Joseph and Colette Discuss Shinya Hashimoto vs. Kazuo Yamazaki
Shinya Hashimoto finally fulfills his destiny and wins the G1 Climax. But is it #1 on the BIG EGG MASTERLIST?
I want to note, quickly, that while this is the first time Kazuo Yamazaki appears in a headline about his G1 Climax Finals classic against Shinya Hashimoto, it's not for lack of effort. When Joseph and I decided to do a month devoted to New Japan Pro Wrestling, it made sense to do so through the lens of the Ace. With Andre vs. Inoki and Choshu vs. Fujinami, we were dealing with the idea of what it means to be the Ace, how that role was defined in battles against very specific men. By contrast, this week's match was about Hashimoto slaying his own demons, fulfilling one of the final promises of Acedom that he had been denied until this point.
Yamazaki is a fucking beast in this match, an utterly thrilling wrestler on an absolute tear. Joseph and I go a bit deeper into Yamazaki in the following conversation, but I wanna say it here, before the paywall, so that you know how completely he rocks in this match. If you're a Yamazaki shooter and you're reading this, hit me with some recs. Please tell me that there's footage of him wrestling Buff Bagwell available for me to watch right this very instant.
UP NEXT: Speaking of things that completely rocked, NJPW Month is coming to an end. It's been one of the best runs of matches we've ever done at BIG EGG, and while I'm sad to see it come to an end, we're going out on an exceptionally high note, as THE Ace, Hiroshi Tanahashi, goes head to head with Kenny Omega. Let's. Fucking. GO.
Colette Arrand
Joseph Montecillo
I don't think you took on this additional aspect of it but I did end up watching the tournament matches of both finalists on stream once. They're all fairly punchy matches and do a lot of table setting for the finals to come though I wouldn't call them a must to understand the pleasures of this particular match. If nothing else though, I just wanted to speak on the wonders of tournament wrestling, and the G1 in particular, and all these great stories it's capable of telling in so many interesting ways. How significant was the G1 setting for you in receiving this match?
Joseph Montecillo
Colette Arrand
It’s an interesting question because the format of this G1 isn’t the round robin style war of attrition that one usually associates with the tournament, but a single elimination tournament. It’s the right kind of tournament for someone like Yamazaki to take by storm — round robins rarely allow for the sort of runaway momentum that allowed him to believably leap from background player to threat to win the most prestigious tournament in wrestling. I think the wildest thing about the G1 Climax is that there is no wrong way to do it — like, there’s no going back to this format when the New Japan Cup exists, but I’m impressed that the changed circumstances don’t make this feel less like the finals of the G1. It just is one of the great stories of the tournament. I really need to watch all of the G1 Climaxes because it really does bring out the best in everyone, from Kazuo Yamazaki to Marcus Alexander “Buff” Bagwell.
Colette Arrand