Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano – G1 Climax (Block A)
The greatest storyline in this year G1 is Hirooki Goto’s obsession with his L.A. Dojo t-shirt. He hasn’t washed it since Dallas and he certainly won’t trade it for Yano’s inferior merch. Let’s never forget that the L.A. dojo is a sacred institution that was once the home of such all-time greats as Pinoy Boy, Lyoto Machida and future Sports Entertainment Ace ‘’The Artist’’ Shinsuke Nakamura. What I most liked about this match was Goto busting out his sweet pin combo and then doing the Zanmai Pose on the turnbuckle. **1/4
Juice Robinson vs. Tomohiro Ishii – G1 Climax (Block A)
Wrestlers should know by now that pissing off the Gravel Canine Tommy Hero Ishii will only result in them getting chopped right in the throat. Whatever – everyone’s stupidity is my gain because this was another full-on Slug Festival where Juice tried to prove his worth as a Strong Style Warrior by getting chopped in the throat repeatedly and it was great. 75% of the match was all strikes, selling and fighting spirit power-ups and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Love me some chops, forearms and lariats, but it’s the way both of these guys react to the aforementioned chops, forearms and lariats that always brings their matches up to another level. Tremendous facials throughout the match, especially from Juice. This man has been pissed the fuck off ever since losing to Mox and I’m digging it way more than Happy Go Lucky Juice.
Juice’s offense was just POPPING here: the Arn-level Spinebuster, massive Powerbomb and a god damned Full-nelson slam that Ishii sold like it dislocated his shoulder. And this isn’t even touching all the crazy ass counters these two put together. Ishii pulling a brutal release Tiger suplex out of the Pulp Friction might be the best spot of the entire Grade-1 Climax. A great match that made both guys look like a million bucks. ****1/4
Jeff Cobb vs. Taichi – G1 Climax (Block A)
Best G1 Jeff Cobb match by a mile. The Taichi heel shtick can be grating but in this case it did wonders for Cobb, babyfacing him hard and getting the crowd fully behind him. This is the first match where we see some REAL FIRE from Cobb – that spot where he just exploded on Taichi and made him pay for his evil ways by pounding the shit out of him in the corner was fucking great. MORE OF THIS PLEASE, JEFFU-SAN. Good chemistry between these guys, lots of nifty counters near the end and I really dug Cobb’s Rolling Karelin Lifts into deadlift PILEDRIVER OF DEATH. Taichi brought the Ganmengiri’s and Axe Bombers and it was a real good time. ***1/2
Shingo Takagi vs. Jay White – G1 Climax (Block A)
What a ridiculously smooth match this was. Maybe one of the more easily digestible Jay White matches ever, or at least on par with the Ishii match from earlier in the tournament. Shingo doing his best to cut off all of the Jay White-ISMs early on was great stuff, as was Jay’s comical interactions with Red Shoes. I usually roll my eyes at all the Too Sweet shtick, but him asking Uno to Too Sweet him during a chinlock sequence was hilarious.
Unfortunately, it took a long time for the crowd to get into the action, but it sure wasn’t due to a lack of hard work from the two guys in the ring. Even with all the Jay White tropes, the pace stayed frenetic and Shingo came out of this looking like a top player thanks to Jay selling his ass off and putting over his offense massively.
I thought all the New Japan Reversal Dance spots were surprisingly fluid for a Jay White match, probably because Shingo has been doing this type of shit in Dragon Gate for years. Absolutely loved Jay getting mauled by a big time lariat only for Shingo to wave his finger as if to say ‘’Nope, that wasn’t the real thing’’ before hitting the ropes and unleashing the true PUMPING BOMBER. Enjoyed all of this. ****
Tetsuya Naito vs. Jon Moxley – G1 Climax (Block A)
All of Mox’s matches in the G1 so far had some kind of high concept to them. The WWE-style plunder match with Taichi, the Strong Style Battle with Ishii, the Leg Work Match with Shingo. While this one didn’t have such a clearly defined theme, it felt like Mox trying his hand at high level NJPW main event wrestling and it all went shockingly well.
I say shockingly because a few weeks ago, Mox could barely throw a believable chop and now he’s nailing the fast-paced, bump-heavy Tetsuya Naito main event match. The progression of this guy has been completely insane and a clear highlight of this tournament. He seems to have picked up bits and pieces from all of his opponents and he just let loose in this match.
Props to Naito as well, because this was the most I’ve been invested in him in this G1. The match with Ishii was predictably great, but the freshness of Shin Nihon Warrior Jon Moxley brought some real excitement to this thing. Great crowd brawling segment set-up by the hilariously trollish Naito entrance, a bunch of fun PURE WRESTLING bits from Mox and big time near-falls towards the end. That double-arm DDT outta’ nowhere gets me every single time.
The ending came as a real shock too, in the best possible way. Mox wrestled such a good match here that the crowd didn’t completely deflate for the Naito loss. A minor miracle considering how over Naito was in that building. ****1/4
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. Jon Moxley (Block B) – ****1/2, 7/19/19
- Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii (Block B) – ****1/4, 7/24/19
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. KENTA (Block A) – ****1/4, 7/14/19
- Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (Block A) – ****1/4, 7/6/19
- Tetsuya Naito vs. Jon Moxley (Block A) – ****1/4, 7/28/19
- Tomohiro Ishii vs. Juice Robinson (Block B) – ****1/4, 7/28/19
- Juice Robinson vs. Shingo Takagi (Block B) – ****, 7/13/19
- Kota Ibushi vs. Lance Archer (Block A) – ****, 7/27/19
- 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
- Kazuchika Okada vs. KENTA (Block A) – ****, 7/27/19
- Shingo Takagi vs. Jay White (Block B) – ****, 7/28/19
- Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer (Block A) – ***3/4, 7/6/19
- Jon Moxley vs. Shingo Takagi (Block B) – ***3/4, 7/24/19
- 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. Zack Sabre Jr. (Block B) – ***3/4, 7/27/19
- EVIL vs. SANADA (Block A) – ***1/2, 7/18/19
- Jeff Cobb vs. Taichi (Block B) – ***1/2, 7/28/19
- Jon 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
- Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADA (Block A) – ***1/2, 7/27/19
- 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
- Hirooki Goto vs. Taichi (Block B) – ***1/4, 7/24/19
- 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
- Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano (Block B) – ***, 7/24/19
- 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
- Jay White vs. Jeff Cobb (Block B) – **3/4, 7/24/19
- 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
- Jon Moxley vs. Jeff Cobb (Block B) – **1/2, 7/15/19
- Will Ospreay vs. Bad Luck Fale (Block A) – **1/2, 7/27/19
- Zack Sabre Jr. vs Bad Luck Fale (Block B) – **1/2, 7/20/19
- Hirooki Goto vs. Toru Yano (Block B) – **1/4, 7/28/19
- Jay White vs. Toru Yano (Block B) – *3/4, 7/19/19
