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| Give it up for Day 18 of the G1 Climax! |
- The block winners of the G1 have been confirmed! A-Block has been won by Tetsuya Naito, and B-Block has been won by Kenny Omega! HE BEAT OKADA! What a ride it has been.
- It's being reported that Scott Dawson's injury is going to keep him out until December. Motherfuck.
- I don't know the validity of this, but apparently Ronda Rousey is about to begin training for pro wrestling soon with Brian Kendrick. If Kendrick can manage to train Eva Marie to work a match, lord knows what he'll be able to do with Ronda.
- Bayley's shoulder injury seems to be legit, and it's taken her out of SummerSlam. I don't think there's been any reports on a timeframe for her return to action, so we'll just have to watch this space.
- In perhaps the most disturbing news we got this week, The Rock has had the Brahma Bull covered up. The Attitude Era is dead.
- More new music! Baron Corbin has a new theme I'm yet to make my mind up on, and debuting on NXT TV this week, it's the Street Profits. Just when I thought Usos had the best theme for a tag team, these guys swoop in and take it;
And now for the rice in this wrestling blog plate of sushi (I assume that's an okay metaphor), it's the matches!
Monday Night RAW
Best Match on RAW (7/8/17): Cesaro vs Dean Ambrose
Honourable Mention(s): Braun Strowman vs Roman Reigns - Last Man Standing Match
We're getting things started here on RAW with a really good match, one I would say is probably the best match the show's had yet this year, with Cesaro taking on Dean Ambrose.
Simply put, this was a great wrestling match. These guys locked up and in the first few exchanges, as well as peppered in throughout, we saw some lovely pure technicalities, at some points going lucha with a knuckle-lock monkey flip sequence.
Despite not being the main event, which was also really fun by the way, these two made this have a big fight feel. Helped by the fact this seemed to go longer than most TV matches, the moment that secured that feeling for me was the first instance on the top rope, teasing a superplex to the outside. If Dynamite Kid has taught us anything, it's that that is a bad idea, however, knowing how insane Dean is when it comes to bumps I wouldn't have been totally surprised by it. It got the crowd to their feet, who were great in general on RAW and SmackDown! this week;
Cesaro got made to look a beast in this match, though Ambrose would play the plucky underdog that would somehow find it in him to keep kicking out and the like. Cesaro's uppercuts are the best in the business in my opinion, and in this match he got to do some real damage with them;
The end would come through Ambrose rolling Cesaro up for the victory, though Cesaro properly dominated this match so he looked good in defeat. Real good match here on RAW, give it a look if you've got the time.
SmackDown! LIVE
Best Match on SD! (8/8/17): The Usos (Jimmy & Jey Uso) vs Tye Dillinger & Sami Zayn
DOWN SINCE DAY ONE-ISH! LINE 'EM ALL UP, KNOCK 'EM DOWN LIKE THIS!
I love that theme, and here they are, The Usos heading up against a pair of Canadian's in front of a Montreal crowd, Sami Zayn and Tye Dillinger.
This was a fairly standard tag match, with everyone involved being on for the fans in attendance with a good showing. Usos continue to put on stellar tag performances, plus Tye got to show his worth in the role of gaining the hot tag and pumping up the crowd, with Sami being the partner to take the brunt of the damage.
It's been a fair while since we've seen The Usos win with their brutal Tequila Sunrise after the assisted dropkick, a finisher that would prove fatal to Dillinger as he would join the list of those who have succumbed to it.
Overall, a decent fun match to kick off SmackDown!, giving Usos more momentum as we head towards their rematch next Sunday. Also, the post match gave us a new side of The New Day, vengeful and fully prepared to kick ass with steel chairs in hand. Usos/New Day is my dark horse to steal that Brooklyn show, let's hope they do well!
205 Live
Best Match on 205 (8/8/17): Tony Nese vs Cedric Alexander
It's 205 Live time here on the blog, and this week we have 'The Premier Athlete' Tony Nese back at it again against Cedric Alexander.
I can't really remember a whole lot about this match. I'd safely say that I preferred Nese/Metalik from the week before, seemed to be more bouncy and better paced, with this having a couple of lulls here and there that disrupted the pace a little, whereas these guys could have gone hard for longer. It's good if you're looking for a little something to watch, but I feel there are better options for that sort of thing this week, such as...
NXT
Best Match on NXT (9/8/17): Oney Lorcan vs Danny Burch
It's the rematch from the shit-kicking match a couple weeks ago, its Danny Burch taking on Oney Lorcan.
I will say that I liked their first match more than this one. I felt it had more varied offence, probably went a little longer too which allowed for that, but this was still good. Burch was looking to get a win back, so they played out that he had gained some counters and know how to take on Lorcan, such as working a way out of the single leg crab that made him submit before. The strikes were as stiff as ever in this one, open hands aplenty, the two brawlers smacking the piss out of each other.
Burch would gain the equaliser through a roll up pin on Lorcan, setting this mini-feud to 1 fall a piece. They played up the handshake in the post match, with Lorcan being resistant at first but eventually coming round to it. My money is on these guys joining together and taking part in this year's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. They've built the tag division to a good standard as of late, and pretty under the radar too. I feel like I'm one of the few people who really like the Dusty Classic, and I think this year's has the potential to be the best yet. I'm tempted to do another tournament guide for it depending on the teams we get.
Ring of Honour
Best Match on ROH TV (Episode 306): Cody Rhodes vs Christopher Daniels - 2 out of 3 Falls Match for the ROH World Championship
Switching gears now as we turn the channel to Sinclair Broadcasting as we find ourselves in Ring of Honour territory. This week was a strange episode. We had Daniels cashing in his rematch clause from losing the title at Best in the World, with Cody adding the stipulation. With 2 out of 3 falls typically being quite long, I can understand this being the only match on the show, but from what I remember, all but one segment was dedicated to the Daniels/Cody feud.
What made things even more confusing is the suddenly newly heel turned Daniels, and the hard to place heel/face allegiance of Rhodes. Cody is up there as being one of the most heelish current member of the Bullet Club, yet he played this match as a face. However, in some of the promos the showed, he had the makings of a main ROH heel, in one saying he's not a pro wrestler, he's a sports entertainer, something sure to attract boos from the ROH faithful. At the same time, Daniels is suddenly going back to his heel way, delving even deeper in being a dick, berating the audience, with lots of censorship needed for his language. I get that this is probably what they had in mind for a while, but this seems to have come out of nowhere, especially considering how extreme they've gone with it.
I'd have to say that the match itself wasn't too spectacular, most of it felt like character work, putting over Daniels as a new reinvigorated heel and making Cody have more face appeal. I will say that I liked Daniels sneaking in a chair shot between bells after Cody won the first fall, but I can't recall much else really standing out.
This is probably the first match of this type I can remember being won 2-0, with Cody retaining his championship after some involvement from Kazarian and Marty Scurll in opposite roles from Best in the World, which was admittedly a nice touch. However, the rest of it didn't do much for me.
As always, you can catch ROH TV for FREE on either www.rohwrestling.com/tv/current, on the Fite TV app, or at www.fite.tv, I feel like this week is probably good to get a grasp of the new heel Daniels, but it is kinda confusing.
Lucha Underground
Best Match on LU (S3E30): Jeremiah Crane vs Mil Muertes
We're looking at Lucha Underground now, the Cuerto Cup continues, and this was just an all out, hardocre brawl as we have 'The Lucha Death Machine' Sami Callihan taking on Mil Muertes
Things got quickly underway as Muertes attacked Crane in his entrance. There was a commercial break fairly soon, and we'd next see Crane as he was thrown through a door towards the camera. From there, there was less of a wrestling match and more of a fight, with the two men tossing each other into the rows of seats, using chairs and tables - one not breaking on the first attempt but quickly redeemed by Muertes warpath powerbombing Crane through it.
Crane got a real good showing in this, managing to hold back Muertes, deal some considerable damage and kick out of a few pinfall attempts. He also did something I can't remember seeing before, having Muertes laid out, a chair in position, the support of the legs across the throat, and using another chair to smash the seat, forcing the whole thing down. Badass.
Things would eventually come down to Muertes winning, putting Crane down with his big cool spear. This was a pretty good match, and if you like your mad, arena wide brawls like the old WWE hardcore division, you'll like this for sure.It looks like it's Muertes versus Pentagon Dark in the semi-finals then. Sounds awesome.
NJPW: G1 Climax
Day 16
Best Match on G1D16: Minoru Suzuki vs Kazuchika Okada
In the penultimate day for B-Block, it's the IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Kazuchika Okada, taking on the man he faced at The New Beginning, the man that haunts my nightmares, the NEVER Openweight Champion, Minoru Suzuki.
Okada started off this match with his neck taped, so Suzuki didn't hesitate in his attack, not going for the limb targeting of their previous meeting, instead just using his brute force. The champion still looked strong in this match, more so than New Beginning I'd say, despite his injuries sustained over the past couple of weeks.
The ending sequence was an interesting to choice, with neither man getting the pin, neither taking a loss, in an ending reminiscent of Okada/Omega II at Dominion;
I thought this was a really good match, however I feel both of these guys had better matches in the tournament before this. The time limit draw ending I liked, starting to show cracks in the champion that would come out on full show just two days later (keep on reading!), and giving us the possibility of another Suzuki/Okada match as well.
Day 17
Best Match on G1D17: Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
Finishing off A-Block, we have the IWGP Intercontinental Champion, Hiroshi Tanahashi taking on one of, if not the most popular man in New Japan, Tetsuya Naito.
This match was the spectacle of the night, with both guys putting on a hell of a performance in a battle to the end. From all accounts of the wear and tear sustained in this tournament, with Tanahashi's pre-existing bicep tear, and reports of Naito also breaking down, I was concerned that we wouldn't get these guys at their best, which is always a risk in events like this. However, I feel that both men had their best showing of the tour in this match, helped tremendously from the roaring crowd in the Sumo Hall who ate up every bit of it.
It felt like there was a lot of counters to each man's respective playbooks, especially the Destino, with Tanahashi managing to stop seemingly no end of attempts at it. However, Naito would end up getting the win, taking top spot with 14 points, winning the block, and heading to the finals.
Dare I say this was the best match of A-Block? A great performance overall by both men, putting on an awesome match to close out the league table. I really recommend this match, but you know what I recommend more.....?
Day 18
Best Match on G1D18: Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada
The trilogy is complete, and what a way to finish things off here in the final match of B-Block in the G1 Climax. Right off the bat, I want to say that I think this is my favourite match of the three. The 30-minute time limit of all G1 matches made for more concentrated action, though left plenty of room for storytelling and psychology. Add to this, the points system with Omega needing a win and Okada able to win the block with a draw, and there's another layer to the story.
So, going into this, we have both guys beaten from enduring the previous 8 G1 matches, with Okada especially damaged from the Suzuki match. Okada had a fucked up neck, taped up and boy oh boy did this come into play in this match. Omega working the neck of Okada was kind of hard to watch at points, not only seeing Okada coming down on it, but lord above Kenny got some nasty strikes in. I couldn't put my reaction to a stiff chop right on the top of the neck quite like Don Callis did; 'JESUS CHRIST! JESUS CHRIST!'. This eventually led to a reverse frankensteiner on the floor that put the champion out on the floor for a good minute or two, but Omega would not be content;
From there on, Okada would somehow make his comeback, starting to take to Omega, rocking him hard and making the time limit draw looking like more and more of a possibility. However, that neck would be ever-present, with Okada being taken down regularly, face full of pain, Gedo looking on like a distraught father, I actually thought he was gonna throw in the towel. Each V-Trigger was nastier than the last, and every one looked like it could have ended it.
Kenny pulled out his bag of tricks to continue the torture, busting out another Tiger Driver, doing the first Croyt's Wrath I've seen since properly following NJPW and also, showing The Rock what's up;
Great googly mooglies that impact was harsh. Okada would have glimmers of hope, hitting a couple of Rainmakers in this time, but ultimately, Omega would prove to be just too much, and finally proclaim that he could beat the man that has had his number since January;
Omega's wins B-Block and is on his way to face Naito to decide who will reign supreme over this tournament.
What a fucking match guys, like I said, my favourite of the three so far. So, with that in mind, it might be easy to guess where this is going...
The Verdict
Best Match of the Week: Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada - G1 Climax Day 18
What can I say really? With talents like these, working with and developing on the story they've created over the better part of the year, they were bound to deliver something special, and that's exactly what we got. Also, shoutouts to Naito/Tanahashi for another great block finale, as well as Suzuki/Okada and Cesaro/Ambrose.
The results are in, and this is how they affect the leaderboard. Omega continues to push ahead, but Okada has leapfrogged a fair few thanks to his two matches this week, THE FEUD CONTINUES!
As for 'The Best Promo of the Week', it has to go to the newest, and in my opinion best, Fashion Files to date. The mystery of 'Dango is solved, along with some great co-stars making appearances too!
That's gonna do it from me for this week friends, be sure to come back next week for the G1 Finals, as well as the go home shows as we head towards Brooklyn for TakeOver and SummerSlam. Here's to wishing you all good health and good times over the next few days, treat yourselves, and I'll catch you on the next one.
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