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G1 Climax Day 2 Results:
July 23, Shizuoka Twin Messe, Shizuoka
This was a one camera show with no commentary due to New Japan’s commitments to Samurai TV, who were to air the show on delay.
Tiger Mask IV & Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Jay White & Yohei Komatsu
This was the usual young lions vs veterans match. It’s always a good solid reliable opener. Komatsu & White brought it. We had a cool spot with White catching Tiger in a roll through Boston Crab, while Komatsu caught Liger in a single leg crab. In the end Tiger pinned White with a Tiger Driver.
Togi Makabe, Kota Ibushi & Captain New Japan defeated Cody Hall, Doc Gallows & Bad Luck Fale
Nothing overly memorable in this one. Tomorrow Gallows faces Ibushi & Fale faces Makabe, so these were previewed here. Bullet Club brawled and controlled Captain for most of it. Makabe hit the King Kong kneedrop on Hall to score the pinfall for his team.
Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Tama Tonga & AJ Styles
This was a really fun match. HASHI & Tonga are two guys I wished were in the G1, and are two of New Japan’s most underutilised performers. Yano ran away from Tonga as Tonga slithered around the ring, which is always hilarious. Styles & Tonga work well together. Tonga always shows a lot of personality when he is wearing his face paint. It’s always funny that the first thing Yano does coming in off a hot tag is expose the turnbucke. There was some good action at the end. Yano threw Tonga into Styles, forcing Tonga to spear Styles, allowing Yano to roll up Tonga for the win. Yano faces Styles tomorrow, which should be a lot of fun.
Ryusuke Taguchi, Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Katsuyori Shibata defeated Mascara Dorada, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tetsuya Naito
Shibata was having none of Naito’s grumpiness right from the start. He pulled Naito’s Los Ingobernables shirt over his head before kicking him. There were only brief interactions between Tanahashi & Tenzan ahead of their clash in the morning. Taguchi & Dorada finished the match. Dorada continues to impress. Taguchi won after a Dodon and a Sliding Hip Attack. It was a decent match, but not worth going out of your way for. Their match tomorrow could make for something special.
Block B Matches:
Tomohiro Ishii defeated Satoshi Kojima
These two went right at it from the bell with a flurry of forearms, and as with most Ishii matches, the pace kept up throughout. Kojima always comes alive in the G1 and he and Ishii have a history of good G1 matches. Ishii’s game plan was to block the lariat, and he succeeded, with Kojima being forced to use his left arm, which wasn’t enough for the pin. Kojima scored the right arm lariat, but seconds before Ishii had headbutted him, forcing Kojima to fall out of the ring after he delivered the move. Ishii withstood more forearms and delivered a sickening looking headbutt under the chin of Kojima. He then delivered a Sliding D and a Brainbuster to score the win. This was a great match, with a nice story built around Kojima’s lariat.
Hirooki Goto defeated Yujiro Takahashi
This was your typical Yujiro Takahashi match, but we did get the return of Mao! Takahashi controlled about 90% of this with Goto brief comebacks. There were some decent near falls at the end, but Goto win with an Ushikiroshi Backbreaker & Shouten Kai. It was fine, just nothing you’ll remember when the tournament is over, as is usually the case with Yujiro.
Yuji Nagata defeated Tomoaki Honma
This was great! It looks like we are gonna have another incredible string of G1 matches from Honma. Honma is just amazing at drawing the crowd in and taking them along for the ride with everything he does. Early on the one upped each other with slaps and as Nagata was in control, Honma made a comeback with a deadlift suplex. Honma hit the Kokeshi on only a second attempt. Nagata was great here too, as he usually is. He hit an awesome looking exploder suplex into the corner. There were lots of great counters and hope spots from Honma at the end, where he looked like he was going to steal a win by countering everything Nagata did. He hit a running Kokeshi to the front and back of Nagata and missed a top rope one, which the crowd ate up. Honma kicked out of a back drop driver, but Nagata followed it up with a backdrop hold for the pin.
Kazuchika Okada defeated Michael Elgin
Elgin has had a lot of critics and a lot of doubters heading into the G1, and I was confident that he would be a perfect fit for New Japan. Well this match did a lot in proving me right. This was excellent! Okada was the perfect first opponent for Elgin. Okada let Elgin be the monster and gave him everything he could to give him a great start in the company. Right from the bell Elgin powered out of everything from armdrags to chinlocks. That was the theme of the match, with Elgin stopping Okada at every turn with a display of strength. The crowd reacted to everything Elgin did, which is a great sign as it can sometimes take them a while to take to American newcomers. Elgin was booked like the Elgin of 2011/12. Okada got the win in the end with The Rainmaker, but Elgin will be the take away from this one. This was one of the best matches of the tournament thus far and hopefully Elgin keeps this up.
Karl Anderson defeated Shinsuke Nakamura
This was the first major upset of the G1, with The Machine Gun scoring a huge win over the out and out favourite to win the whole thing. Nakamura had new Shinya Hashimoto inspired ring gear. These two know each other and we got a great match out of it. Anderson controlled Nakamura after flinging him over the guardrail on the outside. A lot of people have forgotten just how great of a pro wrestler Karl Anderson. He spends most of his time now in tags and involved in Bullet Club goofiness, but go back to 2011/12 and before it if you have never seen his work from back then. We had some great stuff at the end with Anderson attempting a top rope Gun Stun only for it to be blocked and turned into a diving Boma Ye. Anderson then ducked another Boma Ye and hit a low Gun Stun for a near fall. Nakamura then countered another Gun Stun into a back stabber and a sliding Boma Ye for a near fall. After some more counters, Anderson hit a proper Gun Stun to get the huge win.
The one camera aspect of the show will turn some off, but it doesn’t take away from the matches and it almost feels like you are there live. Be sure to watch the last three matches from this show.
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