NJPW G1 Climax 25: Day 18

NJPW G1 Climax 25: Day 18

August 15th, 18:30 from Ryogoku Kokugikan (Sumo Hall), Tokyo

One day late, but worth the wait. B Block’s penultimate show on Wednesday was really something special and it looks like they’ll finish strongly too, with a brain-freezing number of possible outcomes. Also on the card, a promising-looking Elgin vs. Ishii bout and maybe Honma will finally win a match in the G1 Climax continue his winning streak!

B Block standings after Round Eight

• Kazuchika Okada – 14
• Karl Anderson – 12
• Hirooki Goto – 12
• Shinsuke Nakamura – 12
• Michael Elgin – 8
• Tomohiro Ishii – 8
• Satoshi Kojima – 4
• Yujiro Takahashi – 4
• Yuji Nagata – 4
• Tomoaki Honma – 2

Here we go…

B Block – Round Nine

Tomoaki Honma vs. Yujiro Takahashi

This was fine, but didn’t have nearly the hype of previous Honma matches this tournament. That was mostly due to his opponent, I feel. Takahashi won the match in under 11 minutes and it’s hard to gauge what that’ll mean for Honma’s future booking. I suppose he’ll now be on a quest to prove the victory over Ishii wasn’t a fluke? **1/2

Michael Elgin vs. Tomohiro Ishii

This was everything you’d imagine and hope it would be, with the addition of a couple of nasty-looking moves including Elgin powerbombing Ishii into the barrier. Ishii eventually won with a brainbuster after Elgin had kicked out of a lariat and the sliding lariat. If you like Elgin then you might rate this higher, but for me there’s always an element that he’s ‘playing’ a strong style wrestler – I find it hard to buy that he is one. The crowd are way into him, however, and the heat for this was off the charts. Great stuff. ****1/2

Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata & Karl Anderson vs. Satoshi Kojima

These were both good matches, but their results were mostly a way of ensuring there would be no doubt that the winner of the main event would advance to the final. Credit where it’s due in the booking department, however, because Goto now has a readymade challenger for the Intercontinental title and Bullet Club (because Tenzan beat Gallows way back on Day 1) now have challengers for the tag titles. That’s some impressive planning. I had both match at ***1/2

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kazuchika Okada

I’ll pick out one spot that I particularly liked: Okada tombstoned Nakamura on the outside, and there was me thinking ‘no one should be getting in before the 20-count after that move’, and actually Nakamura wouldn’t have, but Okada decided that he wanted to beat his stablemate the right way – in the ring – and rolled him back in instead. Excellent bit of storytelling, I thought. Nakamura triumphed after countering the Rainmaker to an armbar, with Okada tapping out after a monumental struggle. The look of desperation on Okada’s face was trememndous. Easily Nakamura’s best match of the tournament, although Boma Ye is done as a believable match-ender. ****1/2

And there we have it: Nakamura vs. Tanahashi to determine the winner of the G1 Climax 25.

B Block – Final Standings

• Shinsuke Nakamura – 14 (B Block WINNER)
• Kazuchika Okada – 14
• Karl Anderson – 12
• Hirooki Goto – 12
• Tomohiro Ishii – 10
• Michael Elgin – 8
• Satoshi Kojima – 6
• Yuji Nagata – 6
• Yujiro Takahashi – 6
• Tomoaki Honma – 2

Final thoughts: Despite my best efforts, the result of the main event was spoiled (by New Japan World, no less), but even so, I enjoyed the match very much and coupled with excellent Elgin/Ishii and the rest this was a strong show top-to-bottom. Sorry to rush through these, but I’ve got the final to watch today too. That review should be with you in a couple of hours.

Eighteen down, one to go!