NJPW G1 Climax 29
Night 14 – B Block
#g129
Event Date: August 4, 2019 (15:00 JST)
aired live on NJPW World
City: Naniwa, Osaka, Osaka, Japan
Venue: Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium (Edion Arena Osaka)
Attendance: 5,555
Series: G1 Climax 29
Commentary (English): Kevin Kelly, Rocky Romero, Chris Charlton
Commentary (Japanese): Haruo Murata, Milano Collection AT, Jushin Thunder Liger (5 – 9)
Ring Announcer: Makoto Abe
Video
The wrestlers in B Block of the G1 Climax tournament are briefly profiled.
Match 1
Ren Narita & Shota Umino vs Yuya Uemura & Toa Henare
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Shota Umino pins Yuya Uemura with a bridging fisherman suplex
Time: 6:06
Match Thoughts
Good match. Even though Toa Henare isn’t a young lion, the young lions on the opposing team were able to keep Henare from making any real impact on this match. That left Uemura to take on two senior young lions, and though Uemura did well, Narita and Umino did better. This was a pretty fun opener.
Match 2
Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. (RPW British Heavyweight Champ) & Lance Archer vs BUSHI & EVIL & SANADA
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Minoru Suzuki pins BUSHI after a Gotch piledriver
Time: 6:38
Match Thoughts
This was fun. Suzuki Gun started with a brawl as usual, and LIJ had a difficult time coming back from that. In the ring Sabre paired up with EVIL, Archer paired with SANADA, and Minoru Suzuki finished the match against BUSHI. Suzuki Gun tended to get the better of all of those pairings. This was a Suzuki Gun night.
Match 3
Yujiro Takahashi w/ Pieter & Chase Owens & Bad Luck Fale vs Tomoaki Honma & Kota Ibushi & Hiroshi Tanahashi
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: Chase Owens pins Tomoaki Honma after a package piledriver
Time: 8:16
Match Thoughts
Pretty good match. Bullet Club played dirty as usual, but Honma, Tanahashi, and Ibushi looked good as a team. Fale and Tanahashi gave a nice preview for their match. It’s going to be a struggle for Tanahashi to deal with Fale, especially with his bad knee. Ibushi came into the match and did well, then Honma finished the match against Owens. Owens continued to excel in these tag matches again tonight.
Match 4
Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors & KENTA vs YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champ) & Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champ)
(referee: Kenta Sato)
Result: YOSHI-HASHI submmits Clark Connors with a butterfly lock
Time: 8:24
Match Thoughts
Good match. The best part was seeing a preview for Ospreay versus KENTA. They attacked each other quickly with a whole lot of strikes. Other than that, Okada was pretty quiet tonight while YOSHI-HASHI had a pretty good sequence against Clark Connors to end the match.
Match 5
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Toru Yano (3-3-0: 6) (NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Champ) vs Tomohiro Ishii (3-3-0: 6) (NEVER Openweight Champ)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Tomohiro Ishii wins via pinfall after a vertical drop brainbuster
Time: 9:36
Match Thoughts
Very good match. This was unusual for a Toru Yano match. It started with Yano trying to cheat as much and as quickly as possible. Turnbuckle pads were removed before the match even started, and multiple shirts were used as the match began. When that didn’t work, Yano tried to fight Ishii. Yano did surprisingly well and even knocked Ishii down multiple times. It was a rare sight to see, and it was a lot of fun.
Match 6
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Taichi (2-4-0: 4) w/ Miho Abe, Yoshinobu Kanemaru vs Juice Robinson (3-3-0: 6)
(referee: Marty Asami)
Result: Taichi wins via pinfall after Black Mephisto
Time: 12:28
Match Thoughts
Good match. Taichi bookended this match with a whole bunch of cheating, but the middle part of the match was a good fight between him and Juice. The fight was back and forth throughout the biggest portion of the match, and for a while I thought Taichi was going to have a mostly fair fight with Juice. Of course he didn’t, but that was fine too. I quite enjoyed this, and I was a little surprised by the finish.
Match 7
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Jeff Cobb (3-3-0: 6) vs Hirooki Goto (3-3-0: 6)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Hirooki Goto wins via pinfall after GTR
Time: 11:20
Match Thoughts
Very good match. This was a straightforward hard-hitting match with some nice suplexes and throws. There wasn’t any animosity or any real emotion shown by either man other than determination and the will to win. In the end, this really came down to who could work over their opponent enough to hit their finishing move first. The battle went back and forth, and I enjoyed it.
Match 8
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Jay White (3-3-0: 6) w/ Gedo vs Jon Moxley (5-1-0: 10) (IWGP US Champ) w/ Shota Umino
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Jay White wins via pinfall after Blade Runner
Time: 15:15
Match Thoughts
Very good match. Jay White usually starts his matches with shenanigans, but Moxley didn’t give him the chance tonight. Moxley attacked White before the bell and dominated White for a good long while. White was able to fight back at times, but Moxley had worn White down to the point where White’s attacks weren’t always as effective as he wanted them to be. Eventually there was a bit of back and forth in the match, and White started to get more offense later with the help of Gedo. This was fun, and it was nice seeing Moxley pull White away from his usual antics, at least for a little while.
Match 9
G1 Climax 29 B Block Match
Shingo Takagi (2-4-0: 4) vs Tetsuya Naito (3-3-0: 6) (IWGP IC Champ)
(referee: Red Shoes Unno)
Result: Tetsuya Naito wins via pinfall after Destino
Time: 27:15
Match Thoughts
Fantastic match! Though there was some minor prodding by both men early in the match, there weren’t really any mind games from Naito. At best I would say there was some light mocking from Naito. Otherwise, this match was fought mostly in the ring by two guys who just wanted to beat each other and prove that they were the better man. As the match developed, Shingo used his power to great advantage while Naito tended to use his speed to string together his offense. Shingo threw some really hard lariats as the match went on, and Naito hit some spectacular agile moves. This felt like it could go either way, and regardless of who won, both men proved that they could won on any given night.
Show Impressions
I think the previous night of the tour had more great matches overall, but tonight’s main event was hard to beat. I also like how the results of the last few night of B Block have brought the entire block closer and closer together.
Match of the Night
Shingo Takagi vs Tetsuya Naito
This is sure to be in my top ten at the end of the tournament.
Standings After Night 14
Block A
| Wrestler | Points | Wins | Losses | Draws |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kazuchika Okada (IWGP Heavyweight Champ) | 12 | 6 | 1 | 0 |
| Kota Ibushi | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| EVIL | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| KENTA | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi * | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| SANADA * | 6 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Zack Sabre Jr. * (RPW British Heavyweight Champ) | 6 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Bad Luck Fale * | 4 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Lance Archer * | 4 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
| Will Ospreay * (IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champ) | 4 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
* = eliminated
Block B
| Wrestler | Points | Wins | Losses | Draws |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Moxley (IWGP US Champ) | 10 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Hirooki Goto | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Jay White | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Tetsuya Naito (IWGP IC Champ) | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Tomohiro Ishii (NEVER Openweight Champ) | 8 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Jeff Cobb | 6 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Juice Robinson | 6 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Taichi | 6 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Toru Yano (NEVER Openweight 6 Man Tag Champ) | 6 | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Shingo Takagi * | 4 | 2 | 5 | 0 |
* = eliminated
Official Results (Japanese): https://www.njpw.co.jp/tornament/192657?showResult=1