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.”
With experiencing both an earthquake and Irene’s wrath in the same week, it’s amazing to see how one can deal with things granted i only felt about 20 seconds of the earthquake and were getting the end of Irene but still it counts doesn’t it. While those weren’t the only things going on, let me take a look at some other things that went on during the week: (more…)
Well when it comes down to it there’s nothing like a good stiff drink with some good friends and some good food. But what isn’t fun is when you have the worst sinus infection and allergies at the same time. I was fortunate to experience all this in the same week, yay me. But lots of drugs are helping me so I can give what I can this week: (more…)
I haven’t been voting the last couple of weeks, for whatever reason, and I apologize for not getting the poll up here on BWF last week, but here we go with this week’s!
1. Wade Barrett (Last week: 1)
Abusing his power over John Cena and The Nexus and utterly destroying the WWE Champion leaves Wade Barrett number one on the Power Poll for the second straight week.
2. Big Show (NR)
The Big Show led the entire SmackDown roster into RAW and led them to victory (along with Edge) over the RAW roster in a battle royal. Huge momentum for the World’s Largest Athlete heading into Bragging Rights on Sunday.
3. Randy Orton (3)
The Viper teamed with John Cena to defeat Husky Harris and Michael McGuillicutty, but his failure to fight off The Nexus after the match leaves Randy Orton at number 3.
4. Edge (9)
So much for Smurfette – Edge saved The Big Show from certain elimination and helped win the battle royal for Team SmackDown Monday night.
5. The Miz (2)
Having the testicular fortitude to face The Big Show in a one on one matchup and then lasting as long as he did in the battle royal probably didn’t do as much for The Miz’s standing on the Poll as his Smurfy promo against Team SmackDown.
6. Kane (4)
The Big Red Monster was nowhere to be found Monday Night when SmackDown invaded RAW, but neither was his brother The Undertaker, so I suppose that’s not that surprising. As long as he is the World Champion, it seems Kane has a spot in the top 10. Will that continue after the buried alive match?
7. John Cena (6)
Cena’s subservience to Wade Barrett continues to push him further down the Power Poll. What I don’t get is why Cena looked upset Monday Night while the rest of Nexus destroyed his long time rival Randy Orton. Oh well.
8. Jeff Hardy (5)
It goes to show that as long as you’re a World Champion, you’re likely to be on the Power Poll. Of course, Hardy, despite slipping this week, is still riding that wave of momentum that winning a title will get you in this voting process. We’ll see what he does on iMPACT this week and see where he winds up on next week’s poll.
9. Undertaker (NR)
All the Undertaker has to do is make an appearance, and it seems that he’ll make the Power Poll. That’s the power of the Phenom.
10. Daniel Bryan (NR)
The WWE United States Champion made the WWE Intercontinental Champion tap out Monday on RAW, and then busted a move with the smart, sexy, and powerful WWE Divas. Bragging rights are on the line this Sunday!
As we all go on with our lives, we take a look back and reflect on the past and contemplate the future. For some of us, it’s all about the here and now or something. So right here is the time, right now is the time and this is my article for the week:
