Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 28 - 7.26

[cero2k]

NJPW G1 Climax 28, day 8
July 26, 2018
Niigata · Ao-re Nagaoka

Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado vs Michael Elgin & Ren Narita - 4.5/10
Story building is that Elgin is strong enough to go head to head with Suzuki with strikes and has the power to block the piledriver, but Suzuki still has the experience advantage. Match saw a lot of Narita either working on Desperado, or being worked on by both SZKG members. Desperado won the match with Pinche Loco while Elgin vs Suzuki brawled outside.

EVIL & BUSHI vs Hangman Page & Chase Owens - 4.5/10
More of a babyface clash between Page and EVIL, setting up tomorrow's match. EVIL won with the STO as he countered the Jewel Heist from Owens, really nothing else to the match.

Bad Luck Fale & Tanga Loa vs Jay White & YOH - Dud!
This was the clash of the two biggest cheaters of the tournament, so it was interesting to see who was going to out-heel the other. Can't really say the match ever happened, from the start, White tried to avoid Fale, but later on, Fale kicked White's ass enough around the ring, that even when he wanted to make the save for YOH, Fale kept him on bay as Loa hit Apeshit on YOH. White actually saved YOH once this match and seemed frustrated he couldn't even get in the ring.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay vs Togi Makabe & Toa Henare - 4.5/10
Kinda zoned out this match, they're building a match I've been watching since I started watching NJPW. Finlay and Henare looked great tho, Finlay took the win over Henare with a Stunner.

Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs YOSHI-HASHI & SHO - 5.5/10
Okada was a total dick to YH this whole match, he was ramming him outside into the barricade and such, but YOSHI did get some offense in. SHO looked great throughout the match, he pinned Gedo after the Shock Arrow.

G1 Climax Block A Match
Hirooki Goto (2) vs Toru Yano (2) - 6/10
This was a really short match, Yano tried to cheat really early on, but Goto straight up overpowered his way through, hit Ushigoroshi and GTR for the win.

G1 Climax Block A Match
Tetsuya Naito (4) vs Tama Tonga (2) w/Tanga Loa - 8.5/10
I personally liked the match, clusterfuck and all. Story here is that Tama Tonga obviously had his brother there, Naito was alone, so at first, he had to go against both of them for a while, he was actually doing pretty well and built towards Destino, but as a counter, Tama Tonga threw him on top of the ref.

Tanga Loa hit the ring, but EVIL came for the save, which brought out Fale, which brought out BUSHI, and so they all took out each other leaving Naito and Tama Tonga. They both low blowed each other. Tama went for the Gun Stun, but Naito reversed and hit Destino for the clean win.

G1 Climax Block A Match
Zack Sabre Jr (2) w/TAKA Michinoku vs Tomohiro Ishii (4) - 8.5/10
Kinda similar to their previous bouts with Sabre going with submissions and Ishii going with strikes. Sabre worked on the injured arm all match, but Ishii kept overpowering himself out of submissions. On the other side, Ishii worked over Sabre's leg that was injured. Towards the end, Sabre was just chasing the submission, Ishii got out as much as possible, but at the end, he got him in a hard looking arm bar to which Ishii submitted. I can't remember the last time I saw Ishii submit like that.

G1 Climax Block A Match
Kenny Omega (6) vs Juice Robinson (0) - 9/10
Robinson is the only man at this point with a zero, even those cheating and throwing away points have at least 1 win under their belt. With this loss, Juice I do believe is officially out of contendership, but he can still go and lose more matches and thus have to defend his title in a battle royal at this point. That 0-3 record really led me to believe that Juice was winning this match again.

I was initially worried that the match would be all Kenny feeling bad about Juice, but it wasn't. Match initially saw more Juice on top, but as they went on, the match got back and forward, and by the end, it was all Kenny. We got some good near falls when Juice started hitting the Juice Box. Finish came when Omega countered the Pulp Friction, hit some V-Triggers, and killed it with the One Winged Angel for the pin.

G1 Climax Block A Match
SANADA (4) vs Kota Ibushi (4) - 9.75/10
The whole match was built around them being almost equals, not just talent, but their whole upbringing into NJPW, their styles, their struggles, and now they were here as the main event of Day 8 of the G1 Climax.

Match started with a lot of spots to show how even they were, but soon enough, SANADA started working over Ibushi's leg. The rest of the match was they hitting each other with everything they had, and if Ibushi would hit a top rope move, SANADA would do something similar, and Ibushi would then do something similar. After hitting each other with everything they had, the finish came when Ibushi hit the Last Ride for a near fall, only for SANADA to get back, hit an Ego Trip Neckbreaker and lock in the Skull End. Ibushi didn't submit, but he did kinda passed out, leaving SANADA the opening to release him, drop the moonsault and win via pinfall. Amazing match! Tons of heat, I was really surprised that SANADA took this win since you definitely want to have Ibushi close to Omega come the final day. After the 20 minute mark call, I totally expected a 30 Minute Limit Draw.

Post-match - SANADA cut a total babyface promo saying that this is the place to be and see you all soon.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show for Block B, it wasn't a blow out as it looked on paper, but I think I was just expecting too much. Still a great show and the main event is a must see.

A BLOCK STANDINGS
Jay White - 6
Hiroshi Tanahashi - 6
Hangman Page - 2
Togi Makabe - 4
Michael Elgin - 4
Kazuchika Okada - 4
Minoru Suzuki - 4
EVIL - 6
YOSHI-HASHI - 2
Bad Luck Fale - 2

B BLOCK STANDINGS
Kenny Omega 8
Kota Ibushi 4
Hirooki Goto 4
Tama Tonga 2
Tomohiro Ishii 4
Tetsuya Naito 6
Zack Sabre Jr. 4
SANADA 6
Juice Robinson 0
Toru Yano 2

[Big Red Machine]

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show for Block B, it wasn't a blow out as it looked on paper, but I think I was just expecting too much. Still a great show and the main event is a must see.

You give a 9.75, a 9, two 8.5's, and give a 6 to a match that went less than two and a half minutes and the show still didn't meet your expectations?

[cero2k]

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show for Block B, it wasn't a blow out as it looked on paper, but I think I was just expecting too much. Still a great show and the main event is a must see.

You give a 9.75, a 9, two 8.5's, and give a 6 to a match that went less than two and a half minutes and the show still didn't meet your expectations?

look at the card on paper, i really expected more

[Big Red Machine]

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show for Block B, it wasn't a blow out as it looked on paper, but I think I was just expecting too much. Still a great show and the main event is a must see.

You give a 9.75, a 9, two 8.5's, and give a 6 to a match that went less than two and a half minutes and the show still didn't meet your expectations?

look at the card on paper, i really expected more

I find Sanada to be hit or miss at times and you seem a lot higher on Tama Tonga in the ring than I am, so I thought this was fine, with Yano and Goto over-delivering for the time they were given. Are you just expecting 10s every time Omega, Ibushi, and Naito are you there?

[cero2k]

You give a 9.75, a 9, two 8.5's, and give a 6 to a match that went less than two and a half minutes and the show still didn't meet your expectations?

look at the card on paper, i really expected more

I find Sanada to be hit or miss at times and you seem a lot higher on Tama Tonga in the ring than I am, so I thought this was fine, with Yano and Goto over-delivering for the time they were given. Are you just expecting 10s every time Omega, Ibushi, and Naito are you there?

SANADA on a big time match usually delivers. Tama Tonga was more about the unique situation that FS were going to antagonize LIJ, same reason i'm excited about Fale vs White, plus I do think he's good, but the story doesn't really allow him to show off. Yano and Goto could had given us something closer to Ishii vs Yano, but this was super fast. Kenny vs Juice, given the recent matches both guys have had on their own, I was really expecting a lot. That and the undercard sucked more than usual. Higher standard man, I'm accustomed to greatness.