2003 G-1 Climax participants

[Guest Dangerous A]

From puroresufan.com:

 

 

Participants for the 2003 G1 Climax were announced, and it's a strong field. The surprise absence is Manabu Nakanishi, who could be "X" or may focus on his vale tudo route (possibly Pancrase 8/29) and sit out the tournament. And it's official, NOAH's Jun Akiyama will be in the tournament! Ken Shamrock will also compete, as one of those Inoki representatives (the second is "X"). This could be another fantastic G1 Climax, and the winner is anyone's guess.

 

- Masahiro Chono

- Yuji Nagata

- Hiroyoshi Tenzan

- Osamu Nishimura

- Yutaka Yoshie

- Hiroshi Tanahashi

- Shinsuke Nakamura

- Tadao Yasuda

- Yoshihiro Takayama

- Jun Akiyama

- Ken Shamrock (Inoki recommended)

- X (Inoki recommended)

 

 

I am waiting for the Block's to be announced. Looks like a fairly loaded lineup. However I do have some reservations.

 

I definitely am NOT feeling Ken Shamrock. Plus he might be on the outs because of the torn ACL.

 

Believe it or not, for the same reasons, I don't think Chono will be having a good G-1 this year. I really hope last year was his last win.

 

I am not sure if Akiyama will be buried here or pushed to the finals. There are some definite storyline possibilities here with Akiyama being an outsider as well as a former partner and opponent of Nagata.

 

The 2 big things I really want to see happen in this year's G-1 are 1) Tenzan win the damn thing already. He deserves it. They've already yanked the IWGP title from him with the loss to Takayama and they really need jump start Tenzan. This would be a perfect way. 2) This tournament should also be a big push for Nakamura. He is the future ace. This year is the year that G-1 needs to step up to be the launching pad for pushes for these 2 guys.

 

 

Thoughts?

[EL DANDY~! 0]

Please oh PLEASE don't let the last participant be somebody from MMA who sucks...a la Don Frye or some shit like that...

[Guest Black Tiger]

DA,

 

The X is slated to be Manabu Nakanishi, if he wins in K-1. If Inoki's booking of Yasuda, KaShin, Nagata, and Fujita (Kazuyuki) based on MMA wins are any indication, Nakanishi will win the damn thing.

 

I'd like to see the semi finals come down to Akiyama vs Nagata, and Tenzan vs Takayama. With Tenzan getting back his loss today at Osaka. and Akiyama getting a win over his old partner. Tenzan will win the finals.

 

What this does is...

 

A. Give Tenzan the win after about seven years of trying

B. Hold off on Nagata vs Tenzan, which is what fans want to see

C. Gives Nagata a feud to have while trying to keep Takayama strong as champion.

 

I don't really want to see a rookie like Nakamura in the G-1. I'm a fan of his and all, but he's way to in experienced. I liked Tanahashi's push last year and hope that he has a good G-1 this year

[Guest PlatypusFool]

Screw Tenzan, he's terrible as a singles wrestler.

 

Semis-

 

Nagata defeats Akiyama (15:21 with the Nagata Lock III)

Nakanishi defeats Takayama (17:56 with a KO after a german suplex)

 

Finals-

 

Nakanishi defeats Nagata (48:34 with a german suplex)

 

Everyone gets revenge wins, Nak wins, everyone's happy.

[Guest BionicRedneck]

Tenzan is "terrible", but a Nak win would make "everybody happy".

 

If you say so.

[Guest NoSelfWorth]

Semi-final 1: Yuji Nagata bt Jun Akiyama in 27:20.

Semi-final 2: Hiroyoshi Tenzan bt Yoshihiro Takayama in 17:55.

 

Final: Hiroyoshi Tenzan bt Yuji Nagata in 28:52.

 

This would give Nagata his win back from last years January Dome show, and give Tenzan a win over the current IWGP Champion. That, along with winning the tournament, could give Tenzan a Dome Show title shot at Takayama. If they want Tenzan to get the title next, then winning it at a Dome Show would be the best place for it.

[Guest Dangerous A]

Nak winning would not make me happy at all.

 

 

In fact, if Tenzan doesn't win, he'll look like a huge fucking loser becaue he'll have the record for participating in the most G-1's without winning the fuckin thing.

[Guest BionicRedneck]

Semi-final 1: Yuji Nagata bt Jun Akiyama in 27:20.

Semi-final 2: Hiroyoshi Tenzan bt Yoshihiro Takayama in 17:55.

 

Final: Hiroyoshi Tenzan bt Yuji Nagata in 28:52.

 

This would give Nagata his win back from last years January Dome show, and give Tenzan a win over the current IWGP Champion. That, along with winning the tournament, could give Tenzan a Dome Show title shot at Takayama. If they want Tenzan to get the title next, then winning it at a Dome Show would be the best place for it.

That looks good to me.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

Can someone explain to me what makes Tenzan any good? I've watched a very large portion of his matches from the last 6 months of 2002 and I've not seen anything but a guy running through the same spots in every match. I admit that he plays his role well enough in the tag matches, but in singles matches he just doesn't do anything. The only thing he brings to the table is passion, which is fair enough, but a lot of NJPW folks bring the same, including Nakanishi.

 

Come on, what's good about Tenzan? And I want evidence people!

[Guest NoSelfWorth]

Come on, what's good about Tenzan? And I want evidence people!

Have you seen his mullet ?

 

As you said, he is passionate. I think he shows great fire, and has great facials. Tenzan is one of those who gets people into his matches with the intangibles.

[EL DANDY~! 0]

I personally like to think of him like an Ohtani because he is such a forceful character to get behind. Of course, Ohtani had the better skills (in my opinion) than Tenzan does, but I'm just saying that I see a lot of Ohtani in Tenzan. He has that way of getting the crowd into his matches and he keeps you interested in the match.

[Guest PlatypusFool]

While I agree with this somewhat, it doesn't make him any better than Yoshie, Tanahashi, Nishimura or Nakanishi, but at least those guys can be carried to a good match as well as having that fire and passion.

 

The problem with Tenzan is that he just runs through his spots regardless of what anyone else is doing in the match. If someone tries to carry him to something, like Takayama and Chono did in the G1 last year, when Tenzan goes on offence he still just runs through his spots, doing not much else. I agree that the crowd responds to him, but it doesn't last long enough to carry the main event of a Tokyo Dome, for example, and he doesn't have the story telling ability to make that initial pop last longer.

 

Nakanishi, however, also has the fire and passion, and he can be carried to a good match, like vs. Takayama in July '02, and he always plays his role well in the story telling, which continues the heat for him. I believe Nak will be a fantastic ace if they push him, and if he is in the G1 then he should win it.