G1 CLIMAX 25: DAY 1

G1 CLIMAX 25: DAY ONE
Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Centre, Sapporo
20th July 2015

Press conferences watched, alarm clock beeps at 7.30am, coffee is made, where is the bread, where IS my sodding bread? I'll do this on an empty stomach then. Assholes. ANYWAY. 364 days after the commencement of last year's tournament, in the same venue, the enlarged charabanc containing the New Japan roster rolls back into Sapporo to commence another edition of the greatest wrestling tournament shut UP PWG fans. 

This review should be a rather short entry in the canon. The new format of the G1 has taken the sting out of the chances of any one night being completely blow-away awesome. At first I received the idea well, because I do believe it is important to spread these guys' workload out and let everyone recover, talk about what they're going to do out there and generally give everyone a great time. But they're all working every night, half of the time in tag matches, so it feels almost like a cruel joke.

G1 CLIMAX 24: Day 7

G1 CLIMAX 24: DAY SEVEN
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
1st August 2014 

Everybody loves Korakuen Hall, right?

Gym-ski now an then one the coolest places on earth to Rassle Korakuen Hall Tokyo Japan @njpw1972 #G124
— Lance Hoyt/Archer (@LanceHoyt) August 1, 2014

On the site of Tokyo Dome Hall complex is arguably the spiritual home of Japanese wrestling, an approximately 2000 capacity cuboid on the fifth floor of an otherwise unremarkable-looking building. Smaller promotions build to shows at Korakuen to blow off their biggest angles and larger promotions at their most highly-scrutinised time of year still incorporate Korakuen in their schedules because, it seems, that there really isn't another place like it that just seems so perfectly constructed for ring-based sports and pseudo-sports (like boxing).

G1 CLIMAX 24: Day 4

G1 CLIMAX 24: DAY FOUR
Prefectural Gymnasium, Akita
26th July 2014

Akita, famed for the large breed of hairy mountain dogs whose roots were unearthed in this region, lies on the north-west coast of Honshu. The last major show to visit these parts was a show of the year contender on the 2013 Kizuna Road tour, taking place at the nearby Municipal Gymnasium, with Kazuchika Okada defeating Prince Devitt in front of a hot crowd in the main event. I miss Devitt in New Japan already.

Prince Devitt: don't be a stranger

Things are shaping up now, with Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shelton Benjamin, Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada all undefeated. At the foot of their blocks are Tomoaki Honma and Karl Anderson, both of whom are yet to register a win in three matches apiece. There's still a long way to go and anything can happen and indeed it would be best to suggest that is the case to sell those Seibu Dome tickets!

G1 CLIMAX 24: Day 3

G1 CLIMAX 24: DAY THREE
Yamagata City Sports Center, Yamagata
July 25th 2014

Yamagata is the third stop for the 22 man caravan comprising pretty much everybody in New Japan Pro Wrestling's heavyweight division. It's a mountainous region, which is apt for a cliche about somebody attempting to become the KING of the mountain. Admittedly this particular mountain is an abstract mountain. Shut up Fujiwara.

They're in there, somewhere

On paper, Day Three is something of a curate's egg. Following the well-received first two days, it also has a lot to live up to. However, the three matches that top the card all look like seriously tasty dust-ups between the greats of the last generation and the greats of this one. Where that leaves the stars of tomorrow is anybody's guess. Perhaps Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles, who have the night off, can be tasked with providing coherent answers to that question.

G1 CLIMAX 24: Day 2

G1 CLIMAX 24: DAY TWO
Aomori Prefecture Budokan, Aomori
July 23rd 2014

Aomori, at the northernmost extent of Honshu and birthplace of famed New York Mets pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka, plays host to Day Two. The last time NJPW visited the city itself (having been within the Prefecture a couple of times), Rocky Romero's tag partner was Davey Richards, Wataru Inoue wrestled and Yoshihiro Takayama was part of Suzuki-gun. How times change.

Wataru Inoue

With a stacked card and a good house ready for anything, Day One of the 24th G1 Climax delivered in spades. On paper, day two of the tournament appears to be the one with fewest obvious marquee matches, with star names and favourites mostly spread out. However, the momentum has been set and NJPW has delivered this year with an apparently weak card on more than one occasion. Minoru Suzuki and Katsuyori Shibata have been granted the night off to go fishing, have a beer and saka otoshi everyone in sight.