NJPW G1 Special Night 1

IT'S TIME! We get some NJPW history clips hyping up the US Title tourney. Billy Gunn vs. Tana is still surreal. Jim Ross and Josh Barnett are calling the action live from ringside, and they run down the US Title tourney. The lighting on the show is far worse than I expected - the ring is fine, but crowd shots look awful. JR and Josh talk over the match rundown. BOUT. BOUT. BOUT NUMBER. BOUT. BOUT NUMBER ONE! Okay, so things are a bit rough.

 Bullet Club comes out for the 10 man tag. Marty's Villain Club jacket is incredible. RPG Vice, the Briscoes, and Will Ospreay. The lighting is really bad, sadly. The crowd is incredible hot and we get a DELETE DELETE/ELITE ELITE chant. Will and Marty go at it with some fast-paced exchanges. Briscoes beat the daylights out of Yujiro. SUPERKICKS! OSPREAY HITS A HELLUVA KICK. SPRINGBOARD SSP! Marty does the fingerbreak spot to Jay, but he eats a Pele. Rana and a big boot by Mark, before he eats a YOU'RE DEAD superkick.

Fale gets run into a bunch by Romero, which doesn't work. RPG Vice attacks him TRENT EATS THE BAD LUCK FALL TO THE PILE. Buckle bomb/enzuiguri to Rocky! Meltzer driver is countered into a cradle by Rocky and it gets the win."WE'RE IN HOT TOPIC - WE CAN'T LOSE ON TV, MARTY!" The Bucks rule and kudos to all of them for getting a nationwide merch deal.

Hiromu Takahashi is here clutching a goofy toy. EVIL comes out and JR calls him Bushi, before Josh talks about Bushi and SANADA. Liger is out to lead his CMLL team of Dragon Lee, Titan, and Volador Jr. Liger is hyped up as a 33 year veteran - so I was maybe 1 when he debuted. BUSHI and Volador do some wacky flips before Sanada and Liger come in. Sanada shakes his hand, so EVIL JUMPS HIM. Ha! Sanada dropkicks the ass of Titan. Lee hits a sliding dropkick to Horumu. BIG BELLY TO BELLY INTO THE BUCKLE BY HIROMU. He distracts the ref and EVIL and Sanada use chairs. Time Bomb ends it. This wasn't much.

"Okada defending against Cody. Poor bastard doesn't have a last name." Lethal vs. Page is up. Page bullies the ref. Lethal is out in his new sleeveless jacket. Lethal gets jumped with bad ribs and eats an SSP off the apron. Running and then stopping boot...okay then. Page hoists him up off the mat with an impressive pumphandle fallaway slam for 2. Lethal eats a nasty lariat for 2. Cutter gets 2. Lethal Injection largely misses. This is really boring and sloppy. Lethal Injection hits and wins. Well, that ended thank God.

Juice vs. ZSJ is up. Juice Robinson has actually had a better NJPW run than Cody, who could get the IWGP Title tonight. Unreal. ZSJ outwrestles Juice a lot and gets some slick submissions on. Jumping Kimura! Leg trip and a PK by ZSJ! ZSJ kicks away and Juice wants more! Big high kick by Juice! TRIANGLE WITH ELBOWS. God, I want ZSJ vs. '08 Daniel Bryan. Triangle armbar, but JUICE POWERBOMBS HIM! Pulp Friction countered into the Octopus! OCTOPUS WITH A DOUBLE ARMBAR GETS THE WIN. This ruled!

Tempura Boyz, YoshiTatsu, and Billy Gunn are out. Josh is in awe of Billy and the shape he's in for his age. I bet he is. Josh being in awe of Billy's physique amuses me. He's probably thinking "goddamn, we took the same shit and HE LOOKS LIKE THAT!?" Dave Finlay, Jay White, Kushida, and Tanahashi are out. Tana appears to be wearing a replica, which still looks better than the mangled Naito belt.

KUSHIDA is just amazing in there with Tanaka. Billy comes in to a sea of boos before telling the fans to suck his dick. Billy uncorks a good punch for 2. Tana comes in and runs wild with his bad arm. Tana is risking permanent injury in part to work TWO MATCHES WITH BILLY GUNN. New Japan is really doing an outstanding job protecting their investment. Jay White and Tatsu are in, with White forcing Yoshi to work a bit. White hits a half hatch suplex into the buckle - maybe Yoshi shouldn't be taking neck drops. A clusterfuck erupts and White pins Yoshi with a Flatliner.

Cody's middle school drama class acting skill is so out of place in pro wrestling. IWGP Tag Title match and Naito vs. Ishii are hyped up. Elgin vs. Omega looks solid too. War Machine has incredible costuming. GoD comes down and Rowe asks the chairman to make it a No DQ match. Hanson eats a can to the head off a dive attempt. Roa hits a cutter and a Tonga jumping frog splash gets 2. HANSON RUNS INTO DUDES IN THE CORNER! Bronco buster misses and a jumping cutter hits. WE GET MID-RING CLUBBERING! Hanson hits a back springboard, but eats a Roa mid-air powerslam. That ruled! Diving headbutt and a frog splash gets 2.5. Chair bridge double powerbomb gets 2.5! Tonga's Chono-esque pants rule. JAPANESE UNBREAKABLE TABLE IS MID-RING. Hanson prevents a double team and dives to the floor. Rowe hits a big knee, but Roa no-sells and eats a German. DOUBLE TEAM LEGDROP THROUGH THE TABLE AND WAR MACHINE WINS IT! New Champs!

Ishii vs. Naito is up. Naito's entrance is great even in this truncated form. Naito insults the ref and wants him to hold the ropes - but the ref is terrified. Ref putting up his dukes behind Naito's back is the best part of the show so far. Naito's chest slaps have no effect, but Ishii's corner chops hit hard. Forearm exchange leads to a corner forearm and chop combo by Ishii! GIANT CORNER LARIAT. Naito recovers with a missile dropkick. More awesome stuff, including an avalanche rana. JR calling Ishii "He's a goddamned appliance!" ruled. DRAGON SUPLEX TO ISHII GETS 2.9. VERTICAL DROP BRAINBUSTER ENDS IT. ISHII MOVES ON!

Big Mike's red, black, and gold gear is awesome. Omega's intro looks incredible. Big Mike and Red Shoes team up against the Elite. Omega and Elgin have fantastic chemistry, and we get a big suplex by Mike and then a slingshot splash. Omega hits a famouser on the ramp for a near-20 count. This is an ungodly great match. Kenny hits the Finlay roll, but the moonsault misses. GERMAN ON THE APRON TO OMEGA. Superbomb gets 2 for Mike! THREE V TRIGGERS AND A REVERSE RANA GET 2.9! Package tombstone hits! TWO MORE V TRIGGERS AND THE ONE WINGED ANGEL WIN IT.

Cody comes out with a three star intro, which is hilarious. Cody does some undercard stalling for a while. Okada beats the fuck out of him in the corner after hitting a corner dropkick. Omega comes out to throw in the towel, but won't do it - and Cody GETS 2.9 OFF A RAINMAKER. CROSSRHODES TO CODY! IT'S ONLY 2. CODY GOES FOR A ONE WINGED ANGEL, BUT OKADA GERMANS HIM! They botch a tombstone catch, but Okada hits the twisting jumping tombstone! RAINMAKER ENDS IT! Okada cuts a promo in English about THIS IS STRONG STYLE EVOLVED.