G-1 CLIMAX 1991
To say that the G-1 Tournament has gone downhill as the years go by would be a gross understatement. As far as I can tell, only 1991, 1992 and 1995 were any good. So I thought I would do a review of one of the best G-1 tournaments New Japan has ever put on. For those of you not familiar with the tournament, it’s a two block tournament with the winner from block A taking on the winner from block B in the finals. A win gets two points, tie gets one point and a loss gets nothing. Let the games begin.
Block A participants: Keiji Mutoh, Scott Norton, Big Van Vader, Tatsumi Fujinami
Block B participants: Masahiro Chono, Riki Chosyu, Shinya Hashimoto, Bam Bam Bigelow
BAM BAM BIGELOW vs SHINYA HASHIMOTO
You know there’s always a problem with round robin tournaments. There’s always a guy you KNOW is going to be in last place when it’s all said and done. Case in point: Bam Bam. Does anyone think this guy has a ghost of a chance of winning the tournament? OH HELL NO! Hashimoto is looking considerably overweight on this show which I guess means he’s "healthy." Start out with a Grecko Roman test of strength. Hashimoto wins it and lays in some stiff kicks. Bigelow retaliates with an enziguri. Irish whip and Bigelow hits an avalanche. He goes for another but it misses and Hashimoto goes back to the kicks. The third one sends Bigelow to the outside. Back in the ring and the resting begins. Chinlock… YAWN. More resting… YAWN. Jump to the end as Hashimoto hits a DDT, a nice spin wheel kick, and then another DDT for the three count. Ugh… CRAP! *
KEIJI MUTOH vs SCOTT NORTON
Watching Mutoh in his prime makes me cry when I watch what age and injuries have done to this poor soul today. He was way ahead of every heavyweight when he first came in during the mid-late eighties. He used to be so good that it was scary. The guy managed to carry Hogan to a good match for god’s sake. Anyway… this match is clipped to the end as we see Mutoh hitting a nice missile dropkick for a two count. He goes back to the top and hits a high cross body block for 2 and ½. Mutoh hits the moonsault for 2 and 9/10. He goes up for another but Norton moves and Mutoh lands on his feet. Norton hits a BIG TIME lariat. Both men get to their feet and Mutoh charges in but Norton catches him in a powerslam and that’s it. Uh… OK. That came out of nowhere. It was basically just the ending so no rating.
RIKI CHOSYU vs MASAHIRO CHONO
I haven’t a clue why Chosyu was/is so over with fans. This guy has two trademark moves; The Sasumegatime (Sharpshooter/Scorpion Death Lock) and the Riki Lariat. The rest of his arsenal is average at best. It is a true testament to how over the lariat is in Japan when a guy can make his career using it. Just look at Stan Hansen’s popularity in All Japan. As for Chono, I really like this guy. Before the injuries piled up, this guy was simply awesome. He was a little better rounded than Mutoh and had pretty good charisma. Now a days, his matches aren’t all that good but he’s got MEGA CHARISMA and is crazy over. Kind of reminds me of what happened to Dwayne Johnson. Ah well… Chosyu starts off in control with a figure four around the head. Chono slips out and slaps on a figure four of his own. Chono slaps on a Sasumegatime. WOW… there’s a kick in the cock. Use one of Chosyu’s two moves against him. HA HA! Chosyu gets to the ropes pretty quick. Chono lays in some forearm shots and hits the Yakuza kick. He goes for another one but Chosyu no sells and lays in a forearm shot. Riki charges up the arm and hits the Riki Lariat for 2 and ¾. Chosyu hits a suplex, charges up the arm and goes for another Riki lariat but Chono ducks and hits the kitchen sink. Chono hits a swinging neckbreaker. Chono heads to the top but gets cut off and Chosyu hits a superplex. Both men get to their feet and Chono hits a dropkick. A Yakuza kick sends Chosyu to the floor where Chono hits a forearm from the apron to the floor. Back in the ring and Chono slaps on a SWEET Octopus hold. Chosyu manages to roll out of it and hits a nice waistlock suplex for 2 and ½. Chosyu lays in some forearm shots and goes for an enziguri but it’s blocked and Chono hits one of his own. Chono slaps on the STF but Chosyu reaches the ropes. Chono pulls Chosyu to the middle of the ring and slaps on the STF again. This time there’s nowhere to go and Chosyu taps out. DAMN RIGHT! This was a solid match and gets ***
BIG VAN VADER vs TATSUMI FUJINAMI
Vader hadn’t hit his prime just yet. It would take the amazing work of the once great Sting to bring Vader to his fullest potential. I never understood the phenomenon of Fujinami. I don’t have any footage of him wrestling as a junior back when Jesus Christ was walking the Earth so I guess I missed out on some great stuff. YEAH, CLIPPING! Vader hits a front slam for 2 and ½. Irish whip and Vader goes for an avalanche but misses. Fujinami slams Vader and goes for a high cross body but Vader catches him and slams him down. Vader hits a big belly splash for 2 and ¾. Vader hits a BIG TIME lariat for 2 and ¾. Vader goes for one more but Fujinami reverses into a backslide and that gets three. WHAT THE FUCK?! VADER JUST JOBBED TO A BACKSLIDE! I’m guessing his girth kept him from moving. Hang your head in shame Leon. Clipping = no rating.
BAM BAM BIGELOW (0 points) vs RIKI CHOSYU (0 points)
OH JOY… CLIPPING! Well… if you’re going to clip a tape, you might as well do it with these guys. We jump in with Bigelow going for the flying headbutt but no dice. Chosyu runs into the ropes and hits the Riki lariat. Both men to their feet where Bigelow goes for a suplex. It’s blocked and Chosyu hits one of his own. Chosyu hits a BIG TIME Riki Lariat but Bigelow kicks out at two. Chosyu goes for a suplex but it’s blocked and Bigelow hits a DDT for 2 and ½. Bigelow hits two more DDT’s and the slingshot splashe ends it. Rating? I… think… not.
BIG VAN VADER (0 points) vs SCOTT NORTON (2 points)
Norton is in excellent shape during this show. Remember this was 1991 though. A buddy of mine was telling me that Norton once held the world bench press record. Can anyone confirm that for me? I’m sure the late Dino Bravo was pissed to hear his record was broken. Norton starts out with a lariat, sending Vader to the floor. A little stalling and Vader is back in. Vader fires off some stiff forearm shots. Norton responds with some sick knife-edge chops. Side headlock by Norton is reversed into a belly to back suplex. Irish whip into the corner and Vader hits an avalanche. Irish whip and Vader hits a BIG TIME lariat. Vader hits a powerslam for two. Irish whip into the corner but Norton responds with a BIG TIME lariat. Norton hits a slam and an elbowdrop for two. Norton goes for a short clothesline but it’s ducked and Vader hits a belly to back suplex. Vader hits yet another BIG TIME lariat for 2 and ½. As Norton gets up, VADER HITS A SUNSET FLIP for 2 and ½. WOW… now that’s impressive. Irish whip and Vader hits his Vader attack followed up with a big splash for 2 and ½. Vader goes for a hardcore suplex but it’s blocked and Norton hits a suplex of his own. Norton goes for a lariat but it’s ducked. Norton being a smart man comes right back with another lariat for 2 and ½. Norton hits a hangman’s neckbreaker and follows up with two DDT’s but it only gets 2 and ½. Norton hits a running powerslam for 2 and ½. Norton sends Vader to the outside with a lariat. They end up brawling outside and Vader just beats the count. Ugh… I didn’t like that ending. This was a solid power match though. ***
KEIJI MUTOH (0 points) vs TATSUMI FUJINAMI (2 points)
They start out really fast as Mutoh hits a quick dropkick. Irish whip and Mutoh hits the handspring elbow. Mutoh with a rib breaker and goes for the moonsault but lands on his feet. He goes for a spin kick but Fujinami dodges it. Fujinami hits a backbreaker and follows up with The Dragon Sleeper. Mutoh quickly escapes and rolls out to get his bearings. Back in the ring and it SLOOOOOWS right down. I guess Fujinami ran out of gas. Lots of chinlocks and arm bars. Pretty much the entire middle portion has Fujinami working on the arm and Mutoh working on the leg. We break the boredom with Mutoh hitting the snapmare and firing of the Power Drive Elbow. The Rock has nothing on Mutoh’s elbow drop. Back to the submissions. It’s not bad to watch but no one reading this cares about submissions. Irish whip and Fujinami goes for a dropkick but Mutoh holds the ropes. Mutoh hits a dropkick of his own. Mutoh hits the rib breaker and the moonsault but it only gets 2 and ½. Mutoh goes for a German suplex but it’s blocked. Standing switch and Fujinami slaps on the sleeper – Dragon Sleeper combo. Mutoh escapes and hits a belly to back suplex. Mutoh hits a German suplex or 2 and ¾. Mutoh hits a flying forearm and goes for a small package, which gets 2 and ½. He goes for another and gets 2 and ½. He goes for a third one and that’s the charm as it gets the three count. There is some justice after all. Vader jobbed to a backslide, the least Fujinami can do is job to a small package. This was very mat based but nothing was applied to long so boredom wasn’t heavily induced. ***1/4
MASAHIRO CHONO (2 points) vs SHINYA HASHIMOTO (2 points)
Here comes the… CLIPPING! Looks like the match is almost done as Hashimoto hits a belly to belly suplex for 2 and ½. Back to a vertical base as Chono hits an enziguri and a lariat for 2 and ½. Chono grabs the leg and goes for the STF. Hashimoto reaches the ropes (of course). Hashimoto manages to hit the big DDT for 2 and ¾ and the time runs out. Ugh… clipping and crap ending. No rating.
The final day of round robin action is not shown. But to put things in perspective:
Mutoh (2 points) beat Vader (2 points)
Fujinami (2 points) beat Norton (2 points)
Mutoh advances to the finals because he beat Fujinami
Chono (3 points) beat Bigelow (2 points)
Hashimoto (3 points) beat Chosyu (2 points)
TIE BREAKER BLOCK B: MASAHIRO CHONO (5 points) vs SHINYA HASHIMOTO (5 points)
You see now this really pisses me off. THE GODDAMN MATCH IS CLIPPED! Whatever… Chono wins with the STF. No rating.
FINALS: KEIJI MUTOH vs MASAHIRO CHONO
Oh yeah… this is guaranteed to rock the house. Chono is crazy over. They start out with a Grecko roman knuckle lock. Mutoh tucks his head and suplexes Chono over. Mutoh floats over for a quick two count. Nice little sequence as Mutoh slaps on a headlock and takes Chono over. Chono escapes and slaps on a headscissors. Mutoh escapes that and hooks in an anklelock. Chono escapes that and cinches in an elbowlock. Mutoh eventually reaches the ropes and rolls out to get his head straight. Back in the ring and Mutoh takes control with a snapmare – Power Drive Elbow combo. Irish whip into the corner and Mutoh goes for the handspring elbow. Chono manages to move out of the way and hits a BRUTAL backdrop suplex. Chono latches on a reverse cross arm scissors but Mutoh gets to the ropes. They exchange some nice chops. Mutoh takes control with a leg bar, which he segues into a bridging Indian Deathlock. Mutoh lets go of the hold and here comes a NEW MOVE ALERT as Mutoh slaps on a bridging inverted double chickenwing. Damn… can’t say I’ve seen that before. Mutoh segues that impressive move into an armbar. Chono escapes, lays in a kick, and then follows up with a picture perfect Yakuza kick. Mutoh rolls outside and Chono hits a Tope Suicida. Yeah that’s right… Chono hit a tope. Chono comes back in the ring, heads to the top and hits a plancha. Who is this man? This is not Masahiro Chono. The crowd is starting to heat up. Back in the ring and Chono hits a piledriver. He follows up with a JUMPING piledriver. Mutoh is hurting badly. To the outside we go as Chono goes for another piledriver. Mutoh backdrops Chono, pulls him out to the fans and hits a piledriver on the concrete. Ugh… that’s got to hurt. Back in the ring and Mutoh hits a belly to back suplex for 2 and ½. The heat is rising. Mutoh hits a German suplex for 2 and 9/10. Mutoh hits a SWEET cradle piledriver for 2 and 9/10. Now the crowd is jacked. Mutoh hits a Dragon suplex but the ref sees Chono’s foot on the rope at 2 and ¾. Mutoh hits a snapmare and goes for the moonsault but it misses. Chono slaps on the STF and THE CROWD ERUPTS! The heat for Chono and the STF is off the wall. Mutoh has a LOOONG way to go. He inches and claws his way to the ropes as the crowd chants "MUTOH, MUTOH!" Mutoh eventually reaches the ropes. Chono slaps on the Octopus and the crowd is going CRAZY! This is inferno level heat. Chono releases the hold and hits a BRUTAL Backdrop suplex for 2 and 99/100. Chono goes for a suplex but it’s blocked and Mutoh hits a snap suplex. Mutoh heads to the top for the missile dropkick. As Mutoh is coming off the top, Chono tries to dropkick Mutoh in mid air but Mutoh manages to adjust in mid air and almost leapfrogs over Chono. AWESOME! Mutoh hits a waistlock suplex and heads back to the top for a gorgeous missile dropkick. Both guys look really tired. Irish whip and Mutoh goes for a dropkick but Chono holds onto the ropes. Chono fires off a Yakuza kick but Mutoh no sells and fires back with a flying forearm. Mutoh hits the rib breaker and goes for the moonsault but Chono gets the knees up. The crowd is going bonkers! Chono hits a NECK BREAKING POWERBOMB and that gets the three count at the thirty-minute mark. This match was absolutely incredible. It had great build and the crowd was really hot. This is easily the best New Japan heavyweight match that I’ve ever seen. ****3/4
Chono celebrates in the ring as the crowd goes crazy and the streamers fly all over the place. Hashimoto comes into the ring and raises the hands of both finalists. These three men would go on to carry the heavyweight division from then until last year when Chosyu started using his jackass new blood guys like Sasaki and it all went down the crapper. Ah well… this tape is recommended if only to get the amazing final match.
Justin Baisden
Rolling Germans Wrestling
