G-1 was a huge success. The talent and momentum is strong. What happens to the talent in January when contracts expire is huge. New Japan lost Nakamura, A.J. Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson all at the same time, and grew bigger and stronger, largely due to the ascension of Naito and Omega and Okada becoming a young legend who is already viewed by the general public now as one of the greatest of all-time. If guys leave, there are a lot of guys like Ibushi and Sanada and perhaps even Ishii if his body can hold up, and talented foreigners like Robinson, or guys not even on the roster like Jeff Cobb who would be able to fill slots.
The A block on 8/10 came down to Tanahashi, Okada and Jay White. When Evil pinned White, it eliminated him, so the story was that Tanahashi only needed a draw to win the block. So the story told was that instead of stalling it out and playing the clock, the safe tactic, Tanahashi was aggressive, still going for big moves that left him open until the final seconds. Okada, after losing his first two, won six straight and had a classic match that he didn’t lose, which sets him up for the rematch.
The B block on 8/11 came down to Omega, Ibushi and Naito. Zack Sabre Jr. beat Naito, a key because had Naito won, then Ibushi could not have advanced. Omega and Ibushi came in with ridiculous expectations and there are many who thought they had the best match of the tournament. In the end, having watched the top three matches (Omega vs. Ishii, Omega vs. Ibushi and Tanahashi vs. Ibushi) twice, I now think Tanahashi vs. Ibushi was the best because while all three were better on second viewing, it was the most “better.” This was difficult in the sense they were clearly trying to do a great match, but also seemed to be doing a match with spots people would remember and talk about, hit their time cue, and build to a future match down the line as opposed to emptying the tank with all their big moves. Tanahashi vs. Ibushi on the other hand, which was about laying everything out they could and doing the best they could with no time cue or saving anything.
In this case, Omega would advance with a draw, but two draws would be bad booking. Putting Omega over would give Tanahashi the direct win leading into the Tokyo Dome, if that’s the direction. But Ibushi winning gives you both Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome but Ibushi getting a title shot at some point, which would likely be a classic match. Also, I believe Omega has never in his career beaten Ibushi in a singles match dating back ten years (much of that time they were partners, so I think this was only their third meeting) so that’s part of the story that is good to keep alive when and if Ibushi gets a title shot. Really all the stories in this tournament and going forward, all based on wins and losses, tells you that while some people overrate wins and losses in booking and they aren’t the end of the world, when used correctly and they are used in storytelling, they are an exceptional booking tool.
The final standings were:
A BLOCK: 1. Tanahashi 7-1-1; 2. Okada 6-2-1; 3. White 6-3; 4. Suzuki and Evil 5-4; 6. Michael Elgin, Hangman Page, Bad Luck Fale, Togi Makabe and Yoshi-Hashi 3-6.
B BLOCK: 1. Ibushi (won block by having a 3-0 record against the other three who tied for first 6-3; 2. Omega, Sabre Jr., and Naito 6-3; 5. Ishii 5-4; 6. Sanada 4-5; 7. Goto, Tama Tonga, Juice Robinson and Toru Yano 3-6.
There was an attempt to protect everyone, in the sense everyone had three wins and a good win to hang their hat on.
As far as quality went, I felt this had more super matches than ever before. The negative, as stated every week, is the ref bumps, interference and low blows got out of hand. If it was one guy, it’s one thing, but it was Tonga, Fale and White. They turned it into a story that if any of the Tongans interfered on 8/11, the last night of B block, the entire crew would be suspended for three months. This led to a tease that they would interfere, and both Meij and Naoki Sugabayashi got involved in keeping them from doing so. Meij also had another on-camera role, in the lone title match of the tour, where Tonga & Tanga Loa & Taiji Ishimori on 8/12 challenged The Young Bucks & Scurll for the six-man titles. It was a non-title match, but the Tongans and Ishimori dared them to put the belts up, they agreed, and Meij, at ringside, approved it.
Meij, new to wrestling and its world of authority figures on camera, evidently got heat on this from social media and he responded by saying he thought the second day (the angle where he was involved at ringside) was too much like American wrestling and that they have to be different. The implication was he’d stay behind the scenes.
My only negative comment, which is funny after talking about the length of WWE shows for the last year, is that I thought the third night was too short. They went just over three hours and there was so much talent on the show that didn’t get any time. The whole show was about the main event, and the main event delivered one of the best matches of the year and really at the level of almost any match held before this year. But up until the main event, it was not a great show and you expect final night of G-1 at Budokan to be a near show of the year. I do think NJPW usually does right when it comes to timing, that two-and–half hours is plenty for a regular show and three hours is good for a bigger show. But New Japan is about great matches with story telling and they need time, so the bigger shows should be able to go four to four-and-a-half hours if necessary given the talent.
The final three nights drew more than any last three nights since the mainstream heyday. Some of that being Budokan Hall is bigger than Sumo Hall, the usual home. The 8/10 show did 6,180 paid fans, which was a huge disappointment for Tanahashi vs. Okada. From those who were there, they said the building was almost full, so they evidently papered a lot. I also heard from people in Japan who said the ticket outlets had no seats at the end. But they announce paid and that number was less than the 7,495 tickets Tanahashi vs. Naito sold at smaller Sumo Hall, which was a sellout based on how the first night last year was set up.
Omega vs. Ibushi drew 12,023 paid, a sellout with standing room. There was a stage and such so they didn’t have the number of seats opened in the All Japan sellout days, or even the 90s set-up when New Japan used the building. Usually the second night of G-1's last three does around 7,500, so this really speaks to the drawing power of Omega vs. Ibushi as much as anything, especially since it sold out in advance and demand got stronger after no tickets were left.
The finals sold out with 12,112 paid. That sold out pretty much instantly. The finals always sellout, except the year they went to the Seibu Dome and drew 18,000 in the baseball stadium, which was obviously considered unsuccessful since they were back to Sumo Hall the next year.
It will be interesting next year when Sumo Hall is available, because that’s the traditional home of the tournament dating back to 1991. But the popularity has grown to where maybe they’ve outgrown it. There were some complaints about the production, in the sense they didn’t light up the crowd and the Sumo Hall shows visually looked like bigger deals. The crowds were on fire in the key matches and as much as everyone raved about the matches that saw them on New Japan World, the difference in ratings from those live was far greater than a normal show, and this includes from people I know well, who go every year, and said the last three main events were far better than the prior year. One person who sees everything and travels the globe for big matches had them as three of the five highest rated matches he’s ever seen.
In the end, both this year and last year sold out 15 of the 19 shows, but this year they ran larger buildings, and in most, but not all buildings, this year drew bigger crowds. The places where last year drew bigger crowds were generally cities where last year’s main event was substantially stronger.
This year’s tour ended up doing 91,291 paid fans, up 13 percent from 80,634 last year. The 2016 number was 74,383 and 2015 was 70,417.
This year I had 38 **** matches out of 91 total, which is an amazing percentage, especially since, unlike last year, a lot of the matches weren’t designed to be what you think of as a great G-1 match. Last year I had 38, because of more great matches on the A and B block final nights, with eight in the final three nights last year and five this year.
Of the three shows, the second night was the best but due to trying to keep the shows around three hours hurt some of the bouts, due to time restrictions when they were more lenient on time last year.
Surprisingly, nothing has been announced for September at press time. The last night of G-1 is usually about angles on the undercard. Aside from the trios title switch, they pushed the Omega vs. Ishii match and teased Okada vs. Rey Mysterio Jr., which isn’t happening, as well as Goto vs. Taichi as a possible Never title match and Juice Robinson vs. Cody for the U.S. title and The Guerrillas of Destiny (Tonga Loa) challenging the Young Bucks over the IWGP tag titles.
Cody said he was sick of reading all the praise of Robinson everywhere and said he was nothing more than someone trying to be Kairi Sane.
The next round of title matches will be distributed over five shows, which are Destruction in Hiroshima on 9/15, Destruction in Beppu on 9/17, Destruction in Kobe on 9/23, the Long Beach show on 9/30 and King of Pro Wrestling at Sumo Hall on 10/8, which is likely to have Omega vs. Ishii and Tanahashi vs. Okada, although it’s possible they may split them up with one on a different show.
The more I read about NJPW recently, I'm glad I stopped sipping the kool aid. On another note, watching Into The Fight 2018.
. Shunma slowly becoming one of my favorites. Dude got more heart than most young lions 
