@travmoody
I’m at Comic-Con, marks, so some of these are coming in a little late (hell, I’m watching this morning’s Day Seven event as we speak!). But you can thank the lovely cardio room at San Diego’s Grand Hyatt hotel for my early morning, post-convention G1 viewing pleasure during this otherwise wild nerd-out weekend.
Here’s my rundown of Days 5 and 6 from the G1 Climax 29. Let me know what you think in the Facebook comments below!
DAY FIVE – A BLOCK
– KENTA v Lance Archer – Lance Archer is having himself a tournament. What a hell of a hard-hitting opener. Archer is really winning himself over the crowd with his recent efforts! But despite that, KENTA was resilient in the counter-claw; he’d eventually reverse Archer’s new finisher via triangle submission into an omoplata for the tap! Gedo is really doing his best to make the former WWE talent look strong in this tournament. – 3.5/5
– EVIL v SANADA – This isn’t D-Generation X HBK versus HHH! Sure they’ve had classic wars, but no one’s “taking” the pin here. This was a straight-up fuck-it we have a tournament to win type match between the former IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champs and fellow L-I-J members. SANADA even hit “Everything Is Evil” before exchanging a series of great close-call cradles with EVIL. But SANADA’s larger, undead brethren eventually nailed his bro with a pair of huge lariats and his own EIE for the win. What a match. – 3.75/5
– Kazuchika Okada v Bad Luck Fale – This side of the surprising Archer/Fale match, this was not nearly as bad as the usual Fale tourney matches. Even with Jado’s interference, this was moderately fun. Time to put Okada against a broomstick. – 2.5/5
– Hiroshi Tanahashi v Zack Sabre Jr – ZSJ continues to excel despite the loss. A great just-under-15 counter-wrestling match for those who enjoy that sort of thing. I do. – 4/5
– Kota Ibushi v Will Ospreay – Another incredible match between two of the BITW– without anyone dying, thankfully. Two things here, peeps: 1.) This one had the great story of ankle versus neck, and both stalwarts went after the respective injuries (so much for these guys having “zero psychology!”), 2.) This is a fuckin’ Ospreay vs. Ibushi match. Do you really need a review? Go watch it. I mean, they went for just under 30 and it felt like 15. Ibushi constantly countered Stormbreaker, while Ospreay would persist with his gazillion other impressive moves. There was tons of flying, but just as much power wrestling and strike game action. One of the endless highlights included an Ospreay backflip reverse of a deadlift German surplex, followed by Hidden Blade. Kota would counter a second though, hit a huge lariato, bom a ye and eventual kamigoye for the win. Another classic! – 4.75/5
Overall = 3.75/5 Bibles
Maybe the second best of the five nights so far!
DAY SIX – B BLOCK
– Shingo Tagaki v Taichi – Yes! We got the good Taichi! And it didn’t hurt that the World’s Worst Lip Syncher had a large portion of the Korakuen Hall crowd cheering him on. It was wild! When Taichi is motivated he comes off like well-versed in kung fu Triple H. Him and Shingo started Day 6 with a rocket of a match, a blazing trail of hard shots and mind games. I absolutely loved it. The last 3-4 minutes were insane. Taichi looks strong in the loss, while Shingo further elevates his status. – 4/5
– Jeff Cobb v Juice Robinson – Gaijin v gaijin (minus Kenny Omega) typically doesn’t do too well in tournaments like this, but Jeff and Juice won the fans kver in their efforts. Robinson, as Kevin Kelly would point out in the commentary, has never looked more motivated and certainly took the big Hawaiian to the limit until going on a Tour of the Islands. Very solid tweener match. – 3.25-3.5/5
– Toru Yano v Jay White – Yano wins! Yano wins! Yano wins! This match needed Jim Ross SO BAD. – 10/5 (aka NA/5, but it was incredibly fun nontheless!)
– Tetsuya Naito v Hirooki Goto – A very good match, as you’d expect, but nothing mindblowing. Getting the penultimate spot on the card shows that. In the closing stretch, Naito fought off the GTR and reverse GTR following an explosive ushigoroshi from Goto, who countered Destino. But after a second ushigoroshi (that AJ Styles-style neckbreaker) was reversed into a twirling DDT, Naito would finish the deal with a pair of Destino. This could have been a huge win for Goto! – 3.25-3.5/5
– Jon Moxley v Tomohiro Ishii – This was an outright war. And it’s not surprising that this was also Mox’s best match in the G1, maybe as good if not better than his debut against Juice from the BotSJ final night. I mean.. it’s Ishii. They’d start in the crowd, brawling amongst the people, chopping, punching and slamming each other against the arena walls. In the ring, the action was just has violent. This one even turned into a little bit of a hardcore match, too, with chairs involved; Ishii had no issues countering Moxley’s steel and wood thoughts, going so far as to frog splash Mox through a table. Yeah, I just said that. Worse, the two exchanged several headbutts– not exactly the on the level of Shibita stupidity, but not exactly safe either. Hope they’re OK. Following a bunch of heavy clotheslines, safer ‘butts and flying knees, Moxley would get the, perhaps suprising, win via second Death Rider. If you don’t mind a little bit of stiff and a little bit of hardcore, I promise you’ll eat this one up. – 4.25/5
Overall = 3.75/5 Bibles
Another amazing night of G1 action, so long as you don’t critique the Yano/White “match”/skit/squash thing too much. It was a fun, sometimes needed break from all the grueling G1 action, so I was OK with it. Other Yano matches, not so much. And seeing Ishii in a near hardcore match with Moxley was awesome. Sure, the match was far from “G1” style, but it definitely delivered and provided something new to the table. If only the WWE could push their new talent as well as this.
-Travis Moody