{"id":13010,"date":"2019-07-16T04:31:53","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T03:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=13010"},"modified":"2019-07-16T04:32:02","modified_gmt":"2019-07-16T03:32:02","slug":"g1-climax-29-night-3-and-4-results-and-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/16\/g1-climax-29-night-3-and-4-results-and-review\/","title":{"rendered":"G1 Climax 29 Night 3 and 4 &#8211; Results and Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Night\n3<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Date: July 14, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From: Ota City General Gymnasium (Tokyo, Japan)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">English Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Rocky Romero,\nChris Charlton<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Undercard Results:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Juice Robinson, Toa Henare, Yota Tsuji def. Hirooki\nGoto, Tomoaki Honma, Yuya Uemura<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jeff Cobb &amp; Ren Narita def. Jon Moxley &amp;\nShota Umino<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, YOSHI-HASHI def. Jay\nWhite, Yujiro Takahashi, Chase Owens<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Taichi, Minoru Suzuki, Yoshinobu Kanemaru def.\nTetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">A Block:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Lance\nArcher def. Bad Luck Fale<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you&#8217;re expecting a 5 star technical classic from\nthese two, then you&#8217;re just watching the wrong match. Archer and Fale delivered\nexactly as expected: a good ol&#8217; big man brawl. Nowadays we as wrestling fans\nlove the spectacle of amazing athleticism and highflying maneuvers, but having\na classic fight between two monsters is always a welcome sight, especially if\nit is done well. This match reminded me of the Vader vs. Stan Hansen matches of\nway back in the day, only this time of course it&#8217;s less intense or stiff which\nis understandable. Fale is pretty much nearing the decline of his career,\nprobably focusing more on his dojo duties, so Archer replacing him as the next\ntop monster of the roster is certain at this point. Jado interfering on behalf\nof Fale did not take away from this match at all, in fact it added to it just\nto showcase Archer&#8217;s dominance. The EBD Claw gets the American Psycho the win\nover the Rogue General at the 10 minute and 12 second mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">A Block:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Will\nOspreay def. SANADA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After a fun showcase of two big fellas, we go right\nback to the athleticism department with Ospreay and SANADA. First of all, mark\nyour calendars folks, July 14, 2019 for the first time someone got out of\nSANADA&#8217;s paradise lock! Okay, he didn&#8217;t put it on properly, but the reaction\nfrom the crowd and especially the Japanese commentary, made up for it. Just a\ngreat match from start to finish, you can&#8217;t get a bad match out of Ospreay\nanymore and SANADA works well with opponents like that. I still preferred\nSANADA vs. ZSJ, but this was a nice change of pace, pretty fast and very prime\nKeiji Mutoh-esque at times from both men. At one point, Ospreay even hits a\nShooting Star Press which he rarely does, at least from the matches I watch so\nthat&#8217;s cool. I for sure thought SANADA was going to get another win here but\nalas, the Junior Heavyweight Champion prevails, hitting the Storm Breaker after\n17 minutes of action! Good stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">A Block:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Kazuchika\nOkada def. Zack Sabre Jr.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While many can agree Kazuchika Okada is one of the\ngreatest professional wrestlers today, if not the greatest, fans tend to\ncomplaint about some of his unnecessarily long matches, this time however that\nwhole stereotype changed as him and ZSJ pulled off a great match in just under\n15 minutes. Obviously their match two years ago in Sakura Genesis was\ninfinitely better, this match was&nbsp; still\ngood though and they got their stuff in just the right time. I thought Zack\nwould take the win here and challenge Okada for the IWGP Title at Royal Quest\nnext month but nope, a classic Tombstone + Rainmaker combination gets him the\nL. His neck took a bad bump too so hopefully he&#8217;s alright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">A Block:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>EVIL\ndef. Kota Ibushi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I hate to say it, but this was the disappointing\nmatch of the night but understandably so. Was it bad per se? Not at all, still\na good match but it could&#8217;ve really gone better. Ibushi is still obviously\nsuffering from his ankle injury so he couldn&#8217;t go all out and that was evident.\nEVIL worked said ankles throughout the match, but I think this is one of those\nmatches that we will probably forget. Nothing notable really came out of it, at\nleast for me. Like I said, it&#8217;s not the worst match of the night, far from it.\nJust did not reach the potential these two could give us. EVIL gets the\nsurprise win at 19 minutes, Ibushi now with two losses in a row. Will he able\nto keep up with the rest of the tournament at this case?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">A Block:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>KENTA def. Hiroshi Tanahashi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RA3qpt3os9Q?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent&#038;enablejsapi=1\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Final match for Night 3 we got a historic first time\never singles bout between two of the greatest ever: Hiroshi Tanahashi and\nKENTA. Lots of history to unfold here, Tanahashi as we know is the savior of\nNJPW from the tyranny of the Inokism years while KENTA was already\ndisrespecting legends in NOAH before Randy Orton made it cool. Both men have\nties with Katsuyori Shibata as well, who joined the Japanese commentary team\nfor this specific match. Tanahashi is on the same batch of dojo trainees with\nShibata alongside Shinsuke Nakamura and Yoshi Tatsu, definitely an interesting\nclass there. KENTA is a former tag-team partner of Shibata together as\n&#8220;Takeover.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Right from the get go, KENTA slapped Tanahashi and\nit was delivered right back. I know &#8220;Strong Style&#8221; is pretty much a\nmarketing term for NJPW at this point, but if it is still evident now this\nwould be the match. Reminded me a lot of old school New Japan with the hard\nhitting, fighting spirit stuff these two pulled off against one another. I\nwould imagine the lengths they would go if they were 10 years younger, but now\nthat they are old grizzled vets with a lot of experience in their belts, it\nmade the story even better. The NOAH outsider storyline was already done couple\nof years ago with Naomichi Marufuji, but KENTA felt like still got treated the\nsame way here. All doubters were proven wrong though as after an intense 18\nminutes of action, the Go To Sleep is still effective and puts the defending G1\nwinner down! KENTA has now defeated both of the finalists in last year&#8217;s G1.\nThe old KENTA was more evident here than his previous match with Ibushi, has\nshaken off some ring rust, and overall he felt more comfortable. He couldn&#8217;t go\nthe way he used to but that&#8217;s understandable. These two still delivered, by far,\nmy second favorite match of the tournament behind Ishii vs. Cobb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">A Block Leaderboard:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>4 Points<\/strong> = Kazuchika Okada, KENTA, Lance Archer<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2 Points<\/strong> = Bad Luck Fale, Will Ospreay, SANADA, EVIL<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>0 Points<\/strong> = Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kota Ibushi, Zack Sabre Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--nextpage-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Night\n4<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Date: July 15, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From: Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center (Sapporo,\nJapan)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">English Commentators: Kevin Kelly &amp; Rocky Romero<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Undercard Results:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kota Ibushi &amp; Jushin &#8220;Thunder&#8221; Liger\ndef. Shota Umino &amp; Yota Tsuji<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SANADA, EVIL, BUSHI def. Tomoaki Honma, Toa Henare,\nRen Narita<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ZSJ, Suzuki, Archer, Kanemaru def. Tanahashi, KENTA,\nClark Connors, Karl Fredericks<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kazuchika Okada &amp; YOSHI-HASHI def. Bad Luck Fale\n&amp; Chase Owens<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">B Block:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Shingo\nTakagi def. Toru Yano<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Admittedly since I never watched Dragon Gate, I\ndidn&#8217;t know if Shingo has wrestled in comedic type matches before so I was\nunsure how he could handle someone like Yano. Those uncertainties where put\ndown quickly however when as soon as the bell rang. Shingo immediately\nrequested for Yano to take his shirt off after the shenanigans with Naito the previous\nnight. It was just a fun match, nothing spectacular or out of the ordinary,\nstill very much enjoyable. A pumping bomber to YTR at the 6 minute and 16\nsecond mark, the shortest time of the tournament thus far, cool to see a\nsignature move win a match for once instead of the traditional finisher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">B Block:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Juice\nRobinson def. Hirooki Goto<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Going into this match both men want to prove\nsomething. Juice went on a losing spiral in his G1 last year and Goto did not\ndo well himself. Solid match as expected from both men, mainly on the hard\nhitting side. There isn&#8217;t really any other story between these two so the crowd\nis silent for the most part and it&#8217;s lacking some extra drama for it to be\nreally engaging, at least that&#8217;s how I felt. Did not take away from their good\nperformance though, but the result will surely make Goto fans suffer again as\n12 minutes in, Juice hits him with the Pulp Friction to take the win. So much\nfor a Goto redemption eh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">B Block:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Jon\nMoxley def. Jeff Cobb<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This may surprise some people but if you actually\nwatch the match you will understand my point. Very disappointed how this turned\nout, especially with the credentials of both men. The start was a little\ninteresting, showed off some of Mox&#8217;s technical side which we rarely see, but\nas the match progresses, it&#8217;s just a stale low paced match. The crowd did not\nhelp with them not being hot for this match, I get it though, it&#8217;s Hokkaido not\nTokyo and this is a match between two gaijins who are still new to the company\nso they wouldn&#8217;t care much. It wasn&#8217;t an awful match, we were all just left\nwanting more. As Mox hits his finish at 6 minutes, it just felt flat.\nDefinitely a momentum killer and in my opinion, his worst match since leaving\nWWE yet which is a shame as this one had a lot of potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">B Block:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Tomohiro\nIshii def. Jay White<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This match is all about revenge. Before he became\nthe leader of Bullet Club today, Jay White used to be a part of CHAOS but it\nwouldn&#8217;t take long before he inevitably betrayed the faction and the boys have\nnot forgotten. He already suffered 1 loss from a former stable mate so far in\nGoto, now he gets another L thanks to Ishii! This one is my personal match of\nthe night. Just a solid near 20 minutes of nonstop pro wrestling action. From\nbell to finish, these two just delivered exactly what you expect from them and\nthen some. Lots of great back and forth between them, the right amounts of Gedo\ninterferences, and by the end justice was served to Switchblade as he receives\na vertical drop brainbuster. The former IWGP Heavyweight Champion is looking\nbad so far in his record, but as an Ishii fan I couldn&#8217;t be more happier\nmyself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">B Block:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Taichi def. Tetsuya Naito<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/D_gGMdwXkAIt67t.jpg?w=696&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Main event for Night 4 is the IWGP Intercontinental\nChampion Tetsuya Naito taking on a former challenger and a familiar one at that\nin Taichi. While Ishii vs. Jay was just straight up wrestling sprinkled with\nsome shenanigans here and there, Naito vs. Taichi was just purely shenanigans!\nIt was great though as they really got your attention. From Miho to Kanemaru,\nforeign objects, ref bumps, you name it, this match had it all. But not only\nthat, some excellent wrestling as well makes for an enjoyable match between two\nrivals. Since Takashi Iizuka retired, he unofficially gave his iron finger to\nfellow Suzuki-Gun member Taichi and finally, the unholy glove was used for the\nfirst time since Iizuka&#8217;s retirement and boy was it effective. Taichi hits\nNaito with it plus delivering an elevated powerbomb to secure the victory at 21\nminutes! While I enjoyed the previous match for the wrestling aspect, this one\nfor the entertainment value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Did not expect Naito will be starting the G1 at 0-2\nbut here we are, Gedo just keeps on killing our pick&#8217;ems as is tradition.\nTaichi wins in his hometown, a potential future shot at the IC Title once again\nawaits the Holy Emperor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">B Block Leaderboard:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>4 Points <\/strong>= Jon Moxley, Juice Robinson, Tomohiro Ishii<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>2 Points<\/strong> = Hirooki Goto, Taichi, Shingo Takagi, Toru Yano<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>0 Points<\/strong> = Jay White, Tetsuya Naito, Jeff Cobb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Night 3 Date: July 14, 2019 From: Ota City General Gymnasium (Tokyo, Japan) English Commentators: Kevin Kelly, Rocky Romero, Chris Charlton Undercard Results: Juice Robinson, Toa Henare, Yota Tsuji def. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":13014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,204,37,22],"tags":[455,44],"class_list":["post-13010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-featured","category-njpw","category-njpw-reviews","category-reviews","tag-g1-climax","tag-njpw"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9jnWd-3nQ","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/d2cAiOl.jpg?fit=1155%2C891&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13010"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13015,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13010\/revisions\/13015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}