Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 28 - 7.19

[cero2k]

NJPW G1 Climax 28, Day 4
July 19, 2018
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Show started with a ceremony and ten bell salute to remember and honor Masa Saito. Most of the babyfaces are out here. Masa Saito RIP.

Jay White & YOH vs Michael Elgin & Ren Narita - 6.5/10
Story here was the tease of White being resilient against Elgin, but once Elgin got his hands on him, he could make a lot of damage. YOH tapped out Narita with a Boston Crab, and for some reason, White just rushed in and tried hitting the Bladerunner on him before Elgin save Narita. I'm starting to really love White.

Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado vs YOSHI-HASHI & SHO - 6.5/10
Match started with the ceremonial Suzuki Opening Jumping of the Opponent, but it was YOSHI who got the better of Suzuki outside the ring while Desperado and SHO fought inside. There was another brawl outside for the countout tease before SZKG started working over SHO for a while. When YOSHI got the hot tag, be brought a good fight to Suzuki, so much that since both are 0-2 right now, I can see YOSHI taking the win tomorrow. Finish saw Suzuki pin SHO after the Gotch Style Piledriver. After the match, Suzuki had some words for YOSHI.

EVIL & BUSHI vs Togi Makabe & Toa Henare - 5.5/10
Match was mostly Henare vs LIJ, they did a good job cutting the ring in half at him. EVIL did antagonize Makabe constantly as he kept striking him in the corner. Finish was kinda weird if you think about it since BUSHI single handedly choked and held off Makabe while EVIL submitted Henare.

Bad Luck Fale & Tanga Loa vs Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay - 5.5/10
Story is still about Tanahashi's injured leg and now Fale's size and weight, but at least Tanahashi has started working on Fale's leg this early. Tanga Loa worked for a while over Tanahashi until the Ace was able to tag in Finlay, who fought off with Loa for a bit before falling to a Tongan Driver and pin. I have always liked the Tana vs Fale matches, i'm excited for tomorrow's.

Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs Hangman Page & Chase Owens - 6.5/10
To say that in a match with Okada, it was Gedo vs Page that I liked the most. Having said that Okada and Page seemed to work nicely together and should have a good match tomorrow, especially because Page kept pushing Okada to 'bring it' saying that he doesn't want 'this shit' as in balloons and Scoody Dooby Doos tomorrow. Finish saw Page take out Okada outside while Owens dropped Gedo with the Package Piledriver for the win.

G1 Climax Block B Match
Tama Tonga (2) w/Tanga Loa vs SANADA (0) - 7/10
This match got overbooked to a point, but it ended up working. Match saw SANADA had to fight off both Tanga Loa and Tama Tonga, and at the end, even Fale. Early on, Tanga Loa was getting involved leading to Tama Tonga having the upper hand, but ref sent Loa to the back, at which point SANADA made a comeback and they went at it back and forward. As SANADA was coming close to the win, there was a ref bump that led to Fale and Loa coming out to gang up on SANADA, but SANADA was able to find an opening to bridge Tama Tonga for the pin. I get that they're playing this whole thing as going back to basics of the BC, but there has to be a point when Tama Tonga is gonna have to show that he can have a good long match without interference or ref bumps.

G1 Climax Block B Match
Zack Sabre Jr (0) w/TAKA Michinoku vs Toru Yano (0) - 8/10
Another surprisingly better Yano match than expected. First half of the match was Sabre wanting to win the match via countout, to which they would brawl outside, Sabre would lock in some submission and try to win that way, but Yano kept making it back in time. After the failed attempts, Sabre started working for the submission win inside the ring, coming close when Yano pretty much passed out but reached the rope at the last second. Yano, not being able to overcome Sabre, started going for his underhanded tactics, but among them all, Sabre ended up pining him with the Gedo Clutch. Good match.

G1 Climax Block B Match
Kota Ibushi (2) vs Juice Robinson (0) - 9/10
Great match, tons of great action and high spots. First part of the match was Robinson trying his best to block Ibushi from going aerial, eventually ending in a fight in the ring apron where Ibushi hit a jumping huracanrana to the floor, and from there on, Ibushi was unleashed, he just started going for crazy spots including a moonsault from the top of the ring post OVER the guardrail. Finish was similar to the Sabre match where Ibushi makes hold of the wrists of Juice and no matter what moves, he doesn't let go, so Ibushi lands a Straightjacket German and the Kamigoye for the win. After the match, Ibushi and Robinson embraced. Great match.

G1 Climax Block B Match
Tetsuya Naito (0) vs Tomohiro Ishii (2) - 9.5/10
For some reason Naito thought it was a good idea pretend to be WALTER and help Ishii train for their Rev Pro match. This match was A LOT of Naito trying to piss off Ishii via chops and strikes until Ishii got pissed and beat the shit out of Naito. Eventually Naito brought the match to his usual pace, but a lot of Naito moves don't really move Ishii, so Ishii kept cutting him off.

Towards the end, Naito stopped trying to go strike by strike with Ishii and started going for Destino, which he had a lot of trouble landing as Ishii kept blocking or reversing, but finally out of nowhere he hit one Destino, and followed it with another for the pin. Awesome match. Nice to see Naito, that had been sleeping all year, finally wake up.

G1 Climax Block B Match
Kenny Omega (2) vs Hirooki Goto (2) - 9/10
They teased hitting their finishers early on and then proceeded to spend some time brawling outside and into the bleachers where we saw Omega slam Goto into and follow up with a moonsault from a near ledge with a guardrail into Goto.

Back in the ring, they went for their signature moves, back and forward all the time. Goto landed a top rope Sunset Flip Bomb. They got into a striking match towards the end before Goto hit the Shouten Kai and when he went for the GTR, Omega reversed it to a roll up for a near fall. Omega started going for the V-Trigger, landing three of them, then the One Winged Angel for the win. Good classic NJPW match.

Post-match - Omega cut his winner's promo putting over Block B, but remind you all that none of them are the champion that He is.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Another great show from Block B. I'm starting to wonder if Ibushi and Omega will go undefeated until their match.

A BLOCK STANDINGS
Jay White - 4
Hiroshi Tanahashi - 2
Hangman Page - 2
Togi Makabe - 4
Micahel Elgin - 4
Kazuchika Okada - 0
Minoru Suzuki - 0
EVIL - 2
YOSHI-HASHI - 0
Bad Luck Fale - 0

B BLOCK STANDINGS
Kenny Omega 4
Kota Ibushi 4
Hirooki Goto 2
Tama Tonga 2
Tomohiro Ishii 2
Tetsuya Naito 2
Zack Sabre Jr. 2
SANADA 2
Juice Robinson 0
Toru Yano 0