Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 29, 7.6

[cero2k]

NJPW G1 Climax 29, Day 1
July 6, 2019
Dallas, TX

Disclaimer: I'm rating this from a live perspective, I have not re-watched this show via broadcast, and so there are surely things I've missed or straight up don't remember by now.

Guerrillas Of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs. Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) - 7/10
GoD was really over, their theme made people pop. The match was short and while GoD looked strong over R3K, the Juniors got a good amount of offense and looked good taking on the heavyweight champs. I never really thought that SHO and YOH had a chance at winning, so when they came close to hitting their finisher, I was at the end of my seat.

Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita vs. Shota Umino & Tomohiro Ishii - 7.5/10
Crowd was hot for Ishii vs Cobb, but Narita and Shota got a lot of love from the crowd. The stuff between Ishii and Cobb was great, two behemots clashing and doing power moves. I popped when Ishii blocked Cobb's dropkick.

Post-match - Cobb and Ishii got into a pull apart, it looked unplanned and once I saw blood on Cobb, Ishii knew exactly how to react and sell the segment.

BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens & Jay White) (w/Gedo) vs. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) - 7/10
Goto looks to be in incredible shape. Likewise White. Chase looks slightly slimmer. YOSHI-HASHI is still a geek. Crowd hated White, he got a lot of heat. Match was action packed, but it wasn't anything special. It was just nice to see three of these men live.

Juice Robinson, Jushin Thunder Liger & Toru Yano vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) - 6.5/10
Biggest pops for Liger, Naito, and Yano in that order. Yano was super over. Match kinda had a bit of everything, but what fans mostly wanted to see was Liger do his thing. Naito and Yano did some comedy and Takagi vs Robinson was action packed, but Liger being babyface in peril and hitting Shoteis was the highlight for everyone live.

G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Lance Archer vs. Will Ospreay - 9/10
Ospreay was incredibly over with the crowd. Archer may be the local boy, but most of the crowd flew in from other places, and so he got a pop, but not a hometown guy pop. The match was a great installment of big vs small, speed vs power. Archer was a wrecking ball in the ring, just completely hitting everything on Ospreay, and even taking some crazy spots like the initial Spanish Fly, and the Top Rope Fly later on.

This match I could also say felt like it went 60 mph from the get go, first spot was the Spanish Fly, but a couple minutes later, Ospreay was already going through a table outside. I don't think it ever got slow with the exception of Archer locking in the Von Erich Claw, which was still getting pops from the crowd. Finish saw Archer win with that Claw, which looked weird from my angle since it seemed like a submission and a pin at the same time.

G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Bad Luck Fale vs. EVIL - 7.5/10
Arguably the weakest of the Block matches, but everyone already came in thinking that. Having said that, I thought it was a lot better than I expected. A lot of big man spots and clashing, but also a lot of chair use as EVIL tends to do his chair batting spot and Fale is not someone to stay away from weapons when available.

G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. - 9.5/10
This was another installment in these men's rivalry. This time around, SANADA has learned how to block and counter some of Sabre's moves, and thus he managed to lock the Paradise Lock for once, and then at the finish, SANADA used the European Clutch, just from another set up to pin Sabre for the win. SANADA was super over from where I was, which makes me think that the office is going to listen to these chants and capitalize with him soon. I'm calling SANADA beating Okada in their match.

G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
KENTA vs. Kota Ibushi - 8.5/10
I really don't know how I feel about this one. On one side, it was a great match, action packed, tongs of striking and Ibushi antics, but at the same time, this was my first live Ibushi and KENTA matches and one got injured and the other is barely getting back in the groove of things. It's also a type of match that doesn't look as stiff when you're far away, so I think this could really benefit from seeing it on TV with microphones all around the ring.

G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada - 9.25/10
This wasn't their best fight, but to be able to experience this live was special in it's own that they could have had worse match and still feel special. They worked on each other's legs, while Okada then went after the head, chasing the Rainmaker. I didn't think that Tanahashi was winning this match simply because these two have fought to many times in the last year for them to have another title match later on, but I have to say that when Tanahashi missed that second HFF, I thought that was going to be it.

Post-match - Okada cut a promo in English saying that they're coming back and when they do, he'll be both G1 Winner and IWGP champion. I can see that happening.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
I was there live and it was a great experience. Top to bottom, I was hooked with the action in the middle of the ring, I just couldn't find a chance to go get a second bottle of water, or check out the merch table. My favorite match ended up being SANADA vs Sabre, but there was no comparison with the energy of the Okada and Tanahashi match, there was something in the air, that pre-match feel that you're about to see something special, something that I've only felt with Pentagon vs Sabre, or my first Ospreay vs Fenix match long ago. This is a show I won't forget about until January 2020.

I think this was the type of NJPW show that the US had been waiting for it, and for all of those that didn't buy tickets because 'tHeyDiiDNt AnNoUnCE tHE CaRd' you're stupid to think that the opening night of a G1 Climax would fail to deliver. Don't be stupid.