July 27, 2019
Nagoya, Japan
Jeff Cobb, Ren Narita & Yota Tsuji vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - 4.5/10
The most exciting thing about this match was the idea of Suzuki and Kanemaru, as a team, fighting Young Lions. I think that there should be another Young Lion tournament with the winner going face to face with a final boss -- Minoru Suzuki. Kanemaru won with Deep Impact on Tsuji.
BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens, Jay White & Yujiro Takahashi) (w/Gedo) vs. Juice Robinson, Toa Henare & Tomoaki Honma - 5/10
Second time that Juice builds a match he's not part of, I get it that with all of LIJ in the tournament, stuff like this is necessary since BUSHI is the only one left to tag with Naito and Shingo.
Match was ok, it was a lot of meh with Henare and Honma in the ring, but Juice, Chase, and White were all great in there. Owens pinned Henare with the PP.
Post-match - White and Chase had it against the English commentary table. White talked trash to Rocky and Chase shut up KK for saying the only reason Chase is good is because he was trained by old man Ricky Morton and not because he works hard. KK is a dick.
CHAOS (Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano) vs. CHAOS (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) - 6/10
Everyone, yes, even YOSHI-HASHI, was good here. They're building Yano vs Goto, so I loved that Yano kinda forced Goto into fighting Ishii, who had a better chance at making real damage at Goto. There was also a decent battle between Geeky-HASHI and Ishii, some really hard chops there. Still, being the geek that he is, YOSHI got rolled up by Yano.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs. Jon Moxley & Shota Umino - 5/10
Oh boy, Naito and Moxley is gonna be violent. Up until today, Moxley to me had been a big deal because he had never crossed paths against the real big shots of New Japan, but Naito really overshadowed him. From the ever entrance to Naito leaving, he just played with Moxley, and while Moxley tried to keep face, he just froze sometimes when Naito went Tranquilo or spat on him.
Match was a lot of Shingo vs Umino and a little bit brawling between Mox and Naito. Shingo pinned Umino with the Pumping Bomber.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Kota Ibushi [4] vs. Lance Archer [4] - 9/10
I really liked this match, it was similar to Archer vs Ospreay, but I thought that Ibushi did a far better job selling, and that's saying a lot. I knew at the bottom of my heart that Ibushi had to win this one, but when Archer locked in the EBD Claw the first time, I just felt Ibushi ain't making it tonight. I also loved the finish with Archer surviving a Kamigoye straight to the face, forcing Ibushi to hit a second with a bare knee. Everyone has said it at this point, but Archer is low key, top 3 wrestlers of the tournament.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Bad Luck Fale (w/Chase Owens & Jado) [2] vs. Will Ospreay [2] - 5/10
Finish really hurt the match here. They did the same finish from lats year with Red Shoes being fed up with the Bullet Club's rule breaking, flipping off Fale, and giving him the DQ. It's good for a pop, but this year, Bullet Club haven't been half as bad as last year and Red Shoes wasn't even in the match taking all the hurt.
The match itself saw Chase and Jado interfere even before the bell rang, and Ospreay fighting all three men all over the place, being worked on his neck. So, aside from the bad finish, Fale working on a Jr Heavyweight shouldn't require Chase and Jado being there at all, leave that for SANADA or Ibushi or Tanahashi. Having said all that, I did like Ospreay overcoming odds and if the finish had been Ospreay getting the win over Fale like in the New Japan Cup, it would had been better.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
EVIL [4] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [2] - 8.5/10
I really don't know how to feel about Sabre's G1, with this loss, he is virtually eliminated, he would need to win all his remaining matches and he'd still lose the tie breaker with Okada who achieved 10 points tonight (spoilers!). He is currently at a Douki in the BOSJ level, and he is still to go against Ospreay, Archer, Ibushi, and KENTA. I just don't know what they're doing here.
The match was great, Sabre went after EVIL's arms and he was going hard, those Pele kicks looked devastating. EVIL mostly did his Strong Style with strikes, building towards the STO, which he used to win. I can't remember a lot of their matches from last year when EVIL couldn't defeat Sabre, but this felt somewhat better.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi [4] vs. SANADA [2] - 9/10
In another 'What are they doing here?" moment, I don't know why SANADA is at 2 points! This was another match in which SANADA seemed to be giving in to the cheers of the fans and craving it more and trying to be the fan favorite, which steers away from the LIJ MO.
Match was great, mostly back and forward, and differently from other Tanahashi matches, this one had SANADA be the one that brought the drama to the match, the babyface comeback, and all. Tanahashi also finally got to land a High Fly Flow for the win, he'd been failing until now. There was a cool spot towards the end with both Tana and SANADA failing their top rope moves one after the other.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Kazuchika Okada [8] vs. KENTA [8] - 9.5/10
We were so so close of having KENTA get a title shot at Okada, granted it may still happen, but we were so close to secure it, just like Marafuji did a few years back. Leave it to New Japan to still deliver dream matches, between people who still feel larger than life. Furthermore, it's crazy that this being a match of undefeated, it's 8 pts vs 8 pts, while the match of the block are at most, 4 points.
Story of the match was that Okada came in cocky, KENTA came in serious, KENTA slapped the cockiness out of Okada, so Okada got serious and won the match. KENTA got to work over Okada a lot for about the first 10 minutes or so, he slapped and kicked Okada all over the place. He beat him up so much that Okada leaving the Rainmaker pose until really late in the match made me wonder if he was even going to have the energy and mind to do it, I thought he was just going to chase the Rainmaker out of somewhere in desperation, but what was I thinking, it's motherfucking Okada we're talking about.
The last few minutes saw both men chase their finishers, and aside from a clear botch that Okada played being out and KENTA awkwardly tossing a kick to the air, it was all a dramatic chase. Okada won with the Rainmaker.
Post-match - Okada thanked the fans for coming out to the show despite the Typhoon going on outside. He said that next time he comes to Nagoya, he'll be the G1 winner. I'm starting to believe he may actually win this year now. Ibushi and Naito aren't as hot and I'll die if Moxley wins. Dear New Japan, don't make me turn on Moxley please.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
It was a good show, the tournament matches were all good, I was pleasantly surprised even from EVIL vs Sabre which I've seen a lot, and while there were a couple of finishers that I wasn't a fan of, I can't really say they killed the show at all. Undercard was good to build tomorrow's show, especially the main event.
POST SHOW POINT STANDINGS
Block A Block B |
Kazuchika Okada [10] Tetsuya Naito[4] |
Hiroshi Tanahashi [6] Jon Moxley[8] |
Kota Ibushi [6] Tomohiro Ishii [4] |
KENTA [8] Hirooki Goto [2] |
Will Ospreay [4] Toru Yano [4] |
EVIL [6] Jay White [2] |
SANADA [2] Shingo Takagi [4] |
Zack Sabre Jr [2] Jeff Cobb [2] |
Lance Archer [4] Taichi [4] |
Bad Luck Fale [2] Juice Robinson [6] |
