Night 5
Date: July 18, 2019
From: Korauken Hall (Tokyo, Japan)
Undercard Results:
Jon Moxley & Shota Umino def. Tomohiro Ishii & Yuya Uemura
Jeff Cobb, Hirooki Goto, & YOSHI-HASHI def. Juice Robinson, Toa Henare, & Yota Tsuji
Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi, & Chase Owens def. Toru Yano, Tomoaki Honma, & Ren Narita
Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, & BUSHI
A Block Matches:
KENTA def. Lance Archer
Admittedly I did not expect anything of this match. It’s one of those odd matchups that you won’t really care for, at least on paper. But boy did it actually deliver more than advertised! Not gonna lie, this is one of my favorite matches of the entire tournament so far and who would’ve thought it came from an aged KENTA and Lance Archer of all people?
I feel Lance Archer is everything what Braun Strowman should’ve been. Yes he can lose from time to time, yet he’s still a credible threat. That’s what sets NJPW booking apart from a lot of other promotions, someone can be a midcarder but once they get a win from a main event level wrestler, it’s still credible. This match was tons of fun, they played the classic “David vs. Goliath” shtick pretty well. Archer dominated a lot of times and even called out KENTA multiple times, calling him Hideo, oh dear. This did not bode well for him in the end as he got a taste of the ol’ GTS for his efforts at the 11 minutes and 58 second mark. You might think I’m crazy, but this to me is KENTA’s best match in New Japan yet, at least from an entertainment stand point. His match against Tana might be better from a technical point of view, but I really enjoyed KENTA vs. Archer immensely. What a showing from both men, really commendable.
EVIL def. SANADA
The fight between brothers not by blood, but by bond. Two members of LIJ, a re-match from two years ago in the G1 as well, EVIL vs. SANADA. Since that match two years ago, both of them have grown immensely as wrestlers. They’ve battled for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, became 2x Tag-Team Champions themselves, and have seen the continuous success of LIJ as a whole. Their match in G1 27, it was more of a hard hitting affair, this time however it’s very counter-heavy because like I said, they’ve grown more familiar with another is the story being told. EVIL busts a move, SANADA counters, and vice versa. They’d also hit each other with the opposition’s own maneuver to spice things up. Great match from start to finish although I still preferred their match two years ago, it’s just that I prefer more of the strong style beat each other up match than a counters galore ordeal but that’s not saying this match was bad, really far from it, it’s just an acquired taste. EVIL has been in need of a win for a while now so he does get it after a solid 18 minutes of action, oh and he got out of the Paradise Lock too, seems like everyone has found the solution to that in this year’s G1, did Milano snitch out on SANADA?
Kazuchika Okada def. Bad Luck Fale
We go from two great matches to sadly an awful one. Arguably, worst match of the tournament yet and of course it’s involving Bad Luck Fale. Right from the get-go some shenanigans ensued, Chase Owens came out during Fale’s entrance theme, only on the other corner we see The Rogue General beating up on Okada, still in full Rainmaker attire. For the longest time, everyone says and rightfully so that Kazuchika Okada can always bring out the best match out of Fale, this time around though, that can pretty much go down the drain as this was just a pain to watch.
It’s clear that Fale’s size has really gotten into him, add to the fact that he simply loss any form of motivation and you get underwhelming to really bad matches. Not even Okada can save him anymore. I don’t mind interferences or other shenanigans during matches, but again reminiscent of last year’s G1, this was just too much for my liking. I get it, BC plays dirty, but I didn’t just like it at all in this scenario. Red Shoes constantly taken out, Chase seemingly making it a handicap match with him constantly in the ring, a total mess this was. Fortunately we didn’t have to suffer but 10 minutes still felt long, the Fale upset on Okada curse is dead, as the champ pins him with a roll up to get the win. Thank God it’s over.
Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Zack Sabre Jr.
After seeing a mess of a match, I wouldn’t mind seeing anything else, luckily for us the classic matchup of Tanahashi vs. ZSJ is next. Just like in their previous faceoffs, ZSJ seems to always get the number on Tana, especially whenever it comes to torturing the poor man’s limbs, which at this point are held on by tape and sheer love from the fans. Anyways, this was another great match between the two, albeit shorter but nothing with that. Barely any highflying at all, just pure mat based wrestling which is always good and somewhat of a lost art in this day and age, at least in mainstream wrestling. Both men have yet to win a match up to this point, and to me personally, the result was a shocker. Tanahashi got ZSJ on a Jackknife hold for a surprise win. I thought Tana would go on a losing streak, getting that “is he done for real this time?” narrative going for him but hey I guess not. ZSJ has now potential three challengers for his British Heavyweight title, so might as well put them all in a battle royal at this point! Anyway, Zack did not take lightly of the defeat and put on a tantrum, not a great start in the tournament for the man from Sheppey.
Kota Ibushi def. Will Ospreay
Main event for Night 5 we got two broken men who will pretty much kill each other if need be, Kota Ibushi and Will Ospreay. Going into this match, they’re suffering from some major injuries. Ibushi of course with his ankle which has been a part of the story in his matches so far, and Ospreay recently just got his neck injured and missed out on the previous night of action. For real, I thought he’d call it quits and forfeit the entire tournament, but then again this is Will Ospreay we’re talking about, he’d probably see the end of this tournament with his whole body covered in tape.
These two are very much familiar with each other by now and they still brought one hell of a match despite obviously not being 100% but Ibushi and Ospreay delivering a match not in their fullest of physical forms is still better than a lot of other wrestlers can do. It was a near 30 minute affair, just 3 minutes shy, yet they always had the audience at the palm of their hands the entire match. Was it better than their match earlier in the year at Wrestle Kingdom? Not really I’d say, that was just a straight up brawl and a solid opener for the NEVER title, stakes are a little different here but I enjoyed the WK match better. That said, this is still one of the best matches in the tournament so far, definitely in the top 5 for me. After hitting the Bomaye in tribute to Shinsuke Nakamura, Ibushi then proceeds with the Kamagoye to take Ospreay down and avenge his WK loss.
A Block Leaderboard:
6 Points = KENTA, Kazuchika Okada
4 Points = Lance Archer, EVIL
2 Points = SANADA, Bad Luck Fale, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Will Ospreay
0 Points = Zack Sabre Jr.
