Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa vs. Toa Henare & Shota Umino
Couple of things to note. First, the Hokkaido crowd is lively as hell and were popping for this like it was the actual G1 finals. Secondly, as much as he drains my will to life in singles competition, Tama Tonga is the perfect guy to keep young lions in check and show them how to throw a proper dropkick. They kept a fast pace, everyone got super over and Henare got to double flying shoulderblock the Tongans. Mission accomplished, my dudes. **1/2
Toru Yano & Jado vs. Zack Sabre Jr & TAKA Michinoku
Back in the 90’s, Jado and TAKA had a crazy match in Michinoku Pro that got a lot of hype on DVDVR and other Internet hangout spots. Today, they work old-man comedy spots on NJPW undercards. Time flies. Anyway, the real highlight here was Yano turning into a total AMATEUR WRESTLING CONNOISSEUR against ZSJ and holy shit, their upcoming match could be pure greatness. **1/4
Juice Robinson & David Finlay vs. Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi
I initially thought it was random as fuck, but now I am here for the GOLDEN PIMPS. Move aside Kenny, Ibushi’s got a good thing going with Yujiro. This was a fun little match where Finlay got instantly BLACK EYED’ by a brutal boot to the face from The Yuj. Ibushi and Juice showed some snappy chemistry together and I have faith they’ll knock it out of the park at Korakuen Hall. Ibushi taking the time to punch Finlay in the face before Moonsaulting onto Juice was a nice touch. **3/4
Tomohiro Ishii & SHO vs. Tetsuya Naito & SANADA
SHO was looking real jacked (baby) coming into this match but seeing that hunk of a man SANADA manhandle him with the spinning Skull End really put things in perspective. Anyway, this was a good time. Naito excels at these tag sprints where he can split his time between doing Kaientai double-team spots and just plain trolling grumpy Ishii. He is also freaking crazy for taking that nutty bump in the guardrail in what should be an easy warm-up tag match. If you watched the BOSJ like me, I bet you were really hoping SHO would hit the Powerbomb/backbreaker of death on SANADA. Next time! ***
Kenny Omega & Chase Owens vs. Hirooki Goto & YOH
Kenny and Chase were back to working their heel comedy shtick, which lands somewhere between amusing and unbearable depending on one’s mood. Unlike everyone in the last match, these guys were basically taking the night off and I can’t say I blame them. YOH got in a nice little pescado on Kenny. That’s my boy. **1/4
Michael Elgin vs. Hangman Page – G1 Climax (Block A)
Let’s start with the positive. Hangman Page got over huge in this match and the crowd reacted massively to a lot of his spots. There’s no arguing that he’s got some truly wild athleticism for a guy of his size and a lot of what he did here came off as genuinely exciting. The timing on the top-rope frankensteiner spot was completely out of this world and the crazy-ass running dropkick to the face that followed was equally nuts. That being said, going for an all-out indie spot-fest and throwing out every fucking finisher under the sun when you’re working the first tournament match of the show seems like a total dick move to me. Like an opening band playing a 2 hour set with 3 encores. It’s also a style of wrestling that I have a real hard time getting into and I much preferred the restrained approach of Elgin’s match with EVIL from the first night. At least that match had a story that wend beyond: MOVEZ! A+ for the effort, but ultimately not for me. ***1/4
YOSHI-HASHI vs. EVIL – G1 Climax (Block A)
The Twitterverse seemed pretty down on this one, but until the horrifying botched Powerbomb, I thought it was a much sounder match than Elgin and Hangman going full PWG. Just two hard-working midcard dudes laying into each other with lariats and shoulderblocks like Grandpa Choshu would’ve wanted. EVIL exporting the arm-work strategy from the Elgin match was a nice touch, as was him dusting off his trademark chair decapitation spot. Both guys almost dying on the Powerbomb spot definitely sucked the energy out of the crowd, as all of the ending stretch came off a little flat even if both guys were busting ass and going all out. Unfortunate, but at least they both made it out alive. ***
Togi Makabe vs. Minoru Suzuki – G1 Climax (Block A)
A god damn war that saw Makabe survive the beating of a lifetime and triumph against the baddest man in wrestling. Wrestling is all about Twitter GIFS and Bix exposing rapists now, but these two guys had the entire place in the palm of their hands just by making crazy faces at each other and throwing really hard forearm strikes. Sometimes the wheel doesn’t need reinventing, man. Sidenote: Minoru is such a pro at working compelling floor brawling sequences. Both actually outdid themselves here with the CHAIR SWORD FIGHT which led to Suzuki flipping out and going on a rampage. Felt like a real FMW time-warp moment. They might’ve done one beatdown segment too many near the end and Makabe unloading his business-exposing corner punches on Suzuki was a little embarrassing, but fuck it, I popped when old Togi got the three count. And that means these two cranky bastards got the job done. ***1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale – G1 Climax (Block A)
Welp. This was drowned in Bullet Club interference bullshit but Balloon Weirdo Okada working the Bad Luck Fale match was kind of fun? I think? More high-flying than usual from Okada (look at that nifty tope con hilo) and more crowd interplay (look at this dork climbing the guardrail after his dive). Midlife Crisis Okada is all about having a good time. Fale seemed to be going through the motions for most part but Okada selling his ass off and doing fun dorky shit made it work. ***
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Jay White – G1 Climax (Block A)
Much better than their Dome match, but in terms of Tana working sleazebag heels in 2018, this wasn’t as good as the Heavyweight Taichi match from the New Japan Cup. Possibly because Jay White isn’t as good as Taichi yet. That’s right, come at me. Anyway, Tana was showing the intensity of a man on the redemption path for that January clusterfuck, trying to get the best possible match out of Jay. And he almost got it, but the late-match ref bump shenanigans completely drained the life out of the crowd and led to a flat finish. The fans were ready for a straight wrestling match between these guys and completely deflated when the heel tricks came in.
Story-wise, everything made sense until the chairs came into play: Jay going after Tana’s bad knee and acting like a proper psycho, Tana being a grumpy vet tired of this little edgelord’s bullshit. I’m really not a fan of Jay throwing out Cobra clutch suplexes randomly without any build BUT I am a big fan of his hairpull lariat. Great spot. As a general rule, Jay doing petty violent shit like ramming people in the guardrails seems to work better than him doing ‘’epic’’ Japanese head-drops. Like the Okada match, a whole bunch of solid wrestling, but they clearly have a better match in them. ***1/2
