NJPW Thread

[DXvsNWO1994]

Here's my Night 7 Review:

* Block B: Shinsuke Nakamura beat Hiroyoshi Tenzan by forfeit.
* Block A: Davey Boy Smith Jr. beat Hirooki Goto by forfeit.

1.) Takashi Iizuka & Yoshi-Hashi vs. Tomoaki Honma & Captain New Japan: **
2.) Block B - Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kota Ibushi: ***
3.) Block B - Karl Anderson vs. Yuji Nagata: ***1/4
4.) Block A - Katsuyori Shibata vs. Prince Devitt: **3/4
5.) Block A - Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii: ***1/2
6.) Block A - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Lance Archer: ***1/4
7.) Block B - Toru Yano vs. Tetsuya Naito: **1/4
8.) Block B - Minoru Suzuki vs. Shelton Benjamin: **3/4
9.) Block A - Togi Makabe vs. Satoshi Kojima: ***

Overall: 7.0/10

I'd say it was comparable to Night Three. Weird how all the even numbered shows have been great while not so much for the odd numbered shows.

[DirtyDave]

Dave thanks for supporting NJPW. For everyone else, the show tonight starts at 2 AM EST and is available to order on UStream for $30.

Dave the way it goes tonight is there will be the final 8 G1 tournament matches, then a special 6 man tag match, and then the Finals. So the finalists will be wrestling twice tonight.

thanks, looking forward to it!

[DieHard]

So... tonight was the last day. Spoilers for semi-finals, finals and winner:

Spoiler: show

Block A Semi-Final:
Shibata vs Tanahashi
Winner: Tanahashi after a roll-up counter to GTS

Block B Semi-Final:
Naito vs Anderson
Winner: Naito

And the big final..

Naito vs Tanahashi:
Winner: Naito.

Naito is the winner of the G1. He just said he wants to challenege Tanaka for the NEVER title and then go to a Champion vs Champion match with Okada.

[ICHIFUJI]

Going as usual.
We must call that great show.
Even doubtful.

[ROHFan25]

Night 9 as expected was really fucking good.

Shelton/Nakamura, Naito/Anderson, Archer/DBSJ, Kojima/Okada and Tanahashi/Shibata were all extremely good. Even the 6 man tag was great because of how fucking good Ibushi and Ishii are. My God.

The finals were really great but I had a major problem with the match. Don't really want to spoil anything but it should be obvious to everyone.

[DXvsNWO1994]

The finals were really great but I had a major problem with the match. Don't really want to spoil anything but it should be obvious to everyone.

For those who have not seen it (I still need to)

Spoiler: show

I was kind disappointed the finals ended up being Tanahashi/Naito, but it probably wasn't their original plan. The finals probably involved Goto before he got hurt, if I had to guess. Still it's not that bad when you consider Tanahashi put Naito over, plus I heard the match was really good.

[ROHFan25]

Spoiler: show

Honestly Naito was winning the tournament from Day 1. I had this thought when he lost the NEVER title match to Tanaka at Kizuna Road, but didn't want to believe it. The match was really good, I was on the edge of my seat for the last 5-10 minutes. The problem was the whole match was based on Tanahashi working over Naito's leg. One point Naito takes a irish whip and his leg gives out. Next few minutes he's doing flips and kicking with the same leg.

The inconsistency of his selling was annoying and he botched one move. Still I was really impressed with him tonight. Naito was awesome before he got hurt, and he had a incredible match with Anderson and a great match with Tanahashi tonight. He also said after winning that he wasn't happy with the quality of matches he had, and thanked the fans for sticking with him. So I respect that. Still wish we would have got Shibata/Nakamura.

The Goto thing is, Naito being put over by Tanahashi is huge. They have the perfect mesh of styles, and Naito/Goto probably would have been a train wreck. So it makes sense that the finals would be Tanahashi/Naito. Problem is Naito right now is not Ibushi. He can't work incredible matches with everyone. It showed during G1. Still this was the best G1 of all time and I'm glad more people are checking out NJPW. Also sorry for rambling so much in this post

[DirtyDave]

really good show i thought

[Don'tTalkJustWrestle]

Another great show by NJPW, with the whole tourament showing why New Japan is on top at this moment.

Spoiler: show

I was not that surprised about Naito winning and think it was probably in the pipeline for a while. And while there were sloppy momonts in some of his tournament matches, it should be remember that he has only been back from a major knee injury/surgery for a couple of months.

Also as said above, Tanahashi was probably the right opponent for him; someone who will mesh well while putting him over, but also a established name for him to beat.

[DXvsNWO1994]

When Tanahashi wants to make a guy, he can make a guy.

[rudy]

My Top 5 Matches of the tournament

5. Nagata vs Suzuki - Day 1 - Can't go wrong with these two ***3/4
4. Tanahashi vs Naito - Naito still looks rusty to me and does not sell well, still a great match mostly due to
Tanahashi's brilliance however. ***3/4
3. Nakamura vs Ibushi - Good Underdog match ****1/4
2. Ishii vs Shibata - Extremely stiff and crowd loved it ****3/4
1. Tanahashi vs Ishii - I have watched it three times now and it is ***** for me. Everything in this match had great purpose and flowed effortlessly from one segment to the next. If you have not seen this match you are missing out!

[DieHard]

NJPW G1 Climax 2013 Day 4 Review:

Yujiro Takahashi vs. Toru Yano: **1/2
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Karl Anderson: ***1/4
Shelton X Benjamin vs. Yuji Nagata: ***
Davey Boy Smith Jr. vs. Satoshi Kojima: ***3/4 (Really underrated match here, it was great and the best showcase of DBSJ's awesomeness, Kojima has been on fire so far)
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tomohiro Ishii: ****3/4
Lance Archer vs. Hirooki Goto: ***
Minoru Suzuki vs. Tetsuya Naito: ***1/2 (I actually love the atitude Naito showed in his matches with Ibushi, Nagata and in this one, makes him less bland than usual, very good match)
Prince Devitt vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi: ***3/4 (Heel Devitt is awesome, I don't care what others say, his act works for me each and every time)
Kazuchika Okada vs. Togi Makabe: ***1/2
Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: ***** (MOTY for me, this match had everything I love about pro-wrestling and my mark out moment of the year by far goes to Ibushi kicking out at one after Boma Ye)

Overall: 9.5/10, Man, I really want to call this the show of the year but with shows like IA and WK it's hard to decide.

[DXvsNWO1994]

If anyone hasn't heard, Dave Meltzer gave Ishii/Shibata from the Night 4 Show Five Stars

[JSP]

It's a great match, but WAY too mindless for the five star treatment. Isn't all that no-selling what people dislike about guys like Drake Younger and Davey Richards? I mean, I get like IT'S NEW JAPAN ALL MATCHES AMAZING but I think it's a little bit of a stretch to put on the same pedestal as Tanahashi/Suzuki, which is one of the greatest displays of wrestling psychology in the past 10 years.

[ROHFan25]

The difference is Ishii and Shibata don't do it in every match. The match wouldn't have worked unless it was Ishii/Shibata since they are the 2 most bad ass stiff guys in NJPW. Was a perfect match for what it was. + Meltzer loves Puro.

Davey no sells every match. Constantly. It's annoying. Drake isn't as bad, he just takes so many stupid bumps. There's a difference.

[JSP]

But five stars even with that is a little much. It wasn't even one instance of no-selling; it was the WHOLE match that they did it. Only two or three real wrestling moves, and a brainbuster finishes things after a bunch of sick lariats and elbows that got one counts? Come on.

Don't get me wrong, I love the match. Same way I love Drake Younger's matches. Mindless entertainment, which is what wrestling is. I'm a fan before a critic, but my critical side weeps at a five star treatment from anybody.

[ROHFan25]

On first watch (I watched it live) I gave it *****. The match was just so much different from anything else you really see. They stiffed the shit out of each other the entire match. After 2nd watch I brought it down to ****1/2-****3/4 but it's still probably my favorite match from G1. Either that or Nakamura/Ibushi. Night 4

[rudy]

I think Ishii vs Tanahashi should have got 5 stars, great story telling and wrestling and it was stiff as fuck on top of that.

[Don'tTalkJustWrestle]

I have to say but I loved the match (and that style match in general). I can see it is not for everybody, especially those who grew up watching wrestling from the mainstream American organisations where selling is everything. However, there are many ways to skin a cat and it would be dull if everybody wrestled the same way>

[stay gold]

It's a good match, and it deserves praise. But I feel Nakamura vs Ibushi from the same night is better. That's my favorite match of this year.