At the time of this post, the 2014 G1 Climax is still ongoing. This match, from Day 7, was one that I heard so much hype about that I had to go out of my way to find it. That was a good use of time, because this match is fantastic.
A bit of background is probably helpful here. The G1 is an annual round-robin tournament, in which wrestlers are divided into two “blocks,” each containing half of the competitors. Each wrestler faces every other wrestler in his block, and the one with the most points (awarded for winning) advances to the finals to face the winner of the block.
AJ Styles, since leaving TNA, has primarily been wrestling for New Japan, where he took over leadership of Bullet Club from Prince Devitt. Bullet Club is a stable of foreign wrestlers who are pretty much reliving the fantasies of 14 year old boys who wanted to be in the nWo. Styles won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in his first match, but has really been upping his game in the G1. Bullet Club’s schtick is running in at every opportunity, which is a rarity in New Japan, so fans get PISSED when it happens.
Minoru Suzuki is a veteran of both pro wrestling and mixed martial arts, and also a huge dickhead. And man, does he have FUN being a huge dickhead. He also leads a faction called Suzuki-gun (Suzuki’s Army), which includes a lot of people WWE fans would recognize, such as TAKA Michinoku (who is mostly a manager now), Lance Archer (formerly Vance Archer/Lance Hoyt/Dallas), Davey Boy Smith Jr. (DH Smith), and Shelton Benjamin.
And that’s about all you need to know to enjoy Suzuki and Styles beating the fuck out of each other.
AJ has been reborn since leaving TNA. Sad thing that Samoa Joe didn’t leave sooner
Hopefully NJPW is able to get Del Rio for a few months if he goes back to CMLL or AAA. Del Rio would be a lot of fun as a gaijin who isn’t a Bullet Club member and he’s talented enough to hang with the top guys plus he doesn’t have to worry about mic work.
Yeah, it’s been such a long time since he was relevant, and chances are he won’t get back there unless he bails on the sinking TNA ship recreates himself in Japan.
Del Rio in NJPW would be pretty great. Even if he doesn’t work there regularly, he might make those Fantastica Mania shows pretty intriguing.