New Japan Pro-Wrestling - G1 Climax 25: Nights 11 & 12 Review

Tetsuya Naito continues his rise, while Kazuchika Okada battles his CHAOS stablemate Tomohiro Ishii!

NJPW G1 Climax 25: Night 11

Morioka, Japan 8/5/15

1.) G1 Climax - Block A - Bad Luck Fale vs. NWA World Heavyweight Champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan: **

2.) G1 Climax - Block A - Katsuyori Shibata vs. Toru Yano: **1/4

3.) G1 Climax - Block A - Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Doc Gallows: ***

4.) G1 Climax - Block A - "The Phenomenal" AJ Styles vs. NEVER Openweight Champion Togi Makabe: ***3/4

5.) G1 Climax - Block A - Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito: ****

Overall: 7.5/10

This was probably one of the weaker shows of the tournament. Bad Luck Fale vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan was not good at all (honestly, you shouldn’t be surprised by that), so the less I talk about it, the better. Katsuyori Shibata vs. Toru Yano was a very interesting match. It went about four minutes or so and, in the end, Yano stole a victory from Shibata. I just want to note that I was probably one of the only people who called Yano beating Shibata. You always got to be careful with Yano. He could literally beat anyone at any time, and that adds a nice element of unpredictability to the tournament. You know that Yano is never actually going to win the G1, but you’re always waiting just to see who he upsets, and this year, it was Shibata. We then had Tanahashi vs. Gallows, which was a fine match. Much like last year (when I believe they were in the same block), Tanahashi was able to carry Gallows to a respectably good match. AJ Styles & Togi Makabe had a very good match in the Semi-Main Event. They worked hard, and the crowd was into it. In the Main Event, we had a battle between two former semi-regular tag team partners, as Tetsuya Naito picked up a victory over Kota Ibushi. This was a great match, and easily the best match on Night 11. Although the match these two had in the Semi-Finals of the 2015 New Japan Cup, these two still put on an awesome match that was entertaining from start to finish.

NJPW G1 Climax 25: Night 12

Hamamatsu, Japan 8/7/15

1.) G1 Climax - Block B - "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin vs. Yuji Nagata: ***1/4

2.) G1 Climax - Block B - IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Karl Anderson vs. Tomoaki Honma: ***1/2

3.) G1 Climax - Block B - IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto vs. Satoshi Kojima: ***3/4

4.) G1 Climax - Block B - Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yujiro Takahashi: **1/2

5.) G1 Climax - Block B - IWGP Heavyweight Champion "Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada vs. Tomohiro Ishii: ****1/4

Overall: 7.75/10

Here we had another relatively solid show from Block B. This was, again, a single camera, no commentary show. While it can be nice to watch matches without any commentary, I feel as though Block B has been “getting the shaft”, so to speak, as most of the Block B events were single camera, with no commentary. I think most people would say that Block B was, as a whole, the better block, so to see it get this treatment is a little disappointing. The first tournament match of the show saw Michael Elgin defeat Yuji Nagata in a pretty solid match. This was a big moment for Elgin, as getting a singles victory over Yuji Nagata is probably one of the biggest accomplishments of his career (up to this point). We then saw Karl Anderson defeat Tomoaki Honma in a very good match. The finish was memorable, as Anderson countered a Top Rope Kokeshi attempt by Honma into a Gun Stun. That looked cool! IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto vs. Satoshi Kojima was really good, probably the second best tournament match on this show. Goto got the win there. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yujiro Takahashi was, as you would have thought, the worst tournament match of the night. Yujiro once again drags down his opponent to a less-than-stellar match. Nakamura, thankfully, scored the victory. The Main Event, however, was the real draw of this show, as Kazuchika Okada defeated fellow CHAOS member Tomohiro Ishii in a fantastic match. I wouldn’t call it a MOTYC or anything, but it was still an awesome match regardless!! Again, it’s another example of the G1 Climax giving us a rare singles match with two guys who wouldn’t normally be facing off.

Standings

Block A

Katsuyori Shibata (4-2-0) - 8 Points

Tetsuya Naito (4-2-0) - 8 Points

Hiroshi Tanahashi (4-2-0) - 8 Points

"The Phenomenal" AJ Styles (4-2-0) - 8 Points

Bad Luck Fale (4-2-0) - 8 Points

Kota Ibushi (3-3-0) - 6 Points

Togi Makabe (3-3-0) - 6 Points

Toru Yano (2-4-0) - 4 Points

Hiroyoshi Tenzan (1-5-0) - 2 Points

Doc Gallows (1-5-0) - 2 Points

Block B

"Rainmaker" Kazuchika Okada (5-1-0) - 10 Points

Shinsuke Nakamura (4-2-0) - 8 Points

Tomohiro Ishii (4-2-0) - 8 Points

Hirooki Goto (4-2-0) - 8 Points

Karl Anderson (4-2-0) - 8 Points

"Unbreakable" Michael Elgin (4-2-0) - 8 Points

Satoshi Kojima (2-4-0) - 4 Points

Yujiro Takahashi (2-4-0) - 4 Points

Yuji Nagata (1-5-0) - 2 Points

Tomoaki Honma (0-6-0) - 0 Points

Non-Tournament Matches To Watch

G1 Climax 25: Night 12 (8/7/15) - Six-Man Tag - Hiroshi Tanahashi, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA, & Mascara Dorada vs. Katsuyori Shibata, Jushin "Thunder" Liger & Ryusuke Taguchi: ***1/4

G1 Climax 25: Night 11 (8/5/15) - Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata & Yohei Komatsu vs. IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto, "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin & Mascara Dorada: ***

G1 Climax 25: Night 12 (8/7/15) - Yohei Komatsu vs. Jay White: **3/4

G1 Climax 25: Night 11 (8/5/15) - The Bullet Club (IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Champion Karl Anderson & Cody Hall) vs. Tomoaki Honma & Jay White: **3/4

G1 Climax 25: Night 12 (8/7/15) - Tetsuya Naito & David Finlay vs. CHAOS (Toru Yano & Yoshi-Hashi): **3/4