Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 29, 8.3
Posted: Aug 5th, '19, 19:38
NJPW G1 Climax 29, Day 13
August 3, 2019
Osaka, Japan
Juice Robinson & Toa Henare vs. Ren Narita & Yota Tsuji - 4/10
Not much here, the Young Lions got a lot of offense, but that was it. Henare won with the Toa Bottom on Tsuji. It's so weird that Juice doesn't get as many teaser matches.
CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Jeff Cobb, Tomoaki Honma & Toru Yano - 5/10
I liked the interaction between Ishii and Yano, but aside from that, it was a meh match. Goto vs Cobb has potential, but given Cobb's tournament, I'll wait for the actual match. Ishii vs Yano should be an interesting interaction. Geeky-HASHI won with his crappy submission over Honma.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - 4/10
They're building Naito vs Shingo here, so the natural thing to do was to make both of them look strong. This had the usual brawl these two stables would have, and it ended up with some really good wrestling between Shingo and Kanemaru. They kept the Naito vs Taichi/Suzuki things to a low this time. Shingo won with Made in Japan over Kanemaru.
Post-match - After the LIJ fist bump, Shingo and Naito had a amicable stare down, completely contrasting the SANADA vs EVIL tease.
BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens & Jay White) vs. Jon Moxley & Shota Umino - 3/10, but a great executed tease
As a match, this wasn't much at all, it was a extended babyface in peril sequence, but the way that White managed to work around Moxley and destroy Shota was great. White and Chase just tortured Shota while White kept pissing off Moxley and teasing him, taking him out when Shota came close to tagging in. White ended up getting rid of Mox enough to tag in, hit Bladerunner on Shota, and win.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Bad Luck Fale [2] vs. KENTA [8] - 6.5/10
I don't know if I was more annoyed at the match or the booking decision here, if half of the block is eliminated and you built KENTA as undefeated until he reached Okada, why the need to eliminate him here, to Fale of all people, to a fucking roll up of all finishes? Match was KENTA fighting off against Fale, Jado, and eventually Chase. The match had a similar idea as the KENTA vs Archer match, with KENTA chopping down Fale's legs to get to the submission attempt, but that good idea was now surrounded by interference of Jado and Chase, that in this particular case, only slowed down things, to the point that when KENTA finally got Fale off his feet, it didn't feel like enough work had taken place. Fale ended up winning with a School Boy because he couldn't end with 2 points and unfortunately for my opinion, he shouldn't get wins over Tanahashi or SANADA. I mean, it's Fale, he can end with 2 points, we all know he's irrelevant at this point.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Lance Archer [4] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [4] - 9/10
Rejoice because it doesn't happen often, but two Suzuki guys wrestled each other with zero shenanigans. Story was the usual Sabre vs any big dude match where he becomes a spider monkey, climbs all over you with submissions, and you toss him around like a pest until he climbs again. Sabre first went after Archer's legs, but later on, as Archer tried for the EBD Claw, he started also working the arm.
This had a lot of Sabre making Archer chase him down, but not in a Jay White way, this had more action to those chases. Archer once again, pulled out some athletic stuff like a Twisting Vader Bomb. The one thing that I wasn't so sure about was Archer breaking up his own pin after a Chokeslam, this wasn't the match that should warrant Archer wanting to cause more damage to his opponent, and I guess he getting the Blackout reversed into a Sleeper and then a Crucifix pin for the win is what Archer deserves.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
EVIL [6] vs. Will Ospreay [4] - 9.5/10
This was one of the pair up I gave less shit going in to the tournament, it's two guys that I just never thought would really cross paths, but here they were having an awesome match. Like seriously Ospreay, WTF? How can this man, with half a neck at this point, keep having top level matches with literally everyone? From Douki to Okada! WTF!
And not to take anything away from EVIL, he was awesome here too. Now that he's done being a pissed off teenager, his wins are really coming together.
The match was a smooth combination of both men's styles. Both of them got to hit their usual stuff and make it merge nicely. EVIL went after Ospreay's neck, who took some nasty bumps here and there, the super lariat towards the end being the one that made me fringe the most, like it was so brutal that made me wonder if the neck injury is a work and he simply took a day off to sell it. The final minutes of the match were great too, I kinda felt that EVIL was winning this, but I still kept popping for the near falls and reversals. EVIL ended up winning with an STO after blocking the Stormbreaker and super Os Cutter.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi [8] vs. Kota Ibushi [8] - 9.5/10
A great match that played into both men's knee and ankle injuries. They worked over those limbs for most of the match until they started going after the head and their respective finishers. This felt like the climax to a story that started with last year's G1 final, but now it was a more determined Ibushi. An Ibushi that wasn't taking shit from Tanahashi. An Ibushi that was determined to take that torch by force.
Like I mentioned, they went for each other's legs, which plays into the idea that both men probably wanted to keep each other grounded. Tanahashi doesn't want a high flying Ibushi going all over the place, and Ibushi benefits from a grounded Tanahashi that is open to taking Bomaye and Kamigoye, given that Ibushi has once defeated Tanahashi with Bomaye. This still didn't stop them from doing top rope stuff, Tanahashi went for the High Fly Flow and Ibushi had the strength for the second rope German, the footstomp, and other leg-strength-relying moves.
There was a point in this match were it clearly hit second gear, when Tanahashi hit one of his AWESOME slaps and it pushed Ibushi's button. From there on, it was edge-of-the-seat action, as either man could win at this point. Finishing sequence saw Tanahashi block Kamigoye and cradled Ibushi, who kicked out, responded with two kicks, and a final Kamigoye for the win.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Kazuchika Okada [12] vs. SANADA [4] - 10/10
This was the logical step in this rivalries progress. Okada has defeated SANADA all over the place, but as they go on and on, SANADA keeps getting closer and closer to the fans, and to defeating Okada, and for the first time, he did.
The match was kinda similar to the other two matches they had this year, but we saw a SANADA with more heart, that got the better of Okada in spots that he had failed before. In the same vein, this was a match were Okada seemed focused all the way, he never showed that he was underestimating SANADA anymore, and at the point that he hit the Rainmaker pose, it wasn't a cocky one, it was Okada doing it to impose his dominance.
The final minutes were the best thing with Okada looking to the Rainmaker, which after hitting two short ones, couldn't keep SANADA down, who actually landed one himself. On SANADA's side, he kept going for Skull End, constantly finding ways to counter Okada into them. Around this point, they got close to the 30 minute time limit and everything pointed to a time limit draw because SANADA couldn't seal the deal with neither submission or pin, but as Okada went for one more Rainmaker, SANADA dodged it, hit a TKO and couple of moonsaults to finally defeat Okada. SANADA may be eliminated, but he just got the biggest win of his New Japan career.
This was fantastic.
Now that I've said all that. The real reason I went with a 10/10 here was Red Shoes. His work during the final submissions added so much for the drama at the end. His reactions to Okada's hand either moving or not and wanting to call it but not, it was all fantastic.
Post-match - LOVED IT!. SANADA said he finally defeated his biggest rival. That was ok, but the great thing was Okada's reaction backstage, he was pissed. He said he lost against the one man he didn't want to lose against in the tournament, a tournament that includes KENTA, Tanahashi, Ibushi, Ospreay, and Sabre, but it was SANADA the guy that Okada didn't want to lose to and he did. This is a really similar story they used for Omega vs Okada, and it's building SANADA to another level. For Okada to consider SANADA a bigger rival now that Tanahashi (in the block at least) means a lot.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This was the show of the tournament so far, it was awesome. I'd call it SOTC if not for the undercard that, well, it's not meant to put out awesome matches but it's still part of the show and needs to be considered. Takerover gets raved by for putting awesome shows with only 5 matches, well no shit, this blew away any Takeover if there were no preview matches.
POST SHOW POINT STANDINGS
August 3, 2019
Osaka, Japan
Juice Robinson & Toa Henare vs. Ren Narita & Yota Tsuji - 4/10
Not much here, the Young Lions got a lot of offense, but that was it. Henare won with the Toa Bottom on Tsuji. It's so weird that Juice doesn't get as many teaser matches.
CHAOS (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Jeff Cobb, Tomoaki Honma & Toru Yano - 5/10
I liked the interaction between Ishii and Yano, but aside from that, it was a meh match. Goto vs Cobb has potential, but given Cobb's tournament, I'll wait for the actual match. Ishii vs Yano should be an interesting interaction. Geeky-HASHI won with his crappy submission over Honma.
Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs. Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) - 4/10
They're building Naito vs Shingo here, so the natural thing to do was to make both of them look strong. This had the usual brawl these two stables would have, and it ended up with some really good wrestling between Shingo and Kanemaru. They kept the Naito vs Taichi/Suzuki things to a low this time. Shingo won with Made in Japan over Kanemaru.
Post-match - After the LIJ fist bump, Shingo and Naito had a amicable stare down, completely contrasting the SANADA vs EVIL tease.
BULLET CLUB (Chase Owens & Jay White) vs. Jon Moxley & Shota Umino - 3/10, but a great executed tease
As a match, this wasn't much at all, it was a extended babyface in peril sequence, but the way that White managed to work around Moxley and destroy Shota was great. White and Chase just tortured Shota while White kept pissing off Moxley and teasing him, taking him out when Shota came close to tagging in. White ended up getting rid of Mox enough to tag in, hit Bladerunner on Shota, and win.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Bad Luck Fale [2] vs. KENTA [8] - 6.5/10
I don't know if I was more annoyed at the match or the booking decision here, if half of the block is eliminated and you built KENTA as undefeated until he reached Okada, why the need to eliminate him here, to Fale of all people, to a fucking roll up of all finishes? Match was KENTA fighting off against Fale, Jado, and eventually Chase. The match had a similar idea as the KENTA vs Archer match, with KENTA chopping down Fale's legs to get to the submission attempt, but that good idea was now surrounded by interference of Jado and Chase, that in this particular case, only slowed down things, to the point that when KENTA finally got Fale off his feet, it didn't feel like enough work had taken place. Fale ended up winning with a School Boy because he couldn't end with 2 points and unfortunately for my opinion, he shouldn't get wins over Tanahashi or SANADA. I mean, it's Fale, he can end with 2 points, we all know he's irrelevant at this point.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Lance Archer [4] vs. Zack Sabre Jr. [4] - 9/10
Rejoice because it doesn't happen often, but two Suzuki guys wrestled each other with zero shenanigans. Story was the usual Sabre vs any big dude match where he becomes a spider monkey, climbs all over you with submissions, and you toss him around like a pest until he climbs again. Sabre first went after Archer's legs, but later on, as Archer tried for the EBD Claw, he started also working the arm.
This had a lot of Sabre making Archer chase him down, but not in a Jay White way, this had more action to those chases. Archer once again, pulled out some athletic stuff like a Twisting Vader Bomb. The one thing that I wasn't so sure about was Archer breaking up his own pin after a Chokeslam, this wasn't the match that should warrant Archer wanting to cause more damage to his opponent, and I guess he getting the Blackout reversed into a Sleeper and then a Crucifix pin for the win is what Archer deserves.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
EVIL [6] vs. Will Ospreay [4] - 9.5/10
This was one of the pair up I gave less shit going in to the tournament, it's two guys that I just never thought would really cross paths, but here they were having an awesome match. Like seriously Ospreay, WTF? How can this man, with half a neck at this point, keep having top level matches with literally everyone? From Douki to Okada! WTF!
And not to take anything away from EVIL, he was awesome here too. Now that he's done being a pissed off teenager, his wins are really coming together.
The match was a smooth combination of both men's styles. Both of them got to hit their usual stuff and make it merge nicely. EVIL went after Ospreay's neck, who took some nasty bumps here and there, the super lariat towards the end being the one that made me fringe the most, like it was so brutal that made me wonder if the neck injury is a work and he simply took a day off to sell it. The final minutes of the match were great too, I kinda felt that EVIL was winning this, but I still kept popping for the near falls and reversals. EVIL ended up winning with an STO after blocking the Stormbreaker and super Os Cutter.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi [8] vs. Kota Ibushi [8] - 9.5/10
A great match that played into both men's knee and ankle injuries. They worked over those limbs for most of the match until they started going after the head and their respective finishers. This felt like the climax to a story that started with last year's G1 final, but now it was a more determined Ibushi. An Ibushi that wasn't taking shit from Tanahashi. An Ibushi that was determined to take that torch by force.
Like I mentioned, they went for each other's legs, which plays into the idea that both men probably wanted to keep each other grounded. Tanahashi doesn't want a high flying Ibushi going all over the place, and Ibushi benefits from a grounded Tanahashi that is open to taking Bomaye and Kamigoye, given that Ibushi has once defeated Tanahashi with Bomaye. This still didn't stop them from doing top rope stuff, Tanahashi went for the High Fly Flow and Ibushi had the strength for the second rope German, the footstomp, and other leg-strength-relying moves.
There was a point in this match were it clearly hit second gear, when Tanahashi hit one of his AWESOME slaps and it pushed Ibushi's button. From there on, it was edge-of-the-seat action, as either man could win at this point. Finishing sequence saw Tanahashi block Kamigoye and cradled Ibushi, who kicked out, responded with two kicks, and a final Kamigoye for the win.
G1 Climax 2019 Block A Match
Kazuchika Okada [12] vs. SANADA [4] - 10/10
This was the logical step in this rivalries progress. Okada has defeated SANADA all over the place, but as they go on and on, SANADA keeps getting closer and closer to the fans, and to defeating Okada, and for the first time, he did.
The match was kinda similar to the other two matches they had this year, but we saw a SANADA with more heart, that got the better of Okada in spots that he had failed before. In the same vein, this was a match were Okada seemed focused all the way, he never showed that he was underestimating SANADA anymore, and at the point that he hit the Rainmaker pose, it wasn't a cocky one, it was Okada doing it to impose his dominance.
The final minutes were the best thing with Okada looking to the Rainmaker, which after hitting two short ones, couldn't keep SANADA down, who actually landed one himself. On SANADA's side, he kept going for Skull End, constantly finding ways to counter Okada into them. Around this point, they got close to the 30 minute time limit and everything pointed to a time limit draw because SANADA couldn't seal the deal with neither submission or pin, but as Okada went for one more Rainmaker, SANADA dodged it, hit a TKO and couple of moonsaults to finally defeat Okada. SANADA may be eliminated, but he just got the biggest win of his New Japan career.
This was fantastic.
Now that I've said all that. The real reason I went with a 10/10 here was Red Shoes. His work during the final submissions added so much for the drama at the end. His reactions to Okada's hand either moving or not and wanting to call it but not, it was all fantastic.
Post-match - LOVED IT!. SANADA said he finally defeated his biggest rival. That was ok, but the great thing was Okada's reaction backstage, he was pissed. He said he lost against the one man he didn't want to lose against in the tournament, a tournament that includes KENTA, Tanahashi, Ibushi, Ospreay, and Sabre, but it was SANADA the guy that Okada didn't want to lose to and he did. This is a really similar story they used for Omega vs Okada, and it's building SANADA to another level. For Okada to consider SANADA a bigger rival now that Tanahashi (in the block at least) means a lot.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
This was the show of the tournament so far, it was awesome. I'd call it SOTC if not for the undercard that, well, it's not meant to put out awesome matches but it's still part of the show and needs to be considered. Takerover gets raved by for putting awesome shows with only 5 matches, well no shit, this blew away any Takeover if there were no preview matches.
POST SHOW POINT STANDINGS
Block A Block B |
Kazuchika Okada [12] Tetsuya Naito[6] |
Hiroshi Tanahashi [8] Jon Moxley[10] |
Kota Ibushi [10] Tomohiro Ishii [6] |
KENTA [8] Hirooki Goto [6] |
Will Ospreay [4] Toru Yano [6] |
EVIL [8] Jay White [6] |
SANADA [6] Shingo Takagi [4] |
Zack Sabre Jr [6] Jeff Cobb [6] |
Lance Archer [4] Taichi [4] |
Bad Luck Fale [4] Juice Robinson [6] |