NJPW G1 Climax 28 - 8.1

Bad Luck Fale & Tanga Loa vs Michael Elgin & Shota Umino - 5.5/10

So apparently Elgin had a torn bicep since the Suzuki match and hid it, and now they're excusing that to losing to Okada. First thing he does, use that same arm to forearm Fale. Meat of the match was Fale and Loa working Shota, when BC tried to double team him, Elgin got involved and him and Fale brawled outside while Loa hit Apeshit on Shota for the win.

Hangman Page & Chase Owens vs Togi Makabe & Toa Henare - 4.5/10

Fucking KK won't shut up about Block C, where's Jay White fucking up the audio equipment when you need him? It almost seemed like Page and Togi were going to brawl, but after a minute they're all in the ring working on Henare. Makabe and Page did their thing, just normal brawling. Henare came in and pulled off some new offense on Page. Finish saw Page hit the Buck Shot and Rite of Passage on Henare for the win. Meh match.

YOSHI-HASHI & SHO vs "Switchblade" Jay White & YOH - 6.5/10

Well, if this time White doesn't break the pin for YOH, it be interesting to see how YOSHI reacts to that, but wait, unfortunately, YOSHI is the worst seller and has the worst facial expressions in the business. White offers to take the fall and go home quick, YH just goes no no no no no, and so White attacks him from behind for insubordination. White tags out and gets Komatsu in. I have to side with White, why hurt each other if you're fighting tomorrow for points?

Anyway, SHO and YOH had a chance to wrestle each other for about a minute, great stuff. White got in and started hurting SHO, enough for YOH to confront his own tag partner, and White audibly said, "You wanted to fight, let's fight". White pushed YOH to attack SHO, but YOH let SHO go and get face to face with White. 12 days of build up played off, but then SHO attacked White and got YOSHI in, who just went straight for YOH.

After this, SHO and White find each outside, SHO takes a hell of a bump on the rail, and when White goes for the chair, YOH saves him, but he opens up for YOSHI to lock in the Butterfly Lock. If you ask me, YOSHI-HASHI was the real piece of shit, White is making a statement, YOH is trying to save SHO, and YOSHI just keeps taking advantage of the situation and then pretends to care. YOH submitted to YOSHI with White on his face talking shit to him. Ok match, but I loved the story.

EVIL & BUSHI vs Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay - 6/10

BUSHI had a mask that once he opened it, it looked like he had a dead swan on his mouth. First half of the match was LIJ working over Finlay, Tanahashi got the hot tag, and him and EVIL did their thing. The end was BUSHI keeping Tanahashi busy outside, while EVIL hit the STO on Finlay for the win. Good match.

Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado vs Kazuchika Okada & Gedo - 6.5/10

Suzuki-Gun got the jump on Okada and Gedo, Suzuki took out Okada for enough time that they were able to work on Gedo for a while. Once Okada made it back, him and Suzuki got at it, and Suzuki got the upper hand on most of the exchange. They tagged out their partners, and Despy and Gedo started trading roll ups. Suzuki reversed a Rainmaker into the sleeper and he made him watch as Desperado pinned Gedo after Pinche Loco. Good match, Gedo was pretty good here.

Post-match - Suzuki went for the GSP, but the Young Lions stop him, so Suzuki hits it on Uemura. Okada got his ass kicked tonight.

G1 Climax 28 Block B Match
Tama Tonga (2) w/Tanga Loa vs Tomohiro Ishii (4) - 7/10

Ishii came aware of Loa's presence, so Tonga started the match trying to sneak out a Gun Stun, but to no avail. They had some great action early on, with the quickness of Tama Tonga. At one point, Ishii to tired of Loa and brought him in to the match, kicked his ass, and took him out, but the distraction allowed Tama Tonga to recover enough to hit his old DDT finisher. Ishii reversed some more moves, and during a ref bump, Loa came in and bent a chair on Ishii's back. GoD went for Guerrilla Warfare, but Ishii fought back and took both of them out, and fuck it, Ishii broke the chair on Tonga's back.

Tama Tonga hit a Tongan Twist on a chair for a near fall. Ishii blocked a Gun Stun and hit a lariat for a near fall. Sliding Lariat for another near fall, but this time it was Loa that pulled the ref. Ishii took out Loa, and this brought out Fale, who hit the Grenade on Ishii. Fale put the dead Tonga on top of Ishii, but Ishii still kicked out. Finish was finally Ishii reversing a Gun Stun into a Brainbuster reversed into a Gun Stun for the clean win for Tama Tonga. Pretty action packed match, but this was unfortunately one of those that I really wanted to see clean.

Post-match - Tama Tonga kept talking shit to Roman Reigns.

G1 Climax 28 Block B Match
SANADA (6) vs Juice Robinson (2) - 8.5/10

They started the match showing off some chain wrestling going to a stand still with dropkicks, SANADA really looking miles away. The match continued with Juice trying to copy SANADA's offense and trying to execute finishers outside the ring, not paying attention to the ref who got to 19.

SANADA started working on Juice's arm at this point, he kept the heat on for a while. Juice in return, would come back with some power moves and slams. Juice made a full comeback, and to continue stealing SANADA's moves, Juice locked in teh Skull End and went for the Moonsault, but failed miserably. SANADA is dominant at this point. Finish saw Juice finally decide to take off his hand casket and go for the now legal punch, they traded off a bunch of Skull End and Pulp Friction set ups, and finally, Juice landed the closed-fist punch, hit Pulp Friction, and won. Really good match, SANADA looked amazing, even in defeat.

A good development to Juice losing all his G1 matches, showing that the cast has really been affecting his matches and the two matches he took it off, he won.

G1 Climax 28 Block B Match
Tetsuya Naito (8) vs Toru Yano (2) - 7/10

Yano rushed to the match, brought a chair, got ready, and meanwhile, Naito didn't hurry to take off his entrance attire. Yano was getting annoyed and impatient. Funny stuff.

Match saw a lot of comedy of Yano trying to pull off his shtick on Naito, and Naito easily and seamingless turning it against Yano. At one point, Naito tied Yano's hand to the rail for a close count out when Yano had to drag the whole rail block to the ring.

Eventually the tricks started working for Yano and he made a comeback, and he starts doing more proper wrestling coming close to take out Naito. There was a weird ref bump that led to nothing, and as the ref came back, Naito hit Destino for the clean win. Fun match.

G1 Climax 28 Block B Match
Zack Sabre Jr (6) w/TAKA Michinoku vs Kenny Omega (10) - 9.5/10

If Sabre had beaten Omega here, he'd have arguably the best win resume for a year in NJPW.

Story of the match was that Sabre had an answer to every signature move of Omega, and even though at first Omega kept his own with Sabre in the match, as the match went on, Sabre just excelled and forced Omega to reach in for super powers and slowly start to hurt Sabre enough. Sabre in addition, worked over Omega's knee, which commentary sold it as working on the real life ankle injury. Omega on the other hand, had to rely on V-Triggers since they're harder to counter into submission.

Towards the end, Sabre locked in a Figure 4 Leg Lock on one leg, and the other on a Stretch Muffler, and then transitioned all of it into a Calf Slicer. Finish finally came after some V-Triggers, but Kenny could only follow with La Magistral for the win. Omega was never able to hit the One Winged Angel. I think these two will clash again. Awesome match.

G1 Climax 28 Block B Match
Kota Ibushi (8) vs Hirooki Goto (6) - 9/10

This is Ibushi's hometown. Match was pretty great, it was really similar to Ibushi vs Ishii, but a lot less hard hitting, a lot less strikes, and more grapple moves, but regardless, it had the same Strong Style feel to it.

Match was hard hitting action packed from the start, and they never paced it down. Back and forward, they started the match going with mostly strikes and trying to get some strong offense in like Ibushi's Golden Triangle Moonsault. There were some counters, but overall it felt like they were limited and all moves landed. Towards the end, Goto hits Shouten Kai for a near fall, Ibushi chases the Kami Goye, and after a Straightjacket German and a Last Ride, he finally hits it for the win.

Post-match - Short promo by Kota, says that he's happy to be back home and that the next time he returns, he'll come back G1 Climax Champion.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Another awesome Block B show in the books, the all the tournament matches were good, or at least worth watching, and that one Jay White tag match in the undercard had a great story that will most likely develop into something. Talking G1 shows, this could be one I'd recommend top to bottom, which is not the case with a lot of them.