B BLOCK
– Juice Robinson vs. Shingo Takagi – An opening match to this year’s G1 Climax B Block worthy of a main event in any other town. Juice has a new look, new attitude, and he’s ready to let the “CJ Parker” go with a stronger, stiffer working style, and had no problem exchanging stiff blows all match with BotSJ finalist Shingo, here. After a grueling pace, two pulp friction attempts are thwarted by Shingo’s noshigami– the first, which is countered, but the second one hits. Despite that, Juice jumps through a two-count that follows a huge pumping bomber, small package reverses a Last of the Dragon, nails Shingo with a massive left and, finally, a pulp fric for the pin. Awesome stuff! They made Shingo look really strong against a heavyweight in the losing effort and give Juice momentum coming off the Moxley loss. – 4/5
– Jon Moxley vs. Taichi – Speaking of making talent looking strong, Jon Moxley, right now, seems to be getting the “Austin 3:16 said I just whooped your ass!” treatment. Moxley looks like a fucking machine out there, even going so far as to Rock Bottoming Taichi’s ass on the table! This one had a fun little outside brawl for a while before Mox tookover. He hit a huge running knee, threw a chair on Taichi’s face and hit the Death Rider for the finish. Minus the usual tomfoolery, this was an almost squash — a wildly entertaining squash nonetheless. – 3-3.25/5
– Toru-Yano vs. Tetsuya Naito – How can anyone bash Alex Jebailey vs. Michael Nakazawa, yet be OK with this? Okay, as a huge Naito mark, I was OK with this. It presents an uphill climb story for Naito in the dangerous B Block, while Yano becomes a somewhat relevant underdog. Still, despite just the right amount of comedy and an admirable match length (under 4-minutes), this absolutely held no candle to the aforementioned hardcore comedy match from Fyter Fest. That one had a whole lot more drama, more surprising and outrageous spots, and twice the fun. It was more than twice as good! Stop giving everything that takes place in Japan a higher score, people. – 1.75/5
– Tomohiro Ishii vs. Jeff Cobb – An absolute barn-burner of a hoss fight. Man, this was so great. If you can appreciate heavy forearm shots and chops that echo like thunder, you’re gonna love this. After both guys killed each other with strikes, they went to suplexes and a wonderful array of athletic catch-as-catch-can. Cobb hit a nasty piledriver, and I can’t remember the last time Cobb used a piledriver. Enter a German suplex exchange, a series of lariats (with Ishii’s sig sliding one in tow), wild (but safe) headbutts — one outstanding chest butt from Cobb, especially — some brainbuster reversals and we had ourselves a dandy. This more than lived up to the hype. – 4.5/5
– Hiroki Goto vs. Jay White – Like most Jay White matches these days, this started off very slow. He’s so methodical, devious, taking multiple powders, taking his time, putting all the heat on Goto, and looking never-more-heelish doing it. If you can appreciate great psychology and a heel playing his role well, you’ll love this. He made Goto (who’s sorta fell off from the highest corner of IWGP Heavyweight ranks in recent years) a huge babyface, despite a receptive crowd that didn’t go nearly as apeshit as they would for, say, a Tanahashi or Okada. Still, Goto hasn’t looked this good in months, appearing in great physical shape and moving real well too. His selling is top-notch and terribly underrated. Once Goto got back into the match and had a wild reversal exchange with White, shit got real good. Best of all, Goto used many new variations to his reportoire. His ushigoroshi had a bit of “GTR” to it, and his reverse GTR came off like a new move, too. After the usual bullshit from Gedo, Goto hit a nasty Final Cut (think Dustin Rhodes’ twisting suplex) and big time Shouten, leading to a false finish and GTR ending. Goto winning here is huge!- 3.75/5
Overall = 3.5/5 Bibles.
While not as strong as Day One’s A Block debut overall, this morning’s G1 Climax show was still excellent with only one semi-dud. While Yano’s comedy is a nice break from the more workrate-focused performances, there’s no doubt that his and Fale’s matches are going to hurt the overall G1 night scores. Hell, was this even a match? It felt more like an actual fun skit on WWE Raw. Still, to think that we get another three bangers (including an arguable best match of the tournament so far in Cobb/Ishii) and another strong performance from Moxley.,, Spoiled wrestling fans, we are! This G1 is going to be so much fun.
-Travis Moody