8/13 New Japan G1 Climax Final Report in Tokyo: Todd Martin’s in-person report on tournament finale and thoughts on match

G1 CLIMAX 27: FINAL REPORT
AUG. 13, 2017
TOKYO, JAPAN AT SUMO HALL
AIRED LIVE ON NJPWWORLD.COM
REPORT BY TODD MARTIN, PWTORCH STAFF MEMBER

(1) Taichi & Desperado & Taka Michinoku & Yoshinobu Kanemaru beat Kushida & Jushin Liger & Tiger Mask and Hirai Kawato.

(2) Guerrillas of Destiny beat Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata. Nagata was a big crowd favorite again at the end of his final G-1 tournament.

(3) Hirooki Goto & Yoshi Hashi beat Togi Makabe & Dave Finlay when Hashi pinned Finlay.

(4) Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kohima & Juice Robinson beat Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi when Robinson pinned Owens.

(5) Ryusuke Taguchi & Ricochet beat The Young Bucks to win the IWGP Junior Tag Team Titles. The Bucks dominated the match, but Taguchi countered a Meltzer Driver attempt with a springboard hip attack and Ricochet hit the shooting star press for the win. This was a really exciting match and the crowd reacted huge to the finish.

Katsuyori Shibata made an unannounced appearance in front of the live crowd after his likely career ending injury earlier this year. The crowd came unglued with emotion. He simply said, “I’m alive, that’s all” and bowed to the crowd.

(6) War Machine beat Cody & Hangman Page to retain the IWGP Tag Team Titles. This was another very good match. War Machine used a cool simultaneous power bomb/body slam and then pinned Page with fallout. After the match, Guerrillas of Destiny challenged War Machine to another title match and then the Killer Elite Squad returned to lay out both teams.

(7) Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. & Takashi Iizuka beat Hitoshi Tanahashi & Michael Elgin & Kota Ibushi. Sabre submitted Tanahashi again for the finish, firmly establishing Sabre as the top contender for Tanahashi’s title and also someone New Japan clearly sees a lot in.

(8) Evil & Sanada & Bushi & Hiromu Takahashi beat Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii & Gedo & Toru Yano when Takahashi submitted Gedo with a triangle choke. Okada was selling his neck huge the entire match and Evil gave him a power bomb on a stack of chairs after the match.

(9) Tetsuya Naito beat Kenny Omega to win the G-1 Climax Tournament in a real classic match. My personal favorite matches this year have been Okada-Omega 1, Okada-Shibata, and this one. They pulled out all the stops. Omega dropped Naito into the post from the top rope then went for a top rope power bomb that was countered into a huracanrana. Naito follows with a reverse rana off the ropes but missed the stardust press. Naito kept hitting destino on Omega and Omega would kick out but finally Naito hit one too many right on Omega’s head and got the pin. Naito was the more popular of the two live but Omega got a massive reaction leaving after the match.