference for the G1
since its last incarnation was the format of having more shows, an undercard of
non-tournament matches with the wrestlers in tournament matches on the
following show, and less wrestlers in the tournament. I’ll speak a bit about
each of these features.
The larger amount of shows did get to be a bit overwhelming,
but with it was entirely possible to follow the entire tournament without
watching the undercard matches. So, 5 matches per show is a pretty manageable
amount of action to follow. There was plenty of good stuff within the undercard
matches, though, so they are welcome for those with time to catch them. Their
main purpose was to foreshadow who would be fighting on the next night’s show,
and often featured some heated interactions between those wrestlers. The Junior
Heavyweight talent and up and comers like Sho Tanaka and Ryohei Komatsu also
had a chance to hone their skills. Watching their development is fun, if one
has the time.
Especially on the last few shows, the undercard matches
featured some great interactions between the members of CHAOS and the Bullet
Club, and KUSHIDA being in action is always a good thing.
The reduced number of competitors would be due largely to
the Suzuki-Gun faction being off working in the smaller promotion NOAH. I find
the absence of the faction, in general, to not be a detractor. While certain
talents would have been welcome, something I’ll discuss further in a bit, The
removal of one of the factions made things feel more focus. You have CHAOS, the
cool and somewhat lawless faction, the ruthless Bullet Club, and the NJPW
wrestlers who represent the company itself. Another ruthless group like
Suzuki-Gun in the mix would be redundant. With less people in the tournament,
and a mere 5 tournament matches per show, it was easier to follow the smaller
stories of each participant.
Another major change was the arrival of the NJPW World
streaming platform, well in time for all of the G1 to be broadcast. While on
one hand this is a total win – no scrambling to catch up on video upload sites
like Daily Motion, which may or may not be updated on time by those saintly
figures who took up the cause of getting the shows on there; and no paying the
exorbitant price of buying each show on a legitimate provider. Plus with World
in effect, the company’s efforts just seem to be at another level, production
aiming to impress the international audience. Most of the time. Perhaps it’s inevitable,
I can’t say I understand the logistics, but a good number of shows were
broadcast with only a single wide shot camera angle in use and the absence of
commentary. Sometimes, the camera work was top notch but commentary was not
there. In the case of commentary, it truly heightens the emotional story being
told in the ring but its absence didn’t hurt too much. The one camera angle
really takes me out of the matches, though. The same goes for house shows
leading up to a major event; I’m getting to a point of wanting to just skip
those. They force you to miss so many important details like the wrestlers’
expressions. And if you find yourself watching on a small screen like say a
mobile device, you cam barely make out who is wrestling or what is happening in
the ring. NJPW seemed to mitigate the situation by reserving these shows for
less important matches. But that’s the thing, even though some matches will be
bigger than others by nature, attention shouldn’t be drawn to it. Every match
should have potential to be a surprise blow out epic proportions. I hope then
that the means can be found to present each G1 show with a variety of cameras
in place.
As far as who was involved in this year’s tournament, a lot
felt the same as last year but that is a nice feature of NJPW: getting to know
this fairly consistently booked talent roster. Ibushi being in this year gave
great exposure to his unique dynamic wrestling style. Michael Elgin’s well-documented
success story was also fantastic. For someone with a lot of baggage attached
due to whatever has happened along the way of his Ring of Honor career, he
successfully jettisoned it and did an amazing job playing small but tough,
relentless powerhouse. He showed respect to a lot of the talent he wrestled
against, shaking hands with Yuji Nagata and Hiroki Goto, who he will wrestle
again at ROH’s Field of Honor event in Brooklyn. Tomoaki Honma returning and
getting that fantastic win against Tomohiro Ishii was an amazing moment to
witness. Still he did not achieve that momentum level as last year; it is time
for him to get more wins and serious singles programs with others on the card.
What I did not miss about Suzuki-Gun being included is how
their matches became a routine of having outside interference from TAICHI or Taka
Michinoku, and also having the sense that there are just more guys whose
stories did not matter much. I thought Davey Boy Smith did an excellent job
last year but his being in a tag team made his matches seem a lot less
important. Shelton Benjamin is a fast working wrestler who also grabbed my
attention in last year’s tournament, but did not seem like a big deal. If it
was just Minoru Suzuki coming in, I guess that would be welcome. His career
carries the weight of wrestlers like Hiroki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata and even
if he was not expected to win, one could suspend disbelief while watching his
matches.
Something that didn’t sit that well was standout talent who
seem poised at the next wave of big stars in the promotion, Kota Ibushi,
Katsuyori Shibata, and Tetsuya Naito had some amazing key wins but later in the
tournament started taking losses to wrestlers of either lesser importance, like
Doc Gallows, or veterans who are clearly less capable than they used to be,
like Hiroyoshi Tenzan. I would consider, though, that perhaps there is a
conscious effort in effect to make everyone in the tournament look a bit more
on the same level as one another, and in a positive way. Certainly there are
big discrepancies of point totals, like when you compare Honma and Okada. Or
even if you compare Nagata and Kojima’s points with current main eventers
Shinsuke Nakamura and Goto. I guess this occurred more in the A Block where a
lot of guys taken less seriously, such as Toru Yano and Gallows, competed. This
is not necessarily bad. Those wit remarkable performances will be remembered
for being remarkable. Shibata, Naito, and Ibushi still have the potential to
break out between now and Wrestle Kingdom in January. Meanwhile, where WWE has
a tendency to make its wrestlers look bad, here NJPW seems to be making an
effort to ensure everyone in this picture poses some level of threat. Yano has
his sneakiness, Takashi Yujiro has his
cheating, Gallows got a bit more stock as a domineering monster (particularly
in his match against Shibata), and Tenzan, Kojima, and Nagata have their
experience and determination.
The story told overall was an elegant one that, if you
listen to some more insightful heads in and around the wrestling business, was
a no brainer booking job. Hiroshi Tanahashi climbed to the top of the A Block,
closely rivaled by former IWGP Heavyweight champion AJ Styles. In the B Block,
current champion Okada Kazuchika dominated his section of the tournament, with
former Intercontinental champion and CHAOS cohort Shinsuke Nakamura rising from
the pack of other contestants to challenge him. Nakamura won in a reversal of
their match in last year’s G1 Finals. Tanahashi and Nakamura, long time rivals,
would battle in the finals for the right to challenge for the title at the
landmark show Wrestle Kingdom 10. In an extremely long, hard fought battle,
Tanahashi emerged victorious. Now Tanahashi can challenge for the IWGP
Heavyweight title, a belt he lost to AJ Styles earlier this year. But the man
he will challenge is Kazuchika Okada. His opponent, whom he triumphed over at
last year’s Wrestle Kingdom. Many called for AJ and/or Nakamura to be in the
finals, many of whom expected Nakamura to win. I think Tanahashi is being seen
as the old guard, John Cena-type figure that some have grown tired with. Don’t
look for any indication of that in the arenas where they have been performing,
though, as fans have been visibly thrilled by each Tanahashi win. Nakamura
represents the future to them, or they just think he is cooler. But the way
things went down tells the simplest and strongest story. Tanahashi challenges
for the title and to prove he is not finished being at the top quite yet. While
Okada holds the title, he could not get the job done defeating Tanahashi on the
grandest scale of Wrestle Kingdom last year. The end of that emotional match
saw him looking up at his senior. This match is a chance for him to correct
that and truly stand as the top wrestler in the company. There is time for
Nakamura yet.
This vision became clear when some magazine cover was making
the rounds online, showing Tanahashi, Okada, and Nakamura standing as what
looked clearly like the top 3 wrestlers in the promotion. Add to that AJ
Styles, the newcomer and someone from outside of Japan, which might give him
slightly less public standing outside of pro wrestling. With Tanahashi and
Okada’s story ready to go another round, that might leave a match between
Styles and Nakamura as a natural number two. There has been no conflict between
the two yet and no clear direction has been marked for them yet, or the rest of
the Bullet Club for that matter. This could easily be their next chapter. If
Styles got his hands on the Intercontinental Championship from Hiroki Goto, and
some upcoming special shows leave the opportunity for that to happen, that may
add easy stakes to a battle between Styles and Nakamura.
Despite a few reservations, the G1 Climax was an awesome
month long spectacle with many improvements from the last year, which served to
set up the next gigantic Wrestle Kingdom show.
Twitter: @mondocurrymark
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