Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 28 - 7.20

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cero2k
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Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 28 - 7.20

Post by cero2k » Jul 22nd, '18, 11:53

NJPW G1 Climax 28, Day 5
July 20, 2018
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Zack Sabre Jr & TAKA Michinoku vs Toa Henare & Shota Umino - 4/10
I thought that Henare and Umino had too much offense against Sabre, I wouldn't mind against TAKA, but Sabre should just come in and stretch them both. Sabre tapped out Umino.

Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi vs Toru Yano & Gedo - 5/10
Gedo is replacing Jado for some reason. Yano is starting to go more and more into his old ways, but the refs keep trying to talk him out of it and every time he listens to them, things don't work out for him. Yujiro pinned Gedo with Pimp Juice.

SANADA & Tetsuya Naito vs Juice Robinson & David Finlay - 6/10
Story of the match and preview is that Naito kinda re-injured Juice's hand enough so that most of the match had to be Finlay surviving against LIJ. When Juice finally made it back to the match, Naito went all Pentagon Sabre on Juice. SANADA tapped out Finlay to the Skull End. One of the better matches of the undercard.

Post-match - Naito kept hurting Juice's hand.

Guerrilas of Destiny vs Kenny Omega & Chase Owens - 5.5/10
This is it. Omega drops the belt outside, not waiting for introductions. Chase and Omega run into the ring looking for a brawl. The tag team proficiency of the Tongas gives them the upper hand and they quickly gain mometum and start working over Owens for most of the match. Kenny came in and tried to make a comeback, but Tama Tonga Gun Stunned him to get rid of him and leave Owens ready for Loa to take him out and pin him.

Post-match - Firing Squad left, but then out of nowhere, Tama Tonga returned and landed another Gun Stun on Omega.

Tomohiro Ishii & SHO vs Hirooki Goto & YOH -6.5/10
Great match. Ishii and Goto had no problem going at it like nothing, and SHO and YOH followed right behind them. All combinations in this match were great. A combination knee from SHO and brainbuster by Ishii on YOH for the finish.

G1 Climax Block A Match
Jay White (4) vs Michael Elgin (4) - 8/10
Battle of undefeated here. They went straight for the story from yesterday, with White being cocky and resilient, but Elgin's strength was just too much for White to simply go at him. So Elgin started the match on top, but White in a reverse kind of way, started making a comeback. They fought off for a while, making it to the apron where we had a really scary spot with White going for the Kiwi Krusher, but they twisted each other in a way, that it seemed like Elgin's weight was too much for White and they both went down to the floor. We had a great near fall from Elgin when he hit White with a Roaring Elbow, Lariat, and Tiger Bomb.

Finish saw Elgin hit a Buckle Bomb on White, but as he's falling, White grabs the ref and takes him out with him. White takes advantage and low blows Elgin and hits the Bladerunner for the win. Great match, but it didn't need a ref bump. All these ref bumps more than anything is making White seem like an unworthy leader, it's understandable to do it against the top men, but Elgin should have lost clean.

G1 Climax Block A Match
Minoru Suzuki (0) vs YOSHI-HASHI (0) - 8/10
Battle of the losers on this end. YOSHI brought it to Suzuki all match, even after early on, Suzuki smashed YOSHI's elbow with a chair. Suzuki had control for a while, always working the arm. YOSHI made a small comeback after he manages to drop Suzuki with a DDT. Towards the end, they're both kinda going for their submissions, but since Suzuki won't submit to the Butterfly Lock, YOSHI goes for Karma which Suzuki fights off, slaps the hell out of YH, and finally drops him with the Gotch Piledriver for the win. Pretty good match, YOSHI is really pushing it this tournament, even with a 0-3 record.

G1 Climax Block A Match
EVIL (2) vs Togi Makabe (4) - 7/10
Initially, they fought off in the ring before going outside where EVIL hit his baseball chair shot on Makabe and then they brawled into the crowd where EVIL went with his Lariat version of Hiromu's running dropkick, but Makabe blocked it and took out EVIL. Back in the ring, EVIL hit Darkness Falls and started chasing the STO, but Makabe kept blocking it. After more brawling, EVIL hit a Lariat and STO for the win. Nothing much to this match, but overall a good brawl.

G1 Climax Block A Match
Hiroshi Tanahashi (2) vs Bad Luck Fale (0) w/Tanga Loa - 9/10
Awesome match, but I can see it getting hated because of this Firing Squad formula that we've been seeing. Tanahashi jumped Fale and went straight for the leg, and while it seemed he had something to go for, Tanga Loa made his presence feel pretty quick and outside the ring, within distractions and not, Tanga Loa and Fale beat up Tanahashi for a while.

Tanahashi kept his focus on Fale's knee all match, he kept going back at it, at least until the end when he had to rely on his stronger moves to counter the overwhelming strength of Fale. Match had a lot of great counters from Tanahashi as he kept getting out of some of Fale's stronger moves. This comeback led to Tanahashi hitting some Slingblades and High Fly Flow for the near fall, when Tanga Loa pulled the Red Shoes from the ring.

Finish finally came when we got Loa and Fale attacking Tanahashi, but the FS accidentally clash with each other and out of nowhere, Tama Tonga comes out and drops Tanahashi with a Gun Stun. Fale covers him and as Red Shoes gets in the ring, he's about to count, but suddenly he has a change of heart, he's had enough, flips off the Firing Squad and DQs Fale!!

Post-match - The Firing Squad returned and attacked Tanahashi and Red Shoes before leaving. I loved that the ref got his ass kicked for sticking to his morals and DQing Fale. Not that I wanted the heels to get their heat back, but I like that there are consequences to messing with them and I like that the ref isn't the one leaving with the spotlight

G1 Climax Block A Match
Kazuchika Okada (0) w/Gedo vs Hangman Page (2) - 9/10
I'm not sure how this will fare in later matches, but Okada getting the win here, Page pushing him to 'bring it', and that one spot in the match where Okada's smile disappeared and Okada 'brought it', it could all point for Okada to start getting his shit back together.

Match was great, back and forward for the most part. First half of the match was kinda slow since it was all the Page trying to wake up Okada, but as soon as Okada turned his smile down, the match got great. Both men started trading more strikes, Page chased the Rite of Passage, which Okada kept countering into roll ups or Tombstones. Page countered a Rainmaker with a Superkick. Finish saw Page go for the RoP again, but Okada reversed it into a Lariat and the Rainmaker for the win.

Post-match - Okada cut a promo saying that the G1 was barely starting, as he was crying in the ring.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show, good solid action in the tournament matches. I felt that this show was that block show where you know that opening settles down and not the point ranking starts to build as we see guys like Suzuki start getting their points.

A BLOCK STANDINGS
Jay White - 6
Hiroshi Tanahashi - 4
Hangman Page - 2
Togi Makabe - 4
Michael Elgin - 4
Kazuchika Okada - 2
Minoru Suzuki - 2
EVIL - 4
YOSHI-HASHI - 0
Bad Luck Fale - 2

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
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Big Red Machine
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Re: Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 28 - 7.20

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 22nd, '18, 12:12

You forgot a rating for Page vs. Okada.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

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