Toru Yano vs. Shingo Takagi – G1 Climax (Block B)
Some high level Toru Yano comedy wrestling for all you YTR appreciators out there. Actually, the real revelation here might’ve been Shingo, whose boisterous strong man act made a great slapstick counterpart for Yano’s shtick. The obstacle race countout bit was pure Looney Tunes greatness and Shingo picking up the win was the icing on the cake. ***
Juice Robinson vs. Hirooki Goto – G1 Climax (Block B)
Gotta say I’m really digging Juice’s new Glam Rock Hunter S. Thompson entrance gear. This wasn’t on the level of their awesome matches from last year but it was still the kind of rock solid wrasslin’ you’d expect from these two with the added bonus of one of the very best finishes of the whole tournament so far. Goto wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire early on with his pedestrian neck work, even if Juice sold the hell out of it. But once they moved past the chinlocks and elbows to the neck, there was some meat to this match.
Lotsa’ manly forearm exchanges and lariat collisions, which I’m always into, but also some nifty Shibata tributes from new LA Dojo Janitor Hirooki Goto. As long as he doesn’t overdo it and fall into Dragon Lee territory, I’m into it. But yeah, THAT FINISH! Those headbutt counters to the EAT SHIT PUNCH looked freaking brutal and the crowd seemed legit shocked by THE VIOLENCE OF IT ALL. Perfect way to end a match. ***1/2
John Moxley vs. Jeff Cobb – G1 Climax (Block B)
Well, that was kinda weird. I was extremely into what they did early on with Cobb showing his AMARESU SKILLZ and swiftly outwrestling Moxley, only for The Mox to take a cheap shot and take control of the match by going after the shoulder. Some real logical, wrestling 101 kind of action. But the ramp spot felt completely flat with the comically weak double bump from both guys followed by Mox breaking the ref’s count for… reasons? I disconnected from that point on and kept questioning whether Mox should really be using all of these pseudo Steven Regal knee strikes. Doesn’t feel right. Then the finish sort of happened. Hmm… **1/2
Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jay White – G1 Climax (Block B)
This was pretty much everything you’d want from a singles match between Rock Puppy Tomohiro Ishii and Switchbeard Jay White. They didn’t fall into the usual traps of The Jay White Singles Match and kept the pace moving with an efficient story that gave the crowd exactly what they wanted: Jay paying for his sins at the hands of Ishii and his vast supply of vicious throat chops.
The character work was right on the money from both guys and the Gedo heel spots were so well orchestrated that they somehow felt organic rather than a complete burden. Most of all, this felt like a god damned fight and The Rage of Tomohiro Ishii brought the energy level way up. The way they weaved the ‘’Ishii has a bad neck’’ subplot into the match was really impressive too and Ishii sold the holy hell out of those neck stomps.
One of the most heated Jay White ending stretches I’ve ever seen, with stuff like the Kiwi Crusher and Sleeper suplex getting massive reactions. They even made an amazing use of Jay’s usually annoying-AF HEEL COLLAPSE SPOTS with Ishii instantly changing the trajectory of his sliding lariat once he figured out Jay’s bullshit. WELL DONE! ****
Tetsuya Naito vs. Taichi – G1 Climax (Block B)
Naito seems to be having two types of matches these days. Neck crunching bump-fests/1999 AJPW tributes or WWE-Lite car crash matches with all the bells and whistles imaginable. This was one for the second category and it bummed me out because I am convinced these two guys would have an epic match together if only they edited out half the ref bumps, run-ins and valet shenanigans.
Just so you understand how deep into the Gedo Memphis Fetish abyss this all went: Naito grabbed precious MIHO ABE by the hair menacingly during a ring-side segment. And it felt very wrong because Abe is definitely more Elizabeth than Sensational Sherri. Probably a matter of minutes before Naito is taken from us by Cancel Culture.
For all the overbooking silliness, this still had some really fun character moments. Naito constantly looking over his shoulder during the entrance (half-expecting a returning Iizuka) was great stuff, as was Taichi treating the Iron Fingers From Hell like nothing less than the INFINITY GAUNTLET. Plus Taichi’s glorious Ganso Bomb reversal and an amazing Reverse Frankensteiner into Running Destino sequence from Naito showed these guys were ready to GO. Maybe next time just let them wrestle a straight match instead of trying to beat Monday Nitro in the ratings. ***1/2
Captain Lou’s G1 Climax 29 Match Rankings
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA (Block A) – ****1/4 7/14/19
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (Block A) – ****1/4 7/6/19
- Juice Robinson vs. Shingo Takagi (Block B) – **** 7/13/19
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jay White (Block B) – **** 7/15/19
- Kota Ibushi vs. EVIL (Block A) – **** 7/13/19
- SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Block A) – **** 7/6/19
- Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer (Block A) – ***3/4 7/6/19
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Block A) – ***3/4 7/13/19
- John Moxley vs. Taichi (Block B) – ***1/2 7/13/19
- Will Ospreay vs. SANADA (Block A) – ***1/2 7/13/19
- Tetsuya Naito vs. Taichi (Block B) – ***1/2 7/15/19
- Juice Robinson vs. Hirooki Goto (Block B) – ***1/2 7/15/19
- Hirooki Goto vs. Jay White (Block B) – ***1/2, 7/13/19
- Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA (Block A) – ***1/2, 7/6/19
- Tetsuya Naito vs. Toru Yano (Block A) – ***1/4, 7/13/19
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jeff Cobb (Block A) – ***1/4, 7/13/19
- EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale (Block A) – ***, 7/6/19
- Toru Yano vs. Shingo Takagi (Block A) – ***, 7/15/19
- Lance Archer vs. Bad Luck Fale (Block A) – **3/4, 7/13/19
- John Moxley vs. Jeff Cobb (Block B) – **1/2 7/15/19
