Shelly Deathlock cares too much about Japanese wrestling and, as Captain of the S.S. Strong Style, she’s here to welcome you on board and fill you in on what’s going on in the world of puro. In this series, she’s talking about the G1 25.
Hello lovelies. I hope you woke up at stupid o’clock for the opening match of the G1 Climax 25 tournament. If not, don’t worry, it’s up for on demand viewing at NJPWWorld. They’re wonderful to us.
I’m not going to recap every show, but I will pull out bits of shows to say some words about as necessary so you can be caught up on my opinions!
G1 Climax 25 Day 1: Non-tournament matches
Yohei Komatsu, Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger, Yuji Nagata vs. Jay White, David Finlay, Mascara Dorada, Tomoaki Honma
Typical 8-or-10-man opening tag with legends & Young Lions. This match isn’t specifically a good one, but I’m just putting it here to make sure you know that this little pride of Young Lions (the boys who wrestle in black trunks and, when not wrestling, help out at ringside – those guys are like in “developmental” for NJPW and training at the dojo) is the cutest, most adorable pride of Young Lions ever and also very promising in-ring. Just look at them!
本日の収録。ヤングライオン改めヤングバニーの田中(@njpwShowT )と小松(@njpwyohei_k )。新日本プロレスワールドで近日公開予定！ #njpwworld pic.twitter.com/EXNPHbxDDF
— HIROSHI TANAHASHI (@tanahashi1_100) July 9, 2015
Yohei Komatsu, Jay White, David Finlay and Sho Tanaka (absent for this because he’s currently competing in the NOAH Junior league) are all currently great and only going to get better, and you should fall in love with them now so you can terrorize all your friends when they’re stars and say you told them so.
こいつら！ pic.twitter.com/DPH06vkB2C — 田中翔 (@njpwShowT) June 24, 2015
YOSHI-HASHI & Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Tama Tonga & Karl Anderson
Not really a great match but Shinsuke Nakamura was in it and at the end he mocked Karl Anderson’s machine gun taunt which was the spot of the night, honestly.
G1 Climax 25 Day 1 – Block A: Results & Review
I’ll give some quick tips here about whether or not you should take time to watch these if you haven’t, based on my own knowledge and taste in professional wrestling.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Doc Gallows
No.
Should you watch this? No.
Winner: TENZAN
Togi Makabe vs. Toru Yano
Pretty fun, more competitive than you’d think from a Yano match. Maybe he’ll have some good ones this year!
Should you watch this? Still no.
Winner: MAKABE
Tetsuya Naito vs. Bad Luck Fale
Weirdly slow at first when Fale is in control, and then weirdly ineffective when Naito is. The finish is kind of a disaster.
Should you watch this? I wouldn’t re-watch. Naito’s entrance is great, though.
Winner: NAITO
Katsuyori Shibata vs. AJ Styles
Shibata’s offense is dangerous as usual, and AJ counters it so creatively you’re left wondering if he isn’t the most dangerous man in the tournament. A killer opening, a lovely stage set for the rest of the tournament for Styles.
Should you watch this? *fans self profusely and puts out four emoji fire* Yes.
Winner: STYLES
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi
Usually I don’t complain about wrestlers not selling. It’s pro wrestling, there’s room for some nonsense, and I don’t like to be smarky and negative at all or even really acknowledge that selling is something that exists. However, in this match, Tanahashi’s offense for the entire first half was targeted at Kota Ibushi’s leg. And Kota Ibushi’s offense was YEAH, WITH HIS HURT LEG.
SWEETIE DARLING IBUSHI if you are so unstoppable that all of Tanahashi’s perfect dragon screws don’t even slow you down, why didn’t you win? It was too much, wrongly directed, really took me out of the match.
Should you watch this? Yes. The last half was very intense and the crowd got very into it, which was thrilling. I’d watch it again for the second half.
Winner: TANAHASHI
Updated G1 Climax 25 Scorecard
You can see my updated Google Docs scorecard here. The points standings so far are:
| Wrestler | Score |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi | 2 |
| Togi Makabe | 2 |
| Katsuyori Shibata | 0 |
| Tetsuya Naito | 2 |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 2 |
| Kota Ibushi | 0 |
| Toru Yano | 0 |
| AJ Styles | 2 |
| Doc Gallows | 0 |
| Bad Luck Fale | 0 |
Next time in the G1 Climax!
The next show is Thursday, July 23, featuring B Block tournament matches. I’ve bolded the matches I’m particularly looking forward to – see you then!
Satoshi Kojima vs. Tomohiro Ishii
Hirooki Goto vs. Yujiro Takahashi
Yuji Nagata vs. Tomoaki Honma
Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Karl Anderson