Night 7 of the NJPW G1 Climax 29 tournament kicked off its second of three nights at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and featured the next round of A-Block matches, including IWGP Heavyweight champion Kazuchika Okada vs. current IWGP Junior-heavyweight champ Will Ospreay.
Results roundup:
- Jon Moxley and Shota Umino def. Juice Robinson and Yota Tsuji
- Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano & Yuya Uemura
- Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens def.
- Jeff Cobb, Toa Henare & Tomoaki Honma
- Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Bushi def. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Ren Narita
- A Block: Zack Sabre Jr. (2) def. Bad Luck Fale via countout (2)
- A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi (4) def. Lance Archer (4)
- A Block: KENTA (8) def. EVIL (4)
- A Block: Kota Ibushi (4) def. SANADA (2)
- A Block: Kazuchika Okada (8) def. Will Ospreay (2)
Jon Moxley and Shota Umino def. Juice Robinson and Yota Tsuji
Moxley and Umino were the first wrestlers to enter the ring, and they entered from the South entrance through the crowd on Saturday. When Tsuji and Umino were in the ring together before the match they got into it, forehead to forehead, but that was quickly broken up when their tag partners threw them to the floor.
Robinson and Mox went at it, jaw-jacking, Moxley seemingly unphased from his war with Tomohiro Ishii only a night prior. Robinson was all business, no-nonsense, zero BS. He beat on Moxley in the corner early on and even told the referee to STFU before screaming in the direction of the crowd. New Japan’s audience is staunchly behind Juice but Moxley has grown on fans quickly. Moxley’s presence in this year’s G1 has given his matches in the tournament an older flavor, something you’d see from the Funks and Abby and and the Sheik in AJPW in the late ‘70s. They’ll face off in the B-Block at the next show.
Juice and Mox both rolled out of the ring decking each other with punches. Tsuji and Umino then kicked off their end of the match with Tsuji controlling much of it until Moxley and Umino landed a Hart Attack into Umino’s Boston Crab on Tsuji for the strong win. Robinson and Moxley brawled and had a pull apart afterwards. “Gritty” Juice Robinson is working for me and Moxley is on fire right now, so I can only imagine how good their next match together will be.
Minoru Suzuki, Taichi & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano & Yuya Uemura
Suzuki-gun ambushed the CHAOS guys before the bell. Suzuki bullied Uemura throughout much of this but Uemura, who looked awesome, always had some sort of answer for him. Out on the floor early on, Suzuki smashed a chair over Uemura’s back, but later Uemura landed what felt like a series of 20 rapid-fire elbows as Suzuki was choking out Goto.
Goto and Taichi were one of the focal points here though the crowd did love the Suzuki vs. Uemura transactions, too. A small but loud pocket of the crowd was way into Taichi.
Toru Yano continued his no-nonsense week and wrestled a relatively serious style with Suzuki. He did rip one of the ring post pads off, though. Uemura later landed a nice release double overhook suplex on Kanemaru. Kanemaru laid Uemura out with a lariat for a close two and the crowd loved it, but Kanemaru spiked Uemura with Deep Impact to win the match. Suzuki-gun beat on the CHAOS guys after the match and Taichi teased using a GTR, Goto’s finisher, on Uemura before Goto literally chased him off to the backstage area.
Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens def. Jeff Cobb, Toa Henare & Tomoaki Honma
White came out and told the English broadcast team — Rocky Romero, specifically — that what he says goes, general heel rhetoric delivered very well.
Honma and Takahashi were first in but things quickly spilled outside. White strangled Cobb with a cable near the Japanese announce team’s side of the table; those two, White and Ishii, will wrestle each other on the next B-block show. They looked good together later on in the match. He tried all of his signature suplexes on White but White countered all of them, and there we about five separate times where this happened within a minute.
Yujiro Takahashi ended up eating a front suplex after White snuck out of the way. The story they told was that White won’t be thrown around by Cobb because that’s his thing, countering everyone’s regular offense. It’s subtle but so effective. White is really smart.
Cobb used a double-wristclutch back suplex and both Owens and Takahashi which looked nuts. Owens and Henare later had a nice section of the match together. Henare landed a rugby tackle, or a running Rock Bottom, for two. White came in to interfere but Henare whipped him to Cobb who almost landed a Tour of the Islands but, again, White escaped.
Owens landed a Package Piledriver on Henare for the clean win. Owens has scored tons of wins with that move over the past few weeks and Kevin Kelly even announced that he “could beat anyone” with it. This was much better than I thought it’d be and was especially great when White and Cobb and Owens and Henare worked together.
Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi & Bushi def. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI & Ren Narita
YOSHI-HASHI and Takagi were first in. They traded shoulder blocks and forearms until YH snapped Takagi over with a Headhunter (running blockbuster). Things turned quickly turned into a half-mess with wrestlers both outside and inside the ring. Takagi did a good job of making YOSHI-HASHI look like a threat.
Naito and Ishii were in together afterwards. They’ll wrestle each other on the next B-Block show. Once Naito gained control he spit on Ishii and peppered him in the face with arrogant kicks. It only led to them brawling on the floor again, and when BUSHI pinned Narita after an MX they were still brawling and had to have the Young Lions keep them apart.
Zack Sabre Jr. (2) def. Bad Luck Fale (2) via countout
This was Bad Luck Fale’s best match of the tournament so far. Sabre charged at Fale early on and jumped into full guard and locked on a guillotine choke, then transitioned to the back and applied an RNC but Fale slammed him off, lurching forward and dumping Sabre back-first to the mat. When Fale went for an elbow drop Sabre caught him in a straight armbar, and later when he went for the Bad Luck Fall, ZSJ countered into a flying octopus hold until “Master Heater” Jado cracked him in the back with a kendo stick.
On the floor, Owens put the boots to Sabre while the ref wasn’t looking. Owens got got in front of referee Marty Asami so that Fale could bash ZSJ in and around Korakuen Hall towards the South entrance. Up on the second tier, Fale teased a Bad Luck Fall which freaked people out but Sabre slipped out. Fale then went for the Grenade but ZSJ hopped into a triangle choke and dragged Fale down to the concrete.
This gave referee Asami a chance to begin the countout call, and at about 10 counts in Sabre dashed from the crowd back to the ring and made it back at 17. Fale didn’t make it, so he was counted out. Sabre picks up his first win of the G1.
Hiroshi Tanahashi (4) def. Lance Archer (4)
This was such a good match. It was only about 10 minutes, but it was all action.
Archer decked a few Young Lions on his way to the match. Chris Charlton announced that Tanahashi’s match with Archer tonight would be his 137th G1 Climax match overall.
While still wearing his entrance gear, Tana used a few basement dropkicks on Archer before the bell. He wailed on Archer outside the ring, riding the momentum of his first G1 victory a few nights ago.
Archer returned Tana’s sudden attacks with a huge chokeslam onto the apron and later a running somersault senton off the apron to the floor. Tanahashi caught him clean and it looked really good. If you can believe this, only half the crowd was chanting for Tana — the other half was fiercely behind the new-look Archer.
They traded chops until Archer planted Tana with a big Black Hole Slam. Rocky Romero mentioned that he’d never heard people in Korakuen Hall chanting for Archer this much, if ever.
Archer grabbed Tanahashi’s face as he sold on the ground and screamed that he was the Ace of the company now. Then he shouted “I’m from Texas!” and tried a Texas Cloverleaf that didn’t work out. After eating a few avalanche elbows in the corner, Tana returned with a slingblade and eventually went for his own Texas Cloverleaf but couldn’t flip Archer over. He opted for the inverted Dragon Screw instead.
On their feet, Archer gained his momentum back with a massive Pounce that sent Tana flying to the edge of the ring. Archer walked the ropes like Undertaker or El Phantasmo but Tana reversed the attempted attack into Twist ’n’ Shout. When Tana went for a cross body from the top Archer caught him and put him down with pro wrestling’s best chokeslam for a near fall.
Only 10 minutes had passed when Archer used a twisting splash/Vader bomb type maneuver for two. He teased the EBD (Everybody Dies) Claw but Tana blocked it and shouted “No!” but Archer was soon able to lock it in until Tanahashi grabbed the ropes. The crowd was fully split here when, out of nowhere, like against Zack Sabre Jr., he used a victory roll and pinned Archer to pick up two more points. Great stuff.
KENTA (8) def. EVIL (4)
This I’d consider a must-see match. Most of the G1 bouts this year are, but don’t let this one fly under the radar.
More importantly. This was KENTA’s authentic return match. This was him.
KENTA and EVIL stared at each other from opposite corners of the ring beforehand. EVIL kicked KENTA in the gut and started things off slowly with a side headlock until KENTA shoved himself out of it and kicked EVIL in the face. Things got more heated when they were on the ropes and KENTA wiped some of EVIL’s eye makeup off and smeared it on his own face, which elicited loud boos. He blasted EVIL with a low kick to the back and a few more until he caught KENTA’s leg and threw it to referee Red Shoes so he could land a shot and knock KENTA to the floor.
Outside, EVIL crowned KENTA with a folding chair and drilled him using another. EVIL then dragged KENTA through the backstage corridors, near the restrooms, and around the corner to the South entrance where they wrestled on the high riser. They moved all of the fan’s chairs out of the way and fought in the middle of the stage and jostled over who would suplex whom.
KENTA got the better of the exchange and he suplexed EVIL onto a stack of chairs and what looked like a fan’s purse with a water bottle inside. He leaned into his heel persona and soaked in the boos while EVIL absorbed more punishment. The crowd loved EVIL.
This was as close to the old KENTA we’ve probably seen since before he left for WWE about five years ago. It wasn’t just the intensity but the feeling of confidence coming out of KENTA. People started chanting for him once he used his/Katsuyori Shibata’s running dropkick in the corner.
EVIL blocked Go-2-Sleep and countered out with a big release German suplex, then Darkness Falls for a two-count. The crowd was split between the two and the heat was off the charts.
EVIL went for a running lariat but KENTA ducked and returned with two busaiku knee strikes and finally G2S for the win. Brutal, competitive match. This was KENTA’s best G1 match so far, though EVIL has had a hell of a run so far this summer, too.
Kota Ibushi (4) def. SANADA (2)
The crowd buzzed before the match, Ibushi in the red corner, SANADA in the blue. Once the bell ran the crowd was split in their chanting for both and what sounded like lots of women.
They started slow with a lockup. Ibushi sunk in a cravat but SANADA flipped out of it and from here they broke into a blistering counter sequence that wrapped with SANADA dropkicking the air as Ibushi waited in the corner, steps ahead.
Later, the two both stood on the ropes in the two corners closest to the hard camera and showed off their physiques. They came off more like a tag team competing for the crowd’s love, two sides of the same coin with regard to style and persona.
Ibushi tried to lock in in the Paradise Lock but couldn’t swing it. He worked over Sanada’s neck with a few wear-down holds until SANADA exploded back with a set of leapfrogs as Ibushi ran the ropes followed by a picture-perfect dropkick that knocked Ibushi to the floor; SANADA kept on the attack with a pescado dive to the floor onto Ibushi.
The pace throughout this would move slowly then spike to 110 mph in short bursts. Ibushi spent much of this match wrestling with more aggression or anger than in his other G1 matches this year. Same goes for SANADA, too, to an extent.
Ibushi landed a sitout Last Ride power bomb but didn’t make a cover. SANADA missed a moonsault which gave Ibushi the chance to stick a hard Boma-ye kneestrike for two. They sold for a minute or two after this and let the crowd wear itself out.
They tussled over who’d lock in the Cold Skull first, but the sequence ended with Ibushi lawn-darting SANADA into the corner. Again from here they’d sell the near fall for about 30 seconds to one minute.
Ibushi knocked SANADA out with a high kick after yet another hot sequence and pinned him clean with kamigoe to pick up two more points.
After the match, Ibushi got down on the mat with SANADA and looked to be pleading with him about something but SANADA didn’t react and rolled out of the ring. This was a tremendous match.
Kazuchika Okada (8) def. Will Ospreay (2)
The most surprising part of this early on was how loud the crowd was in support of Will Ospreay. There was a massive call for him before the bell.
Both wore serious looks. They started methodically and traded basic mat wrestling holds. Once they were back on their feet, another chant for Ospreay broke out.
Okada refused Ospreay’s offer to safely reenter the ring after Ospreay had knocked him to the floor. They mirrored this spot moments later, at around five minutes into the match. Ospreay rolled himself under the bottom rope instead.
Okada completely no-sold some of Ospreay’s chops and held a stoic face. He blasted him with an elbow; Ospreay followed up with a vertical suplex that the Rainmaker sold like hell. It was just over 10 minutes into the match when Ospreay ripped Okada with a chop and Okada sold it like he was shot in the chest. His chest turned rose-colored moments later.
Midway through this was all back-and-forth and we got to see all of Okada’s hits: dropkick, tombstone, upside-down neckbreaker, etc. Ospreay tried a ton of aerial moves but Okada countered most of them.
At the 15 minute call, the two exchanged fists on the apron in until Ospreay blasted Okada with a roundhouse kick that knocked Okada to the ground. Ospreay then did an Os-cutter off the guardrail to the floor. It was cool but considering his recent stinger I don’t know if that was the best call, but that’s his to make.
Back in the ring, we saw Ospreay land another Os-cutter for two. The crowd was unglued and mostly behind Ospreay over Okada.
The last part of this match was off the charts. Ospreay reversed the Rainmaker into a Spanish Fly for a very close two, then a massive Shooting Star Press for an even closer near fall. Ospreay landed a big tombstone on Okada, the one who usually employs that move, and later used a sick hook kick to Okada’s face. No matter, because Okada blasted Ospreay with the Rainmaker, wrist control maintained.
The final sequence was wild and saw Ospreay continually backflipping out of the Rainmaker, though Okada was able to land a spiral Rainmaker followed by an old-fashioned for the win. Like in his first singles match with Kenny Omega, Ospreay continuously teased using the Stormbreaker but could never fully execute it, just as Omega couldn’t land the One-Winged Angel on Okada until much later in their series.
This was entirely different from any of either Ospreay or Okada’s matches thus far in the G1. Both put on a masterclass in timing and in-ring smoothness but also in selling, especially with regard to Okada’s performance. He was able to not just keep up with Ospreay moving at full speed but give the illusion that he was at the same pace when, really, he knew exactly where to be, or where not to be, at precisely the right times.
“Classic” has been thrown around a lot lately and rather loosely. Was this a classic match? I think it’d be pretty close, but with such a high volume of great matches I’m finding it having to scrutinize matches even more closely because the bar is that much higher after Saturday.
Current G1 Standings
A Block
- Kazuchika Okada 8
- KENTA 8
- Lance Archer 4
- EVIL 4
- Hiroshi Tanahashi 4
- Kota Ibushi 4
- SANADA 2
- Bad Luck Fale 2
- Will Ospreay 2
- Zack Sabre Jr. 2
B Block
- Jon Moxley 6
- Juice Robinson 4
- Tomohiro Ishii 4
- Shingo Takagi 4
- Toru Yano 4
- Hirooki Goto 2
- Taichi 2
- Jeff Cobb 2
- Tetsuya Naito 0
- Jay White 0