July 15, 2019
Hokkaido, Japan
Jyushin 'Thunder' Liger & Kota Ibushi vs Shota Umino & Yuya Tsuji - 6/10
This was supposed to build Ibushi vs Ospreay, but Ospreay hurt his neck in the SANADA match, so instead we get a quick work over the Young Lions. No story here, but Umino was acting really rough and heelish over Liger, kid is trying to make a name.
Los Ingobernables de Japon vs Tomoaki Honma, Toa Henare, & Ren Narita - 5/10
Only thing relevant here is the relationship between EVIL and SANADA, who are fighting next in the G1 Climax. EVIL hasn't been a team player for about a month now, building tension to this match, and you could feel it here. EVIL couldn't keep his eyes off of SANADA, who is trying to play it cool. BUSHI was in there in the middle between them, getting the win over Narita with an MX.
Post-match - After another stare-off, EVIL tried to attack SANADA from behind, but SANADA countered. They started off again.
Suzuki-Gun (Zack Sabre Jr, Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs Hiroshi Tanahshi, KENTA, Clark Connors, & Karl Fredericks - 5.5/10
This was chaotic, all over the place, at one point Archer sat down on the commentary table with KK and Suzuki tried to kill Milano Collection AT. Archer beat up KENTA, and Sabre tortured Tanahashi. Suzuki got a chance to kill US Young Lions for once, and Kanemaru was there. Everyone in this match was great, the LA Dojo kids are amazing. Kanemaru won with Deep Impact on Connors.
The real story here was the interaction between Tanahashi and KENTA after they just had their match, in which Tanahashi rejected KENTA's peace offering. They had both guys show tension between each other, they fought in their own corner to get the hot tag, and it all showed KENTA being the guy that was trying to do the right thing, saving Tanahashi at one point, and even carrying the hurt Tanahashi on his shoulder after the match. This whole Shibata's friends thing is getting interesting.
CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) vs Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens) - 5/10
Meh match, Okada and Chase are awesome, but Fale is usually hit and miss, and he was a bit of a miss here, and YOSHI-HASHI is a geek no matter what, he'll always be a geek in peril that shouts a lot. Okada did all the work and won over Chase with a Rainmaker.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Shingo Takagi [0] vs Toru Yano [2] - 5/10
Good funny match, but not as funny as Yano's last, as much as he tried and he had his comedy side to him, Shingo wasn't the best guy to do comedy, and with the idea that Shingo was winning, a lot of Yano's spots just felt like stalling. Having said that, there was tricks that Shingo blocked that I liked. Shingo won when BUSHI distracted the ref, allowing Shingo to escaped being Eddie Guerrero'd, hit Yano with a chair, and hit the Pumping Bomber for the pin.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Hirooki Goto [2] vs Juice Robinson [2] - 8.5/10
Had some trouble getting into the match at first, but once they hit second gear, I was glued to the screen. This was the one match of tonight that I wasn't sure how was winning since both men are coming in with some momentum and something to prove.
Match was back and forward from the start, but Goto kinda had the upper hand for the most part. The great stuff came in the last minutes when they started chasing their finishers. There was one spot that I LOVED when Goto blocked the Left Hand Of God with his fucking head. Juice would return the favor and continue wrestling, but I gasped at that first one, it hurt my head, and it hurt my hand. Juice won with a Pulp Friction soon after.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Jeff Cobb [0] vs Jon Moxley [2] - 8/10
Some weeks ago I was really curious how this match would go given promotional responsibilities in the US, but after Cobb failed to capture the ROH title, I was now wondering how they'd pair up since Mox has only done hardcore stuff since leaving the Fed.
Story of the match was that Moxley caught Cobb elbow against the apron and from there on, he worked over elbow and arm throughout the match, which hurt Cobb's ability to lariat and carry Moxley's weight. Cobb on his side, was working his usual style of catching people mid-air and tossing them around. Another aspect to the story was that Job was considerably large for Mox to lift for the Deathrider, so he kept going for a running knee KO, but he suddenly found Cobb draped on the ropes and used the elevation to drop a Deathrider for the win. Good match overall.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Tomohiro Ishii [2] vs Jay White [0] - 9.5/10
Match of the night. Ishii came in with with a purpose of beating the shit out of White and he went to do it, I can't remember the last time that I saw a really pissed off Ishii. Like he's not the usual happy-go-lucky guy, but he looked PISSED at White. Story here is that White and Gedo kept trying to play games on Ishii, who wouldn't have it and kept beating the shit out of White. As the match went on and Ishii had more momentum, White kept dropping to the mat to avoid get lariats, and among that tactic, he managed to land a HUGE DDT that Ishii sold like he had a stinger and a numb arm. White went after Ishii's head more, but Ishii fire lit up, hit White with everything he had and landed the Brainbuster to win. Awesome match, I kept popping at all the near falls towards the end of the match.
I was kinda surprised that Ishii won to be honest, but I now see the little story that CHAOS us running over White right now. Ishii is someone that while never showing it, always expressed not being a fan of White or the status of CHAOS finds itself because of him, and he finally got his chance to take it out on him.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Tetsuya Naito [0] vs Taichi [0] w/Miho Abe & Yoshinobu Kanemaru - 8/10
This was another Naito vs Taichi match with all the shenanigans that comes with it, but this one felt like the big climatic match of their rivalry. Taichi FINALLY bringing out Iizuka's Iron Palm felt like a big deal and he got the win with it. The match itself wasn't bad, Taichi looked good while inside the ring. There were about a 100 cheats and tricks going on, but it all led to Taichi going for the Iron Palm which Naito kept dodging as he chased hitting the proper Destino. Naito blocked Kanemaru's Whisky Mist, but the distractions were too many and Taichi nailed Naito with a superkick, the Iron Palm, and a Last Ride bomb for the win. It wasn't a bad match, but there was a lot of stuff going on and it was following Ishii vs White. I take it Naito vs Taichi for the IC title main events one of the Destruction shows.
Also worth nothing that of all of LIJ, Naito is the only one that hasn't won so far. I think in a lot of people's pick em's, Naito vs Ibushi is the final, and both men find themselves 0-2 at the moment.
One spot that I thought was bad, but I still marked a bit was Naito grabbing Miho by the hair, and the valiant brave knight Kanemaru kinda saved her. Kanemaru is my hero.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Solid show for Block B. I loved Ishii vs White so much that I can't bring this show down from great. We're starting to see some interesting stories in the block that have me hyped for their next show.
POST SHOW POINT STANDINGS
Block A Block B |
Kazuchika Okada [4] Tetsuya Naito[0] |
Hiroshi Tanahashi [0] Jon Moxley[4] |
Kota Ibushi [0] Tomohiro Ishii [4] |
KENTA [4] Hirooki Goto [2] |
Will Ospreay [2] Toru Yano [2] |
EVIL [2] Jay White [0[ |
SANADA [2] Shingo Takagi [2] |
Zack Sabre Jr [0] Jeff Cobb [0] |
Lance Archer [4] Taichi [2] |
Bad Luck Fale [2] Juice Robinson [4] |
