Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
In a strange way, the pressure was off Destruction in Hiroshima. The first Destruction show was New Japan’s worst outing this year and it’s lowered the expectations for this tour. The wrestlers booked here won’t have to do much to impress, as it isn’t hard to improve on crap. Let’s dish out those stars.
With the New Japan roster all rested up post-G1 (although a lot of them headed off around the world so they might not be as rested as they want to be), they are now heading back to work for the Destruction tour. Three B Shows and a host of Road To events don’t exactly scream unmissable, but there are a few gems hidden away over the next couple of weeks. Sadly, they aren’t on this show, but we trudge into the dark anyway. Let’s hand out those stars.
We all knew that it would come down to this. There were questions about how they’d do it, but it was written in the stars. Okada vs. Omega III with the winner going to the final. Could they capture the magic of their first two matches with the constraints of a thirty-minute time-limit? Of course they fucking could, stupid.
And A Block comes to a close with the return of the English commentary team and a final day where everything came down to Tanahashi vs. Naito. The winner goes to the final, and in hindsight, that was always going to be the case. On the closing stretch it feels appropriate to go back to reviewing the undercard because you know, we haven’t watched enough wrestling in the last month. Let’s do this!
Continue reading “NJPW G1 Climax Day 17 (11th August) Review.”
After the thrills and spills of day 14, the A Block suddenly has something to live up to. Can they provide anything as exciting as Juice and Evil’s wins? Well, how about Tanahashi vs. Ishii? All the stars!
Continue reading “NJPW G1 Climax Day 15 (August 6th) Review”
You go away for a long weekend and not only do you fall behind on the G1, but New Japan dredges up a demon from the depths of hell to provide commentary. It’s brilliant to see Honma on the mend, but fuck me, I’m going to be having nightmares about that voice for weeks. Anyway, as mentioned, I’ve fallen behind so we better get on with the show.
Continue reading “NJPW G1 Climax Day 13 (August 4th) Review”
Wednesday is playlist day, but I’m away Friday, and if I’m going to keep up with this damn G1, I can’t be slacking. We’re onto day eleven where the action certainly wasn’t lacking. See what I did there?
Continue reading “NJPW G1 Climax Day 11 (August 1st) Review”
Day nine in the G1 Climax and everyone is knackered. At least I’m knackered, so I can’t imagine how the wrestlers are feeling. Yano’s ballshotting arm must be in agony. Yet, the quality doesn’t seem to be dropping, and while some of the lower card matches are maybe half a pace slower, the wrestling is holding up. It’s got to the point where picking an MVP is near impossible. But that’s a worry for another day, and right now we’re getting down to dishing out some stars.
Let’s be honest, I’m running out of things to say in these introductions. The G1 is still stupendous, it’s still hard to keep up and Jim Cornette is still an arsehole (okay, that’s a new one, but it’s always worth saying). Day seven had a decent card, but we’re hitting the period of the tournament where wrestlers have to begin conserving their energy. If they keep going at a million miles per an hour they might keel over. With that said, there was still plenty of puro action to keep you going.
The matches are coming thick and fast and keeping up with the G1 now feels as much like a challenge as a pleasure. Thankfully, it’s far from a chore as New Japan continue to deliver a sensational in-ring product. This is a catch-up as we round up days 3, 4 and 5 and it’s also going to be the moment where I tap out on the undercard. I did watch it, but it all blurs together and one tragic incident aside, I don’t have much to say. Anyway, on with the puro!
Continue reading “NJPW G1 Climax Days 3, 4 and 5 (21st, 22nd and 23rd July) Review”
Ramblings About Wrestling 