NJPW G1 Climax 27
Event Date: July 20, 2017 (18:30 JST)
aired live on NJPW World
City: Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
Venue: Korakuen Hall
Attendance: 1,741
Series: G1 Climax 27
Commentary (English): Kevin Kelly, Don Callis
Commentary (Japanese): Yusuke Okamato, Shigeki Kiyono
Ring Announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki, Makoto Abe
Video
The twenty men competing in this year’s G1 Climax are introduced.
Match 1
El Desperado & Zack Sabre Jr. vs Hirai Kawato & Kota Ibushi
(referee: Kenta Sato; ring announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki)
Result: El Desperado pins Hirai Kawato after a Guitarra De Angel
Time: 10:20
Match Thoughts
This was a great match for Kawato! He spent the moajority of the time in the ring for his team, going against both Sabre and Desperado at different times. Ibushi and Sabre faced off for a decent amount of time prior to their A Block match tomorrow, but Kawato was the star here. He survived a lot of Desperado’s attacks and came close to getting a pinfall a couple of times. It feels like he’s going to move up sooner rather than later. This was a very nice opening match.
Match 2
Gedo & Tomohiro Ishii & Hirooki Goto vs Tiger Mask & Yuji Nagata & Togi Makabe
(referee: Kenta Sato; ring announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki)
Result: Tiger Mask pins gedo with a crucifix pin
Time: 8:51
Match Thoughts
Good match. The competitiveness between Makabe and Ishii and between Nagata and Goto got fairly intesnse as this match went along. Both of those pairs face each other tomorrow in A Block, so this was a good preview of those matches. I especially liked Goto and Nagata going at each other. Their match tomorrow might be surprisingly brutal. Tiger Mask and Gedo entered the match late, but their segment was a lot of fun. They added some lightness and comedy to an otherwise hard hitting match.
Match 3
Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale vs David Finlay & Hiroshi Tanahashi (IWGP IC Champ)
(referee: Tiger Hattori; ring announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki)
Result: Bad Luck Fale pins David Finlay with a Grenade
Time: 8:29
Match Thoughts
A pretty good match. Finlay and Tanahashi worked pretty well together for a while, but this match really felt like four individual efforts. Fale and Tanahashi have a match coming up, but they didn’t seem to interact a whole lot. Finlay took the brunt of the damage for his team.
Match 4
BUSHI (NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Champ) & Tetsuya Naito vs Jado & YOSHI-HASHI
(referee: Tiger Hattori; ring announcer: Makoto Abe)
Result: BUSHI pins Jado while Jado has him in a crossface
Time: 8:34
Match Thoughts
Good match. I liked how this one built to a fairly frenetic finish. LIJ worked great as a team as usual. They were easily the better team here, but YOSHI-HASHI’s aggressiveness gave his team a chance. No particular moment really stood out, but this was just an overall entertaining and well-paced match.
Match 5
G1 Climax 27 B Block Match
Juice Robinson vs Satoshi Kojima w/ Hiroyoshi Tenzan
(referee: Marty Asami; ring announcer: Makoto Abe)
Result: Juice Robinson wins via pinfall after Pulp Friction
Time: 11:48
Match Thoughts
Very good match! It seemed to get a little slow towards the middle, but the final segments of this match were great! Kojima looked great throughout, but this was a huge match for Robinson. I’ve never been that big of a fan of his. I like him alright, but this is going to make me really pay attention to him going forward. The final few minutes of this were legitimately intriguing and surprising to me.
Match 6
G1 Climax 27 B Block Match
Tama Tonga vs Michael Elgin
(referee: Marty Asami; ring announcer: Makoto Abe)
Result: Tama Tonga wins via pinfall after a diving Gun Stun
Time: 13:46
Match Thoughts
Good match. Tama Tonga started the match trying to use his speed to throw Elgin off his game. He literally ran circles around Elgin at one point. Elgin wouldn’t be thrown off though. He started to dominate the match and controlled the pace for a long time. Elgin got pretty methodical with this one, but TOnga looked good. He picked his spots and had some nice impact that way.
Match 7
G1 Climax 27 B Block Match
EVIL (NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Champ) vs SANADA (NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Champ)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno; ring announcer: Makoto Abe)
Result: SANADA wins via pinfall after a diving moonsault
Time: 15:48
Match Thoughts
Great match! Even though they are both members of Los Ingobernables de Japon (or maybe because of it), this fight got dirty very quickly. The first portions of the match were fought almost exclusively outside the ring. Chairs and barricades were used, and neither guy seemed to hold back much. There were also some very big moves hit, a trend that would continue throughout the match. This was very competitive, and the final sequence was pretty spectacular.
Match 8
G1 Climax 27 B Block Match
Toru Yano w/ Jado vs Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champ) w/ Gedo
(referee: Red Shoes Unno; ring announcer: Makoto Abe)
Result: Kazuchika Okada wins via submission with Red Ink (kneeling cross-legged STF)
Time: 10:31
Match Thoughts
This was fun. Yano brought the comedy, and Okada, Jado, and Gedo were all game to have fun with this one. It never really got too serious, but it wasn’t so goofy that it wasn’t believable. This was a good start of the tournament for both guys. I also think this match was well placed on the show. It gave a little levity right before what everyone expects to be a crazy match.
Match 9
G1 Climax 27 B Block Match
Kenny Omega (IWGP US Heavyweight Champ) vs Minoru Suzuki (NEVER Openweight Champ)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno; ring announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki)
Result: Kenny Omega wins via pinfall after a One-Winged Angel
Time: 21:24
Match Thoughts
Fantastic match! Omega started this match by selling his apprehension at facing Suzuki. He wouldn’t even look Suzuki in the eyes as they were announced in the ring and Suzuki got right in his face. Suzuki seemed unstoppable at first. He hurt Omega pretty bad, injuring Omega’s leg which played a role in the rest of the match.
There were also some shenanigans when Suzuki Gun (El Desperado, TAKA Michinoku, and Taichi) came out to attack when the ref got knocked out, but Bullet Club (Chase Owens and Bad Luck Fale) evened the odds. The match could have ended around that point, but it went on much longer. Omega and Suzuki beat each other up, and both men showed great resilience and skill. This match had a little of everything, and it was great.
Show Impressions
This was another great show and a superb start to B Block. This show had lots of nice surprises by some guys that I didn’t expect much from, and the action was top-notch all around.
Match of the Night
Kenny Omega vs Minoru Suzuki
Before this match started I was thinking that EVIL vs SANADA was going to be the best, but Omega and Suzuki really brought a lot to their match.
Current Block B Standings
| Wrestler | Wins | Losses | Draws | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Juice Robinson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Kazuchika Okada | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Kenny Omega | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| SANADA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Tama Tonga | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| EVIL | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Michael Elgin | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Minoru Suzuki | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Satoshi Kojima | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Toru Yano | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |