Kota Ibushi vs. Lance Archer – G1 Climax (Block A)
Not only do Archer’s new dark red DEMON CONTACT LENSES make him look like Satan’s top henchman, they also give the impression the guy is on a permanent LSD trip. I’m down with both demonology and psychedelic drug usage as much as I am down with this awesome Lance Archer G1 run. This match was a fucking blast – is what I am slowly getting at.
It felt like the Lance/KENTA match dialed up to 11, with Ibushi playing a much more compelling babyface underdog and bringing the right amount of snappy comebacks to counterbalance Archer’s monster act. And this might’ve been Lance’s best performance yet! He worked snug as hell, cut Ibushi off at all the right moments and popped the crowd massively with his freak athleticism. Short version: Lance basically comes off as the Gaijin Monster Wrestler that’s been missing from NJPW ever since they started focusing on Meltzer-approved Super Indie Workers to bolster their gaijin ranks. Plus, he has a few Flips in his arsenal. It’s 2019, so you gotta have some flips.
The whole ending stretch was out of this world: Lance Archer firing off his own MONSTER KAMIGOYE, then absorbing Ibushi’s just before the finish was prime GAIJIN ACE material. If there’s one guy in this block that deserves a clean victory over Okada right now, it’s The American Psychopath Vance Archer. Okada/Archer at KOPW – LET’S DO IT. ****
Will Ospreay vs. Bad Luck Fale – G1 Climax (Block A)
What is the most painful submission hold in New Japan Pro-Wrestling? Tanahashi’s Cloverleaf? One of Zack’s vegan pretzel holds? Wrong. It is Bad Luck Fale pouring 2 liters of sweat on top of a human being while holding them in a Camel clutch. All of my torture experts out there will recognize this as Chinese Water Torture – look it up. Now, as impressed as I was with Fale’s mastery of the Water Element, this was very much another edition Sunday Night Heat in Nagoya and depending on your enjoyment of Jado’s Singapore Cane technique, your mileage will likely vary on this one.
Someone in charge watched the excellent Ospreay/Archer match from Dallas and came to the conclusion that the only thing missing from their efficient High-Flyer vs. Giant Monster formula was a shitload of Chase Owens run-ins. I’ll always be up for a dumb Revenge of Red Shoes finish, but all the insanity it took to get there was too much. **1/2
EVIL vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – G1 Climax (Block A)
Always a fan of these two together, and this was up there with their matches from earlier this year. The usual power advantage vs. grapple wizardry showdown was on display, with the added bonus of EVIL targeting Zack’s back to setup the Ode to Riki Choshu Scorpion Deathlock. Liked the new twists to the formula, notably that gnarly Magic Killer off the apron and the brilliant spot where ZSJ countered the Red Shoes Assisted Kick into a kneebar.
Last year I had my reservations about some of Zack’s facials and selling but he seems to have improved a ton in that department. Dug all the little touches like him acting like EVIL might’ve broken his nose on a corner charge or him grabbing his own neck in pain when applying his submissions. Great dynamic, great near-falls and an exclamation point STO finish with Milano losing his mind. Thumbs up. ***3/4
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. SANADA – G1 Climax (Block A)
There’s always that one moment in a Tanahashi match where you, the pro-wrestling nerd, think to yourself ‘’Holy shit, this man just gets wrestling’’. It happened in this match when Tana somehow found a way to make SANADA’s contrived Flair Flip into Springboard dropkick sequence work, turning around to sell his damaged knee instead of waiting around for the dropkick like an idiot.
There is also the one moment in a SANADA match where you, the Pure-O-Resu connaisseur, think to yourself ‘’Oh boy, this might not be the best idea’’. It happened in this match when these guys tried to pull an impossible Sling Blade spot out of tricky Dragon sleeper reversals in insane Nagoya heatwave weather and the whole thing sort of fell apart.
The match hung in between these two extremes: fundamentally-sound pro-wrestling and ‘’is this really gonna work?’’ existential questions. It had enough good stuff to keep me hooked and it’s time to give serious props to young lion and #1 Hiroshi Tanahashi Superfan Yota Tsuji for working that apron like a god damned pro. ***1/2
Kazuchika Okada vs. KENTA – G1 Climax (Block A)
The biggest obstacle for KENTA in this 2019 NJPW run, beside the injuries and years of accumulated hard cam trauma, is that the crowds aren’t super familiar with his signature spots. Unlike yours truly, these fans didn’t spend their teenage years watching NOAH VHS tapes and arguing about the merits of Jun Izumida on messageboards. They don’t know that the Busaiku knee kick could be instant death, so don’t react accordingly.
The easiest solution around this issue, as shown by that great Tana/KENTA match, is to build his matches around character moments rather than high spots. Both him and Okada seemed to be aware of this and really leaned into the high art of PETTY BULLSHIT in order to raise the tension. Clean break slaps, head slaps, soccer kicks, Shibata dropkicks – all of that good stuff.
The cool thing here is that the aforementioned Petty Bullshit got KENTA over so well that the crowd was reacting loudly to a lot of his bigger spots by the end. Everything went a little long and it felt like KENTA did rest holds for 5 minutes straight at some point, but it was still an impressive attempt at plugging KENTA into the Okada Epic Singles Match formula.
Didn’t like it as much as the Tanahashi/KENTA match due to the exaggerated length, but it was still up there in terms of 2019 KENTA miracle matches. Thank you for your service, Kazuchika Okada. ****
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Jay White vs. Toru Yano (Block B) – *3/4, 7/19/19
