We have reached the final. I will be giving the ratings for all of the matches but I will only be doing a write up on the final itself.
Undercard
TAKA Michinoku, El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemura & Taichi (the dick) vs Kushida, Tiger Mask, Jushin Liger & Hirai Kawato ***
Guerrillas of Destiny vs Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi **1/2
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs David Finlay & Togi Makabe **1/2
Juice Robinson, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi **1/2
IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Titles: Young Bucks vs Ricochet & Ryusuke Taguchi ***3/4
Before the intermission Katsuyori Shibata makes his surprise return. The crowd give him an amazing reception, which is fantastic. Some people in the crowd were even crying. It was emotional. He says 'I'm alive, that is all'. Top man.
There is a cryptic video teaser but I have no idea who or what it was for.
IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles: War Machine vs Cody & Hangman Page ***1/2 (Following the match the Killer Elite Squad make their return, attacking everyone.)
Michael Elgin, Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr & Takashi Iizuka **1/2
Kazuchika Okada, Gedo, Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano vs EVIL, SANADA, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI ***1/2
G1 Climax 27 Final - Tetsuya Naito vs Kenny Omega
These two met last year with Omega winning to progress to the final in a sublime match. Is there any chance that they could hit those heights again? Of course they could. The crowd is so fucking ready for this, they are LOUD. Omega is wearing gear that is styled as half Omega, half Ibushi which means that we should be getting that match. Thank the wrestling gods. It's not long before they end up on the floor with Omega hitting a moonsault off the barricade. They end up on the apron with Naito hitting a neckbreaker on the apron and a draping DDT to the floor. Naito continues to work over the neck and they end up on a table where Naito hits a piledriver to the floor. They both just about beat the count. Naito carries on his assault on the neck but Omega fights back. He hit the Finlay roll, but sells the pain in his neck, giving Naito enough time to cut off his moonsault attempt and hit a neckbreaker. They end up on the top rope where Omega slips but hits a DDT on to the ring post. Omega tries to take advantage of his good fortune by hitting a top rope powerbomb but Naito counters it at the last minute into a hurricanrana. He then takes Omega back up for a reverse rana and gets a good near fall. Naito busts out the stardust press, a classic from his back catalogue, but Omega moves out of the way. Omega hits a Jay Driller and some brutal V Triggers. Omega goes for another V Trigger but Naito crumples before he can get there, in a nod to Okada vs Omega II. Omega hits a Dr Wily bomb for a great near fall. The One Winged Angel is reversed into a reverse rana. Naito hits Destino but Omega kicks out. Naito goes for another Destino but it is reversed into a German suplex. Omega goes for the One Winged Angel again but it is reversed into another Destino. Both men are down. The reactions of referee Red Shoes are priceless here. Both men slap the piss out of each other and after some back and forth Naito hits another Destino but Omega kicks out again. Naito will not be denied though and hits another Destino for the win, the tournament and title shot at Tokyo Dome. This. Was. Incredible. The crowd, the wrestling, the big moves, the drama, the psychology, all of it came together to produce something that can comfortably sit alongside any classic from wrestling's history. You need to watch this, it's a masterpiece. *****
Overall Grade - A-
I would want to give this a great grade if only for the main event. While the rest of the show doesn't have a whole host of great wrestling on it it does feature a lot of good build for future matches and the wonderful sight of seeing Katsuyori Shibata again. But mostly it's that incredible main event. I now have Omega in the 4 best matches of the year so far.
The tournament as a whole may not have been as good as a couple of other G1s but when it hit, it hit hard. Yuji Nagata got to go out kicking ass, and he had a tremendous tournament. Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada put in top notch performances night in, night out and, while they didn't have the most consistent tournaments, Omega and Naito delivered big when they had to. The tournament may have been kindest to Juice Robinson and EVIL though, both of who furthered their careers greatly here. All in all the last month has been a blast. Tiring but very much worth it.
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