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bosskkiganjo · 7 years

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NJPW Summer 2012

aye, haven’t updated for a sec, but on with the show

Dominion 6.16

Hiroshi Tanahashi challenges Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship

This is the epic rematch, second of many and the end of the line for Okada’s first title run. This was great, ostensibly, but not quite as exciting or charged as their first go. If you watched it on its own it would be fantastic, but the whole point of their series is basically that they are in one game of chess after another and every move requires a counter. Tanahashi countered the Rain Maker at every angle, had more energy and Okada was defeated. The Ace plays his guitar and proudly proceeds into the G1 Climax as champion. Again, fantastic. But the second part in a morality play, basically. Okada is a great young talent but when targeted Tanahashi will take him back down. Not as transcendent as one might hope for. High standards? Yes, definitely.

G1 Climax

I didn’t watch every bit of the three days that were available, but here are some of the stronger takeaways in no specific order.

Naomichi Marufuji vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

Very much like in 2016 Marufuji enters the round robin tournament and picks up a win over current champion and face of the company. Unlike 2016 it’s basically a neck and neck contest throughout. It’s very impressive but I honestly remember very little from it. Two great wrestlers that kind of put through the motions here? Not sure what was wrong. But this will earn Marufuji a shot at the title so we’ll see how that goes.

Kazuchika Okada vs Shinsuke Nakamura

Nak has newly won the IC title and is beginning the ascent to being a wildly popular sensation instead of just the nearly forgotten main eventer he’d kind of become. Okada has conversely just lost his title, obviously hoping to steamroll through the block and get the prestigious belt back. Remember earlier this year when Nak had basically no impression in losing to Naito? This is the opposite. He is the star, bumps hard for his stable-mate, makes every bit of his offense look impressive without pushing to hard into vicious shooty stiffness. Okada doesn’t really match-up. He does fine, but it’s just a Nakamura match overall and Nakamura wins a pretty big early tournament match.

I should mention that earlier on a AJPW/NJPW joint show these two were in a tag and got the shit beaten out of them by Suwama and Shuji Kondo, who were uproariously booed. If the face-ish turn of CHAOS hadn’t already begun it took root right there. Matches like this hurry it a long. CHAOS never does outright fucked up stuff, and their disparate characters all mesh to make something you can get behind even in 2012 with Yujiro and Tanaka on the team.

Anyway.

Minoru Suzuki vs Yuji Nagata

I loved the hell out of this. Perfect G1 match, sharp, short, elegant, brutal. Suzuki does Suzuki things, has his goons fuck with Nagata, chokes the shit out of Nagata, brutalizes him. Nagata rampages back with legit kicks and chops. Momentum pulls back to Suzuki, but at the crucial moment the referee sends away his interfering team. Nagata rallies, emboldened by the crack of light at the end of the tunnel and pushes his violent capacity up a notch. The most beautiful part is that Suzuki is ready for every hit he receives and relishes it. Eventually it is simply to much and Nagata wins with the backdrop. But man. Delicious stuff. Not an epic chess game like New Japan main events, but it’s own beautiful violent feature.

Karl Anderson vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

There were a whole shit load of tiebreakers on the final day of this thing, too many to mention. NJPW faithful know you can pretty much tell who’s doing what from matchups on the final day but pretty much everyone relevant came in with similar point totals. Still, per usual, this was the final match of the block and it was win and advance. Again, if you’re a long timer this won’t be a big surprise but Karl Anderson gets a big reaction in this one. Lots of cheering, lots of chants. Tanahashi knows how to put over an opponent and he does very expertly. For whatever reason the crowd wanted this scrappy underdog gaijin to pull it off so Hiroshi came knives out and acted like a big douche the whole time. This is honestly really quick, as the finals come right after this, so there isn’t a whole lot to it. They race to a finish and Karl shows off 200% more effort than you’ll see in his typical modern day RAW matches and picks up a win after a ton of finish evasions. But of course, this leads us right into the next match.

Karl Anderson vs Kazuchika Okada: G1 Finals

Weird in retrospect, but I guess stranger things have happened. And if the crowd loved Anderson against The Once in A Century Ace, they double down the affection when he’s facing the dastardly Rainmaker. Both have already had a match today, so this going as long as it does is very impressive. Not groundbreaking though, Anderson doesn’t have a lot of main event offense, so Okada makes up for it by being a complete dick until they reach the breaking point and go through some really great finisher counters. These guys are both great a finishing sequences and finisher counters. Okada shows it off all the time but it takes two to dance that particular dance and Anderson shows off the same talent. Sadly the crowd wish isn’t fulfilled and Okada walks away with another award and an upcoming shot at the big title. So it took about a month or so to set up a rematch, but it is coming.

Coming soon, NJPW Autumn 2012, featuring Tanahashi defending the IWGP title against everyone from Suzuki to Yujiro and the UStream era.

And for full disclosure’s sake I’m typing this as Wrestle Kingdom 11 is beginning and I won’t be able to watch it for at least a night. It is less than ideal.

#njpw #kazuchika okada #hiroshi tanahashi #minoru suzuki #yuji nagata #g1 climax

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