G1 Climax 29 – Night 1 results and review

Title: G1 Climax 29 Night 1 Results & Review

By: Super Mastodon

The first ever G1 Climax in American soil is now on the history books.  It’s Night 1 of the most prestigious tournament in pro wrestling right now and see how it all played out. Without further ado, let’s get straight into the action!

Date: July 6, 2019

From: American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas

English Commentary: Kevin Kelly & Rocky Romero

Match #1 – Tag-Team Match:

Guerillas of Destiny def. Roppongi 3K

When this match was scheduled, RP3K were still the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Champions, but during the Kizuna Road tour they would lose the belts to other Bullet Club members: El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori. So a rare battle of tag champions of their respective divisions was sadly a missed opportunity here, but nevertheless the match itself was still good.

It served its purpose. Match went under 10 minutes as a nice opening bout to get the crowd riled up and boy I tell you, despite not selling out the entire arena, the crowd were great for the entire show! SHO played the Ricky Morton role of the team with YOH as the hot tag but in the end, the superior heavyweight tag-team champions; GoD still got the win, even without Jado in tow!

Match #2 – Tag-Team Match:

Jeff Cobb & Ren Narita def. Tomohiro Ishii & Shota Umino

First of the many tag-team matches previews for the G1 Participants at B Block. Jeff Cobb and Tomohiro Ishii will face each other at Day 2 and boy what a hard hitting match that would be, and we already got some of that in this match where the two just beat the piss out of one another! Their respective young lion partners got their times to shine too. While Cobb’s athletic strength is always a sight to see, I’m also amazed by Narita’s too when he hit an almost picture perfect belly to back suplex to Umino! Kinda reminds me of Taz in his prime at ECW. Cobb hits the tour of the islands to Red Shoes’ son to take the win.

Match #3 – Tag-Team Match:

Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI def. Jay White & Chase Owens

It’s a classic CHAOS vs. Bullet Club match up. Jay White, the current leader of Bullet Club will take on Hirooki Goto in their first G1 match of the year at Day 2. YOSHI-HASHI loss his opportunity in entering the G1 because he got defeated by ZSJ during the Kizuna Road Tour with the RevPro Heavyweight title on the line as well so he is relegated to teaming up with his faction mates. Pretty much what you’ll expect in a match between these two teams, an old school face vs. cheating heels scenario, with Gedo on the outside doing some interferences for good measure. Just wanna point out Goto is wearing an LA Dojo shirt as well in support of his friend/coach Shibata which is pretty cool. An Ushi Goroshi + GTR combo to Chase, Goto seals the deal.

Match #4: Six Man Tag-Team Match:

Jushin Liger, Juice Robinson, & Toru Yano def. Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI

Last match of the undercard before the G1 matches, some more previews for B Block we got Juice vs. Shingo and Yano vs. Naito. But what’s more important is Jushin “Thunder” Liger’s appearance. It could have very well been his final match in the state of Dallas or in the American Airlines Center at least because as we all know he is currently going on a worldwide retirement tour and will call it a career comes the next year’s Wrestle Kingdom. Just a fun match and with all participants oozing with charisma, the crowd ate up everything they did! YTR sneaked in a victory with a low blow to BUSHI. Probably the only wrestler who will get cheered winning by means of a low blow!

Match #5 – Block A Match:

Lance Archer def. Will Ospreay

Is Lance Archer the new Show Stealer? Because he has done it again with Will Ospreay! Shawn Michaels eat your heart out! (sarcasm… obviously.) Going in to this match I expected them to outperform their match at the New Japan Cup and that they did and then some! Right from the get go, the match picked up in a fast pace and it barely slowed down through the rest of the 18 minute run time and it did not even felt that due to how exciting the whole match was! Ospreay and Archer had many great back-and-forth sequences, you know a match is good that every pin fall mattered. The Oz Cutter to Archer especially is what got me!  False finishes seem overdone at this point, but if done right, they are still magical!

But since they are in Dallas after all and Archer’s hometown, he locked Ospreay in to The Claw shades of the Von Erichs to take the win! If you haven’t seen it yet, I can’t recommend it enough. They played the “David vs. Goliath” story and twisted it to feel modern, worked pretty damn well. I’m all in for a Lance Archer singles push! Big men and pro wrestling, it’s a pairing that will never die.

Match #6 – Block A Match:

Bad Luck Fale def. EVIL

Another big man makes his way to the competition is Bad Luck Fale taking on EVIL. It was your typical Fale match, filled with outside shenanigans and a slow pace overall. Crowd was behind EVIL the whole time and the rest of LIJ are really over with the Dallas audience so that’s nice to see. Did not really enjoy this but at least we didn’t have any more of the disqualification B.S. we got in last year’s G1. Fale took the dominant win, pinning EVIL with the Bad Luck Fall at the 11 minute and 33 second mark.

Fale will  take on Archer on Night 3. I chose EVIL to win this match but I should have known that of course the two big crazy monsters have to look dominant going into their match.

Match #7 – Block A Match:

SANADA def. Zack Sabre Jr.

We got another match of the night contender between Zack Sabre Jr. and SANADA! If you’re a fan of the old school “World of Sport” style matches, then you’re in for a treat! That is exactly what ZSJ and SANADA delivered, mixed in with some modern style of wrestling. The two barely delivered strikes against one another and they still managed to put on a highly competitive and entertaining bout. Multiple submission holds and escapes with endless taunting in between. SANADA worked as the face while ZSJ is of course the heel, the fans always went mental for these two and rightfully so! The two have faced already before but this time, since it is the first night and they’re still fresh, they really outdid themselves in what was a fantastic showcase of technical wrestling. I’m sure Johnny Saint would adore this match!

It wasn’t some devastating submission hold that got SANADA the win though but another O’Connor Roll that ZSJ wasn’t able to get out of in the nick of time. Impressive victory and ZSJ pulled a tantrum afterwards, what a heel.

Match #8 – Block A Match:

KENTA def. Kota Ibushi

It’s one of the most anticipated stories going in to the G1 is KENTA’s debut match in New Japan! Going up against a familiar foe in Kota Ibushi, did it deliver to expectations? For me personally, yes. I did not expect a match in the similar quality of KENTA and Ibushi as if they were in their 2000’s selves, no. The young KENTA back then is gone now, this is a more mature fighter who is still just as vicious especially after escaping the shackles of the WWE. This match gave me a strong vibe of NOAH/AJPW with the constant hard strikes delivered to one another, a drastic contrast on the previous match. It wasn’t a fast pace match but we have to remember, this is KENTA’s first match in 6 months, since his departure from the WWE, there will obviously be some ring rust to shake off, no matter how good of a wrestler you are, that just happens.

It could have been better for sure, the delivery of the Go To Sleep was underwhelming too, but still overall a solid 20 minute match. We’ll have to wait and see the rest of KENTA’s run before prematurely judging this as a flop.

Match #9 – Block A Match:

Kazuchika Okada def. Hiroshi Tanahashi

The final match of the night and what better way to close it off than the historical matchup between the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion; Kazuchika Okada and his greatest rival; Hiroshi Tanahashi. Through the years we’ve seen draws between these two because they’re always on equal footing. Okada is the young upstart and Tana is the Ace he aims to dethrone. But that’s all business of the past now and it just got solidified during this match. Okada cemented the fact that HE is the Ace of New Japan now and superior over the aging and broken down Tanahashi. Bringing back the High Fly Flow seemed like it was out of desperation in terms of the story, Tana couldn’t keep up with him anymore, but with that being said, he still performed and moved pretty good despite the lingering injuries he is suffering.

At this point in their careers, you will never see a disappointing Okada vs. Tanahashi match, they are the Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat of this generation. It’s a match you may have seen many times, but it still works and they always perform at their best! Omega nor Naito is Okada’s greatest opponent in the ring, it still is Tanahashi. Three Rainmakers and that’s all she wrote. From winning the New Japan Cup to starting the G1 with a victory, Okada is truly back now!

That’s the show right there folks. G1 in America can be deemed as a success match wise. It sucks that we didn’t see more wrestlers like Jon Moxley, Taichi, and Minoru Suzuki just to name a few but we’ll see them eventually in a week. It’s also painfully obvious that it wasn’t a sellout crowd but with the 4,800+ in that arena during that night, they sure made up for it with being active (in the right way) all throughout the event, so good on you Dallas folks!

Couldn’t think of a better way to kick things off in the G1. For first time viewers, hopefully you stick around as more exciting matches are still on their way!

Also announced during the event, NJPW returns to the US in September for the Fighting Spirit Unleashed tour, specifically in the East Coast!

September 27 – Boston, MA (Lowell Memorial Auditorium)

September 28 – New York, NY (Hammerstein Ballroom) – Referee Tiger Hattori’s retirement

September 29 – Philadelphia, PA (2300 Arena fka ECW Arena)