Category Archives: August

Cross Arm Breaker Match Guide: 2015 G-1 Climax Special Edition

August G-1 Cover

This special edition Match Guide examines the 2015 New Japan Pro Wrestling G-1 Climax tournament wrestler-by-wrestler, match-by-match.  The guide includes match by match analysis of all twenty wrestlers in the field for 180+ write ups in total!  The guide was written in real time as the 25th edition of the G-1 Climax unfolded.  Included inside:

  • The benefits (and drawbacks) of Toru Yano’s comedy act in a tournament environment;
  • Michael Elgin:  improved wrestler or a beneficiary of the environment?;
  • A.J. Styles might be the best wrestler in the world currently but did he the best output in the G-1?;
  • A look at Tetsuya Naito, his new (borrowed) gimmick, and what he did to make a difficult gimmick work for him;
  • Two very different attempts at creating a sense of of resiliency, struggle, and drama as displayed by Ibushi/Shibata and Tanahashi/Nakamura;
  • And much more including Tomoaki Honma’s balancing act, Yuji Nagata’s (worked) injury) Shinsuke Nakamura’s (real) injury, and the ineptitude of Togi Makabe.

Click HERE to download!

2015 G-1 Climax: Special Edition Match Guide (Introduction)

We are going to release a special 2015 G-1 Climax Match Guide  at the conclusion of this year’s tournament.  The format will be a wrestler by wrestler look rather than match by match format.  We will look at the matches and the booking in the context of each individual wrestler, rather than looking at the wrestler and booking in the context of each individual match.

Below is the pre-tournament outlook for each wrestler that will be the starting point for each wrestler’s section in the forthcoming Match Guide.  We are putting this up now because I make some predictions and throw out some possible scenarios.  To the extent those come true – or more likely, don’t come true – I figured I would lock them in before the tournament begins.  The rest will be released with the special edition Match Guide immediately after the conclusion of the G-1. Continue reading