August 4, 2019
Osaka, Japan
Ren Narita & Shota Umino vs. Toa Henare & Yuya Uemura - 4.5/10
Talk about Henare being a geek, he got beat by the Young Lions. This was a nice short showcase of the Young Lions, so it's always solid action. Umino pinned Uemura with a Fisherman Suplex.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL & SANADA) vs. Suzuki-gun (Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.) - 5.5/10
They're selling that Archer is pissed off at Sabre for defeating him in yesterday's G1 match. Their interaction was actually kinda funny sometimes. Match saw SANADA sell yesterday's battle, so he got his ass kicked for the most part. EVIL and Sabre paired up for the filler, and finally, Suzuki battled BUSHI until the end when the former used the GSP to win.
I wasn't a fan of KK going into business for himself saying that SANADA doesn't deserve a title shot since he hasn't really won that much in the G1. Look, I don't know if that will be the storyline, but if it's not, don't go putting doubt in SANADA's momentum, it's a good analysis, valid, but it's not productive if it's not part of the plan and it only diminishes SANADA. Just talk about how Archer deserves a shot even if he lost to Okada if that is what you're trying to accomplish here.
Post-match - Archer attacked SANADA with the EBD Claw and they brawled to the back.
BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi) vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi & Tomoaki Honma - 4/10
It's that time of the year that Tanahashi battles Fale, who worked on Tanahashi's back. That was literally it, the only thing of relevance here. I never doubt Tanahashi when it comes to performing, so I think he'll get a good match out of these three, because, yes, I am expecting Jado and Chase to interfere. Match was meh, Owens beat Honma with the PP, which was good for Chase.
CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks & KENTA - 6.5/10
I really liked this match, Shibata's kids are great. Fredericks vs Okada actually looked really good. They build KENTA vs Ospreay, which seemed like a great combo, similar to Ospreay vs Ibushi actually, but less jumping. YOSHI-HASHI submitted Connors with the Butterfly Geek.
I still think that Fredericks has the potential to be a ROH World Champion on day, while Connors I see more of an IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champ.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Tomohiro Ishii [6] vs. Toru Yano [6] - 8.5/10
This was awesome for many reasons not pertaining workrate. Story here was that Ishii brought out the Strong Style out of Yano, and it was awesome, because at the end of the day, there's still a decorated amateur wrestler somewhere in there. A 6' 1" 250 lb forearm that knocks you down.
Action started with Yano doing everything he could to get the quick win out of Ishii, but it wasn't until Yano tried to lure Ishii outside and Ishii didn't play into his games, that Ishii started to slap the patience and fun out of Yano, and Yano woke up, and he woke up good. The match was still short, but those 5 minutes of forearms were great. Ishii won with the Brainbuster.
I ended up re-watching this in Japanese and loved it more.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Juice Robinson [6] vs. Taichi [4] (w/Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Miho Abe) - 6.5/10
I didn't care much for this match, Kevin Kelly straight up said that Juice is paying more attention to his upcoming match with Moxley than this, and I figured, why should I care too. KK can be a terrible announcer sometimes, actually, quite often. This was a show I really hoped I had watched in Japanese. If it wasn't for Chris Charlton, I really wouldn't even touch the English broadcast.
The match was the usual shenanigans with Suzuki-Gun and the babyface fighting against everything going on. Eventually, the cheating and interference were too much for Juice and Taichi won with Black Mephisto.
Going back to KK's commentary, a call like 'Juice is looking past this match for Moxley' and then having Juice lose the match makes Juice look completely stupid. Juice is not the type of wrestler you should play the 'doesn't care about points' angle. If KK hasn't been smartened up on who is winning, be careful with your comments.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Hirooki Goto [6] vs. Jeff Cobb [6] - 8.5/10
This was a great bout, but it lacked something, probably the same thing that most of Cobb matches have been missing. Still a good match. This saw both men just trade strikes, tackles, and as they went on, some high impact moves, ending with both men chasing their respective finishers. They had some ok near falls with their lesser signature moves, but it was Goto that ended up hitting a proper (he hit the reverse GTR earlier) GTR for the win.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Jay White [6] (w/Gedo) vs. Jon Moxley [10] - 9.5/10
THIS! This is what I wanted from these guys all along for this tournament, for Moxley to show he's more than a brawler outside the ring, and for White to just fucking kill people in the ring with a minimum amount of Gedo interference. Yes, I know both things happened here, but I thought they were kept to a smaller amount than usual, and even when Gedo did his big interference, it didn't lead to the pin.
A big benefit here of Moxley's style is that he is so inpatient that he wouldn't allow for White to stall at all, he went after White at every single chance, and thus we had a match with whole lot of action. Moxley worked over White's leg, while White went for Mox's shoulder, but as the match progressed, both men started going after each other's heads since both of their finishers are head focused. There was a brawl in the crowd that was meh too.
Finish came when White landed two Sleeper Suplexes and the Bladerunner for the win. They totally protected Moxley with Gedo's interference and him flipping off White at the end, but it was still a pin, Moxley's first pin loss. I find it hard to feel that Gedo took away from White's credibility when Mox isn't exactly the most fair player out there.
G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Shingo Takagi [4] vs. Tetsuya Naito [6] - 9.5/10
I feel confident enough to say this was Shingo's best match since the Ospreay BOSJ finals, but after some debating with myself, I think this was also Naito's best performance, slightly better than the Ishii match. Both these men still have a chance to outdo themselves when Shingo faces Ishii, and Naito faces White at the block finals.
Story of the match, perfectly told by Chris Charlton, is that Naito and Shingo have known each other for about two decades when they were both training in Animal Hamaguchi's Gym. They were sparring buddies and Shingo always won, and so, Naito had promised him that one day, they would face each other in a professional ring and he would win, and so, 16 years later, he did so.
The match was really action packed to describe everything that happened, but it was worked as two guys that were friendly, but also weren't thinking of taking it easy on each other. They traded about every move in their arsenals, and towards the end, Naito was kicking out of Pumping Bombers and Shingo out of Destinos. The one thing that took me out a bit was the very finish when they announced that there only three minutes left, right as Naito hit the final Destino for the win. It's like hearing 3 minutes left made me think of the time limit draw and not actually pop for the finishing sequence.
Post-match - Naito said he was glad he invited Shingo to LIJ and that he hoped they could do it again. He once again brought up his goal to be the first IWGP World Heavyweight and Intercontinental champion in New Japan history. Backstage he talked about how important this win was for him, talked about his time with Shingo in Hamaguchi's Gym, but said that the didn't join the G1 to face Shingo, but to win and get closer to becoming a double champion.
Shingo also cut a promo saying that this wasn't a declaration of war, but he wasn't over with Naito and vowed that one day, he'll get his win back.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I was a fan of this show, 3 out of the 5 tournament matches were a hit in my opinion. This show also slowed down Moxley and let other people creep in to make point counting more interesting.
POST SHOW POINT STANDINGS
Block A Block B |
Kazuchika Okada [12] Tetsuya Naito[8] |
Hiroshi Tanahashi [8] Jon Moxley[10] |
Kota Ibushi [10] Tomohiro Ishii [8] |
KENTA [8] Hirooki Goto [8] |
Will Ospreay [4] Toru Yano [6] |
EVIL [8] Jay White [8] |
SANADA [6] Shingo Takagi [4] |
Zack Sabre Jr [6] Jeff Cobb [6] |
Lance Archer [4] Taichi [6] |
Bad Luck Fale [4] Juice Robinson [6] |
