Thanks for this! I've been needing a Japan tour guide to update me/tell me what needed to be watched. Last time I looked for info Kobashi was about to retire (again) after another set of injuries and after noselling cancer. I still have to remind myself that Misawa friggin died in the ring and Kawada was in some other fed that was cracking jokes.

10 minutes in on this match and I love that Flair chops and Misawa elbows have basically replaced punching.

Jimaveli


>Right now they're having their annual G-1 Climax. Twenty
>wrestlers split in two 10-man round robin tournaments over
>nine straight days all over Japan. The winners from each block
>then face each other in the finale and get a title shot.
>
>I'm telling you; every style you can find - aerialist,
>groundwork, amateur style, strong style, brawler, muscle - is
>in this tournament. Night 2 ranks up there with Payback as the
>wrestling show of the year. Today is Night 5. New Japan about
>16 months ago took Kazuchika Okada, who was in TNA languishing
>as Samoa Joe's sidekick, gave him a rich kid with bling
>gimmick and within a month of his debut they put the title on
>him and began a new renaissance in purosesu.
>
>In WWE and TNA, there are only a handful of guys in each
>company that are good to great workers. In New Japan, there's
>only a handful of guys that AREN'T. And the gimmicks are great
>as well; I don't need to know a lick of Japanese to understand
>them or the feuds.
>
>This is a big contender for match of the year. If you got
>about 20 mins, take a look at it (ignore the first two
>minutes; no audio is due to NJPW not having rights to play
>Ishii's entrance music on their iPPV telecasts):
>
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTxWRNYB7tE
>
>That was the main event of Night 2. Tanahashi is the former
>champion, considered the John Cena of the company; top
>babyface and top draw. However he's in Tokyo, which has a
>hardcore audience, and Ishii is considered a legit shooter.
>The last 5-10 minutes of this match is some of the best
>wrestling you'll see this year.
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