Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bad Luck Fale – G1 Climax (Block A)
I love a good countout finish and these guys pulled a doozy. On par with the incredible Tana/Fale countout extravaganza from last year. Rest of the match was short and sweet – I dug Zack jumping all over Fale with submissions and audibly marked out for his SHAWN CAPTURE attempt. **1/2
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Lance Archer – G1 Climax (Block A)
Wrestling can be a high-level display of athleticism that is great to look at in GIF format, sure. But it can also still be about a pure-hearted hero fighting off an evil giant monster, as shown here by two seasoned pros in the middle of rock-solid G1 runs. Using the good old Jim Cornette-approved heel/face format, Tana and THE REAL ACE Vance Archer put together a timeless, air-tight wrasslin’ match that would’ve worked at Clash of the Champions as much as it worked here in Korakuen Hall.
And it only took them 11 minutes. 11 minutes to tell a complete story that got everyone over and gave the fans everything they wanted and more. It goes without saying that Tanahashi’s the ultimate babyface and maybe the most beloved man in wrestling, but Archer bounced off him masterfully with an awesome monster heel performance. Perfect pacing, tons of imaginative spots (Tana countering the rope walk with the Twist N’ Shout!?!) and a couple of brilliant LOL Moments (‘’I’M THE ACE NOW!’’ – The American Psycho Lance Archer). The kind of match that should be showed to aspiring pro-wrestlers everywhere. ****
KENTA vs. EVIL – G1 Climax (Block A)
I didn’t care for KENTA as an underdog babyface against Archer, but here I very much enjoyed him leaning into the heel heat and working as the dickish outsider against Power Fighting Robert Smith Enthusiast EVIL. It’s that salty interpromotional animosity that made the KENTA/Tanahashi match work so well for me, and we got some more of that here. These guys had some actually good chemistry, and not just by 2019 KENTA standards. KENTA rubbing the makeup off EVIL’s face (!!!) seemed to awaken the sleeping New Japan Defender inside of the King of Darkness and I was right there for it.
EVIL is also a guy who will stubbornly try to work some kind of wacky foreign object-driven spot in most of his big matches, and I think I have to respect him for that. The chair pile-up suplex spot in the crowd officially sparked KENTA’s heel turn so I’d say it was a big success. I wish I didn’t have to see KENTA’s diving clothesline ever again, but the dueling corner charging spots exuded some serious Klassic KENTA energy so it all evens out. Good stuff. ***1/2
Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA – G1 Climax (Block A)
Here it is, folks. The Handsomest Battle of 2019, also known as the Twitter Overreaction Death Match. As it is now tradition with these two: this was a match with a weird miscommunication sequence that broke the Internet and made everyone instantly forget about all the fun stuff that happened before and after the GIF. SANADA, now armed with his Owen Wilson surfer locks, has finally found his personality and watching him work the crowd was a real good time.
The Paradise Lockery was kept to a minimum and the match stayed focused on both guys trying to out-speed, out-clever and out-strike one another. Yeah, SANADA’s brainfart on the Kamigoye reversal was a bummer, but they made up for it with the crazy slide-between-the-legs reversal into SEIYA SANADA KAMIGOYE right after. Finish was pretty flat but whatever – can we just pull the trigger on THE GOLDEN SKULLZ? ***1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay – G1 Climax (Block A)
Kazuchika Okada’s facial expression game is second to none and the face he pulled after kicking out of the Oscutter told the entire story of this match. The man was SHOOK. What we got here here was a ridiculously high-level elevation of the Okada/Ospreay Big Brother/Little Brother Story, with Will cementing his transition from ‘’annoying British kid that lands on his feet a lot’’ to ‘’slightly less annoying British kid that came dangerously close to beating the IWGP champ’’.
I’m all about hierarchy-based wrestling and these boys absolutely nailed that. Like in their previous matches, Okada had his ACE FACE on and wrestled the entire first half of the match with near-contempt for Will, like he couldn’t be bothered. So Ospreay had to bring the fight and prove he was the real deal now, not just the Flippy-do Guy. This was notably done via THE CHOP HEARD AROUND THE WORLD. Holy shit.
Not only was this Misawa/Jumbo For The Instragram Generation (jk), it was also an extremely rewarding match for anyone that has seen a shitload of Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay matches. There were counters to counters, callbacks and new twists to even the most basic sequences in both guys’ repertoires. Okada couldn’t even get in the usual dodge-twice-into-back elbow spot that he usually does in every match.
Will did a lot of little things really well: selling the neck injury from the previous nights like a champ, knee’ing Okada in the head to setup his own Tombstone, finding new and less predictable ways to bust out his signature spots. And from my count, he only pulled ONE Goofy Ospreay Face. Meanwhile, Okada wasn’t only along for the ride, he was making the absolute wildest shit look easy. Thank you Ultimo Dragon.
The New Japan Reversal Dance was taken to new heights of athleticism, speed and precision during the whole ending stretch. Absolutely unreal shit. They showed the kind of chemistry that rivaled the most jaw dropping moments from Okada’s matches with Kenny and I can’t wait for the next chapter in their story. ****1/2
Captain Lou’s G1 Climax 29 Match Rankings
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay (Block A) – ****1/2, 7/20/19
- Kota Ibushi vs. Will Ospreay (Block A) – ****1/2, 7/18/19
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. John Moxley (Block B) – ****1/2, 7/19/19
- 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
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Lance Archer (Block A) – ****, 7/20/19
- 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
- Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi (Block B) – ***3/4, 7/19/19
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Zack Sabre Jr. (Block A) – ***3/4, 7/18/19
- Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto (Block B) – ***3/4, 7/19/19
- EVIL vs. SANADA (Block A) – ***1/2, 7/18/19
- John Moxley vs. Taichi (Block B) – ***1/2, 7/13/19
- Will Ospreay vs. SANADA (Block A) – ***1/2, 7/13/19
- Kota Ibushi vs. SANADA (Block A) – ***1/2, 7/20/19
- KENTA vs. EVIL (Block A) – ***1/2, 7/20/19
- 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
- KENTA vs. Lance Archer (Block A) – **3/4, 7/18/19
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale (Block A) – ***, 7/18/19
- Juice Robinson vs. Jeff Cobb (Block B) – **3/4, 7/19/19
- 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
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs Bad Luck Fale (Block B) – **1/2, 7/20/19
- Jay White vs. Toru Yano (Block B) – *3/4, 7/19/19
