PsychoBlack
Damn it feels good to be a Taylor!!
After finally watching the entire tournament I'm blown away. Although I don't think it was better than last year's it was still excellent in every way. I just thought I'd come here to share my thoughts on the event.
Although Okada won the entire thing I feel that there were other guys who stepped up to the plate as well to give us such an outstanding tournament.
Although AJ Styles is the current IWGP champion I feel like the performance that he put on in the G1 is what it took for the fans to see him as a worthy champ. 3 of the top 5 matches of the entire tourney feature Styles, he hasn't performed at this level consistently for years and I'm glad to see him back.
Tetsuya Naito and Tomohiro Ishii continue to be fantastic this year as they just keep churning out good to great matches on a nightly basis. These two had a couple of MOTY candidates earlier in the year against each other and on their own and it doesn't look like either of them are slowing up towards the finish. Although neither of them even came close to winning the tournament they went out and did exactly what they were supposed to.
Lance Archer really stepped his game up as well. I never really cared for him as a singles guy, but, he proved his worth in the tourney going out and being competitive against the big name guys.
Katsuyori Shibata continued to impress me just by being the ass kicking machine that he is plain and simple. This is a guy who could have won the whole tournament and looked phenomenal defeating both Tanahashi and Nakamura, two of the company's three biggest stars.
Tomoaki Honma came in as a replacement for Kota Ibushi, possibly the best Jr Heavyweight in the world right now. While I have no doubt Ibushi would have racked up more points than Honma, I feel he played his role to a tee. The fans were so into this guy trying to win a match after taking beating after beating each night. I don't know what was up with the booking though not having the guy win a match on the entire tour. I'm sure they could have had him beat Shelton Benjamin or Naito on the last two days of the tourney when they were all eliminated anyway, the fans would have went nuts.
Other guys who impressed me but not enough to get a blurb: Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Togi Makabe, Karl Anderson, and Hiroki Goto
Now we get to a much different list. These are guys who really didn't impress me. I'm not bashing any of them I just feel like this was a big opportunity and they missed it with weak performances.
Bad Luck Fale is a guy who I totally see the appeal of and see why he's booked the way that he is. He's a tongan monster all he has to do is beat people up. The only problem is that he may have the least convincing offense for a big guy that I've ever seen. He's afraid to use his strength, but I'd much rather see him hit people to hard than to soft.
Davey Boy Smith Jr has been talked about for years now as being a guy with so much potential and one of the guys that Vince "held back". I'm here to say that statement is complete and utter bullshit. Yes, the guy is a good mechanic in the ring, but, their really isn't anything to him besides that. He's destined to be a tag team guy for a long time unless he finds some sort of edge to bring along with him.
Yujiro Takahashi and Toru Yano I can lump into the same group. They're terrible I can't stand either one of them and when their on my computer screen I get the urge to do a million other things besides watch either of them wrestle.
Closing out I'll give you my top ten matches of the tourney In order.
1. Okada vs Nakamura: Day Twelve finals.
The leaders of Chaos told an excellent story in this bout. IDK if we'll ever see it again and if we do I hope its just as intense between the company's top two guys.
2. Tetsuya Naito vs AJ Styles: Day Four
classic heel vs face here. The fans were all over AJ here and with good reason. The blood added a lot to this match and it might be what really made it memorable with these two guys wrestling damn near the same style.
3. Minoru Suzuki vs AJ Styles: Day Seven
Heel vs Heel and it worked. these two beat the hell out of each other and may have set up a potential Bullet Club vs Suzuki gun feud with the stables getting involved towards the end.
4. Shibata vs Tanahashi: Day Four
This match saw two soldiers go to war plain and simple. This is the match that had me thinking Shibata could win the whole thing
5. AJ Styles vs Kazuchika Okada.
You can't go wrong with these two and in this installation of the series they further proved that. Great rivalry budding for the future.
6. Tomohiro Ishii vs Yuji Nagata: Day Eleven
7. Shibata vs Honma: Day Eight
8. Nakamura vs Honma: Day Five
9. Togi Makabe vs Tetsuya Naito: Day Sevem
10a. AJ Styles vs Togi Makabe: Day Eleven
10b. AJ Styles vs Lance Archer: Day Eight
10c. AJ Styles vs Karl Anderson: Day 9
New Japan has a talent pool that is just ridiculous right now. It's almost equivalent to an early 90's All Japan or an attitude era WWF. With the talent that these guys have it's no wonder NJPW is all you here about.
Although Okada won the entire thing I feel that there were other guys who stepped up to the plate as well to give us such an outstanding tournament.
Although AJ Styles is the current IWGP champion I feel like the performance that he put on in the G1 is what it took for the fans to see him as a worthy champ. 3 of the top 5 matches of the entire tourney feature Styles, he hasn't performed at this level consistently for years and I'm glad to see him back.
Tetsuya Naito and Tomohiro Ishii continue to be fantastic this year as they just keep churning out good to great matches on a nightly basis. These two had a couple of MOTY candidates earlier in the year against each other and on their own and it doesn't look like either of them are slowing up towards the finish. Although neither of them even came close to winning the tournament they went out and did exactly what they were supposed to.
Lance Archer really stepped his game up as well. I never really cared for him as a singles guy, but, he proved his worth in the tourney going out and being competitive against the big name guys.
Katsuyori Shibata continued to impress me just by being the ass kicking machine that he is plain and simple. This is a guy who could have won the whole tournament and looked phenomenal defeating both Tanahashi and Nakamura, two of the company's three biggest stars.
Tomoaki Honma came in as a replacement for Kota Ibushi, possibly the best Jr Heavyweight in the world right now. While I have no doubt Ibushi would have racked up more points than Honma, I feel he played his role to a tee. The fans were so into this guy trying to win a match after taking beating after beating each night. I don't know what was up with the booking though not having the guy win a match on the entire tour. I'm sure they could have had him beat Shelton Benjamin or Naito on the last two days of the tourney when they were all eliminated anyway, the fans would have went nuts.
Other guys who impressed me but not enough to get a blurb: Yuji Nagata, Satoshi Kojima, Togi Makabe, Karl Anderson, and Hiroki Goto
Now we get to a much different list. These are guys who really didn't impress me. I'm not bashing any of them I just feel like this was a big opportunity and they missed it with weak performances.
Bad Luck Fale is a guy who I totally see the appeal of and see why he's booked the way that he is. He's a tongan monster all he has to do is beat people up. The only problem is that he may have the least convincing offense for a big guy that I've ever seen. He's afraid to use his strength, but I'd much rather see him hit people to hard than to soft.
Davey Boy Smith Jr has been talked about for years now as being a guy with so much potential and one of the guys that Vince "held back". I'm here to say that statement is complete and utter bullshit. Yes, the guy is a good mechanic in the ring, but, their really isn't anything to him besides that. He's destined to be a tag team guy for a long time unless he finds some sort of edge to bring along with him.
Yujiro Takahashi and Toru Yano I can lump into the same group. They're terrible I can't stand either one of them and when their on my computer screen I get the urge to do a million other things besides watch either of them wrestle.
Closing out I'll give you my top ten matches of the tourney In order.
1. Okada vs Nakamura: Day Twelve finals.
The leaders of Chaos told an excellent story in this bout. IDK if we'll ever see it again and if we do I hope its just as intense between the company's top two guys.
2. Tetsuya Naito vs AJ Styles: Day Four
classic heel vs face here. The fans were all over AJ here and with good reason. The blood added a lot to this match and it might be what really made it memorable with these two guys wrestling damn near the same style.
3. Minoru Suzuki vs AJ Styles: Day Seven
Heel vs Heel and it worked. these two beat the hell out of each other and may have set up a potential Bullet Club vs Suzuki gun feud with the stables getting involved towards the end.
4. Shibata vs Tanahashi: Day Four
This match saw two soldiers go to war plain and simple. This is the match that had me thinking Shibata could win the whole thing
5. AJ Styles vs Kazuchika Okada.
You can't go wrong with these two and in this installation of the series they further proved that. Great rivalry budding for the future.
6. Tomohiro Ishii vs Yuji Nagata: Day Eleven
7. Shibata vs Honma: Day Eight
8. Nakamura vs Honma: Day Five
9. Togi Makabe vs Tetsuya Naito: Day Sevem
10a. AJ Styles vs Togi Makabe: Day Eleven
10b. AJ Styles vs Lance Archer: Day Eight
10c. AJ Styles vs Karl Anderson: Day 9
New Japan has a talent pool that is just ridiculous right now. It's almost equivalent to an early 90's All Japan or an attitude era WWF. With the talent that these guys have it's no wonder NJPW is all you here about.