1. G1 Climax – Block B: Shingo Takagi vs. Taichi
Of course he did, OF COURSE HE DID, of COURSE Shingo took Taichi’s All Japan cosplay and turned it into an actual bizzaro All Japan epic. First of all I liked that Shingo waited for Miho to leave the ring before he continued kicking Taichi’s ass early on, a perfect gentleman compared to Naito who grabbed her hair and threatened her like an absolute piece of trash. A Taichi mic stand shot led to him working over ol’ Shingo, and boy did he work over him with all that work-over stuff he does. Once Shingo made a comeback though with a simple punch to the jaw and lariat to the throat, as he is to do, this WENT SOMEWHERE.
Shingo responding to an Irish whip attempt with a lariat and backdrop suplex, only for Taichi to kickout at 1 and hit his own backdrop suplex, felt less desperation and more something that honest to goodness flipped Korakuen out. Taichi was trying his ass off and kick and powerbomb his way to a win, and his “WHOA” face when he pushed the ref away and tried a low blow only to get hit with a punch and headbutt and lariat in quick succession was incredible. I’m not sure Taichi is the guy you want kicking out of the Made in Japan and Pumping Bomber, but the right guy won in the end. They probably could’ve used a little less than 15 minutes but this still ruuuled. ****
2. G1 Climax – Block B: Juice Robinson vs. Jeff Cobb
Juice Robinson definitely wanted this to work, and I know that because of the little chop he gave Jeff Cobb before the match that was like, “let’s get to work, boooy.” But, eh – Cobb continues to be this guy who everyone seems to think they can have this exciting epic with but he ends up just being this disappointing sweaty fat dude. There were a lot of neat catches he did and the Pulp Fiction counters at the end were awesome, but that was it. Otherwise, this was a pretty generic 50/50 match that didn’t really work for me. Embrace your inner beast or F off, Cobb man. **1/2
3. G1 Climax – Block B: Toru Yano vs. Jay White
Jay White opting to NOT go for the “we wrestle on my time, motherfucker” stall job and instead approach the Toru Yano match was one he could NOT mess around with was a tremendous G1 moment. And I really enjoyed this few minutes of shenanigans that led to a perfectly executed brass knuckles low blow and YANO WIN. Magic. ***
4. G1 Climax – Block B: Tetsuya Naito vs. Hirooki Goto
A G1 match lost in a sea of other G1 matches, a fine match on its’ own that occasionally excited the crowd and thankfully didn’t go too long, but it never hit that second gear wrestling review folk like to bring up a lot, which is a nice way of saying it had good intentions but kind of sucked. These two aren’t a great match together but I did enjoy the dynamic of Naito as the underdog who needed this win bad, who was confident he could do it but not THAT confident. Good counters, near falls, kind of a sprint, etc etc. ***1/4
5. G1 Climax – Block B: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jon Moxley
“Thank you Tomohiro Ishii for sharing the ring with me tonight, you sick bastard.” – Jon Moxley
Give me your counters and near falls and I might like your match, give me those plus a character dynamic I can sink my teeth into and I won’t ever let go. THIS IS THE MATCH. THIS IS THE MATCH I ALWAYS WANTED. Jon Moxley is in KORAKUEN HALL and he’s wrestling TOMOHIRO ISHII in a G1 CLIMAX main event, and nobody is screwing around – they know EXACTLY what the good wrestling fans want.
Ishii storms to the ring ring and THEY GET RIGHT IN EACH OTHER’S FACE, with Mox being all “I’M TALLER THAN YOU” and Ishii being all “I JUST DO NOT GIVE A SHIT.” After average outings with Taichi and Cobb, Mox finally got to scream to the world, “I CAN JAPANESE TOO, BITCHES.” This felt like Mox finding himself in Japan but also Ishii continuing to cement himself as an all-time great by managing bizarre American-style brawl with tables, ladders, and chairs. It had brawling, gimmicks, strikes, counters, a buzzing crowd, near falls, and ISHII DOING A FUCKIN’ SPLASH THROUGH A TABLE ON THE FLOOR.
Mox took Ishii for a trip around Korakuen before Ishii fired up, only to get clobbered back down. I was a little concerned about Mox’s ability to strike opposite Ishii, so was pleasantly surprised when Ishii responded to some average elbows by just blasting him in the face with one of his own. Then they had a CHAIR FIGHT on the floor, which led to Ishii going all Masato Tanaka on everybody and blocking a chairshot with an elbow, which took Mox down but also caused Ishii to scream in agony. After the table splash, Mox caught an Ishii sliding lariat inside with a cradle near fall, Ishii caught a Mox sliding lariat with a cradle near fall, Ishii did a German suplex, Mox ducked a lariat and hit his own German suplex, Ishii got up and Mox took him back down with a LARIAT, and I’m talkin’ a real life lariat not that loony shit.
What really put this over the top for me was Moxley blocking an Ishii lariat later on by BITING HIM, and when Ishii tried to slap him away Mox just KEPT ON BITING. As they tried to put together a counter-filled finish I’ll be honest it lost a tiny bit of steam, but then came Ishii headbutting Mox down and hitting a laiat to the back of the head which fired Mox up and led to them slapping each other until Ishii kicked out of the Dirty Deeds and I was BACK. A Death Rider finally ended the Stone Pitbull. Remember that thing I said about Ospreay/Ibushi being a great match I already forgot? This was a great match I’m going to remember. I should probably change the Ospreay/Ibushi star rating then huh? ****1/2
