Night 16
Date: August 8, 2019
From: Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium (Kanagawa, Japan)
Undercard Results:
Shota Umino & Ren Narita def. Yota Tsuji & Yuya Uemura
Fale, Yujiro, & BUSHI def. SANADA, EVIL, & BUSHI
Suzuki, Archer, & ZSJ def. KENTA, Connors, & Fredericks
Okada, Tanahashi, & YOSHI-HASHI def. Ibushi, Ospreay, & Henare
B Block Matches:
Toru Yano def. Taichi
A match highly anticipated for ages. Two kings of the antics. The Sublime Master Thief, Yano Toru against The Holy Emperor Taichi. A clean match…. it was not but obviously. YTR got tired quickly of Taichi’s BS and decided to go back and probably drink a beer or two with the CHAOS boys at the locker room but before he could do that, beer swinging man Yoshinobu Kanemaru stopped him in his tracks and brought him right back. Shenanigans after shenanigans, with YTR going as far as to removing Taichi’s pants prematurely, much to the Emperor’s dismay and feeling of nakedness. Has anyone ever did that before? What a preposterous act! Yano was almost counted out with being wrapped around with part of the ring mat, but crawled his way right back, this however foreshadowed Taichi’s demise as he got wrapped himself WITH Kanemaru and got the 20 count on himself. YTR gets another victory and technically could still possibly main event the Tokyo Dome if all the starts aligned the right way!
Tetsuya Naito def. Jeff Cobb
Next up IC Champion Tetsuya Naito takes on Jeff Cobb. I can best describe this as a solid television match. Didn’t go for too long but wasn’t short to the point of it needing to add more time. Cobb having hard hitting affairs with the likes of Shingo and Ishii are fun, two of his best matches, but him acting a strong dominant monster works perfectly too. In fact that’s the best way of booking Jeff Cobb in my opinion but obviously this is the G1, everybody is on equal footing so he ain’t just gonna squash everybody. Naito really sold like a ragdoll throughout most of the match. The former Olympian even surprised everyone with him hitting a ferocious F5 (aka Verdict) and the Tour of the Islands countered into a Destino spot was amazing too! Naito got the win in the end, a Destino Cobb couldn’t kick out off at the 12 minute and 47 second mark.
Hirooki Goto def. Jon Moxley
One of the most polarizing matches of the entire tournament and mainly because of the finish but we’ll get into that eventually. These two had the opposite path getting into this match, Moxley dominated his G1 debut, gaining win after win while it’s an entirely different story for Goto, being in a familiar place at the losing end of the stick but would catch up with his W’s in the end. Now for the match itself, I thought it was a pretty good back-and-forth from both men. Lots of forearm strikes and all that jazz. As things are about to pick up though, the end came out of nowhere at the 8 minute mark with Goto beating Mox with the GTR. Probably saving time for the last two matches, especially the main event. I personally didn’t mind this match although I would categorize it as a “middle of the pack” member. Not great but not bad. This was Moxley’s first CLEAN loss as YTR and Jay’s victories all involved some form of shenanigans. Some fans are angry, I don’t mind it at all, it’s the essence of New Japan booking. Gedo and co. made us feel that Mox might just get in the finals but not so much. Both men are still technically mathematically alive and could win the finals, but the main two favorites right now are Switchblade and Naito.
Jay White def. Juice Robinson
This isn’t the first time these two have met before but man, a lot has changed since the last time but it wasn’t even that long ago. Both Jay White and Juice Robinson are now at the top of their games. One is the leader of the Bullet Club and the other has a “reborn” of sorts, gaining a much needed attitude adjustment. Very drama oriented match, both men worked the story well of Switchblade being the dastardly villain and Juice with the underdog in peril. Just like Ibushi and ZSJ, these two are great opponents for one another, playing off their strengths quite well. Obviously shenanigans would occur and I would like to bring out a point I’ve gotten while listening to the Super J-Cast crew. Jay White is an excellent wrestler but the constant interferences may take out the aura of him being the next “top foreign gaijin” of the heavyweights division and I couldn’t help but to agree in a way. I know they’re building him as the next Kenny Omega in that aspect but if he often needs the help of Gedo to win matches then it does kinda take away from him a little bit. I get it, he’s a heel, he’s supposed to cheat and all that, but it will get tiring especially if we see the same thing over and over. Personally I’m not to that point yet but I get why some fans will think so, just a food for thought if you will. Anyway, the match itself was worked excellently, both men really gave it their all, but Jay White got the win with the JTO (Juice Tap Out) which was formerly called TTO (Tanahashi Tap Out), making The Ace submit in his comeback match and now did the same for the flamboyant one. Of course he did a low blow before he could fully execute and now Switchblade is on the verge of reaching the G1 Finals. All he needs to do is defeat Tetsuya Naito.
Shingo Takagi def. Tomohiro Ishii
Last match of the night and HOLY S**T this was one of the best G1 matches I’ve ever seen! I love all kinds of pro wrestling. Technical, highflying, hardcore, you name it. But I prefer the most is the hard hitting striking contest between two hoss competitors. That is exactly what we got. A Dragon and a Stone Pitbull stiffing the ever living crap out of one another! If a friend of yours tells wrestling is fake, kindly make them watch this match and then put them through a table afterwards. (okay maybe don’t do that last one but I digress.) Kobashi vs. Sasaki is one of my all time favorite matches, from NOAH 2005. That seemingly endless chop battle is such an awesome sequence, it just exudes fighting spirit to the fullest. Shingo and Ishii personified fighting spirit and strong style throughout this 22 minute barn burner! If I’ve ever seen a 5 star match and this is it. For me to get entertained, sometimes a long term story isn’t needed, just go out there and realistically beat the hell out of each other is all you need to impress me, which is why I love Ishii vs. Moxley too and my point still remains with that as my MOTY contender, but this one isn’t that far behind. Chops, headbutts, forearms, lariats, you name it, they did it all. The blood and sweat both men drained off of one another will surely make Tenryu-sensei proud.
B Block Leaderboard:
10 Points = Tetsuya Naito, Jay White, Jon Moxley, Hirooki Goto
8 Points = Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii
6 Points = Taichi, Jeff Cobb, Juice Robinson, Shingo Takagi
