New Japan Pro-Wrestling - G1 Climax 25: Nights 3 & 4 Review

The 25th G1 Climax continues!

NJPW G1 Climax 25: Night 3

Kyoto, Japan 7/24/15 

1.) G1 Climax - Block A - IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Doc Gallows vs. Kota Ibushi: ***1/4

2.) G1 Climax - Block A - NEVER Openweight Champion Togi Makabe vs. Bad Luck Fale: **1/2

3.) G1 Climax - Block A - "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles vs. Toru Yano: ***1/2

4.) G1 Climax - Block A - Katsuyori Shibata vs. Tetsuya Naito: ****

5.) G1 Climax - Block A - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan: ****

Overall: 7.75/10

Even though Night 3 didn’t have the two fantastic matches that Night 1 did, I thought the tournament matches, for the most part, ranged from pretty good to great. The only match that I would say wasn’t too good was Bad Luck Fale vs. Togi Makabe (and that’s no real surprise). Gallows vs. Ibushi was actually a fun match (never thought I’d say that about a match involving Doc Gallows), but the match that surprised me the most, in terms of quality, was AJ Styles vs. Toru Yano. I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s far from being one of the best matches of the tournament, but it was really entertaining. Similar to Night 1, the top two matches here on Night 3 really delivered. Naito/Shibata was great, not just for the action, but for the continued evolution of Naito’s new heel persona, which I think played off really well against the no-nonsense asskicker in Shibata. While I was a little concerned about Tanahashi vs. Tenzan, it definitely delivered. Tanahashi always brings in in the G1, but Tenzan really stepped up here as well. He may be broken down, but when you put him in a spot like this, he shows that he’s still capable of putting on a great match. In general, I just thought that the majority of the tournament matches on this show were either great, or simply fun & entertaining.

NJPW G1 Climax 25: Night 4

Takamatsu, Japan 7/25/15

1.) G1 Climax - Block B - Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi: ***

2.) G1 Climax - Block B - Satoshi Kojima vs. "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin: ***3/4

3.) G1 Climax - Block B - IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto vs. IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Karl Anderson: ***1/4

4.) G1 Climax - Block B - Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yugi Nagata: ***3/4

5.) G1 Climax - Block B - IWGP Heavyweight Champion "Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomoaki Honma: ****

Overall: 8.0/10

This was really the first show of the entire tournament that five consistently good tournament matches (i.e. all of them were *** or better). Once again, the worst match of the bunch involved Yujiro Takahashi, but thankfully Tomohiro Ishii was able to drag him to a good match. Anderson vs. Goto was pretty solid, but I was expecting a little more from these two, especially considering their history with each other. Again, this is a single-camera, no commentary show, in front of (I belive) a smaller crowd, so I wonder if that may have had an impact on them, in a motivational sense. The rest of the tournament matches were either great, or just shy of being great. The Main Event between Okada & Honma was fantastic, as you would expect. Nakamura vs. Nagata was really good, as was Elgin vs. Kojima. He’s only two tournament matches in, and Michael Elgin has already begun to grab people’s attention with his performances. He’s showing that he really fits in this atmosphere. As a whole, this was a very solid show that delivered five good to great tournament matches.

Standings

Block A

Hiroshi Tanahashi (2-0-0) - 4 Points
"The Phenomenal" AJ Styles (2-0-0) - 4 Points
Kota Ibushi (1-1-0) - 2 Points
Katsuyori Shibata (1-1-0) - 2 Points
Bad Luck Fale (1-1-0) - 2 Points
Tetsuya Naito (1-1-0) - 2 Points
Hiroyoshi Tenzan (1-1-0) - 2 Points
Togi Makabe (1-1-0) - 2 Points
Toru Yano (0-2-0) - 0 Points
Doc Gallows (0-2-0) - 0 Points

Block B

Karl Anderson (2-0-0) - 4 Points
"Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada (2-0-0) - 4 Points
Tomohiro Ishii (2-0-0) - 4 Points
Shinsuke Nakamura (1-1-0) - 2 Points
Satoshi Kojima (1-1-0) - 2 Points
Yuji Nagata (1-1-0) - 2 Points
Hirooki Goto (1-1-0) - 2 Points
Tomoaki Honma (0-2-0) - 0 Points
"Unbreakable" Michael Elgin (0-2-0) - 0 Points
Yujiro Takahashi (0-2-0) - 0 Points 

Non-Tournament Matches To Watch

G1 Climax 25: Night 3 (7/24/15) - Six-Man Tag - Tomoaki Honma, Yugi Nagata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. CHAOS (Shinsuke Nakamura, IWGP Heavyweight Champion "Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada & Gedo): ***1/4

G1 Climax 25: Night 4 (7/25/15) - The Bullet Club ("The Phenomenal" AJ Styles & Bad Luck Fale) vs. Kota Ibushi & Jay White: ***

G1 Climax 25: Night 4 (7/25/15) - Six-Man Tag - Hiroshi Tanahashi, Katsuyori Shibata & Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Tetsuya Naito, NEVER Openweight Champion Togi Makabe, & Yohei Komatsu: ***

G1 Climax 25: Night 3 (7/24/15) - Eight-Man Tag - "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin, Mascara Dorada, David Finlay & Jay White vs. Satoshi Kojima, Jushin "Thunder" Liger, Tiger Mask, & Yohei Komatsu: **3/4