Night 7
Date: July 20, 2019
From: Korauken Hall (Tokyo, Japan)
Undercard Results:
Jon Moxley & Shota Umino def. Juice Robinson & Yota Tsuji
Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, & Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Hirooki Goto, Toru Yano, & Yuya Uemura
Jay White, Yujiro Takahashi, & Chase Owens def. Jeff Cobb, Tomoaki Honma, & Toa Henare
Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, & BUSHI def. Tomohiro Ishii, YOSHI-HASHI, & Ren Narita
A Block Matches:
Zack Sabre Jr. def. Bad Luck Fale
In the previous review, I really buried the Okada vs. Fale match and my point still stands that it is the worst match in the tournament so far, and probably will be. But this however is how you do a match with Fale. It does not have to be a technical barn burner, but rather maybe a fun brawl or even a match filled with shenanigans but in the right way, if that makes sense. This is exactly that match. It did not take long before both wrestlers went to the outside brawling, with seemingly Fale getting the upper hand. That is of course until ZSJ puts him on a submission hold and as the referee’s count is nearing to 20, Zack sprinted like his life depended on it and managed to finally win via count out over Fale! ZSJ gets his first points of the tournament and Fale didn’t particularly look weak as the big monster he is being booked as. I may have not done it justice but trust me, all 6 minutes of this was actually fun, a vast improvement from Fale’s last match.
Hiroshi Tanahashi def. Lance Archer
Every match he was in so far, Lance Archer has made the most of it and delivered well. This time is no different. Going up against Tanahashi can be tricky, you either get a solid match or could turn out to be stinker or disappointing, luckily it wasn’t the latter. Tana played the underdog role of course against the much bigger Archer. There were many points throughout the match where The American Psycho could’ve gotten a win but Tana still prevailed in the end, pulling off a victory roll at the 11 minutes and 58 second mark. It’s interesting that Archer got some chants in from the Korauken crowd too, he is definitely getting over and it’s not easy getting positive chants from a Japanese crowd with Tanahashi on the other side of the ring! So props to him.
KENTA def. EVIL
A first time matchup between the veteran KENTA and a young but already experienced wrestler himself in EVIL. Battle of the ALL CAPS names! Anyway, KENTA worked as a heel again for this match, him still being considered as an “outsider” by the New Japan fans because of his roots in Pro Wrestling NOAH. While they were tangled up in the ropes, KENTA instead of usually slapping his opponents after the break, rubs his fingers off of EVIL’s signature dark eye makeup instead, much to the dismay of the crowd! What a heel. A very solid match, leaning more into the brawling side of things, pretty much what you can expect from both men. If it wasn’t for the main event, this will clearly be my favorite match of the night. Despite EVIL being on the losing end, both men looked great after a grueling 15 minute match. The ring rust has been dusted off of KENTA at this point and his eventual match against Okada will be oh so glorious.
Kota Ibushi def. SANADA
I will be completely honest here, this is the perfect example of a match to me where it is really good but I’m not that invested in it. Kota Ibushi and SANADA are two of the very best in the whole New Japan roster right now, arguably in today’s wrestling landscape as well, yet just like Suzuki and Naito, there isn’t enough “chemistry” there for me to care about the match. Don’t get the wrong idea, like I said it is great, borderline 4 stars even if you like doing ratings, but there is not enough build or background there for me to simmer into what was happening in the ring. I’m not a fan of the match that after seeing it, I just mainly forget what happened other than the usual spots they did. I know KENTA and EVIL barely, if at all, have any background with them, but they managed to catch my attention with the little nuances they did, this didn’t do it for me. Nothing remarkable here for me, but if you’re looking for a great match to watch, I’d still recommend it. Ibushi wins with the Kamigoye at 19 minutes.
Kazuchika Okada def. Will Ospreay
Main event to conclude the first week of the G1, it’s two CHAOS members and the champions of their respective divisions: Kazuchika Okada vs. Will Ospreay. If I’m not mistaken this is their third singles match with each other, first was in OTT years ago where Ospreay got his opportunity later on to join New Japan and in the 47th Anniversary show, both of them champions too so this is an exact carbon copy re-match of that. You can never go wrong with these two in the ring, their 47th Anniversary match was great but they just topped that with this performance. Okada and Ospreay had great matches against other top talents over the years in NJPW, but they work just as well as in comparison to their contemporaries too. As expected from an Okada match, things start a little slow but not for long as it quickly picked up the pace. Ospreay hits Okada with a nasty chop that can be heard throughout Korauken, a chop so vicious I can respectfully compare it to a chop done by Kenta Kobashi or Kensuke Sasaki, boy was it loud!
A lot of fans think Ospreay would win here and I understand as he is seemingly being groomed to become the next top face gaijin in the company in the future, but the future ain’t now, we’re in the present, he is still the junior heavyweight champion and no he is NOT getting over the reigning heavyweight champion anytime soon and that’s just fine. Once, the second Oz Cutter hits and Okada kicked out, it’s where things really went wild. A Storm Breaker could’ve probably gotten Ospreay the win but that was surprisingly and amazingly reversed by Okada. The Spanish Fly spot was a joy to witness as well but in the end, Okada’s patented Tombstone Piledriver + Rainmaker combo solidified his win at the 21 minute mark. Great match between two great wrestlers, what else did you expect? Definitely top 3 G1 matches of the year so far.
A Block Leaderboard:
8 Points = KENTA, Kazuchika Okada
4 Points = Hiroshi Tanahashi, Lance Archer, EVIL, Kota Ibushi
2 Points = Zack Sabre Jr., Bad Luck Fale, SANADA, Will Ospreay
