NJPW G1 Climax 29 Day 14 results: LIJ stablemates Naito and Takagi clash in Osaka main event

Day 14 of the NJPW G1 Climax 29 tournament was at the Edion Arena for its second of two shows in Osaka this weekend and featured the next round of B-Block matches, including a memorable bout between former Animal Hamaguchi dojo trainees and current LIJ stablemates, Tetsuya Naito and Shingo Takagi, as well as a wild brawl between Jon Moxley and Jay White.

Shota Umino and Ren Narita def. Toa Henare and Yuya Uemura

Narita and Henare were in first and went hard at each other; Henare crushed Narita with a shoulder block early on. As usual, these four together always have memorable opening matches. This wasn’t a blow-away match or anything, nor did it need to be, but they work in such a way where it’s noticeable. All four put in the work and it shines through every time the Young Lions are all together. Mark these words: Umino and Uemura will have a classic singles match in the future, guaranteed, and I base that on their exchange together that was later on in this match. Umino scored the pin on Uemura with a fisherman’s suplex.

Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer & Zack Sabre Jr. def. SANADA, EVIL & BUSHI

Suzuki-gun jumped Los Ingernobles de Japon before the bell. How many times have you read that in the last month? Archer first went after SANADA, and they’ll wrestle each other this week. Archer wouldn’t tag out to Sabre because he was still sour about their A Block match from the day prior, which Sabre got the better of. There wasn’t anything else of much note that happened here aside from the light Archer vs. SANADA tease. EVIL’s right elbow was taped up. Suzuki scored the quick win for his team after nailing BUSHI with a Goth-style piledriver. Archer went after SANADA after the match.

Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi (w/ Pieter), & Bad Luck Fale def. Kota Ibush, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Tomaki Honma

Bullet Club went after the babyfaces early on and this played out for a little while. Tana was the first from on his team to mount a proper comeback but it’d often be short-lived, and Fale was choking him on the floor just moments later. He sold for most of this match, mostly fighting from the behind. Will they be able to pull off a decent match this week after Fale’s critically un-acclaimed G1 29 run? Owens pinned Honma after a package piledriver in this one. Fale and Tana teased out their mini-angle ahead of their match this week.

Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI def. KENTA, Clark Connors & Karl Fredericks via submission

Another quick opener that indicated how long some of the B Block matches will be going later today. Since Ospreay and KENTA will face off in an A Block match this coming week, they were in first. Ospreay threw the first slap, not KENTA, after a short feeling-out period, and from here the pace picked up. KENTA chopped Ospreay down with kicks, then both tagged out.

Okada was in the ring with LA Dojo Young Lion Karl Fredericks next. They’re just about the same height and roughly the same age, Fredericks just two years younger than the 31-year-old IWGP Heavyweight champion. Okada toyed with Fredericks though the rookie was able to show off some of his explosive athleticism. He has a huge vertical leap for his size.

Connors lit YOSHI-HASHI up in the corner with chops midway through the match. Milano Collection AT was giggling with glee at how hard Connors was laying them in. YOSHI-HASHI responded with a Headbuster and then tapped Connors with the butterfly lock. KENTA and Ospreay talked trashed afterwards.

B Block: Tomohiro Ishii (8) def. Toru Yano (6)

Ishii went after Yano before the latter could get the chance to rip the turnbuckle pad off the corner post, which was no use because Ishii ended up ramming into an exposed bucket anyway, and Yano scored two nearfall pins.

On the floor Yano set up a chair and sat down in it and egged Ishii on, as he tends to do, trying to bait his opponent to the floor so Yano could do some funny business, but no, Ishii stood with a wide base in the ring, hands on hips and signifying to both Yano and the crowd that he wasn’t in Osaka to play games. Yano realized this at around the 16 count after screaming “oite!” (“come here!”) at Ishii for a while, then he dashed back into the ring where Ishii began stomping him.

Here we saw “serious” Yano which in fact was a kind of Yano self-parody. He acted at times as if he was saying to himself “OK, I’m gonna be serious now, damn it!” and he’d hulk up. He actually knocked Ishii over with an elbow at one point with a great sell by Ishii, who made Yano look genius throughout much of this. Yano tried power bombing Ishii, but Ishii fought out of it and elbowed Yano back to the mat.

They did a spot where they both teased low blows on each other until Yano rolled Ishii up for a few near-falls and Ishii landed a gamengiri kick, then a sliding lariat for two on Yano. He finished Yano off with a vertical drop brainbuster (with generous landing) for the win. This was a lot of Toru Yano actually wrestling in a wrestling match, so check that out if that’s your thing.

B Block: Taichi (w/ Miho Abe & Yoshinobu Kanemaru) (6) def. Juice Robinson (6)

This got pretty good towards the end. Yoshinobu Kanemaru attacked Robinson before the bell. Taichi bullied him in the ring and it was difficult to gauge the crowd, who they were for or against, until Robinson landed a full Nelson slam which led to a polite clap. The crowd perked up a bit when he did the Juice choo-choo gesture-call.

Miho Abe slapped Robinson on the floor. Before that, he’d insisted she just walk to the back. Taichi laid in another sneak attack near the Japanese announce table and let Robinson come back to the ring on his own.

Taichi worked Juice over until The Flamboyant one hulked up. He didn’t pull off a full comeback until he was able to plant Taichi with a spinebuster. He jabbed Taichi a few times, blocked his kicks. When the momentum shifted back Taichi’s way he whipped his long pants off, Taichi Zone, but was scissor kicked for his trouble, Robinson taking his head off. Juice then landed a cannonball in the corner.

When Robinson went for Pulp Friction, Taichi reversed it into a Dangerous Backdrop driver and then a big kick for two, and next a big axe bomber for another. Robinson returned with a power bomb that he turned into a midfield Boston crab; he let go to take out Kanemaru who’d stood up on the apron. They teased a ref bump but Robinson pushed Marty Asami out of the way and punched Taichi.

He then took Kanemaru out again, punching the whisky right out of Kanemaru’s mouth, then did a big pescado onto him and yelled at Miho Abe on the floor. In this interval, Taichi snuck a swig of whisky and spat it into Robinson’s face and did a Gedo clutch for two. The crowd really came alive here and was way behind Juice, but Taichi pulled out Black Mephisto at the end to score the win.

B Block: Hirooki Goto (8) def. Jeff Cobb (6)

The crowd was behind Goto at the start. They were deliberate in the beginning, until Cobb landed a dropkick that knocked Goto to the floor. In the ring Cobb and Goto continued their back-and-forth, though Goto took the lead with a hard spinning roundhouse to Cobb in the corner, then a snap-back suplex. Cobb responded moments later with a big spinning back suplex. We’re five minutes in at this point.

Cobb hit a standing moonsault that zapped the crowd awake, and later a nice deadlift superplex to Goto from the second rope. Cobb went to finish, but Goto countered and transitioned to an ushigoroshi neckbreaker to buy some recovery time. He blasted Cobb with kicks and broke him down until he could use a reverse GTR for two.

There was an awesome spot towards the end of this where Goto reversed one of Cobb’s back suplexes with a judo sweep into a full back suplex and then an Attitude Adjustment for two. The crowd was loud when he put Cobb away with a GTR. Really good work from both here, and maybe the best of their matches thus far.

B Block: Jay White (w/ Gedo) (6) def. Jon Moxley (w/ Shota Umino) (10)

Mox entered through the crowd with Shota Umino but he had his eyes locked on White who had been standing in the ring. He power-walked until he hit the ring and from there jumped White for some revenge from what happened between the two in their tag match the night before.

He stomped and punched White to the floor, then whipped him around the ring into the guardrails. He did apologize to the fans with a polite bow, though. Mox pulled out a table from under the ring and went to grab Jay, presumably to put him through said table, but Gedo swiped it and ran away from the ring, presumably to ensure that the New Japan rules are enforced, because that’s just the kind of guy Gedo is.

Mox no-sold White’s sneak attacks and went to town on him in the corner with chops and more stomps. White would always find a way to sneak something in, usually a power move, playing with the rhythm of the match, cutting Mox off constantly in an attempt to unsettle Moxley. The match again went to the floor when Mox landed a shotgun dropkick and a tope suicida through the ropes.

Moxley dragged White way into the crowd, far away towards the back of the venue. He dragged him in a front face lock back to the ring after beating on him, then did the Bret Hart figure four with a ring post assist. Inside, Mox locked in a Texas Cloverleaf for a close two from White.

They traded big suplexes but White got the better of this exchange and landed a hard backdrop suplex and a uranage for a count of two. Mox slapped his way to a return and landed a release suplex bomb on White. Milano Collection AT cried out that “THIS is ultra-violence!”

Gedo was screaming at White to move before Moxley could hit White with a running knee. White “collapsed,” something he’s been doing a bit of this tournament, feigning the fall so that Gedo could interfere. Moxley knew better and kicked his “collapsed” body around. Gedo ended up in the ring but Mox cut him off; when he turned around, Jay went for a Bladerunner, but Moxley countered it with a rolling haymaker. He hit Dirty Deeds for two.

Before Moxley could do the Death Rider, White grabbed ref Marty Asami to break up the attempt, so Mox just shoved both of them to the mat. Gedo crept back into the ring with brass knuckles but again Moxley cut him off. He offered Gedo one free shot to the face. Gedo faked a “no” and went for a sucker punch but Moxley blocked it, and while he was tied up White laid in a low blow. Gedo finally decked Mox with the brass knuckles, too.

White went for the school-boy pin but only got a two-count, to Gedo’s chagrin. The crowd was strongly behind Mox at this point. He decapitated White with a running lariat and and a knee for another close two. The drama was high when Gedo again went to interfere on the apron but he ate a knee from Mox.

This gave White another chance to take advantage and land a snap sleep suplex on Mox, a stiff one, then another after a hot back-and-forth. White finally scored the huge win over Moxley. Excellent match despite lots of interference which tends to taint some of the great work. It’s negligible here because the crowd loved it, and I pretty much did, too. I’d really like to see these two in a title match someday.

B Block: Tetsuya Naito (8) def. Shingo Takagi (4)

What was most surprising at the start of this was how split the crowd sounded to be between the two Animal Hamaguchi disciples. They took their time measuring each other, sizing each other up until they built to a faster and faster and incrementally longer sequence of counters. It ended in a stalemate, and Naito offered a fist bump. Takagi answered with a hard chop. Naito was able to toss Takagi to the floor and then he did the rolling Tranquilo pose, which ticked Takagi off, so he threw a chair into the ring. Naito sat on it and then gave Takagi a drop toehold onto it.

Naito spit in Takagi’s face and it fired him up. Takagi lariated Naito to the floor and rag dolled him around ringside, into and over the barricades on the floor. Naito took a gross neckbump on the floor for a Takagi DDT and I think he truly does hate his neck. Back in the ring, Takagi blasted Naito with a running shoulder block and a vertical suplex that’d make the late Harley Race proud.

Naito forced a comeback after hitting a snap hurracanrana, then a slightly delayed Combonacion Cabron. The proverbial ball was back in Naito hands until Takagi powered up and landed a pop-up Death Valley Driver, then a Tenryu-style falling elbow from the top rope.

Things heated up after this and the crowd rallied behind Naito for the most part. He hit a beautiful rope-crawl swing DDT, and later a huge flying forearm and Gloria for two. Takagi countered a Frankensteiner attempt with a big power bomb, then whipped Naito head-first into the corner with a wheelbarrow suplex. See? He really does hate his neck.

When Naito went for a super Frankensteiner from the top, Takagi blocked it and held on; Takagi went for a super power bomb, but Naito reversed that into a Frankensteiner last minute in mid-air, then a reverse Frankensteiner that spiked Takagi on top of his head. His next plan of attack was sprint in and land Destino but Takagi shut it down completely with a Pumping Bomber lariat that ripped Naito in half at 20 minutes into this. The crowd was in full Naito-support mode here.

They traded suplexes, a backdrop from Takagi then a tiger from a Naito. Takagi hit a dramatic version of Made in Japan for a very close two, then an authoritative Pumping Bomber but again, just for two. The crowd was peaking to the roof here. When Takagi finally went for Last of the Dragon Naito slid out and landed Destino butt didn’t have the energy to attempt the pin.

Naito’s mouth was bleeding when the two traded open slaps and chops. At 25 minutes in, Naito hit a brainbsuter for two. He went for another Destino but couldn’t swing all the way through and pushed Takagi off the ropes and with the momentum he crashed into Naito with another Pumping Bomber.

Takagi attempted Last of the Dragon again but Naito reversed it with a Canadian Destroyer, then ran at Takagi and landed a Destino flush for a near fall so close that the crowd’s heart skipped a beat, and mine too. That was one of the best nearfalls I’ve seen. The crowd was crackling when Naito stuck another Destino for the definitive win over Takagi. What a firefight.

We’ll be back later this week with G1 Climax 29 coverage from Hamamatsu in Shizuoka, Japan this Wednesday.

Current G1 Standings

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

B Block
Jon Moxley 10
Tomohiro Ishii 8
Tetsuya Naito 8
Hirooki Goto 8
Juice Robinson 6
Jeff Cobb 6
Toru Yano 6
Taichi 6
Jay White 6
Shingo Takagi 4