Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 29, 8.8
Posted: Aug 9th, '19, 16:25
NJPW G1 Climax 29, Day 16
August 8, 2019
Yokohama, Japan
Ren Narita & Shota Umino vs. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura - 6/10
Usual solid work. Umino showed a lot here, he was the guy that got beat down and made a comeback for the win with a Fisherman Suplex on Tsuji. Post-match, Umino cut a promo saying that he is paying a lot of attention to Moxley and what he does in the ring. Not a good sign for Umino.
BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL & SANADA) - 4/10
Nothing to see here that we haven't seen for the last month. Fale beat up SANADA, who went for Fale's legs. The one thing that stayed in my mind was that at one point, Owens is trying to set up the Paradise Lock on SANADA, and as he fails, he actually manages to lock a good looking Texas Cloverleaf, which he lets go because it wasn't the point of the spot. Owens pinned BUSHI with the PP.
Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks & KENTA vs. Suzuki-gun (Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.) - 5.5/10
Suzuki got to beat up Young Lions. Young Lions looked good. KENTA worked with Sabre, chasing an early GTS while Sabre went for KENTA's bad shoulder/arm. Archer and EVIL didn't really do much, but given both men's tournament, I do expect a good match from them. Suzuki won with the GSP on Connors.
CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi, Toa Henare & Will Ospreay - 6/10
Mega Powers collide with the Dream Team! Unfortunately, it was to build to singles matches and YH and Henare were there. Okada vs Ibushi was great. Tanahashi vs Ospreay was interesting because Tanahashi can't keep with Ospreay's speed, so Ospreay is going to have to work hard to make sure he can be where Tanahashi needs him to be at the right moment. YH pinned Henare with a Brainbuster.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Taichi [6] vs. Toru Yano[6] - 5/10
Not the funnest of Yano matches, but it was nice for once to see him deal with a bigger cheater than him. A lot of shenanigans happened with Kanemaru and apron curtains, which ended being the finish when Yano made a Taichi/Kanemaru sushi roll for the count out win. So bad match, good finish.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Jeff Cobb [8] vs. Tetsuya Naito [8] - 7/10
I'm not gonna say this wasn't a solid match, but it was yet another Cobb match that felt underwhelming. Naito worked over Cobb's legs, while Cobb was the usual powerhouse doing strikes and tosses. The better aspects of this match was just seeing Cobb block a lot of Naito's offense which relies on running, jumping, or straight up setting yourself on your opponent's shoulders.
There was one spot that I did scream for. Naito goes for Destino, Cobb blocks it, turns it into a HUGE F-5, like Naito flew through the sky. Finish was Naito hitting an Inverted DDT and Destino after escaping Tour of the Islands. Good match, just not at the level of the rest.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Hirooki Goto [8] vs. Jon Moxley [10] - 7/10
Man, Moxley just comes off as a dick sometimes. Of all people, Goto feels like the dude that doesn't really do harm or insults anyone, and here is Moxley being a dick for no reason. I thought the action inside the ring was good, but I did have an issue with Mox selling a lot less than Goto, so that it always looked like the back and forward action was hurting Goto more than Mox. Goto did end up winning clean with a GTR that felt like it had no build up because Mox sold for shit. This also went under 10 minutes, not that much longer than the comedy match, which I guess was for the best given the main event.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Jay White [8] vs. Juice Robinson [6] - 8.5/10
For all the interference, weapon use, and ref bumps, I think this was about the better execution of them, but I can understand if people think it hurt Juice. The match was the quintessential White match with stalling and Gedo interference, but as it went on, White and Juice actually got into a really competitive match with really great selling. White worked over Juice's leg for most of the match.
The big spot in this match came at the end when White has a chair, Juice drops it, tries to hit Pulp Friction on it, but White escaped, Juice drops himself into the chair, and White takes the opening to hit Juice's injured leg with the chair a couple of times, before locking in the TTO and make Juice submit. I personally hate it when someone just gets knocked out from a chair shot and gets pinned, it sucks up the air from the building when you do that; so here, it's not like Juice couldn't have dragged himself to the ropes, White still had to do the work to win, people still hoped that Juice would make it, but instead, he failed everyone.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Shingo Takagi [4] vs. Tomohiro Ishii [8] - 10/10!
Fuck! These two fuckers beat the shit out of each other for my amusement. I feel guilty. I feel so guilty. There's not much to explain here, two behemoths faced each other in the ring and ram each other over and over and over and over again, and then some more. Given their wrestling style, they did a lot of mirror spots, counters, reversals, and obviously strike-offs. The action didn't ease up at any point, even after the finish they were still slapping each other. This is something you go out and watch for yourself. May be how fresh it is in my head, but I think this is the second best match of the tournament.
Post-match - Shingo cut his winner's promo saying that even though he wasn't making the finals, he was happy because he always wanted to fight in a G1 and he thought he had good victories in his first ever. He put over Ishii as an unstoppable force of nature. He said that he's not going to lower his intensity because he's been eliminated and that he'll give Goto hell.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This was an up and down show. Some of the undercard were good, but then some of the tournament ones weren't, and then we closed with a must watch match. Overall I have no complains, the show was easy to watch.
This block ended up leveling up with points, keeping Moxley at bay (thank you ancient gods!). We have a 4-way tie with 10 points between Naito, Mox, White, and Goto. Mox has tie breakers on Naito only, so a win by White or Goto and he's done. Mox is also going against Juice who is most likely getting his win back, so no worries there.
Goto has tie breakers against both White and Mox, so if he wins, he only needs Naito to defeat White. White has a tie breaker on Mox, so he needs for Goto to lose and defeat Naito. Finally, Naito has a tie breaker on Goto, meaning he needs to win his match and hope that Mox loses.
POST SHOW POINT STANDINGS
August 8, 2019
Yokohama, Japan
Ren Narita & Shota Umino vs. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura - 6/10
Usual solid work. Umino showed a lot here, he was the guy that got beat down and made a comeback for the win with a Fisherman Suplex on Tsuji. Post-match, Umino cut a promo saying that he is paying a lot of attention to Moxley and what he does in the ring. Not a good sign for Umino.
BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL & SANADA) - 4/10
Nothing to see here that we haven't seen for the last month. Fale beat up SANADA, who went for Fale's legs. The one thing that stayed in my mind was that at one point, Owens is trying to set up the Paradise Lock on SANADA, and as he fails, he actually manages to lock a good looking Texas Cloverleaf, which he lets go because it wasn't the point of the spot. Owens pinned BUSHI with the PP.
Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks & KENTA vs. Suzuki-gun (Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.) - 5.5/10
Suzuki got to beat up Young Lions. Young Lions looked good. KENTA worked with Sabre, chasing an early GTS while Sabre went for KENTA's bad shoulder/arm. Archer and EVIL didn't really do much, but given both men's tournament, I do expect a good match from them. Suzuki won with the GSP on Connors.
CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kota Ibushi, Toa Henare & Will Ospreay - 6/10
Mega Powers collide with the Dream Team! Unfortunately, it was to build to singles matches and YH and Henare were there. Okada vs Ibushi was great. Tanahashi vs Ospreay was interesting because Tanahashi can't keep with Ospreay's speed, so Ospreay is going to have to work hard to make sure he can be where Tanahashi needs him to be at the right moment. YH pinned Henare with a Brainbuster.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Taichi [6] vs. Toru Yano[6] - 5/10
Not the funnest of Yano matches, but it was nice for once to see him deal with a bigger cheater than him. A lot of shenanigans happened with Kanemaru and apron curtains, which ended being the finish when Yano made a Taichi/Kanemaru sushi roll for the count out win. So bad match, good finish.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Jeff Cobb [8] vs. Tetsuya Naito [8] - 7/10
I'm not gonna say this wasn't a solid match, but it was yet another Cobb match that felt underwhelming. Naito worked over Cobb's legs, while Cobb was the usual powerhouse doing strikes and tosses. The better aspects of this match was just seeing Cobb block a lot of Naito's offense which relies on running, jumping, or straight up setting yourself on your opponent's shoulders.
There was one spot that I did scream for. Naito goes for Destino, Cobb blocks it, turns it into a HUGE F-5, like Naito flew through the sky. Finish was Naito hitting an Inverted DDT and Destino after escaping Tour of the Islands. Good match, just not at the level of the rest.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Hirooki Goto [8] vs. Jon Moxley [10] - 7/10
Man, Moxley just comes off as a dick sometimes. Of all people, Goto feels like the dude that doesn't really do harm or insults anyone, and here is Moxley being a dick for no reason. I thought the action inside the ring was good, but I did have an issue with Mox selling a lot less than Goto, so that it always looked like the back and forward action was hurting Goto more than Mox. Goto did end up winning clean with a GTR that felt like it had no build up because Mox sold for shit. This also went under 10 minutes, not that much longer than the comedy match, which I guess was for the best given the main event.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Jay White [8] vs. Juice Robinson [6] - 8.5/10
For all the interference, weapon use, and ref bumps, I think this was about the better execution of them, but I can understand if people think it hurt Juice. The match was the quintessential White match with stalling and Gedo interference, but as it went on, White and Juice actually got into a really competitive match with really great selling. White worked over Juice's leg for most of the match.
The big spot in this match came at the end when White has a chair, Juice drops it, tries to hit Pulp Friction on it, but White escaped, Juice drops himself into the chair, and White takes the opening to hit Juice's injured leg with the chair a couple of times, before locking in the TTO and make Juice submit. I personally hate it when someone just gets knocked out from a chair shot and gets pinned, it sucks up the air from the building when you do that; so here, it's not like Juice couldn't have dragged himself to the ropes, White still had to do the work to win, people still hoped that Juice would make it, but instead, he failed everyone.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Shingo Takagi [4] vs. Tomohiro Ishii [8] - 10/10!
Fuck! These two fuckers beat the shit out of each other for my amusement. I feel guilty. I feel so guilty. There's not much to explain here, two behemoths faced each other in the ring and ram each other over and over and over and over again, and then some more. Given their wrestling style, they did a lot of mirror spots, counters, reversals, and obviously strike-offs. The action didn't ease up at any point, even after the finish they were still slapping each other. This is something you go out and watch for yourself. May be how fresh it is in my head, but I think this is the second best match of the tournament.
Post-match - Shingo cut his winner's promo saying that even though he wasn't making the finals, he was happy because he always wanted to fight in a G1 and he thought he had good victories in his first ever. He put over Ishii as an unstoppable force of nature. He said that he's not going to lower his intensity because he's been eliminated and that he'll give Goto hell.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This was an up and down show. Some of the undercard were good, but then some of the tournament ones weren't, and then we closed with a must watch match. Overall I have no complains, the show was easy to watch.
This block ended up leveling up with points, keeping Moxley at bay (thank you ancient gods!). We have a 4-way tie with 10 points between Naito, Mox, White, and Goto. Mox has tie breakers on Naito only, so a win by White or Goto and he's done. Mox is also going against Juice who is most likely getting his win back, so no worries there.
Goto has tie breakers against both White and Mox, so if he wins, he only needs Naito to defeat White. White has a tie breaker on Mox, so he needs for Goto to lose and defeat Naito. Finally, Naito has a tie breaker on Goto, meaning he needs to win his match and hope that Mox loses.
POST SHOW POINT STANDINGS
Block A Block B |
Kazuchika Okada [14] Tetsuya Naito[10] |
Hiroshi Tanahashi [8] Jon Moxley[10] |
Kota Ibushi [12] Tomohiro Ishii [8] |
KENTA [8] Hirooki Goto [10] |
Will Ospreay [6] Toru Yano [8] |
EVIL [8] Jay White [10] |
SANADA [8] Shingo Takagi [4] |
Zack Sabre Jr [6] Jeff Cobb [6] |
Lance Archer [4] Taichi [6] |
Bad Luck Fale [6] Juice Robinson [6] |