Maybe we spoke too soon. R Truth just ended Bo Dallas' streak. :p

Sad to hear about TNA. I just started watching it again recently and it's actually been entertaining since they've been concentrating more on what's the word? Oh yeah... wrestling.

WHAT!?  I'm watching Raw now and didn't think the episode was that great.  Now, I gotta see that match!

It wasn't except for the Jericho interruption part.

WWE figured out how to still make Truth look like a loser.  Man, I really liked him in his TNA days.  

I've read in a couple of different places now that the Cesaro/Cena match was excellent.  Sounds like they're using Cesaro's skills to put Cena over as a wrestler, which is kind of funny when you think about it.  I mean, the mid-card guy has to come in to demonstrate that the "greatest WWE champion ever" can perform in the ring?  There is something wrong with the need for that to happen existing in the first place.  It's not like the fans WANT him to be boring in most of his matches.  Don't say, "he really can wrestle, the IWC is wrong," then have him hit five moves, the SAME five moves, and pick up the cliched baby-face comeback win in every single match.  I've been a believer that Cena is (somewhat) better than he appears since that awesome CM Punk match.  However, that's completely without meaning if we never see it in practice.

Anyway, another fantastic day of G1 Climax.  I'm only going to post a few links, though.

G1 CLIMAX A BLOCK Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Bad Luck Fale  --  This is the one I really want to talk about because it plays in perfectly with what I've been saying about keeping your mid-card and secondary belts looking good.  Tanahashi is the top 1 or 2 face in New Japan and considered to be the cornerstone of the company.  Fale isn't even the top guy in his stable (that would be AJ Styles) and he holds the equivalent of the IC title.  If this was the WWE, we'd be looking at a squash.  What we got instead was Tanahashi bumping and selling his ass off for a guy who has a fraction of his skill.  Fale is good at generating heat and I like him in the enforcer role, so I'm not trying to insult his ability, but a monster heel is only as good as his competition.  In this case, the mid-card belt holder faced one of the top dogs and ended up looking like an absolute beast because the guy who was already a star did his best to put him over.  How awesome is that?

G1 CLIMAX B BLOCK AJ Styles vs. Hirooki Goto  --  Loved this match.  Absolutely loved it.  Yeah, I admit it, I'm a fan of both guys, but vibe here was really intense.  By the way, Goto's entrance music is awesome.  Both guys are solid on the mat, both are aggressive and hard-hitting, and neither one backs down.  I like that.  Attitude vs. attitude.  AJ's facebuster move was awesome--hope he keeps using that--and Goto's Sunset Flip Bomb from the top was one of my favorite spots of the tournament thus far.  I just wish this was twice as long and for the title.

Really, though, how good is AJ Styles?  He just started recently with New Japan, he's working with guys he can't really communicate with, and he's putting on four star matches every show--and they're not the same match over and over like you see with some guys, either.  The Goto match was much different than the Naito match, for example.  I also would love to see Goto pushed, as well.

G1 CLIMAX B BLOCK Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada  --  Not gonna lie.  I had little enthusiasm for this at first.  Two faces with no reason for heat and, sure enough, I was a bit bored at first.  However, it just kept getting better and better.  A ton of reversals, with both guys fighting to get in their primary moves, kept the crowd red hot.  I noticed a couple of minor botches but it was a very good match.

The best wrestler (in the ring) that i've ever seen. 

Some have even called him "phenomenal".

Now that Devitt is officially in NXT, maybe we'll get to see a rematch of this Prince Devitt vs PAC - (NJPW 06/06/12).  With PAC, El Generico, Devitt, and Kenta, the potential down there is off the charts.  I really can't help but wonder if we might see some kind of Cruiser-weight title again.

Also, NJPW published the card for the G1 Finals, which I thought was interesting.  It looks like they're bringing ROH talent over plus they're pushing Jeff Jarrett being there.

The 8/10 Seibu Dome card has also been updated, here’s the latest:

 IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Alex Shelley & KUSHIDA vs. Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reily for the titles

 Captain New Japan & Jushin Liger vs. Michael Bennett & Adam Cole

 G1 CLIMAX Special Match: Block A runner-up vs. Block B runner-up

 G1 CLIMAX Finals: Block A winner vs. Block B winner

 More TBA including Kazushi Sakuraba participation & Jeff Jarrett in attendance. The plan is 9-11 total matches for the card

Usually, I wait until I've seen all the G1 matches I plan to watch before I post, so that I can include any special ones I come across.  However, this time the first match was so good that I wanted to post it right away.

G1 Climax 24 Block B Match AJ Styles vs. Minoru Suzuki  --  Awesome match, absolutely awesome.  Yeah, I know, I've been singing the praises of AJ Styles pretty much since the G1 started.  You've probably been saying, "but Poko, the matches you've linked have been against some of the best wrestlers in the world, that's why they've been so good."  Okay, I'll grant you that, it's a lot easier to have a great match when both guys are near the top.

What if it's against an old school guy like Minoru Suzuki, though?  Not that Suzuki isn't good but his style is more that of a brawler who focuses offense on the arm or leg to set up his submission moves.  No one is going to confuse him with an exciting guy like Tanahashi or Okada.  Doesn't seem like the best opponent for AJ, does it?

Except this might have been the best match of the tournament thus far.

The match simply had everything and was as fun as a pro wrestling contest can get.  It actually reminded me a bit of the old NWA main events where they threw everything at you.  First, to set things up, both Styles and Suzuki are the top guys in the two biggest heel factions in NJPW.  That edginess resulted in a fantastic face-off to start the match.  Suzuki is just nasty, very traditional heel, and tries to break AJ's fingers several times.  There is attempted interference, which results in both factions brawling on the outside and cancelling each other out.  

I loved all the reversals and AJ fighting out of all the submission moves.  AJ attempting to break Suzuki's piledriver set-up was so good, the crowd loved that because it wasn't rushed, as was his selling of an injured arm for most of the match.  Suzuki's level of viciousness was perfect.

I've been reading for awhile that NJPW's booking is the best in the world and I've become a believer.  That a simple tournament match can have so many different components, both physical and psychological, is a wonder to behold.

Hey Lewis, what was that Hogan promo where he came down from the ceiling, I've been looking for it.

Just wondering if Lewis saw Rusev crush Big E in about two minutes and what he thought of it? :p