RADICAN’S 8/6 G1 Climax 27: Night 15 report – Ibushi-HASHI, Nagata-Sabre, Tanahashi-Ishii

RADICAN’S G1 CLIMAX 27: NIGHT 15 REPORT
AUG. 6, 2017
HAMAMATSU, JAPAN
AIRED LIVE ON NJPWWORLD.COM

This show had a multi-camera shoot and Japanese commentary.

I will not be reviewing any of the non-tournament matches this year, but I will provide the daily results. If any undercard match turns out to be extremely noteworthy, I will make an exception in certain cases.

UNDERCARD RESULTS

(1) Juice Robinson & David Finlay beat Tomoyuki Oka & Katsuya Kitamura

(2) L.I.J. (EVIL & Hiromu Takahashi) beat Michael Elgin & Hirai Kawato

(3) Bullet Club (Tama Tonga & Yujiro Takahashi) beat Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan.

(4) L.I.J. (SANADA & BUSHI) beat Bullet Club (Kenny Omega & Chase Owens).

(5) CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Toru Yano & Gedo) beat Suzuki Gun (Minoru Suzuki & Taichi & El Desperado.

A BLOCK RESULTS & ANALYSIS

(6) Yuji Nagata (0) vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (w/El Desperado) (8) in a G1 Climax 27 A Block match. They traded submissions on the mat during the early going. Nagata got a cross-arm breaker and Sabre had to roll into the ropes. Nagata managed to overcome interference from Desperado and he wiped out Sabre, but Sabre fired back and went to work on Nagata’s arm. Nagata mounted a comeback and hit an exploder. The fans fired up and chanted his name. Sabre fired back and went right after his arm and hit a PK. Both men were slow to get up. They exchanged blows and Sabre went after Nagata’s arm once again with a headbutt. They continued to exchange countered until Nagata got a crossface. He turned it into a double arm submission and Sabre screamed in pain. Sabre managed to roll on top of Nagata and he had to let go of the hold to kick out of a pinning predicament. Nagata nailed Sabre with some big kicks, but he grabbed a front chancery. He transitioned and got a nasty double arm submission on Nagata and the fans gasped. Nagata struggled, but managed to get to the ropes. Sabre got a triangle and did a headstand while maintaining hold of Nagata with his legs. Nagata countered and got the white eyes arm bar and the fans fired up. Sabre managed to get to the ropes to break the hold.

Both men took turns kicking each other’s injured arm. They increased the pace and Nagata finally wiped Sabre out with a wheel kick and both men were down. The fans fired up and chanted for Nagata. Sabre countered a backdrop driver attempt and got the octopus hold. Nagata struggled and managed to roll them both into the ropes. Nagata fired up and hit a brainbuster for a 2 count. The fans fired up, but Nagata missed an enzuguri. Sabre folded him up into a bridging pin for a near fall. Nagata no-sold several kicks to his bad arm and hit a backdrop driver for a 2 count. He hit a big knee lift in the corner and finished off Sabre with a backdrop driver with a bridge. WOW! NAGATA!

Winner: Yuji Nagata (2 pts)

Star rating: (****) – This was a great match. Sabre went after Nagata’s arm the entire time. Nagata fired back and went after Sabre’s arm and got the white eyes arm bar. The fans fired up with each near fall Nagata got. It didn’t look good for him at times, as Sabre had the upper hand on the mat, but he finally got his first win of the tournament with his finish. Big time moment for Nagata given the tournament he’s had.

(7) YOSHI-HASHI (4) vs. Kota Ibushi (8) in a G1 Climax 27 A Block match. HASHI dragged Ibushi to the floor and drove him into the guardrail. He continued to whip him into the guardrail on the outside. He worked Ibushi over inside the ring. Finally, Ibushi cut him off with a big dropkick. Ibushi got on a roll and hit a standing moonsault. He followed up with the golden triangle and then a missile dropkick. HASHI finally cut his momentum off with a western lariat that left them both down on the mat. HASHI got the buttelylock. They grabbed hands and dragged each other into simultaneously headbutting each other. They continued to hold onto each other while exchanging blows. Ibushi finally got on top of HASHI and stomped him down several times. He set up for a big knee, but HASHI turned it into a Liger bomb and both men were down. Both men began slapping each other in the face over and over. Ibushi finally ended up hitting a big kick to the chest to take HASHI down. HASHI grabbed a sleeper and let it go into a back cracker. He let it go and hit a running double knee strike for a near fall. Ibushi flipped out of karma and hit a sick roundhouse kick to HASHI’s head. He followed up with the last ride for a near fall. He grabbed HASHI’s arm and hit life comes at you fast for the win.

Winner: Kota Ibushi (10 pts)

Star rating: (****) -This was a really good hard-hitting match. Both guys really unloaded on each other building up to the finish. Ibushi continues to put on fantastic matches in this tournament. With the win Ibushi stays in the mix heading into the final night of A Block action.

(8) Hirooki Goto (8) vs. Bad Luck Fale (8) in a G1 Climax A Block match. Fale took control of the match early and went after Goto’s leg. Fale eventually missed a charge in the corner. Goto then went on the attack. He finally managed to take Fale down with a clothesline. Goto hit his signature kick and a backdrop driver for a near fall. Fale fired back and went for the grenade, but Goto blocked it. Goto went for the final cut, but Fale blocked it. They went back and forth and Goto hit a big headbutt, but Fale fired back with a huge clothesline for a 2 count. Fale hit a splash and went for the bad luck Fall, but Goto slipped out. Fale then connected with the grenade for the win.

Winner: Bad Luck Fale (10 pts)

Star rating: (***)

(9) Tetsuya Naito (10) vs. Togi Makabe (6) in a G1 Climax 27 A Block match. Makabe jumped Naito once he got into the ring. The action spilled to the floor and Naito got the upper hand. Naito took control and hit a neck breaker back inside the ring. Naito cut off Makabe’s comeback attempt and hit his signature dropkick off the ropes. He then went for a tornado DDT, but Makabe blocked it and wiped him out with a clothesline. Naito fired back and hit a super hurricanrana for a 2 count. Makabe hit a German with a bridge for a 2 count a short time later. Makabe slammed Naito’s head into the ringpost several times and hit the spider german, but Naito managed to avoid the King Kong knee drop. Makabe blocked destino a short time later and hit a huge clothesline. Naito fired back with destino, but Makabe kicked out. Naito then hit a second destino for the win.

Naito got in Honma’s face after the match on the floor.

Winner: Tetsuya Naito (12 pts)

Star rating: (***¼)

(10) IWGP IC Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi (10) vs. Tomohiro Ishii (8) in a G1 Climax 27 A block match. Ishii hit some big chops early on, but Tanahashi fired back with a splash out of the corner and played some air guitar. Ishii got the upper hand and went on the offensive with some headbutts. Tanahashi fired up as Ishii nailed him with some chops. He fired back with a headbutt, but Dazed himself. Tanahashi finally hit a flying forearm to get the upper hand. Tanahashi hit some chops and forearms. Ishii shrugged them off and fired back with a huge flurry of chops and forearms of his own. They battled up top and Tanahashi eventually hit a super dragon screw. He then locked in the Texas Cloverleaf, but Ishii quickly got to the ropes. Tanahashi hit several forearms, but Ishii suddenly fired up and decked him with a huge forearm. Ishii hit a powerbomb and folded over for a 2 count. Ishii no-sold a German and hit a dragon suplex. Tanahashi then did some misdirection and hit a sling blade and both men were down. Ishii hit a huge clothesline, but Tanahashi wouldn’t go down. He ducked another clothesline attempt and eventually transitioned into a straightjacket German for a 2 count. Ishii avoided the high fly flow.He went for the sliding clothesline, but Tanahashi turned it into a pinning combination for a 2 count. He then hit several short dragon screws on Ishii’s leg. Tanahashi got the Texas Cloverleaf. Ishii struggled, but managed to get to the ropes.

Tanahashi went back after Ishii’s leg. Ishii hit an enziguri. He followed up with a dragon screw of his own on Tanahashi’s leg. Both men were down and the fans fired up. Ishii grabbed a deep ankle lock and stepped over Tanahashi’s back. He struggled, but managed to get to the ropes. Ishii hit another dragon screw and the fans gasped. Tanahashi blocked a dragon screw and turned it into a sling blade. Ishii caught him with a huge clothesline and applied a sharpshooter. Tanahashi appeared to be close to tapping, but he got to the ropes. Tanahashi hit a dragon screw around the ropes a short time later. He went up top, but Ishii popped up and nailed him with a headbutt. Ishii then hit a delayed superplex for a 2 count. Ishii hit a sliding clothesline, but Tanahashi kicked out at 2! Tanahashi blocked the brainbuster and hit the roll of the dice twice. Ishii went for the brainbuster again, but Tanahashi slipped out and hit a dragon suplex with a bridge for a 2 count. Ishii hit a headbutt, but Tanahashi fired back with a sling blade only for Ishii to kick out at 1! Ishii hit a huge clothesline and Tanahashi kicked out at 1! Tanahashi then hit a sling blade and both men were down! WOW! Tanahashi hit a standing high fly flow. He went up top again and hit a traditional high fly flow for the win. WOW!

Winner: Hiroshi Tanahashi (12 pts)

Star rating: (****¾) – This was electric. They went all out going back and forth and countering each other’s signature moves. The submission work from both men was incredible. First, Tanahashi went after Ishii’s leg and then Ishii eventually went after Tanahashi’s leg. They built up to an incredible finishing sequence that has to be seen to be believed.

Ishii was helped out of the ring after the match. Tanahashi had to be helped to his feet to cut a promo after the match. He was too injured from the match to do his usual post-match air guitar routine.

Overall thoughts: This was a great night of A block action. The show got off to an amazing start with a fantastic hard-hitting and technical affair between Sabre and Nagata. Sabre looked to be on track with his submissions, but Nagata mounted a late comeback and hit a backdrop driver with a bridge for the win much to the delight of the crowd.

HASHI vs. Ibushi was another amazing hard-hitting match. HASHI took the fight to Ibushi early, but Ibushi mounted a comeback and really got on a roll. From that point forward, things got amazingly physical and they did some really nasty-looking spots where both were grabbing each other’s wrists and hitting some big headbutts to the chest.

Tanahashi vs. Ishii was an incredible main event. They had an all-out war with both men doing extensive leg work before building to an incredible finish. This is a match you’ll want to go way out of your way to see. It was incredible and one of the best matches of the entire tournament.

The A block will come down to Naito vs. Tanahashi on Thursday morning with everyone else in the block eliminated from contention at this point.

STANDINGS AFTER NIGHT 15

A BLOCK

Tetsuya Naito (6-2, 12 pts)
Hiroshi Tanahashi (6-2, 12 pts)
Kota Ibushi (5-3, 10 pts)
Bad Luck Fale (5-3, 10 pts)
Zack Sabre Jr. (4-4, 8 pts)
Tomohiro Ishii (4-34, 8 pts)
Hirooki Goto (4-4, 8 pts)
Togi Makabe (3-5, 6 pts)
YOSHI-HASHI (2-5, 4 pts)
Yuji Nagata (1-7, 0 pts)

B BLOCK

Kazuchika Okada (6-1, 12 pts)
Kenny Omega (5-2, 10 pts)
EVIL (5-2, 10 pts)
Minoru Suzuki (4-3, 8 pts)
SANADA (4-3, 8 pts)
Toru Yano (3-4, 6 pts)
Michael Elgin (3-4, 6 pts)
Tama Tonga (2-5, 4 pts)
Juice Robinson (2-5, 4 pts)
Satoshi Kojima (1-6, 2 pts)

I will provide a list of matches ranked at **** or higher for people just looking to watch the best matches from the tournament. This guide is also handy for those of you that are short on time and looking to sample the best of each night of G1 Climax 27.

Match recommendations for G1 Climax 27: Night 15

(6) Yuji Nagata vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (****)… (7) Kota Ibushi vs. YOSHI-HASHI (****)… IWGP IC Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Tomohiro Ishii (****¾)

ATTENTION: Read Radican’s G1 Climax 27: Night 14 report by clicking HERE

Contact Sean at pwtorchsean@gmail.com. Follow Sean on twitter HERE. Follow and like Radican’s Wrestling Community Facebook.com HERE