Cero Reviews NJPW G1 Climax 28 - 8.8

[cero2k]

NJPW G1 Climax 28, Day 16
August 8, 2018
Tokyo, Japan

Togi Makabe & Henare vs Michael Elgin & Shota Umino - 5/10
Big dudes slamming each other and on each other. Umino as usual was the MVP of any match he's in, but he fell to Henare's Uranage. Kevin Kelly said that Elgin's arm is not torn, just strained, which is good news.

Hangman Page & Chase Owens vs YOSHI-HASHI & SHO - 4.5/10
Short match, Page and Owens showed off a lot since YH sucks. He even got him by the Buckshot in a teaser match. Owens hit the Jewel Heist on SHO, then Page hit the Rite of Passage for the win.

Bad Luck Fale & Tanga Loa vs Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado - 4/10
This was pretty much an all out brawl. SZKG jumped FS and they went into the crowd where FS was the one that ended on top. Inside the ring, Suzuki worked on Fale's leg and Loa overpowered Despy. Suzuki went for the GSP, but Fale was too big for him. Loa won with Apeshit on Despy. After the match, Suzuki and Fale brawled to the back.

EVIL & BUSHI vs "Switchblade" Jay White & YOH - 4.5/10
The problems between White and SHO continued, as White made YOH wrestled both guys as he was trying to stay from EVIL. White was great talking shit all match tho. BUSHI won with MX on YOH. After the match, EVIL went for the Baseball Chair Shot, White simply walked away as EVIL sacrificed YOH.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay vs Kazuchika Okada & Gedo - 5/10
Crowd got hot for Okada vs Tanahashi, who were great. Tanahashi seemed to be more over with the crowd.. Match ended with Finlay pinning Gedo after a stunner. After the match, Tana and Okada had a stand off, crowd going crazy.

G1 Climax 28 Block B Match
Juice Robinson (4) vs Tomohiro Ishii (6) - 8.5/10
Mostly a striking battle. Story early on was that Juice couldn't even make Ishii blink with his offense until he took off the cast. Once free of his constrain, Juice for some momentum for a bit. Afterwards, Ishii cut him off and they went back and forward with strikes and some big moves. Juice started chasing Pulp Friction, but Ishii escaped. Ishii started hitting a lot of headbutts, lariats, and an enziguri to set up the brainbuster for the win. Last minutes of this match were fire.

G1 Climax 28 Block B Match
Hirooki Goto (6) vs Zack Sabre Jr (8) w/TAKA Michinoku - 8.5/10
Sabre worked his submissions, focused on Goto's arm. Goto in the other hand, started hot with a lot of kicks and his usual arsenal. As the match went on, Sabre got more and more relentless with his submissions, which Goto kept overpowering himself out of and hitting the Ushigoroshi, and chasing the GTR, which Sabre reversed into the European Clutch for the submission win.

Match went fast, but overall good. Sabre had a great tournament. Sabre hinted chasing the NEVER title, which should be a good feud towards Destruction, or even King of Pro Wrestling.

G1 Climax 28 Block B Match
Kota Ibushi (10) vs Tama Tonga (4) - 7/10
This was Tama Tonga's best match of the whole tournament, if only because Tanga Loa barely got himself in the match and we got to see Tonga wrestle more than we've seen for the last 15 shows.

They initially brawled as Tama Tonga jumped Ibushi during the entrance, and later on, they'd brawl to the balcony so Ibushi could take some air and take out Tonga and all the Young Lions.

Once back in the ring, it was around here that Loa came in to the match, but it wasn't a bad interference, just a foot grab. Tama Tonga started going for the Gun Stun, while Ibushi hit some of his signature moves and looked for the Kamigoye. After a bit, there was the scheduled ref bump that brought out Fale into the match.

Fale attacks Ibushi, so this brings out Kenny Omega who takes out Fale. Ibushi takes out Loa and Tonga, but as he tries to hit Kamigoye on Tama Tonga, Tama Tonga gets out of it and hits a pop-up Gun Stun for the win.

Post-match - This was awesome! Firing Squad keep attacking Ibushi and Omega. Loa powerbombs Omega before Page and Owens come out for the save. They run off FS while the ref is checking in on Omega's condition, since, well, his match with Yano is next. Time is running out and the ring announcer is in the ring. Page and Owens are pleading to give Omega more time to recover, but now we hear Toru Yano's music, who comes down to the ring and so with no time to recover, we get...

G1 Climax 28 Block B Match
Toru Yano (2) vs Kenny Omega (12) - 6.5/10, but incredibly entertaining.
Yano immediately goes for the pin a la MITB cash in, but Omega kicks out. Yano starts removing all the corner pads. Yano tries to whip Omega into them, but Owens is playing guardian angel and is blocking all the corners either with his body or pads, all legal interference.

Yano then took all the pads and put them in the center of the ring, but he only ended up getting whipped himself into the exposed corners. He suplex Omega into the pads, that obviously didn't do anything to Omega. The crowd reaction here was great.

Yano's next tactic was to tie up Omega, he tied him up to Ren Narita! Omega straight up carries Narita into the ring to make the 19 count. Inside the ring, Omega pulls Narita and they both clothesline Yano.

Towards the end, Red Shoes started getting brought into the action as they're using him to block Germans, but ends up him and Omega getting low blowed by Yano. This brings out the Tongans, who take out both Yano and Omega, and Tama Tonga, at the end, drags the dead Yano over Omega for (upset?) win over the champ.

It's not a five star classic, but this had to be one of the most hilarious and entertaining matches of the year for NJPW.

G1 Climax 28 Block B Match
Tetsuya Naito (10) vs SANADA (8) - 9/10
This was all action, it kinda fluctuated in pace. Story of the match is that both men know each other well enough, so that they went for Destino and Skull End from early on and never let that go, because they kept reversing each other one way or another.

Naito hit some Destinos, but never the full one, so SANADA kicked out. SANADA on the other hand, did lock in Skull End too, but Naito kept getting to the ropes or reversing it. Finish finally came when both men are trading reverses, and at one point, SANADA was gonna hit a DDT, but Naito blocks it and hits Destino. This was a really cool match that properly showed two guys that know each other. Easily the match of the night.

Post-match - EVIL and BUSHI come out, EVIL brings Hiromu's jacket with him. Naito cuts a promo saying that 4 of the LIJ members are in the ring right now and that no matter how long it takes Hiromu to get better, he tells him to come back and that they're waiting for him. He puts over SANADA for the match they just had and how it will stick in people's hearts. They all do the LIJ fist bump, Naito fist bumps Hiromu's jacket, I cry, and they all leave together.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
No big classic matches this show, but overall a really entertaining show, the whole tournament block of matches were either good matches, or incredibly entertaining. Undercard had some good wrestling, but nothing beyond that.

A BLOCK STANDINGS
Jay White - 12
Hiroshi Tanahashi - 14
Hangman Page - 6
Togi Makabe - 4
Michael Elgin - 6
Kazuchika Okada - 12
Minoru Suzuki - 8
EVIL - 8
YOSHI-HASHI - 4
Bad Luck Fale - 6

B BLOCK STANDINGS
Kenny Omega 12
Kota Ibushi 12
Hirooki Goto 6
Tama Tonga 4
Tomohiro Ishii 8
Tetsuya Naito 12
Zack Sabre Jr. 10
SANADA 8
Juice Robinson 4
Toru Yano 4