Juice Robinson vs. Toru Yano – G1 Climax (Block B)
Exactly the match you’d want from these two. Juice was a great play pal for Yano and this had all the wild rollup near-falls and turnbuckle pad dodging non-sense that YOU crave as a Toru Yano Fan. Yano offering a handshake while shouting ‘’FRIENDSHIP!’’ was just great pro-wrestling. ***
Hirooki Goto vs. Taichi – G1 Climax (Block B)
I love how all the heels in this tournament have figured out that the best way to get heat against Goto is to go right after his blessed L.A. Dojo t-shirt. The Taichi ref bump bullshit was out of control in this match but I really appreciated both guys trying to recreate the cult 2004 Kawada vs. Shibata match for a minute there. Some real manly strikes were thrown and Goto countering a Ganmengiri by headbutting Taichi’s foot is the kind of dumb pro wrestling shit that I need in my life. ***1/4
Jon Moxley vs. Shingo Takagi – G1 Climax (Block B)
Are you guys ready for the ultimate conspiracy theory? I believe Moxley’s ‘’Death Rider’’ American brawler badass/disgruntled ex-WWE superstar gimmick is only a front for his true, secret gimmick: NJPW FANBOY. How else do you explain him using flying knee strikes like Shinsuke and Kenny, Tana’s Texas Cloverleaf or Ishii’s sliding lariat and chop/forearm combo? Adopting Shota Umino as his son? Wouldn’t be surprised to see him post his own video explaining the Dark Ages of New Japan on Twitter in the next few days.
Anyway, I’m into it and I was also into this match between NJPW Redditor Jon Moxley and Shingo. Not as exciting as the Mox/Ishii slobberknocker, but equally fascinating to watch as part of the great NJPW Mox Experiment. The leg work story was a fun change of pace for Mox and Shingo really milked the shit out of it by selling like his leg was about to fall off. Takagi truly is the total package and I cannot praise him enough.
Some of the more elaborate stuff they had in mind didn’t fully land (that tope into Death Valley Bomb counter looked weird as hell), but I was right there for Shingo’s explosive comebacks and Mox subverting expectations by using that table as a final twist to the leg work story. ***3/4
Jay White vs. Jeff Cobb – G1 Climax (Block B)
The main advantage this had over Cobb’s match with Juice is that the basic structure made a lot more sense. At least, it did at first. White running from Cobb and using all of his heel tricks to avoid getting crushed by suplexes is fairly sensible stuff. Sadly, it still came off flat due to Cobb’s flagrant lack of personality. Jay kept powdering to the floor like an asshole and Cobb just seemed… mildly irritated, I guess?
Then the Gedo bullshit started flooding in and Jay began using his regular offense on Cobb without much struggle, which was pretty jarring. There’s no way Jay White’s scrawny ass should be able to throw Actual Olympian Monster Jeff Cobb around that easily with Sleeper suplexes and Uranage’s. Meh. **3/4
Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii – G1 Climax (Block B)
Can’t say this brought anything new to the Naito/Ishii formula but I still enjoyed the hell out of it. These two always deliver in a big main event spot and the uber PRO-NAITO Hiroshima crowd elevated this one to extremely high levels of Pure-O-Resu near fall insanity. You already know the dynamic between these guys by now: Naito being a thorn in Ishii’s side by going after his bad neck and being an all-around JERK, Ishii responding in kind with typical Ishii violence.
As it usually does in Naito/Ishii matches, all selling went out of the window at various points of the match but I was too busy marking out for all the head-ripping lariats and rapid-fire counters to be too bothered by it. It also helps that these guys have ridiculously tight chemistry: holy shit at Ishii effortlessly countering Naito’s flying forearm into a nasty release German suplex.
It was very much a match about big spots and crazy moments. Even if these guys have had this kind of match a billion times before, you can’t help but jump out of your seat for the MONSTER VERTICAL SUPERPLEX or Ishii fucking nuking Naito on the top turnbuckle with a rocket headbutt of death. The nuclear Hiroshima crowd gave all the near-falls a 90’s AJPW at Budokan vibe and Milano was more than game to add to the craziness on commentary. Great stuff. ****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
- 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
- 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. SANADA (Block A) – ***1/2, 7/18/19
- 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
- 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
- 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
