NJPW G1 Climax 29 Night 12: Goto and Ishii meet in B Block main event from Fukuoka

Night 12 of the NJPW G1 Climax 29 tournament was in Fukuoka this Wednesday and featured the next round of B-Block matches, including Hirooki Goto taking on Tomohiro Ishii in the main event.

Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi & Chase Owens def. KENTA, Karl Fredricks & Clark Connors

Much of the in-ring action in this was between Connors and Takahashi. Fredericks hit a nice dropkick on Owens, but Owens later pinned him after hitting a package piledriver.

Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr. def. Lance Archer and Yoshinobu Kanemaru

Suzuki-gun civil battle. Suzuki and Sabre got into it with their teammate-opponents early on. All four brawled around the ring at the top and Suzuki put a noticeable beating on Kanemaru on the floor. Sabre went after Archer’s legs in the ring but Archer ate up all of Sabre’s offense and knocked Zack over with a shoulder block. Suzuki, now on the apron, had words with Archer so Archer went to attack Suzuki with the EBD Claw, which Suzuki reversed into a hanging armbar over the ropes.

Archer and Sabre brawled around the ring after this. They’ll have an A-Block match in Osaka this weekend. Suzuki continued disciplining Kanemaru through the crowd until he made his way back inside the ring when Sabre pinned him with a European Clutch. Sabre and Archer got into with each other afterwards.

Kota Ibushi, Tomoaki Honma and Toa Henare defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shota Umino and Ren Narita

Tanahashi got in Ibushi’s face before the bell. They also have a match coming up soon in Osaka, their first singles bout since last year’s G1 Climax 28 finals. Tanahashi won that one.

Narita blasted Honma with a chop early on. They traded shoulder blocks. Henare and Umino had a good exchange together and I assure you the two’ll be having high-level, high-quality matches together within the next three years.

Honma hit Umino with the Kokeshi falling headbutt. When Tanahashi was in, he looked to be moving at half-speed, sort of hopping on those torn up knees of his. He attempted his own version of Kokeshi on Honma, with an elbow drop, but missed.

Tanahashi and Ibushi gave us a short teaser-version of what they may do in their match together this weekend, with an emphasis on the “short” part. This all flew by. Henare pinned Narita after a big uranage to win this for his team. Tana and Ibushi stood forehead-to-foreahead before Tanahashi left the ring on his way to the back.

Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI def. SANADA, EVIL and BUSHI by submission

EVIL and Ospreay were in together first. Ospreay is wildly popular in Japan right now, if you haven’t heard. The Fukuoka crowd erupted as soon as he teased a Space Flying Tiger Drop at the top of the match, backflipping himself into that DragonBall Z pose. When Ospreay went for a kick, EVIL passed it off to referee Marty Asami who caught it while EVIL landed a savat kick to Ospreay’s stomach.

The second part of this match really kicked off when Okada and SANADA were in the ring together. There was a tall wave of screaming females that crashed on the ring when those two stepped through the ropes, before they even began to wrestle. It was good and fast but quick, another taste of what we’ll probably see over the weekend.

The rest of this match was short and was mainly YOSHI-HASHI and BUSHI together, with YH grabbing the win by submission after tapping BUSHI with a butterfly lock.

B Block: Jeff Cobb (6) def. Shingo Takagi (4)

Just last September Takagi and Cobb faced off in the three-way finals of PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles with Bandido. It was less than a year later that these two were staring each other down in the middle of a New Japan ring for a G1 match.

Takagi went after Cobb’s left leg early on. He’d intermittently try to chop him down with strikes and even attempted a short lariat, but Cobb stood still as a tree trunk for much of Takagi’s offense. He tossed him high over his head with a front suplex after Takagi ran out of steam.

Cobb used a swinging back suplex on Takagi, who later returned with a snap backdrop suplex later on. Takagi was fired up after this and used all of this momentum to superplex Cobb clean from the top rope. They traded more big suplexes and you have to remind yourself that this guy is considered a junior heavyweight.

The last half of this was power move-for-power move. Takagi hit the inverted Gory Special bomb and a big Pumping Bomber for a close two. The crowd was peaking and really into the match at around this point. Cobb hit a big Axe Bomber and then a deadlift power bomb for two.

He lifted Cobb up into Made in Japan and held Cobb there for a one-Mississippi and then a huge near fall. The crowd was crazy for Takagi here. He went for Last of the Dragon but Cobb reversed it and practically murdered Takagi with a snap German suplex and a Tour of the Islands to put him away. Killer match with a hot ending.

B Block: Toru Yano (6) def. Jon Moxley (10) via count-out

Mox and Shota Umino entered from inside the crowd, who sounded surprised he did that — surprised in a good way. He jawed at Yano when he came to the ring and harangued him about the 5000円 DVD transaction between the two on Night 11. Yano wouldn’t get in the ring before the match and acted afraid of him, then sprayed him in the face with some water, like a clown. He apologized repeatedly after the bell then when for a low blow that Moxley blocked. This was all physical comedy that worked, mostly Mox chasing Yano around with his fist but not hitting him all that much.

They wrestled on the floor and Yano tried taping Mox up with athletic tape but Mox stole the roll of tape and taped Yano’s arm to the guardrail for a close count-out call at around 17. They both ripped the pads off the corners and had a ring post pad battle that Moxley “won” until Marty Asami grabbed Mox’s pad from his hands and Yano scored a low blow for an even closer two-count.

An Angry Mox kneed Yano in the face and then rolled to the floor to look for a table. He set one up near the front row, and when moments later when he went to deck Yano with something, Yano grabbed Shota Umino and used him as a shield, and then gave both Umino and Moxley a double low-blow.

Yano busted out the athletic tape again and taped Mox’s leg to Umino’s like they were about to run a three-legged race as the count-out started. Yano made it back into the ring on time while Mox was then counted out. Moxley’s undefeated streak in New Japan finally ends with a loss to Yano. Moxley rolled back into the ring and got on his knees, nonplussed with a 1000-yard stare, to the delight of the crowd. This may have been the best Yano match of this year’s G1 next to Yano vs. Naito at Korakuen Hall.

B Block: Tetsuya Naito (6) def. Juice Robinson (6)

In his match with Jon Moxley, Naito peeled off his entrance gear slowly to get into Mox’s head. He tried that here, but Robinson was a few steps ahead of Naito and made sure to carefully fold his ring jacket and then take off three undershirts, one-by-one. This was entertaining.

Naito had seen enough and went after Juice before the match had officially started. He mocked him a bit, which looked to kayfabe enrage Robinson, who grabbed Naito by the throat. Robinson later did his own version of the Tranqiuilo tumble-pose as Naito recollected himself outside of the ring. Things got hairier on the floor, and Naito found openings to land a tornado DDT and a hard basement dropkick. He whipped Robinson into the barricade and forced him to get back into the ring on his own after that.

Naito did his own version of Juice’s signature jabs but Robinson countered with his own. He called out a lot of Japanese phrases at the crowd. He used a big top rope Frankensteiner and a falling powerbomb for two. Naito snapped Robinson over with a German suplex and spiked him with a swinging DDT, and once again with a reverse Frankensteiner when Robinson went for the Juice Box.

Naito hit Destino for a close two. He tried for another but Robinson countered into the Juice Box gutbuster. Both were flat in the middle of the ring for a bit until Naito made it to his feet, the crowd fully behind him. Robinson returned the attack with the Left Hand of God and a big lariat for two. Naito hit Valencia for two. Fired up, he locked Robinson’s arm in for a Destino with full rotation, sealing the win for the ungovernable ojisan. This was really good, and much better than it sounded on paper.

B Block: Jay White (w/ Gedo) (4) def. Taichi (w/ Miho Abe) (4)

White blew kisses at Miho Abe. Taichi took his time taking off his ye olde magician’s robe while White waited in the corner. Most of the crowd sounded to be behind Taichi for this. White rolled to the floor, then Taichi rolled to the opposite side. Gedo yelled at the referee to count Taichi out when White rolled back in. Yoshibu Kanemaru came out and there was some nonsense between opposing factions outside of the ring, all schmozzy brawling. They teased a double count-out but both made it in at 19.

Gedo grabbed Abe by the hair to get Taichi’s attention and allow an opening for Jay to attack. He let Taichi get back into the ring on his own; Taichi made it back by 19. White dropped a ton of F-bombs between moves. He did the spot where he feigned KO but was laughing into the camera. He snuck in a few shots while Taichi wasn’t paying attention.

Taichi landed a big jumping gamengiri and the crowd loved it. He’s the default babyface here, based on the Fukuoka crowd’s reactions. White hit a Kiwi Crusher for two. They traded backdrop suplexes. Gedo and then Kanemaru got on the apron to distract the ref. Taichi went for a low blow, but White blocked it and eventually landed a kick below the belt. He then used the Gedo Clutch on White but Gedo pulled Red Shoes out of the ring. The crowd booed that one hard.

Gedo threatened using brass knuckles on Taichi but Kanemaru got involved. He missed a Whisky Mist and for some reason sold it like he’d hurt his stomach. How does that even work? Would it have hurt less if the whisky had made it into Gedo’s face?

Back in the ring, Taichi went for an Axe Bomber but White used a low blow of his own. He went for a Bladerunner, but Taichi shoved him into a recovered Kanemaru who hit Whisky Mist on White (and was totally fine); Taichi used a Last Right with Kawada slide-over pin for a nearfall.

The end of this was pretty heated. Kanemaru and Gedo got into it on the floor and White was able to keep Taichi off his feet for long enough to land a Bladebuster and Bladerunner for the win. This was a good match despite all of the interference.

B Block: Tomohiro Ishii Hirooki Goto

This was what you thought it’d be. Ishii got the better of most of their early exchanges and talked quite a bit of trash to Goto, who wouldn’t stand for too much of it. He countered Ishii’s momentum with a rolling lariat. Ishii was back moments later and he drilled Goto in the corner with Tenryu-style jabs and elbows. Goto fired back forearms of his own. This was tit-for-tat, nonstop. Ishii cut the pace with a big powerslam. Goto returned with a hanging neckbreaker.

They traded elbows on the top rope until Goto tried a sunset flip powerbomb. It sort of worked, but it also looked like Goto slipped and messed up the timing and the crowd didn’t react like they probably should have. It’s negligible, though, because after another hard exchange between these two the crowd were chanting and loudly behind Goto.

They fought for leverage while attempting brainbusters on each other. The ring announcer made the 15-minutes-have-passed call when Goto had Ishii in a sleeper hold. The two later exchanged headbutts and Goto won that battle. He hit a reverse GTR and then a hard kick for a two-count. He then used an ushigoroshi (that looked more like a Death Valley Driver) and a GTR to pin Ishii clean.

The crowd was into this but they didn’t burst out of their seats like the past few nights. This was good but I felt the drag of it at around the 10-minute mark and it proceeded to go on for six or seven more minutes. Again, minor nitpicks aside, this was a solid match. Hopefully this gains Goto more clout among the more hardcore fans.

Current G1 Standings

A Block
Kazuchika Okada 12
KENTA 8
Hiroshi Tanahashi 8
EVIL 6
Kota Ibushi 6
Lance Archer 4
Will Ospreay 4
Zack Sabre Jr. 4
SANADA 4
Bad Luck Fale 2

B Block
Jon Moxley 10
Juice Robinson 6
Tomohiro Ishii 6
Jeff Cobb 6
Toru Yano 6
Tetsuya Naito 6
Hirooki Goto 6
Shingo Takagi 4
Taichi 4
Jay White 4