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NJPW G1 CLIMAX 29 Day 1 Review (July 6th 2019, American Airlines Centre, Dallas, TX)

Roppongi 3K vs. Guerrillas Of Destiny  ***1/4

Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino vs. Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita  ***3/4

Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Jay White & Chase Owens  **3/4

Jushin Thunder Liger, Juice Robinson & Toru Yano vs. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & BUSHI  ***

G1 Climax 29 A Block:

Will Ospreay vs. Lance Archer  ****1/2

EVIL vs. Bad Luck Fale  **1/2

SANADA vs. Zack Sabre Jr.  ****1/4

Kota Ibushi vs. KENTA  ****+

Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi  ****3/4

Photos.

This was a very fun opening day of G1 action, emanating for the first time ever outside of Japan. Things kicked off with IWGP Heavyweight Tag champions, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa defeating the former holders of the Junior straps, SHO and YOH in good, action packed sprint, when Tama pinned YOH at 6:42 after a Super Bomb. Jeff Cobb and Ren Narita were victorious over Ishii and Shota Umino in a great little all-action doubles clash. This was perfect for what it was, with the highlight being the tremendous exchanges between Ishii and Cobb, who face off in the B Block next Saturday, and based on their exchanges here, that match should be something else. The Young Lions looked really good too, but it was only a matter of time before one of them took the L. This time Umino drew the short straw as he looked at the light for a Cobb Tour Of The Islands at the 7:18 mark. Cobb and Ishii had a wild pull apart in the post match, which resulted in Cobb getting a bloody nose. The next two matches, whilst both good, were essentially your average New Japan spot show multi mans. Goto returned, looking in amazing shape, hitting Chase Owens with Ushigoroshi and the GTR to win in 8:38 of a decent match, but the Liger, Yano, Juice vs. LIJ match had the most crowd investment, because of its obvious greater star power. The crowd were totally behind Liger, and the LIJ trio got the heat on the legend for most of the match. Juice and Shingo got time to shine, hyping their encounter next week, and Yano stole the win for his team when he nailed BUSHI with a low blow and crdled him for the win at 8:18 of a fun outing.

Then the 29th G1 Climax kicked off in style as hometown boy Lance Archer, making his first appearance in the tournament since 2014, took on Will Ospreay, making his G1 debut. This was fantastic stuff, easily overdelivering and easily being the best match I’ve ever seen Archer in (even if it was just another day at the office for Ospreay). This went 18:17 and was a perfect ‘big guy vs. little guy’ outing, with Ospreay bouncing all over for Archer’s power moves. After hitting a massive Spanish Fly on Archer, Will tried Storm Breaker, but Lance escaped, catching him in his new EBD Claw finish. The finish saw both on the top again, this time Archer hit his Black Out off the top, and locked in the EBD Claw again for the pinfall win. EVIL and Fale couldn’t possibly follow that, and they didn’t. In fact they had the weakest match on the whole show. This was an ok brawl, but featured the usual shenanigans such as chairs and ref bumps, then Fale pinned the King Of Darkness with the Bad Luck Fall at 11:33 after hitting him with a chair.

ZSJ and SANADA had another in their series of excellent technical wrestling outings. This was an entire, 21 minute match, built entirely around counters. Every time SANADA would try something, Zack would counter into a submission or a pin attempt, but SANADA would in turn counter Zack’s counter, and so went the whole match. This was great stuff. The finish saw SANADA lock Sabre Jr in the Skull End, then go for the Moonsault, but Zack caught him in a triangle. Sanada escaped, tried another Skull End, but ZSJ turned it into a European Clutch, only for SANADA to roll through into a Japanese Leg Clutch for the win. A furious Zack locked referee Marty Asami in a leg lock in the post match. KENTA made his G1 debut next in a very stiff and believable outing with Kota Ibushi. This too was great, but at 20:51, it was a little too long for what it was, which hurt it somewhat. Had it been five minutes shorter, it would easily have been in the ****1/2 territory. This was a very realistic fight, which saw KENTA dominate, which was the story of the whole match, stiffing the hell out of Ibushi with his trademark hard kicks and strikes, and Kota would give it back as hard as he got. The plan here was to get KENTA over as a badass veteran with something to prove, thus building him as a threat in this tournament. Which is probably the right thing to do. The finish saw the pair engage in a hard strike battle, which KENTA won, then hit four hard head kicks on Ibushi, and pinned him, clean as a sheet, with the Go To Sleep.

The main event, which was the first meeting on U.S. soil between Okada and Tanahashi, two guys who have had some of the greatest matches ever in the last 7 years. It featured a suitably rabid crowd, who exploded at the bell and were 100% in to this thing from here on out. As much as this was without doubt their weakest match together since their 2013 G1 outing, the super hot crowd (and the fact I’m totally biased towards these matches) made it the best thing on this show. Tana, fresh off the shelf from elbow surgery, had his working boots on, looking healthier than he has in months (he looked bad at Dominion, worryingly bad), and hitting all his signature spots, including the HFF to the floor, which he hasn’t done since Wrestle Kingdom. The finish was packed with these guys signature counter sequences; after destroying Okada’s knees with Dragon Screws, Tanahashi tried the High Fly Flow, but Okada got the knees up. Okada tried a Tombstone, but Tana escapes, they exchange strikes, then Okada turns a backslide into the Rainmaker, keeps a hold of the wrist, and hits another. The IWGP Heavyweight Champion goes for a third, but Tanahashi counters into a small package for an incredibly believable near fall. A Tana Dragon Suplex gets another near fall, then he comes off the ropes looking for Sling Blade, but Okada catches him in the spinning Tombstone, then hits the Rainmaker at the 22:04 mark to take the two points, and win the first Okada/Tanahashi G1 that didn’t go to a time limit draw. Okada cut a promo in the post match saying he’ll be the first person to win the New Japan Cup, IWGP Heavyweight Title, and the G1 all in the same year.

NJPW G1 CLIMAX 28 Day 17, Day 18 and FINAL Review (Aug 10th, 11th & 12th, Tokyo, Nippon Budokan)

Day 17 (A Block)

Togi Makabe vs. michael Elgin  ***3/4

YOSHI-HASHI vs. Hangman Page  ***1/2

Minoru Suzuki vs, Bad Luck Fale  **

EVIL vs. Jay White  ***1/4

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada  *****

Day 18 (B Block)

Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga  *

Juice Robinson vs. Hirooki Goto  ***3/4

Tomohiro Ishii vs. SANADA  ****1/2

Tetsuya Naito vs. Zack Sabre Jr.  ****1/2

Kenny Omega vs. Kota Ibushi  *****

G1 CLIMAX 28 FINAL:

Hiroshi Tanahashi (A Block Winner) vs. Kota Ibushi (B Block Winner)  *****

Photos.

NJPW made a triumphant return to Nippon Budokan this weekend. The show on the 10th saw A Block action come to a close. This was a good show that culminated in a classic main event. Togi Makabe pinned Big Mike Elgin in a really hard hitting bout to start Block action off. This was near excellent stuff with Makabe winning with a Kong Knee in 8:46. YOSHI-HASHI used Karma to defeat Hangman Page in a very good 10:22 outing, which turned out much better than it looked on paper. Minoru Suzuki got a DQ victory over Bad Luck Fale after, yep, you guessed it, Tama Tonga ran in at 8:51 as Suzuki was going for the Gotch Piledriver, and hit Gun Stun on him. The match up to that point was pretty good, but I’m just totally done with this Firing Squad nonsense now. So too, seemingly, are the fans, one of whom threw a bottle into the ring in protest as the Tongans beat Suzuki-gun down in the post match. EVIL played spoiler to Jay White next, as after fending off chair assisted interference, he pinned Switchblade with the STO at 11:36. This was very good stuff, enhanced by the drama of if White won, he’d still be alive as a potential winner.

Then Tanahashi and Okada, the greatest wrestling rivalry of this generation, completely blew the doors off Budokan with another classic ***** battle. This was by no means their best match together, nor was it as good as their match on May 4th, but it was completely different and still a masterpiece. Also, it’s hardly a knock seeing as they’ve had some of the greatest wrestling contests ever. The thing with these guys matches together, is that they’re almost completely ‘safe’ matches. They rely on bucket loads of drama, compelling stories and just great ringwork, whilst never doing anything too overly dangerous (see: the main event of Day 18). This went the broadway, as all three of their G1 matches have, and was unbelievably dramatic, with the final 5 minutes or so being especially so. Budokan was going crazy for this, and they had them for the whole 30 minutes, with both men really hammering home the importance of what was at stake in the match, with both fighting with an added desperation. There were a load of call backs to previous classics, and it featured all of the amazing, inventive counters to their signatures spots we’ve all come to know and love from these guys’ matches. After blocking almost every big move the other have, Okada finally hit the new spinning Rainmaker, then went for another, but Tana landed a hard slap which dropped him. With the crowd solidly behind him, Tanahashi hit a HFF to the back with 10 seconds remaining, but Okada kicked at two, then went up for another as the time limit expired. The draw meant Tana took the block with a grand total of 15 points, with 8 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw, which is incredible really.

The August 11th show was one hell of a wrestling event. Things started at the bottom of the barrell as Toru Yano scored a DQ win over Tama Tonga, after the Tongan gave the referee the Gun Stun. Maij and Sugabayashi then escorted the Firing Squad out of the building. This was trash and I hope the booking with this faction changes soon. Juice Robinson pinned Hirooki Goto with Pulp Friction in 10:36 of a great little sprint. Goto came in selling the arm from the ZSJ match, playing in to their impending NEVER Title match. Juice also took the cast of before the bell rang, and the left hand was the prelude to the win. Block action commenced with three absolutley excellent matches. Firstly, Tomohiro Ishii defeated SANADA with his Vertical Drop Brainbuster in a tremendous 17 minute outing. Ishii has been the MVP of this G1 without any doubt, having consistently incredible matches, and SANADA himself had his best G1 yet. Of course Ishii is the next challenger to Omega, so he had to win here, and that he did. This was excellent, hard-hitting stuff which the sold out Budokan were white hot for. The next match was another hard-hitting white hot affair. Zack Sabre Jr. very surprisingly, though not unwelcomely defeated odds on favourite Tetsuya Naito in an exceptional wrestling contest. The story here was Naito winding ZSJ up with his laid back demeanour, Zack had a submission counter to everything Naito did, then out of a mutual frustration, both guys started stiffing each other. After some incredible counters and escapes, Zack turned a Destino into the Michinoku Driver for the shock clean pin at 18:17. I loved this match.

But not as much as the battle of the Golden Lovers main event of Day 18. Now lets get this out of the way; I thought their match together in DDT in 2012 was excellent, but by no means the GOAT. So this is a rematch of that particular classic, and is a match many thought they’d never see again. This certainly didn’t disappoint, but it was probably a very different match to what most were expecting. It didn’t have the madman moves of their 2012 outing, but what it lacked there, it made up for in them stiffing the hell out of each other, sometimes in a very uncomfortable fashion. This had the drama and emotion of the previous nights main event - with Naito eliminated, it came down to the winner of this taking the Block - but it was a much more physically intese outing. They hit about a million big moves; Kenny teased an OWA off the apron, but Ibushi tried to counter into that deadlift German into the ring, but Omega turned it into a package Tombstone on the apron. He then turned back the clocks, getting a near fall with Croyt’s Wrath. Kenny hit the Terminator Con Hilo and Kota hit the Golden Triangle, then looked like he almost killed Omega with a standing Moonsault which he landed in a double knees, which looked absolutely no fun at all to take. Kenny went for that top rope Dragon Suplex insanity, but Ibushi landed on his feet. He hit the Last Ride and Kamigoye for great near falls. Omega blocked a reverse rana with an insane reverse Ganso Bomb, hit a bunch of V-Triggers, then went for a second rope One Winged Angel, but Kota battled free and, with Omega sat on the top rope, hit a horrifying looking double stomp to the back of Kenny’s head. Ibushi then hit an ubelievable top rope Tiger Driver for an incredible nearfall, then landed another Kamigoye for the win in 23:13 of fantastic action. They embraced after the match, but its worth noting that Omega remains winless against Ibushi.

Which brought us to the finals between Tanahashi and Ibushi. The undercard of this was a profound disappointment. It wasn’t bad, everything was good, but there was nothing must-see or especially newsworthy. Until the finals. This was a blow-away match, and the best these two have ever had against each other. The drama was off the page before the bell even rang; Omega accompanied Ibushi to the ring, but seconding Tanahashi, was long time rival, Katsuyori Shibata, which gave this match an added sense of importance. They had hard strike exchanges throughout this one. There was a great spot early as Tana tried a dropkick from the floor onto the apron, but Ibushi countered with a big double stomp. Tana skinned the cat right into a package Tombstone for a near fall. The Ace started destroying Ibushi’s knees with Dragon Screws, then after sending Ibushi to the outside, Tanahashi hit an HFF to the floor. Kota would battle back though, hitting an absoulutely pefect top rope springboard Asai Moonsault. They traded Germa suplex variants, before Ibushi hit Tana with a Boma Ye. He tried a Last Ride, but Tanahashi hit that devastating Left Hand, which lead to a super intense strike battle, which culminated in Ibushi hitting his massive Lariat at Budokan went crazy.

Tanahashi got a near fall with a straight jacket German, then went for the HFF, but Ibushi got his knees up, then hit another Boma Ye to the back., and that hideous looking double knee standing Moonsault. Kota then hit that terrifying Lawn Dart into the corner pad, and the deadlift German into the ring, both of which were scary to watch, knowing how banged up Tana is. Tanahashi turned a Kamigoye into two Twist and Shouts, then hit a Dragon Suplex for a great near fall. Tana went up and hit the High Fly Flow to Ibushi's back. Tana went back up, but Ibushi fought to his feet, and Tana hit a standing HFF. He went back to the top a third time and nailed hit another High Fly Flow to win his third G1 at the 35 minute mark. This was an outstanding match, and probably my second favourite of the tourney, behind Omega/Ishii, which told a compelling, timeless story of the old gun slinger looking for one last shot at glory. After Ibushi had left the ring in tears, unable to exceed God, and Shibata paraded him around the ring on his shoulders, and Mr. August himself, Masahiro Chono, handed him the G1 trophy and flag, Tana air guitared like the Ace of old to send everyone home happy.

I don’t know if this has been the greatest G1 of all time (it has very strong competion from last years superb tourney), but this was blow away stuff. I can’t say enough good things about Tana in this thing, the guy is a rare breed, The One Man Of Talent, who despite being in a considerable amount of pain, pulls out classics like the two he had this weekend when he needs to, and I was beyond hapy to see him win the tournament. His babyface fire in that final with Ibushi was at Kobashi levels and he has to be the smartest worker in the business when it comes to mapping out these matches. Well we’re back on the road to Wrestle Kingdom, and with Tanahashi vs. Omega being the potential main event, we’re in for a hell of a ride. Go Ace!