NJPW G1 Climax 29, 7.13

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL & SANADA) vs. Kota Ibushi, Will Ospreay & Yuya Uemura - 6/10

Next to Okada and Tanahashi teaming, I think Ibushi and Ospreay teaming could be Mega Powers level of a team right now, but it wasn't milked out, and so here it just seemed like a random thing that doesn't matter.

Ibushi vs EVIL was heavy on the striking and EVIL worked on Ibushi's legit injured ankle and ended up being worked on by LIJ for a while. Ospreay vs SANADA was good, really athletic. BUSHI and Uemura were just kinda there.

BULLET CLUB (Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens) vs. Suzuki-gun (Lance Archer & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - 5/10

Archer vs Fale is gonna be a hell of a hoss fight. Terrible wrestling, but two huge dudes colliding with each other can do no wrong, just add some drama like Dylan James vs Yuji Okabayashi earlier this year, and we could have something really memorable considering how different these two guys are.

I also liked that Chase and Kanemaru did their parts and didn't back out from the giants, they actually saved them on separate occasions. I also liked the 20 count tease here, with both Chase and Kanemaru chokedslammed outside while Fale and Archer brawled in the crowd. Chase pinned Kanemaru with the Package Piledriver.

Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks & KENTA vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ren Narita & Shota Umino - 7.5/10

I've been waiting for this match, it's the New Japan LA Dojo vs New Japan Dojo, not to mention the preview of Tanahashi vs KENTA. When it came to the Young Lions facing off, it was really good, both pair looked strong in their own strengths. Connors and Fredericks are considerably larger, and so they played a stronger position, with bigger moves and doing more damage. At one point Connors even took out Tanahashi. As for Narita and Shota, they just looked like superior wrestlers, like if Tanahashi faced off against someone like Lesnar, smaller, but superior. It's a weird analogy. Furthermore, even as the one that submitted in the finish, Narita was the MVP of the match, he looked awesome against both US lions.

The stuff with KENTA and Tana was good, but it wasn't as epic as I wanted it to be, I guess teasing them finally in the ring together could had been better. It actually all started before then match with both teams shoving each other, including KENTA and Tana, which kinda got lost in the shuffle.

Post-match - the Young Lions shoved each other some more outside the ring. This is gonna become a nice little sub-feud throughout the tour.

CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr.) - 7/10

Don't worry, there's still Okada vs Archer as a chance for Suzuki to pin Okada and get that sweet sweet title shot at Power Struggle or Destruction. Match was great, not only are Suzuki and Sabre an awesome tag team, but they tortured YOSHI-HASHI!

Okada vs either SZKG guys was great as usual. YOSHI-HASHI did his usual 'I shout really loud to make you think I have fire" stuff, and Suzuki and Sabre played with limbs like a kid plays with their food when they're not hungry. That geek YH tapped out to an armbar for the finish.

G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Juice Robinson vs. Shingo Takagi - 9/10

This was really really good, I thought that given the spot on the card, they would get little time and not a lot of drama, but I was wrong. Naito vs Yano later on ended up being short, and so this benefited from that. These two had a hell of a fight, a lot of striking and heavy hitting. At the end of the match, I really didn't know who would be taking the win, both Shingo and Juice were at the verge of winning, and it was just a matter of who would hit their finisher first, which ended up being Juice.

During the match they played the idea that Shingo had just finished the BOSJ with the perfect score and wondered if he could do it again. Unfortunately, that story cannot continue now.

G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Jon Moxley vs. Taichi - 7/10

Moxley entered though the crowd, and Taichi attacked him back there before the match started, so by the time the bell rang, Mox had taken some damage. Once the match started, it was a lot of striking, kicks, and a couple of big moves here and there. I liked how Taichi had a lot of momentum, but once Mox 'woke up' he seemed almost untouched. Taichi had a couple of nice near falls towards the end, and there was some ref bump shenanigans, but at the end, Mox won with a Deathrider.

G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano - Dud, but TONS of fun!

It was your Yano match of the tournament, the one he always has that gets him some upsets. Naito played his part perfectly. Cornette will hate this, but I loved it top to bottom.

G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Jeff Cobb vs. Tomohiro Ishii - 9/10

There is one particular spot later in the match that I straight up don't know if it was a botch or no, it was Cobb going for a piledriver, but it looked like he went for a powerbomb, couldn't lift him up, and then hit a Piledriver that I just hope Ishii was properly ready for it.

G1 Climax 2019 Block B Match
Hirooki Goto vs. Jay White (w/Gedo) - 9.25/10

It's not like I suddenly think that Goto is going to win the G1, but this Goto tonight, could be a world champion anywhere else, he looked to regain his prime and had a great match. And not taking anything away from White who was awesome too, but Goto just looked better and deserving of this win. The final minutes with both men chasing their finishers was really solid, and the kickouts incredibly over. When Goto hit Shouten Kai and the reverse GTR I completely popped. It would take a second GTR for Goto to pick up the first win.

There is a lot of talk of Goto and the LA Dojo and Shibata and KENTA and the US Lions. I'm starting to wonder if we're seeing the birth of a new stable here, of babyface gaijins and japanese wrestlers under the leadership of Shibata's flag.

Post-match - Goto cut his winner's promo saying that it had been a while and that the G in G1 Climax stands for Goto.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

A great start to the B Block. I think I liked it slightly more than the July 6 show, and that's considering I was there live. This show in addition had a really strong undercard with more than just teases as we also had the Dojo feud and the idea that Suzuki wants to get one over Okada one way or another. It's gonna be a great tournament.