July 14, 2019
Ota, Japan
Juice Robinson, Toa Henare, & Yota Tsuji vs Hirooki Goto, Tomoaki Honma, & Yuya Uemura - 6/10
Goto vs Juice was promising, they countered their signature moves. Young Lions did their thing, Honma missed Kokeshis, and Henare won with the Toa Bottom. Ok opener.
Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita vs Jon Moxley & Shota Umino - 6.5/10
Gonna get this out of the way, Narita is awesome, he's soo freaking awesome. Cobb and Mox did a lot of teases of the Tour of the Islands, Mox kept getting away from it, but he also kept getting caught by Cobb, who also at one point dodged the Deathrider. Cobb won with the Tour of the Islands on Umino.
CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, & YOSHI-HASHI) vs Bullet Club (Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi, & Chase Owens) - 6/10
I could had been my attention span, but the match felt all over the place while they built Ishii and White. As tradition, YOSHI-HASHI was a geek and got worked over while he shouted a lot. Match finally felt under control when Yano came in and did his stuff, ending with him rolling up Chase. I expect a lot from White vs Ishii, but I wasn't a big fan of this match particularly.
Suzuki-Gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI) - 5.5/10
Another LIJ vs SZKG match, so you know there was a brawl and all. Naito and Taichi played off their long rivalry, with Taichi actually looking strong IMO, with Naito being the one leaving Tranquilo on the side and going after Taichi.
The stuff with Suzuki and Shingo was great, which unfortunately, we won't get to see one-on-one. Suzuki picked up the win with a GSP on BUSHI.
Post-match - Taichi choked out Naito with the A/V cables outside.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Lance Archer [2] vs Bad Luck Fale [2] w/Jado - 8/10
This was times better that it had any right to be, it wasn't the hoss fight that I hoped for, but the match had drama, it had Archer playing a roll that actually got people behind him, and it had some pretty amazing feats of strength from both men. The huge ass 'psycho' Archer being a babyface in peril is something you need to see to believe.
Given their size, they only teased some of the bigger spots like Fale stealing the Old School rope walk, or Archer hitting Blackout on Fale, but when it came to strikes, tackles, and just clashing all over the place, this was pretty great. I loved that the match started with Archer tackling Fale to the floor.
Story of the match was pretty much that Jado kept giving Fale openings to get the upper hand in the match and he worked over Archer for most of it. Archer kicked out of a Grenade, countered the BLF, hit a pounce and used the Everybody Dies Claw to pin Fale. Another great match by Archer, and arguably one of the better Fale matches in a while.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Will Ospreay [0] vs SANADA [2] - 9.5/10
This was a total wrestling showcase. They did mat wrestling, aerial attacks, tons of counters, and a couple of strikes. This was like one of those classic AJ Styles matches where they try everything and most looks good. They did way too many things to list them off, but it all came down to both men chasing their respective finishers, and after a million counters and escapes, it was SANADA failing to use the Os Cutter, taking one from Ospreay, that followed with Stormbreaker for Will's first two points.
Give these men a main event amount of time and they could have each other's MOTY.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Kazuchika Okada [2] vs Zack Sabre Jr. [0] - 8/10
This was considerably short from the usual Okada match, and in a way, kinda underwhelming to my expectations. Still great nonetheless. Given the time, this was paced off differently, it was more of Sabre going after Okada from the get go, with a lot of submissions that could end a match any day, until Okada was fed up, powered up, and went dropkick crazy on Sabre.
Last couple of minutes saw Okada chase the Rainmaker, Sabre trying his best to destroy his arm and get a submission, but Okada kept fighting off until he landed the Discus Rainmaker and the proper Rainmaker for the win.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
EVIL [0] vs Kota Ibushi [0] - 9/10
Ibushi's foot is injured, and thus this match was more of a Ishii vs Shibata fight, than a Ibushi vs Ospreay one. They went straight for the forearm exchange and kept it up most of the match. As the match went on, they did a couple of bigger moves here and there, from Germans to Superplexes, but always coming back to striking.
Further down, Ibushi started chasing Kamigoye, but since EVIL had been working on the leg all match, he couldn't seal the deal. EVIL however, chased EIE, which he landed after a Darkness Fall to pick up the win. Great match, I kept getting worried for Ibushi's leg, but at the end, it was pretty heated.
Commentary sold it as Ibushi going on a losing streak since losing the IC title, which really just makes it 3 matches, but it's still 3 Ibushi loses. They also sold it as Ibushi being 60% in this match. Given the story wth EVIL leading into the G1, I figured he'd be the one on a losing streak while SANADA would pick up wins.
Worth noting that they never left the ring. A true achievement for both EVIL and Ibushi.
Shibata is joining commentary for the next match.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
KENTA [2] vs Hiroshi Tanahashi [0] - 9/10
This was really good, but not the epic match up I would have dreamed for 5 years ago. The heat between KENTA and Tana made up for both men's broken bodies.
The match was about ego and being better than the other, because whether they said it or not, we all know this is the clash of the two top Japanese companies of the 2000's (sorry AJPW) and two of their biggest representatives. it wasn't as dirty as Okada vs Marufuji, but there was surely some heat here too. I think KENTA not being actively with NOAH is the only factor.
KENTA worked the upper body using his kicks, and Tanahashi targeted those legs that deliver such kicks. They mostly went back and forward with KENTA being the striker heavy wrestler. Towards the end, Tana was doing his Dragon Screws and built to the High Fly Flow, but after landing the first, KENTA blocked the second, hit a PK and the GTS for the win. Good match, but underwhelming as a dream match. KENTA has defeated Ibushi and Tana, but I NEED him to defeat Okada. I want KENTA vs Okada for the title at KOPW.
Post-match - KENTA offered Tanahashi a hand shake, which he refused. KENTA cut his winner's promo saying he didn't come to play, he came here to win the G1.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
A good show for block A. I think I had hyped myself a bit too much for some matches tonight and they came off underwhelming, but then stuff like Fale vs Archer really surprised me. SANADA vs Ospreay was IMO the match of the night, I really want to see those two go at it again with more time and a better position in the card.
POST SHOW POINT STANDINGS
Block A Block B |
Kazuchika Okada [4] Tetsuya Naito[0] |
Hiroshi Tanahashi [0] Jon Moxley[2] |
Kota Ibushi [0] Tomohiro Ishii [2] |
KENTA [4] Hirooki Goto [2] |
Will Ospreay [2] Toru Yano [2] |
EVIL [2] Jay White [0[ |
SANADA [2] Shingo Takagi [0] |
Zack Sabre Jr [0] Jeff Cobb [0] |
Lance Archer [4] Taichi [0] |
Bad Luck Fale [2] Juice Robinson [2] |
