Impressions on wrestling outside WWE
I finally got to see the Hiroshi Tanahashi-Kota Ibushi match from the final of the G1 Climax.
First off, I have to say again, I love the concept of the G1 Climax. You get 20 of your company’s top wrestlers, break them into two 10-competitor pods, and have them go at it, round-robin style, until you get down to two finalists, who then square off for a shot at the IWGP heavyweight champion at Wrestle Kingdom.
It’s WWE’s approach to the Royal Rumble producing the main event of WrestleMania, but about a million times better, because you get a month of great singles matches in which anything can happen.
IWGP champ Kenny Omega, for instance, isn’t defending his belt, so he can be booked to lose a key match, as was the case in the final match of round-robin action, when he lost a clean fall to Ibushi, his tag-team partner, in what had me thinking, OK, so now Ibushi beats Tanahashi in the final, and we get Omega-Ibushi at Wrestle Kingdom.
Except that, Tanahashi ended up getting the win and title shot, which bums me out, because that Omega-Ibushi match was on par with any of the three Omega-Kazuchika Okada matches from the past two years, which is saying a lot.
Instead, we get Omega-Tanahashi, which is pretty underwhelming in terms of being a main event at Wrestle Kingdom, if you ask me.
Tanahashi is an important guy in New Japan, a main-event star for a long, long time, but his time has passed.
The sentimental booking won’t create any buzz for New Japan in the States, which is the growth opportunity for the company, along with what NJPW is doing with Ring of Honor to build a solid footing for both companies in the U.S. market.
You could hope that Tanahashi would drop the title shot to Ibushi in a stip match this fall, but personally, I hate that kind of booking. When a guy wins a title shot in a big tournament, he shouldn’t be able to lose it later in a singles match. That just devalues future G1s, in my view.
Ah, well.
On to Impact, which I’ve gotten talked back into watching of late, and I’m liking what I’m seeing from that roster. Last week’s show had a great opening match between Fenix and Sami Callahan, and I’m also sold on Eli Drake, a classic big-mouth heel, and of course Austin Aries, the Impact world champ, who for whatever reason WWE could never figure out how to use.
The roster is stacked – also on hand are Eddie Edwards, Rich Swann, Matt Sydal and the impressive Brian Cage.
The production values are … OK. I really like the announce team of Josh Matthews and Don Callis.
And now there’s talk that Chris Jericho might be on his way to the Impact Zone, which would clearly raise the level of play.
It’s worth your time to check it out.
Column by Chris Graham
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