Yota Tsuji vs. Yuya Uemura
Good to see these boys back in action after ignoring NJPW for the past months. They had the kind of ever-reliable young lion opener that always puts me in the right mood. Matwork escalating into angry forearm trading and beautifully-timed dropkick cutoffs. You know the deal. Your favorite color commentator Jushin Thunder Liger dropped a Ricky Steamboat comparison for an Uemura armdrag, so clearly the kid is going places. **1/2
Will Ospreay vs. Yujiro Takahashi – G1 Climax (Block A)
Yeah, not even Ospreay’s fresh-from-cancellation high flying can make extended Yujiro control segments tolerable. This G1 will be a rough journey for Yuj’ and his Tokyo-based prostitution enterprise. Kinda felt like a Will Ospreay Sunday Night Heat main event at times, as you got your share of high spots from Twitter’s favorite son and a bunch of faceless midcard filler on the other side. The good news is that this might be one of the best crowds of the COVID-era. Loving the inventive clapping tricks to go along with near-falls and strikes. **1/2
Could’ve done without the smug post-match promo from William. Might be best to keep your head down for a while, bruh.
Taichi vs. Jeff Cobb – G1 Climax (Block A)
Taichi’s inverted hair color is the most genius cosmetic change of this tournament so far. I was kinda dreading this one and ended up being pleasantly surprised! They worked a fairly logical match that pit Dangerous T’s heelish shortcuts + world-renowned CHOKING-BASED OFFENSE against Cobb’s explosive power spots and it all worked much better than I expected. The 12 minute run time was used wisely, packed with a ton of twists and turns in the back end that made both guys look good. I was down on most of Cobb’s G1 run last year, but was totally fine with his performance here. His wacky suplex variants all looked like a million bucks and blended nicely with Taichi’s late-match All Japan tribute bomb-throwing. ***1/4
Minoru Suzuki vs. Tomohiro Ishii – G1 Climax (Block A)
Just the match you needed these guys to have. The Stone Pupper set the tone by stepping up to Misu as soon as the bell rang and it never really let up from there. Expertly audio-engineered forearm strikes, slaps and shoot headbutts. They enthusiastically ran through the whole Slug Fest Checklist, taking Osaka along for the ride on their jaw-busting journey. A few of the more elaborate sequences near the ending stretch exposed some of the wear on tear on both guys (Suzuki seems incapable of taking flat back bumps nowadays), but not enough to hurt the match. Anyway, not everything should look pretty when you’re having the NEVER bar fight special. ***1/2
Shingo Takagi vs. Jay White – G1 Climax (Block A)
Dug the limb-focused match these guys had last year and unfortunately, this wasn’t on that level. There were enough quality moments from Shingo to keep me hooked (the two big Made in Japan sequences were absolutely brilliant), but the action kept deflating due to all the tired Jay White heel tropes. I’ve said it before, but here it is again: Jay’s late-match offense doesn’t work at all. He’s only established the Bladerunner as a proper finish, so all of these other suplexes and crappy Bloody Sunday variants generate zero drama whatsoever because you know they won’t end the match. It’s particularly mind boggling when he uses them right after ref bumps and low blows. Why go for these instead of the one move that will end the match? ***
Kazuchika Okada vs. Kota Ibushi – G1 Climax (Block A)
Welp. This certainly was a wrestling match between Kazuchika Okada and Kota Ibushi. I’ve liked matches between these two plenty of times before, but there was just nothing to this one. Both guys seemed tired and were working at less than half speed, which didn’t exactly scream GRADE-1 CLIMAX. There were a couple of well-executed bits (that Quebrada sequence on the floor) and the action obviously picked up for the last few minutes, but the lack of drama and intensity was just glaring. Okada’s insistence on getting the modified Cobra clutch over as a threat is now actively taking away from his matches. He has the right idea in wanting to establish secondary finishers, but this just doesn’t feel like the right move for him. He’s just not a submission guy. To be fair, Ibushi wasn’t helping much by selling the hold like he was mildly bored. **3/4
