The Big Picture of Week #1:
Well, we said that we wanted changes. NJPW gave them to us in abundance. The shock victories on Night #1 were fantastic, but when almost all of the wins are like that, the impact is diluted. After five of the nineteem shows, Makabe leads Block A, with Tenzan and Goto close behind. Nagata leads Block B, with almost everyone else tied for second place. We’re still in the early stages.
Day #5 (7/25/16 – Block A):
YOSHI-HASHI defeated David Finlay
Everyone isn’t into the story of YOSHI-HASHI this year, but the flaws are what make it work. Yes, he looks uncertain, even afraid, and almost surprised when he wins. Yet he is determined to soldier on, and it’s that determination in spite of the fear of going it alone that makes him so compelling. YOSHI has a heavily-wrapped shoulder after his match with Honma as well. He and Shibata are either helping sell Honma’s finisher as really damaging, or this is a sign that Honma is going to seriously hurt someone by the time that G-1 ends. Whatever “Loose Explosion” means, wearing it across your buttocks is not helping you to be taken seriously. Please change that.
Day #4 (7/24/16 – Block B):
Juice Robinson defeated David Finlay
This match was better than expected. Robinson is already an improvement over CJ Parker, and if he would drop the screeching and annoying voice, he’d be even better.
Day #3 (7/23/16 – Block A):
Satoshi Kojima, Manabu Nakanishi, Jushin Liger, & Tiger Mask defeated KUSHIDA, Juice Robinson, David Finlay, & Captain New Japan
Though more “Don’t tag in Captain New Japan” hilarity continued, David Finlay was pinned on this one. Tiger Mask seems to want a shot at KUSHIDA’s Junior Heavyweight title.
Day #2 (7/22/16 – Block B):
Manabu Nakanishi & TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) defeated Captain New Japan, David Finlay, & Juice Robinson
The saga of not tagging in Captain New Japan continues. This is way more fun than it has any right to be. More, please!
2016 NJPW G-1 Climax Tournament – Week 1 Recap (Nights #1-5)
The first week of the nearly month-long G-1 Climax tournament from New Japan Pro Wrestling has reached its end, and there’s quite a bit to think about as compared to previous tournaments. For many fans, this is the highlight of the summer, as well as of wrestling fandom. We get nearly a solid month of the best wrestlers in the world doing their best collective thing and setting the general direction of feuds and title chases for the next five months, as well as for the January 4th Wrestle Kingdom show. What’s not to love???
The 2014 G-1 was widely hailed as one of the greatest wrestling events of all time, while the 2015 version drew some criticism for stagnation and repetition, despite having some fantastic matches. The 2016 G-1 offered the perfect opportunity to rectify those concerns, as NJPW lost five of its top players to the WWE after contracts expired at the end of January. Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles were obvious major overall losses, but Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows, and Kota Ibushi had all played significant roles in past G-1 tournaments, and their absences were definitely going to be felt. That’s twenty-five percent of the total participation roster for G-1. NJPW seemed to embrace the WWE’s “anything can happen” motto with considerably more gusto than the company itself has, and the theme of the first week has been “surprises and upsets.”
Here I am, once again, doubling up on his dose of iMPACT for the week. With Spike TV’s airing of Global iMPACT 2, from Japan.
We begin with a promo for the event, involving Angle, Nash, Shelley and Team 3D.
Global Impact 2, is footage from Wrestle Kingdom III, January 4, 2009.
The results were as follows:
Dark Match: Milano Collection AT, Minoru and Taichi Ishikari def. Mitsuhide Hirazawa, Kazuchika Okada and Nobuo Yoshihashi
Mistico, Ryusuke Taguchi and Prince Devitt def. Averno, Jado and Gedo
Jushin Liger and Takuma Sano def. Wataru Inoue and Koji Kanemoto
GLOBAL IMPACT 2 FEATURED MATCH#1:
IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
MotorCity Machine Guns (Alex Shelley/Chris Sabin) def. No Limit (Yujiro/Tetsuya Naito)
IWGP JUNIOR HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Tiger Mask IV retains against Low Ki
GLOBAL IMPACT FEATURED MATCH#2:
Riki Choshu, Masahiro Chono, Kurt Angle and Kevin Nash def. Giant Bernard, Takashi Iizuka, Tomohiro Ishii and Karl Anderson
ZERO1 WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Yuji Nagata (c) def. Masato Tanaka
Jun Akiyama def. Manabu Nakanishi
GLOBAL IMPACT 2 FEATURED MATCH#3:
IWGP TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
HARDCORE MATCH
Team 3D (Brother Ray/Brother Devon) def. Most Violent Players (Togi Makabe/Toru Yano)
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima didnt start, due to an eye injury to Tenzan.
Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto def. Mitsuharu Misawa and Takashi Sugiura
IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Keiji Mutoh
This concludes the double-header of iMPACT. I have been the one they call ‘Your Legend Killer’.