NJPW G1 Climax 29
Night 2 – B Block
#njg129
Event Date: July 13, 2019 (18:30 JST)
aired live on NJPW World
City: Ota, Tokyo, Japan
Venue: Ota City General Gymnasium
Attendance: 4,074
Series: G1 Climax 29
Commentary (English): Kevin Kelly, Rocky Romero, Chris Charlton
Commentary (Japanese): Soichi Shibata, Shigeki Kiyono, Milano Collection AT, Tomoaki Honma (5 – 9)
Ring Announcer: Kimihiko Ozaki (1 – 4), Makoto Abe (5 – 9)
Video
The wrestlers in B Block of the G1 Climax tournament are briefly profiled.
Match 1
BUSHI & SANADA & EVIL vs Yuya Uemura & Will Ospreay (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champ) & Kota Ibushi
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: BUSHI pins Yuya Uemura after a Code Breaker
Time: 7:59
Match Thoughts
Good match. Ibushi suffered a pretty nasty-looking ankle injury during the first night of the G1 Climax on the 6th, but he didn’t shy away from action tonight. Ibushi started the match for his team, and LIJ quickly focused on his injured ankle. LIJ worked well together as always, and even though Ospreay got in a nice sequence of offense when he tagged in, LIJ dominated this match. This was a nice opener and a good preview of the next round of A Block matches.
Match 2
Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale vs Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Lance Archer
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Chase Owens pins Yoshinobu Kanemaru after a package piledriver
Time: 5:59
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. This was kind of short, but it was previewing a match I expect to be pretty short as well, so it actually made a lot of sense. Archer and Fale will face each other in the next round of A Block matches, and their teams mirrored each other tonight. Archer and Fale started the match against each other, and Owens and Kanemaru both had the idea to attack their opponents from behind. Neither plan worked. Fale and Archer pounded on each other for a while, but Owens and Kanemaru ended up fighting as the lrgal guys for most of this short match. Owens continued to impress tonight with some nice offense. Owens looked strong, and I liked it.
Match 3
Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors & KENTA vs Ren Narita & Shota Umino & Hiroshi Tanahashi
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Karl Fredericks submits Ren Narita with a half Boston crab
Time: 11:13
Match Thoughts
Good match. This was a preview for KENTA versus Tanahashi, but it seemed more like a young lions match. That’s not a bad thing either. Two members of the LA Dojo made their NJPW debuts tonight, and they looked good. Fredericks looked quite a bit better to me tonight, but Connors might have just been a little too excited or nervous. Connors didn’t seem to have great communication in the ring while Fredericks didn’t have that problem. It was interesting seeing the differences between the young lions from the American and Japanese dojos. The Japanese lions are always quietly intense while the American lions seemed a lot more open and in-your-face about their intensity. I think the coolest thing about this match was seeing the Japanese young lions defend their territory and act like the elder wrestlers when taking on the Americans.
Oh yeah, and KENTA and Tanahashi had a nice yet brief interaction in the middle of the match.
Match 4
Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. (RPW British Heavyweight Champ) vs YOSHI-HASHI & Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champ)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Zack Sabre Jr. submits YOSHI-HASHI with a cross arm breaker
Time: 11:16
Match Thoughts
Good match. ZSJ and Okada started the match, and Okada tried to wrestle with Sabre. Sabre generally got the better of Okada in terms of holds and counters, but Okada would get the better of Sabre later in the match with some nice chains of kicks and slams. Suzuki was still pissed about being left out of the G1, and he took out his frustrations mostly on YOSHI-HASHI (and a young lion at ringside). Sabre and Suzuki worked great as a team, again mostly on YOSHI-HASHI. I’m really looking forward to Okada versus Sabre, and I’m really looking forward to Suzuki beating people up in tag matches throughout the tournament.
Match 5
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Shingo Takagi (0-0-0: 0) vs Juice Robinson (0-0-0: 0)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Juice Robinson wins via pinfall after Pulp Friction
Time: 14:41
Match Thoughts
Great match! Like Ospreay, Shingo Takagi is a Jr. Heavyweight coming into the tournament. Ospreay got tested by one of the biggest men in the tournament, but I think Takagi got tested in a different way. I think Juice feels like he has something to prove after losing the US Title to Jon Moxley recently, so Shingo had to deal with an extremely motivated Juice Robinson. This match built up extremely well, and both men were hitting huge strikes on each other by the end of the match. Shingo proved that he can match strength in the heavyweight division, and Juice proved that he can rise to the highest level when he’s pushed. This was a fantastic way to start B Block.
Match 6
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Taichi (0-0-0: 0) w/ Miho Abe vs Jon Moxley (0-0-0: 0) (IWGP US Heavyweight Champ)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Jon Moxley wins via pinfall after the Deathrider
Time: 7:36
Match Thoughts
Good match. Moxley was heading to the ring through the crowd, so Taichi met him out there and started a brawl before the match. Moxley hurt his back in the brawl which affected how he moved around throughout the entire match. There was some fighting in the ring once the match officially started, but Moxley would take it out to the floor at one point which shifted the momentum of the match. This was a fight with weapons and furniture, and it was fun. This was definitely a good start for Moxley, though I think Taichi might reconsider his strategy next time he faces a brawler like Moxley.
Match 7
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Tetsuya Naito (0-0-0: 0) (IWGP IC Champ) vs Toru Yano (0-0-0: 0) (NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Champ)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Toru Yano wins via pinfall after a spear (and a low blow, and pulling a shirt over Naito’s head)
Time: 3:42
Match Thoughts
This was a whole lot of fun. Naito took his sweet time taking off all his entrance clothes while Yano yelled for Naito to hurry up. Once the match started, Naito wrestled Yano’s match. Both men were kind of goofy, and both men looked for silly and cheap ways to get an advantage. Wrestling like that against Yano is rarely a good idea, and Naito struggled late in this match. This was surprising, but I think it might motivate Naito from this point on.
Match 8
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Jeff Cobb (0-0-0: 0) vs Tomohiro Ishii (0-0-0: 0) (NEVER Openweight Champ)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Tomohiro Ishii wins via pinfall with a brainbuster
Time: 18:33
Match Thoughts
Great match! This was a true battle of strong style heavyweights. Both men wanted to prove how tough they were, and they did so by trading chops and elbows over and over and over again. As hard as they were going at each other early, the pace actually picked up in the later stages of the match. As the match felt like it was nearing its finish, both men started hitting huge suplexes and slams in among their continued striking. This was super fun to watch, and I can’t wait to see more from both men during the tournament. I’d also like to see this rematch sometime later on.
Match 9
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Jay White (0-0-0: 0) w/ Gedo vs Hirooki Goto (0-0-0: 0)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Hirooki Goto wins via pinfall after the GTR
Time: 21:06
Match Thoughts
Great match. Jay White started with mind games right away by leaving the ring as the match started just to set up a chair for Gedo at ringside. White went on to wrestle a very smart and very weasely match. White showed his brains and arrogance, but even though Goto was drawn in by White a few times, Goto was here to win. Goto kept chipping away at White and looked for some very big moves as the match neared the twenty minute mark. This was a very good main event for the first night of B Block competition.
Ring Area
After the match, Goto says it’s been a while, but he’s happy to compete in front of everyone tonight. He says there’s a long way to go in the G1, but remember, the “G” in G1 stands for “Goto!”
Show Impressions
This was a very strong start for B Block. I think I might have enjoyed the first night of A Block a bit more, but I enjoyed tonight’s show very much.
Match of the Night
Jay White vs Hirooki Goto
This was a really tough decision, and I’m still on the fence about what my favorite match was tonight. Juice versus Shingo is right up there as one of my favorites, and I think Ishii versus Cobb is very close right under that. But the main event was a very strong match all around that felt like it told a story that was a bit bigger than anything else tonight. For that, I picked that as my initial reaction.
Official Results (Japanese): https://www.njpw.co.jp/tornament/192621?showResult=1