#g1hypetrain

Card with Guide

I know the G1 Climax is over, but covering G1′s for me will probably continue to fall under this banner. At least the finals, which has mostly been what this series is about. This was voted on by my sole patron, who had 5 options to choose from and being a 10 dollar backer I’ll cover something at his suggestion in the near future as well. 

Tournament Format

The tournament in 1993 was single elimination 16 man tournament.

Hiroshi Hase beat in this order :  Shinya Hashimoto,  Kengo Kimura then Masahiro Chono in the semi finals.

While Tatsumi Fujinami beat in this order :  Yoshiaki Fujiwara,  Osamu Kido and  Keiji Mutoh in the finals. Mutoh was Hiroshi Hase’s tag team partner at the time.

Hiroshi Hase vs. Tatsumi Fujinami(link for those with NJPW World) 

Who’s who?

Tatsumi Fujinami was heir apparent to babyface Inoki as NJPW’s wrestling face. He was the japanese guy holding the IWGP Heavyweight title the most in its early life from 1988 to his 6th reign in 1998. A record that wouldn’t be beaten until Hiroshi Tanahashi had his historic 7th reign in 2014. Fujinami didn’t defend as often as some of the later era champions like Hashimoto, Mutoh, Tanahashi and current champion Okada. Beyond the IWGP Heavyweight Title Fujinami also held NWA belts, WWF belts and throughout the 80′s was awarded various things by both Tokyo sports and Wrestling observer newsletter. So, by the 1993 G1 he was already a very well established singles competitor.

Hiroshi Hase,  while not the well established IWGP Heavyweight Champion that Fujinami was going into this match. Hiroshi Hase was 2 time IWGP Jr. Champion at this point. One of the early champions in that belt’s linage. He was more known as a tag team player though as he had the IWGP tag belts 3 times before this match, with partners : Kensuke Sasaki and Keiji Mutoh. I covered one of these great tag bout with Hiroshi Hase a few months ago as a part of the series on WON’s MOTYs.   

How’s the match?

Starts slow, but it picks up after things go outside the ring. It might be a little too submission heavy for some peoples taste. I think that once throws do start happening it gets a little better. Lacks in strikes completely though, I think you could count the strikes on both hands. That doesn’t make it a bad match, but it’s a little disappointing. 

When this match got hot though, it gets real hot. I love the ending 5 minutes, but hated the first 3 minutes which had me worried the whole match was going to drag. 

The takeaway I had after researching the match is a sadness for Hiroshi Hase who really shines here, but never really got a main event run after this or even a singles run of any significance. 

Great match, but probably not going to be in the top 5 I’ve covered. It’s just that the G1 Finals are full of fantastic matches, I’d recommend watching it still though. Hase and Fujinami are in top form throughout. 

Card with guide

This time I though with the break day I would go ahead and highlight another great G1 Finals. This time with the sad recent news of Yoshihiro Takayama being paralyzed I thought I would see if he ever made it to the G1 Finals... which he did! So we will be taking a glimpse at that today.

The 2002 G1 Climax Finals!

Tournament format :

This years G1 had 2 blocks with 6 talents in each. Much like the 2007 G1 we looked at, the two top point earners of each block would then fight one another. #1 of block A vs #2 of block B and vice versa in semi-finals with the winners then going to the finals. However, unlike the 2007 edition the semi-finals and finals were not on the same night. 

Masahiro Chono vs Yoshihiro Takayama (Link for those with NJPW World)

Who’s who?

Masahiro Chono was/is the most successful person at the G1 behind Inoki, who you could argue never won a G1 though he won the earlier iterations... a rose by any other name. Going into this final Chono had already won 3 G1 Climax’s at the 1991, 1992, and 1994 though many might think his time in the sun was done. 

He had only had the IWGP title once going into these finals. His reign in 1998 was short lived at just over 40 days before having to vacate due to a neck injury. At the 1992 G1, the tournament was for the vacant NWA World Heavyweight title and he beat Rick Rude in the finals. That title reign would be Masahiro’s biggest solo title reign. 

He was more well known as a tag team player for his career in the 1990′s. Tokyo sports awarded him the best tag team award 3 times throughout the 1990′s : 1990(Keiji Mutoh), 1995(Hiroyoshi Tenzan) and 1996(Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiro Saito) with 1997 having him awarded Tokyo Sports ‘Wrestler of the Year’.  

Yoshihiro Takayama is one of the few talents to have all three major belts of Japan : NJPW’s IWGP Heavyweight title, AJPW’s Triple Crown Heavyweight title and NOAH’s Global Honored Crown Heavyweight.

However, it should be noted that at the time of this G1 Takayama had yet to hold any of those belts. Instead before this match Takayama was mostly known as a tag team guy. He and his tag team partner Takao Omori were collectively known as No Fear. In 1999 they held both of AJPW’s tag team belts at the same time and later in 2001 would capture the new NOAH tag team championship together. 

Takayama though had tons of momentum coming into the G1 as he had 2 great performances earlier in the year. At Pride 21 Demolition in June he had a classic fight with Don Frye that Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave best fight of the year for 2002. That’s not all though as NOAH held a tournament to crown the first ever GHC championship, a single elimination tournament in April that had the finals of Mitsuharu Misawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama. Though Yoshihiro Takayama didn’t win he was basically fighting who many consider to be the best Japanese wrestler of all time, so there was no shame in defeat. 2002 would by most measures be called Takayama’s more important year, though he has actually had a very nice resurgence in NOAH as one of their most notable and longest tenured talents. 

How’s the match?

Great! The match features a good use of both men’s signature strikes, Takayama’s knees and Chono’s kenka kick. Probably the spot of the match for me is halfway through the bout when Takayama just knees the shit out of poor Chono, who is just rocked to his core by it. Though Chono gets to show his Kenka kicks off at the end of the match in revenge with Takayama trying to just power through them. 

While I would say it’s a strike focused bout, that’s not all that happens between the bells. We have Chono using his signature STF, probably the most famous Japanese star to use that move. We also get to see Takayama’s signature  Everest German Suplex Hold which is a more elevated traditional bridging german suplex.

Card with Guide

I didn’t really mean to look at 2 Yuji Nagata finals back to back, but looking at a final from 10 years ago seemed like a good choice and Nagata just happened to be in it. I can’t really complain though as I enjoy watching his work and this G1 is obviously an important moment in the career on Hiroshi Tanahashi. So I felt like I should cover this one even if it might feel redundant doing 2 Nagata G1 highlights back to back.

The 2007 G1 Climax Finals!

Tournament format : 

This years G1 had 2 blocks of 6 with the two top point earners of each block going vs the top 2 point earners of the other block in Semi-Finals and Finals after that on the same night. Earlier in this night before these finals Yuji Nagata went over Shinsuke Nakamura while Hiroshi Tanahashi went over Togi Makabe in his semi finals match earlier this same night. 

Yuji Nagata vs Hiroshi Tanahashi (Link for those with NJPW World)

Who’s who?

Yuji Nagata has the nickname Blue Justice which of course in reference to his blue trunks and boots. He was also IWGP Heavyweight Champion here, having the belt for the 2nd time. 

He briefly was in WCW from February 1997 to August of 1998.

Despite his short stint he garnered a North American following after feuding with other Japanese talent Ultimo Dragon and teaming with Kensuke Sasaki to win a WCW tag team tournament that garnered them the #1 contendership though they would fail to win vs the champions.

If you read the last G1 Hype Train you’ll be aware that Nagata won the 2001 G1 Climax over Keiji Mutoh, that would help propel Nagata bove his previous position on the card. Which lead to the great 2002 reign, NJPW giving Nagata bout of the year in 2001(G1 Final) and 2002(Title defense vs Chono). 

Going into this 2007 G1 Climax Nagata had a decent amount of momentum having won the New Japan Cup in March of 2007. Which gave Yuji Nagata a title shot vs the recently first time crowned champion Hiroshi Tanahashi. Which Nagata won and was still holding the IWGP Heavyweight Title during this G1 Climax. 

Hiroshi Tanahashi was a rising star. He was the guy NJPW was pushing as the young new breed of NJPW after the strange years of 2005-2006 when Brock Lesnar left NJPW with the title and refused to return it instead working for Inoki in his new Inoki Genome Project promotion. So with a vacant belt someone new needed to be crowned and that man was Hiroshi Tanahashi who was having a good reign before New Japan Cup winner Nagata dethroned him to capture the belt for the 2nd time. 

At this point in Takahashi’s career he hadn’t won many belts outside of this IWGP Heavyweight championship. He had won the New Japan Cup in 2005 though and was twice IWGP Tag Team Champion with both Shinsuke Nakamura and Yutaka Yoshie in the early 2000′s.

How’s the match?

Fantastic! It’s a pretty great length for any match which is about 20 minutes. Long enough to get invest and see all their great spots, but no so long as to feel like a chore to get through like some matches can feel when they balloon up to 40-60 minute lengths. It also makes sense these two wouldn’t go that long since both men fought earlier in the night. 

This mirrors Nagata/Tanahashi’s G1 bout this year. The old standard bearer vs the new standard bearer, but a decade earlier. It’s very interesting to me that Tanahashi is in a similar spot now to the position Nagata was here. Perhaps even past it at this point Nagata was on his last IWGP run while Tanahashi may never get that belt again now that his epic storyline with Okada has finished and Okada seems to be the office new Ace of NJPW. 

These two guys mesh really well and this is the most competitive bout I’ve seen between the two yet. After this and their G1 match, I think I’ll find myself watching the title matches they had vs one another. I assume those will have a similar quality and want to see these guys clash again and again and again. 

I particularly love the use of the Dragon Screw by Tanahashi throughout this match. It’s an underused move and I think Tanahashi might be the master of it or one of the masters of it as he and Dr. Wagner Jr. both do great variations of it, though I don’t know if Wagner has ever done the neck variation that Tanahashi whips out from time to time... pun not intended. 

Card with guide

So far with 2017′s G1 Climax one big takeaway is people going, ‘This is my introduction to Yuji Nagata and I’m loving it!’. It’s always nice when someone with a 20+ year career is getting new fans. I don’t think Yuji Nagata or Paul McCartney or Shigeru Miyamoto would be mad that they have fans younger than their career starting to enjoy them. So, because Yuji Nagata has so many new fans I thought I’d highlight one of his highest profile matches. 

The 2001 G1 Climax Finals!

Tournament format :

This years G1 had 2 6 man blocks. The top 2 scorers of each block going onto a semifinal #1 from Block A vs #2 of Block B and vice versa. With point values being the same 2 for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. 

Yuji Nagata vs Keiji Mutoh (Link for those with NJPW World)

Who’s who?

Yuji Nagata has the nickname Blue Justice which of course in reference to his blue trunks and boots.

 At this point Yuji Nagata had mostly been a tag team player for NJPW. Having won the IWGP Tag straps with Manabu Nakanishi in 1999 and having won the G1 Tag League with Takashi Iizuka in 2000. 

He briefly was in WCW from February 1997 to August of 1998. 

Despite his short stint he garnered a North American following after feuding with other Japanese talent Ultimo Dragon and teaming with Kensuke Sasaki to win a WCW tag team tournament that garnered them the #1 contendership though they would fail to win vs the champions. 

Keiji Mutoh is wearing black here and has his head bald, a trademark look for him. Keiji Mutoh was the have to Nagata’s have nots at this point in their careers. To be fair Mutoh was 5 years older, but also got more exposure. He too is a tag team expert winning the G1 Tag league an astonishing 5 times(93-94 and 97-99), Mutoh had also already held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship 3 times at the time of this fight and the IWGP Tag belts 5 times

Strangely enough at the time of this match Keiji Mutoh was already holding the AJPW Triple Crown Championship which he had one the first time ever in June 2 months earlier and was still holding. holding it. Mutoh was working with AJPW for the first time, having worked all the 90′s exclusively with NJPW/WCW. 2001 was the last year of Mutoh’s career where he would work more in NJPW than AJPW which became his home for the post 2000′s part of his career though he has even left AJPW in the dust these last 5 years where he has made his comebacks for Wrestle-1. 

How’s the match?

Good though some people, in fact many people would probably agree that many of this years G1 Tournament matches have been better. I think one thing that slows down this match is the heavy use of submissions. It’s fine, but it has me wanting more grappling and striking. It’s kinda like another extreme to the G1 Hype Train #1 match I covered between Hashimoto Shinya vs Genichiro Tenryu where that bout is nothing but striking, this at times feel like nothing, but submissions. 

I’d say this match has more varied offense, but it’s as fun or energetic as the striking about from 1998. Though to be fair that 1998 match isn’t the finals, which were a little more tame. 

Still, it’s fun to see these two legends duke it out and most if it is pretty smooth. Sadly, the finish of the match feels a little shaky with Mutoh and Nagata throwing heavy strikes, but about half look like they completely whiff. Some stuff here is great though like Nagata countering out of Mutoh’s leg lock or Mutoh blasting Nagata in the head with a Shining Wizard. 

This is also obviously a big moment in Yuji Nagata’s career. It was his biggest match up to this point and some may argue the biggest match of his career still. An epic confrontation 16 years ago that cemented Nagata as a cornerstone of NJPW to this day. 

Card with Guide

This will be the most modern one I’ve taken on thus far, but might not be the most modern as I might cover last year's final. I figured this would be a good one to cover for a few reasons. Like Okada being the current IWGP title holder and in this years G1 as well. It’s also the first time in 20 years a gaijin made it to the finals. The last foreigner to make it this far was Rick Rude back in 1992. 

Kazuchika Okada vs. Togi Makabe, 2012′s G1 Semifinal

Who’s who?

Okada is the young gun wearing gold and pink shorts and gold boots. He was recently champion, but lost it 2 months earlier to the Ace of NJPW Hiroshi Tanahashi ending Okada’s 1st reign and starting Tanahashi’s 6th. Okada wants to win here and get a shot at WK to beat Tanahashi for the belt. Though that’s a large task as this is Kazuchika Okada’s first ever G1 Climax. 

Another interesting fact for this match/event is that Okada just joined the ‘CHAOS’ faction earlier in this same year after winning his comeback match over Yoshi-Hashi at WK. The day after WKVI at a press conference where a title match was made between him and Tanahashi it was also revealed that Okada was the newest member of Chaos.

Togi Makabe is the older more brutish talent of the two wearing black. He too has had only one reign with the IWGP Title back in 2010. He had also won G1 before in 2009 and will be looking to become one of the few talents to ever win more than once. 

How’s the match?

Good, I’m glad it’s so hard hitting because it’s early in the night and it would have felt unfair if this match was an easy win and the winner took on whoever wins the next match in the finals right after the other talent fought in the semi-finals. Togi Makabe tosses Okada around like the pup he was at the time. Then the Rainmaker pulled an ace out of his sleeve and barely got by the gorilla of a man Tobi Makabe.

Karl Anderson vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, 2012′s G1 Semi-Finals

Who’s who?

Karl Anderson is the white bald gaijin with a beard. He is wearing blue tights and knee pads. Karl Anderson at this point was a well worn tag team member having won World Tag League in 2009, voted WoN’s best tag team of 2011 Bad Intentions(w/ Giant Bernard), Together that team had captured both the IWGP and GHC tag straps that NOAH uses. Still Karl Anderson hadn’t held any singles gold of note. This G1 was his chance to grasp the brass ring and prove his singles value.

His first challenge of the night was Hiroshi Tanahashi, who is wearing long white pants. At the time he was holding the IWGP Championship after winning it from Okada at Dominion 6.16.2012 Tanahashi being very well established as championship talent at this point, this being his 6th reign while Okada had only been champion once. Tanahashi could beat everyone and prove that he is the ace by not only being champion, but also winning G1 ontop of that. 

How’s the match?

Good, as always Hiroshi Tanahashi’s High Fly Flow crossbody seems like it’s heat seeking. Flying outside and creaming Anderson in a very epic moment in this semifinal fight. While Karl Anderson got the upperhand by being the smarter worker. Him targeting the leg of Tanahashi and countering at the right time late in the fight netted him the win. It was a huge moment and marked Anderson being the first Gaijin to get to the finals of the G1 since Rick Rude as noted earlier.  

Karl Anderson vs Kazuchika Okada, 2012′s G1 Finals

Who’s who?

Covered them both above, but to reiterate Karl Anderson is the bald white guy who is a noted tag team technician at this time but hadn’t won a G1 or singles title in NJPW.

While Okada is in gold shorts and boots and is the young Chaos stable upstart who had 2 months earlier dropped the IWGP belt to Hiroshi Tanahashi. Eager to get the win and prove himself as a past and future champion and earn another shot at the biggest belt in Japan. 

How’s the match?

Great, the two men have plenty of chemistry and mesh very well in this finals match. It might not stack up to recent Okada bouts, but with some call those the best matches ever that’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’d probably suggest this match as a standalone viewing as I think watching the 2 earlier rounds will have some people annoyed at overlap of spots. Not that they are bad spots, but Okada putting heads in the ring barrier and Karl Anderson’s headscissor---->armdrag--->headscissors---->armdrag--->headscissors----> happens in both his matches. It’s nothing major, but it does seem weird to use both those spots over. A really interesting note is that this was Kazuchika Okada’s first G1 and he won it, Kenny Omega would be the next man to do that. Will 2017 have a similar fresh faced winner?