Straight Shooting

I'm interested in this G-1 in particular because of Kawada's involvement, since he presents fresh matchups in New Japan. If he doesn't make it to at least the final four, New Japan bookers and Inoki need to be drug tested.

 

Interesting how they booked A block to be a tight race while B block was a 2 person washout. Not sure where they are going with any of this. Politically, there is about zero chance of Kawada winning. I don't like Fujita in pro wrestling because he represents that Inoki-ism worked shoot style that I feel has hurt New Japan the last several years, but he has an excellent chance to win it all.

 

Nakamura would be a decent choice, but with New Japan in shambles right now, I'm not sure if his winning the tournament will even get noticed. Tenzan, assuming Chono doesn't book himself into the final 4, at least has the story of trying to win an unprecedented 3 G-1's in a row. I suspect Chono and Fujinami may go to a draw on Saturday, which will put Chono out of the finals without him jobbing.

 

Still, while I'll always be intrigued by the intricate booking of round robin tournaments like G-1 and Champion Carnival, puroresu is suffering in Japan, NJPW in particular. If there is a big promotion that is losing steam and legs faster than WWE, it's NJPW for sure.

I'm interested in this G-1 in particular because of Kawada's involvement, since he presents fresh matchups in New Japan. If he doesn't make it to at least the final four, New Japan bookers and Inoki need to be drug tested.

 

Interesting how they booked A block to be a tight race while B block was a 2 person washout. Not sure where they are going with any of this. Politically, there is about zero chance of Kawada winning. I don't like Fujita in pro wrestling because he represents that Inoki-ism worked shoot style that I feel has hurt New Japan the last several years, but he has an excellent chance to win it all.

 

Nakamura would be a decent choice, but with New Japan in shambles right now, I'm not sure if his winning the tournament will even get noticed. Tenzan, assuming Chono doesn't book himself into the final 4, at least has the story of trying to win an unprecedented 3 G-1's in a row. I suspect Chono and Fujinami may go to a draw on Saturday, which will put Chono out of the finals without him jobbing.

 

Still, while I'll always be intrigued by the intricate booking of round robin tournaments like G-1 and Champion Carnival, puroresu is suffering in Japan, NJPW in particular. If there is a big promotion that is losing steam and legs faster than WWE, it's NJPW for sure.

A lot of my interest in this years G1 was due to Kawada being involved, but some of that interest has been lost over how Kawada has been booked. I can understand the New Japan mindset over Kawada having to lose at least one match, even though I wouldn't have had him lose at all, but I don't get the logic in having him lose to Kashin, and then have Kashin get squashed. It would have been better for Kawada to lose, if he had to, to the guy who was going to win their group, so at least he lost to someone strong. As it is, I think some of the shine was taken off of Kawada by losing to a guy who then got squashed. I'm not a fan of Kashin, but if he was chosen to beat Kawada, he should not have then got squashed, even if it was by Chono.

 

The difference in the blocks, with one being very even and the other being dominated by one or two people is interesting, but I wouldn't have done it quite like that.

 

I'm not keen on Fujita getting the superpush either, but as IWGP Champion, I think he should get pushed strong, because he is ace of the promotion, and I think the ace should be kept strong, and I think with how the IWGP belt has been treated for the past two years, it needs to be rebuilt, and that means a strong push for Fujita, like it or not.

 

As for who will win it, I think it's obvious that Fujita is the one this year. I guess there is an outside chance he'll lose to Tenzan in the finals, but I think this year that Fujita is winning the G1.

 

This years G1 has been interesting in terms of booking, but I don't think it's been booked as good as it could have been and should have been. I'll still look forward to watching it, as there are a number of matches that I'm very interested in seeing.

 

I've written down how I would have booked this years G1, and once the real G1 is finished up, I'll post how I would have laid things out.

I think Kawada should've been booked how Akiyama was booked two years ago. I'm thinking NJPW has some WWE in them in that they still resent Kawada because he's associated as an All Japan guy (I know he's a freelancer) and so they book him weaker than Akiyama, who is a NOAH guy. I wouldn't doubt if it was Chono getting some WWE booker spirit in him to do the dumb thing and book the Kashin match the way he did as opposed to doing the right thing, which is you keep Kawada strong for the final four/finals before jobbing him out.

I think Kawada should've been booked how Akiyama was booked two years ago. I'm thinking NJPW has some WWE in them in that they still resent Kawada because he's associated as an All Japan guy (I know he's a freelancer) and so they book him weaker than Akiyama, who is a NOAH guy. I wouldn't doubt if it was Chono getting some WWE booker spirit in him to do the dumb thing and book the Kashin match the way he did as opposed to doing the right thing, which is you keep Kawada strong for the final four/finals before jobbing him out.

I'd have booked Kawada stronger than Akiyama, as I'll show when the real G1 is finished. Whoever is booking the G1 certainly didn't do it with good business sense in mind, that's for sure. Having Kashin get squashed by Chono after upsetting Kawada snuffed out whatever Kashin gained from the win, and made Kawada look even weaker, after he lost to a guy who then went on to get destroyed with ease.