NJPW G1 Climax 29
Night 10 – B Block
#g129
Event Date: July 28, 2019 (16:00 JST)
aired live on NJPW World
City: Naka, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Venue: Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium
Attendance: 5,278
Series: G1 Climax 29
Commentary (English): Kevin Kelly, Rocky Romero
Commentary (Japanese): Shigeki Kiyono, Milano Collection AT, YOSHI-HASHI (6 – 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
Yuya Uemura vs Ren Narita
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Ren Narita wins via pinfall after a bridging belly to belly overhead suplex
Time: 7:25
Match Thoughts
Good match. This was the first one one one young lion opener during the G1 tour, and it was a good one. The commentators were talking about how Uemura hasn’t been able to defeat Narita since they’ve been training together, and that gave a little drama to the match. Both men looked good, but Narita is closer to moving up and going on excursion, so he did look a bit better tonight.
Match 2
Yujiro Takahashi w/ Pieter & Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale vs Toa Henare & Tomoaki Honma & Kota Ibushi
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Yujiro Takahashi pins Tomoaki Honma after Pimp Juice
Time: 8:20
Match Thoughts
Good match. Henare started the match and did pretty well for a minute, but he got isolated and beat up fairly quickly. Ibushi came in and gave a very brief preview of his upcoming match with Fale, but Honma came in and ended the match for his team. Honma tried hard, but Bullet Club’s teamwork was too much for him tonight.
Match 3
Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. (RPW British Heavyweight Champ) & Lance Archer vs Shota Umino & YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champ) & Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champ)
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Yoshinobu Kanemaru pins Shota Umino after Deep Impact
Time: 9:35
Match Thoughts
Good match. This one started with a fast and extremely fun preview of Sabre versus Ospreay. After that, Suzuki and YOSHI-HASHI traded chops, then the match started to break down. There was some brawling around the ring for a while, but most of the fighting took place in the ring (at least, there was less brawling than a lot of Suzuki Gun matches). Kanemaru and Umino ended the match against each other, and the finish was unsurprising but still fun to watch. I really enjoyed this match.
Match 4
BUSHI & SANADA & EVIL vs Karl Fredericks & KENTA & Hiroshi Tanahashi
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: BUSHI pins Karl Fredericks after MX
Time: 8:59
Match Thoughts
Good match. Tanahashi started the match for his team, but his legs were noticeably giving him trouble right from the start. He could barely run, and it makes me wonder if Tanahashi is even going to be able to finish the tournament. In this match, Tanahashi eventually tagged out to KENTA. KENTA did well, then Fredericks came in to finish the match. At that point LIJ started working as a full team and overwhelmed the young lion. This was pretty fun.
Match 5
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Toru Yano (2-2-0: 4) (NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Champ) vs Hirooki Goto (1-3-0: 2)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Hirooki Goto wins via pinfall with a step-over toehold roll-up
Time: 1:42
Match Thoughts
This was fun. It was also one of the shortest matches of the tournament so far. Yano indicated that he wasn’t up to any shenanigans in this Chaos intra-faction match, but he pulled shenanigans pretty soon after the match started. Goto tried to avoid the many schoolboys of Yano, and Goto starting looking for an opening to pin Yano in this short and fun match.
Match 6
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Tomohiro Ishii (2-2-0: 4) (NEVER Openweight Champ) vs Juice Robinson (3-1-0: 6)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Tomohiro Ishii wins via pinfall after a vertical drop brainbuster
Time: 17:54
Match Thoughts
Great match. This was a battle if will and endurance. Most of this match was dominated by both men throwing their hardest strikes at each other until once man fell down. Then they’d get up and do it again. Towards the end of the match there were an increasing number of powerful slams, but the striking contests were what this match was mostly about. Both men showing ridiculous toughness, and the winner truly earned his two points tonight.
Match 7
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Taichi (2-2-0: 4) w/ Miho Abe, Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Jeff Cobb (1-3-0: 2)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Jeff Cobb wins via pinfall after Tour of the Islands
Time: 12:30
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Taichi started the match with a handshake and a smile, but a second offer of a handshake from Taichi made Cobb suspicious (well, more suspicious). Cobb was right to be wary, because Taichi enacted some shenanigans that got him an early advantage in the match. Cobb fought back though, and that forced most of the remainder of the match to be all about Cobb forcing Taichi to fight rather than to constantly go for cheap tricks. I enjoyed this quite a lot.
Match 8
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Jay White (1-3-0: 2) w/ Gedo vs Shingo Takagi (2-2-0: 4)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Jay White wins via pinfall after Blade Runner
Time: 19:26
Match Thoughts
Great match. White started by doing what he’s done in pretty much every block match so far. He left the ring until Takagi reluctantly followed him. White gained a bit of an advantage with that move, but Takagi quickly fought back. The match went back and forth for a while, but Shingo started to dominate as the match went on. White saved his best offense for the final few sequences of the match though, and that led to a very tense finish. This match drew me in, and even though I might have been completely satisfied with the result, the match was very entertaining throughout.
Match 9
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Jon Moxley (4-0-0: 8) (IWGP US Champ) w/ Shota Umino vs Tetsuya Naito (2-2-0: 4) (IWGP IC Champ)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Jon Moxley wins via pinfall after the Death Rider
Time: 16:41
Match Thoughts
Great match. I was pulling for Naito in this match, so when he started playing with Moxley like he was doing in their tag preview the previous night, I loved it. Naito took forever to walk to the ring, then he took almost forever to remove all of his entrance clothes. When the match finally started, Naito avoided Moxley for a long time before they got into a brawl out in the crowd. Moxley was thrown off his game somewhat tonight, and that was something different from the well thought out plans he’s had so far in the G1. Moxley is really good at just brawling though, and that helped kep him in this match. Both men started throwing some big moves at each other towards the final few minutes of the match, both men were kicking out of some of those big moves, and it felt like either man was just one final move away from the win. This match got pretty tense for me towards the end because I was really pulling for Naito, and they were both doing a great job of teasing a win for either man.
Show Impressions
While I was disappointed with some of the people who didn’t gain any points tonight, I was not disappointed with the show. This was another very good night of wrestling from New Japan.
Match of the Night
Jon Moxley vs Tetsuya Naito
Juice versus Ishii was also very good, but I got more invested in tonight’s main event.
Standings After Night 10
Block A
| Wrestler | Points | Wins | Losses | Draws |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champ) | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| KENTA | 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| EVIL | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Kota Ibushi | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Lance Archer | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Will Ospreay (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champ) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| SANADA | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Zack Sabre Jr. * (RPW British Heavyweight Champ) | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| Bad Luck Fale * | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
* = eliminated
Block B
| Wrestler | Points | Wins | Losses | Draws |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Moxley (IWGP US Champ) | 10 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Tomohiro Ishii (NEVER Openweight Champ) | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Juice Robinson | 6 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Hirooki Goto | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Jay White | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Jeff Cobb | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Shingo Takagi | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Taichi | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Tetsuya Naito (IWGP IC Champ) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
| Toru Yano (NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Champ) | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Official Results (Japanese): https://www.njpw.co.jp/tornament/192653?showResult=1