NJPW G1 Climax Tournament 8-7 report: Okada vs. Ishii, Nakamura vs.Takahashi

By Bryan Rose, WrestlingObserver.com

Welcome to this morning’s coverage of the G1 Climax 25 tournament. Today we’re in Shizuoka, with the main events being Tomohiro Ishii vs. Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yujiro Takahashi.

Tiger Mask is still out due to injury, so tonight he’ll be replaced by Jushin Thunder Liger in his undercard match.

Jay White vs. Yohei Komatsu

Simple, solid match. They traded back and forth offense an looked pretty good, though this was short. White had him in a Boston crab at one point but he escaped. Komatsu put him in a half Boston crab of his own and submitted him.

Yoshi Hashi and Toru Yano vs. Jay White and Tetsuya Naito

Nothing of note. Yoshi-Hashi and David Finlay had some great back and forth, but typical finish with Yoshi-Hashi laying him out with a lariat and pinning him with a swanton bomb.

Kota Ibushi, Captain New Japan, Togi Makabe and Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs. Bad Luck Fale, AJ Styles, Tama Tonga and Doc Gallows

Usual eight man. Pairings for this match, since they’re due to face off soon, include Ibushi/Fale, Gallows and Makabe and Styles/Tenzan. As usual, Captain New Japan and Tama Tonga square off against one another and Tonga ends up pinning him with the waistlock DDT.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kushida & Mascara Dorada vs. Katsuyori Shibata & Jushin Thunder Liger & Ryusuke Taguchi

Solid six man match. Crowd was very much into it when Tanahashi and Shibata squared off. Dorada’s big move of the night was a huge Asai moonsault to Liger on the outside. The ending sequence had Taguchi and Dorada, who had some great back and forth and scored some nearfalls. Taguchi put the ankle lock on twice. Dorada tried to counter, but eventually couldn’t any longer and tapped out to it. 

Yuji Nagata vs. Michael Elgin

Lots of stiff back and forth here. The crowd reacted to big spots, but it seemed like it lacked heat in the big picture until the end. Overall, a pretty good match, but nothing special. Elgin did his big deadlift falcon arrow spot for a nearfall. Nagata came back and gave him the belly to belly on the post. Elgin countered by lifting up Nagata and carrying him all the way to the other side of the ring for a buckle bomb, then pinned him with the powerbomb.  

Tomoaki Honma vs. Karl Anderson

Fine match for the most part, but really picked up once the near falls started. Honma kicked out of a gun stun and made a comeback that got the crowd going, hitting several nearfalls and and a kokeshi, as well as avoiding Anderson’s other attempts at a gun stun. A brainbuster didn’t do it either. He goes for the top rope kokeshi, but Anderson gets up and in mid motion grabs Honma and hits another gun stun for the win. Last few minutes were really great. 

Hirooki Goto vs. Satoshi Kojima

Good match, plenty of back and forth action, but nothing memorable. Goto hit a code red off the top rope, and Kojima came back with a brainbuster. Goto made a comeback, hit the spinning face slam then pinned Kojima with the shouten kai. Finish seemed to come out of nowhere. 

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yujiro Takahashi

Okay match, nothing special. Seemed much shorter than other matches tonight. Yujiro jumped him right as Nakamura was making his entrance. He worked over his injured arm, jamming it into the post and wrapping it around the barricade. Nakamura made a brief comeback but Yujiro cut him off. Nakamura came back and hit a boma ye for a near fall. Yujiro blocked a second and tried the Miami Shine but Nakamura escaped. Yujiro missed a charge in the corner then Nakamura pelted him with two more boma yes for the win.  

Current Standings

Block A

Katsuyori Shibata- 8

Bad Luck Fale- 8

Tetsuya Natio- 8

AJ Styles- 8

Hiroshi Tanhashi- 8

Kota Ibushi- 6

Togi Makabe- 4

Toru Yano- 4

Hiroyoshi Tenzan- 2

Doc Gallows- 2

Block B

Kazuchika Okada- 10

Tomohiro Ishii- 8

Karl Anderson- 8

Hirooki Goto- 8

Shinsuke Nakamura- 8

Michael Elgin- 8

Yujiro Takahashi- 4

Satoshi Kojima- 4

Yuji Nagata- 2

Tomoaki Honma- 0