Date: August 3, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From: Osaka Prefectural Gym (Osaka, Japan)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Undercard Results:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Juice Robinson & Toa Henare def. Ren Narita\n& Yota Tsuji<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ishii, Goto, & YOSHI-HASHI def. Yano, Cobb,\n& Honma<\/p>\n\n\n\n Naito, Shingo, & BUSHI def. Taichi, Suzuki,\n& Kanemaru<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jay White & Chase Owens def. Jon Moxley &\nShota Umino<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Block Matches:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Bad\nLuck Fale def. KENTA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This was a decent match. Although nothing really\nmemorable happened, both men did their usual move set but at least it did not\ngo for too long. 7 minutes in, Fale gets the upset with a schoolboy pin over\nKENTA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zack\nSabre Jr. def. Lance Archer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s another battle of the stable mates for the G1\nas Suzuki-Gun representatives ZSJ and Lance Archer took each other in the ring.\nBefore the match, lots of banter between the two and enjoyable one at that,\nmainly taking shots at each other’s respective diets. Zack calling himself a\n“SOY BOI” I mean how can you not be entertained right? Well speaking\nof entertained, that’s how I felt throughout the whole match. A submission\ntechnician and a brute force big man, you’d think it won’t work right? But these\ntwo outdid all of my expectations and wrestled one of my personal favorite\nmatches of the night, and that’s saying something because from here on out,\nevery match was a beauty. Anyway, the story here is that Zack didn’t take Lance\nlightly at all, in fact going in for rush submission holds from the get go. It\nis pretty rare for someone like him who usually likes teasing and taking it\nslow to his opponents for the most part, but Lance Archer is not his typical\nopponent, this man wants everybody to die after all. While there were some\nstrikes specifically for Archer, the match itself was more focused on counter\nholds. By the end, another surprise roll up gets the victory but unlike the\nprevious match, the smaller man does it against the giant after an exciting 10\nminute affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EVIL\ndef. Will Ospreay<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Going into this match I didn’t expect much and with\nits placing on the card, I thought you know they’d take it easy. But seriously\nwhy did I even think of that? Will Ospreay taking it easy is a nonexistent\nscenario anyway, same goes for EVIL too who had lots to prove. Admittedly the\nmatch started off a little slow for my liking but as things progress, the pace\nquickened and the intensity went up high fast. EVIL mainly worked on Ospreay’s\ninjured neck and there were lots of bumps that made me cringe whenever he hits\nthe mat on it. He’s had two great matches already with Tanahashi and SANADA,\nbut this match against Ospreay I say I enjoyed the most. Ospreay hitting the\nSpanish Fly never ceases to amaze me and many of the false counts get me too,\nanyone could’ve win but only one came out as winner, once again it is proven\nthat Everything is Evil after 17 minutes when the King of Darkness pinned the\nreigning Jr. Heavyweight Champion. Just another match to add in Ospreay’s\nresume as argument for Wrestler of the Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kota\nIbushi def. Hiroshi Tanahashi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A re-match from last year’s G1 Climax finals, Kota\nIbushi once again facing one of his idols Hiroshi Tanahashi. Obviously their\nmatch at the finals cannot be topped by another faceoff but this one is just as\ngood in terms of storyline. This time around, Tana seems to be on his last\nlegs. His body is more broken down than last year’s, the pain and stacked of\ninjuries has done it to The Ace, but with willpower and endless support from\nthe fans he still perseveres. But that isn’t enough, Kota Ibushi has surpassed\nwhom he deems as a “God.” After another rigorous matchup, Ibushi has\nfinally took down Tanahashi and what could very well be a “passing of the\ntorch.” This wasn’t a match made great just by striking or hitting counter\nmoves, but for the sheer emotion of it. The moment in the end where both men\npaid their respects to one another has been building up all throughout their\ncareers. I don’t think this will be Tana’s final G1 yet but it seems like we’re\ngetting closer to that more than ever, it will be a sad day for sure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SANADA def. Kazuchika Okada<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Main event of the night we’ve got the 7th\ninstallment of the Okada vs. SANADA series. Interesting buildup for this,\nSANADA sees Okada as a “rival” but the opposition begs to differ,\nafter all he has SANADA’s number and has beaten him every time they want it in\nsingles action in the past. 6 straight losses for Cold Skull, some of them are\neven attempts for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Now here we are. If you’re\nnot a fan of long winded matches then sure, this isn’t exactly for you, but you\nmay not be able to get into New Japan altogether if that’s the case as in\nPuroresu, main events are always long bout spectacles. In the past, AJPW main\nevents even go as far as to an hour but I digress. I thought they played around\nthe scenario of a time limit draw quite well. Okada has been pretty much\ndominant in the entire tournament at this point, entering at 12 points and\nstill undefeated. The crowd was heavily behind SANADA and it’s cool he gets the\nconnection like that sometimes. From start to finish, both men just gave out\ntheir best effort, arguably their best match against one another. Multiple\nfalse finishes and submissions which worked perfectly into the match rather\nthan being taken away by it. Have to give props to Red Shoes as well for the\nfantastic officiating, he really did add more to the story being told in the\nring. Anyway, as the 30 minute time limit draws nearer, you can feel the intensity\nand rush from the entire arena, Will SANADA choke again? Is he a forbidden\nloser against The Rainmaker? Close but in the end, the Mutoh Moonsault was hit\nnot once, but twice with 12 seconds left on the clock. 3 count later and\nfinally, four years of grueling defeats, SANADA has defeated his rival for the\nvery first time! I’m not sure if this will lead to another title match but\nwe’ll see. I’m sure no one wouldn’t mind another barn burner from these two\nafter such a fantastic showing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Block Leaderboard:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n 12\nPoints<\/strong> = Kazuchika Okada<\/p>\n\n\n\n 10\nPoints<\/strong> = Kota Ibushi<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8\nPoints<\/strong> = Hiroshi Tanahashi, KENTA, EVIL<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6\nPoints<\/strong> = SANADA, Zack Sabre Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 Points<\/strong> = Bad Luck Fale, Will Ospreay, Lance Archer<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Night\n14<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Date: August 4, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n From: Osaka Prefectural Gym (Osaka, Japan)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Undercard Results:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shota Umino & Ren Narita def. Toa Henare &\nYuya Uemura<\/p>\n\n\n\n ZSJ, Archer, & Suzuki def. SANADA, EVIL, &\nBUSHI<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fale, Yujiro, & Chase def. Tanahashi, Ibushi,\n& Honma<\/p>\n\n\n\n Okada, Ospreay, & YOSHI-HASHI def. KENTA,\nFredericks, & Connors<\/p>\n\n\n\n B Block Matches:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tomohiro\nIshii def. Toru Yano<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You came in for a comedy match and went out with a\nstrong style clinic. I mean who the hell expected we’re getting the serious\nYano here? As if it isn’t more evident already, Tomohiro Ishii brings out the\nbest out of anyone. Hell, he could probably get a 4 star match out of Gabai\nJi-chan at this point for crying out loud! Anyway, Yano tried to play his games\non Ishii such as removing the turnbuckles early during the opposition’s\nentrance and staying on the outside, sitting in a chair waiting for his stable\nmate to come out, but he almost got counted out for his efforts. It is clearly\nIshii will not be having any of his non sense so YTR’s solution? Wrestle. For\nthose who only know Yano as a comedic wrestler, the man actually has amateur\nwrestling background and even did MMA at one point, he could hit you up with\ncounters and slams if he damn well wants, he just doesn’t most of the time. But\nIshii is a different kind of animal altogether, a Stone Pitbull if you will, so\nYano turned back the clock to his amateur days and even from just a year ago\nwhen he started wrestling “clean.” Multiple spots of great exchanges\nfrom both men, with Yano even getting the better of Ishii in a forearm battle. Ishii\nstill got the better of him though, at the 9 minute mark a vertical drop\nbrainbuster was all it took for the NEVER Champ to win. One of the best matches\nin the entire tournament just for the absurdity of YTR actually doing wrestling\nmoves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taichi\ndef. Juice Robinson<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n From a surprisingly fast pace match we go to a\nslower one between Taichi and Juice. The slow pace actually wasn’t a detriment\nand worked well for the styles of these two. This was mainly a typical Taichi\nmatch though, kind of reminiscent of his junior heavyweight days where it is\njust shenanigans after shenanigans. Miho Abe and Yoshinobu Kanemaru with\nendless interferences and all that stuff. Still though, I thought this was a\nsolid enough, serviceable match. In the concluding parts, both men brought out\nthe goods and started with the counters and heavy strikes. The Holy Emperor got\nthe surprise win though with the Black Mephisto on Juice at the 12 minute and\n28 second mark. Will probably be forgotten though, one of those matches that\nare in the “middle of the pack” not great but far from bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hirooki\nGoto def. Jeff Cobb<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Speaking of hard hitting bouts, this was exactly\nthat. Goto and Cobb just beating the hell out of one another for 11 minutes.\nWhat more could you ask for right? These two have faced each other in the past\nalready twice for the NEVER Openweight Championship, this time it’s the rubber\nmatch. Goto wins with the GTR. One of Cobb’s best efforts, I think he has found\nhis mojo by the end of this tour so good for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jay\nWhite def. Jon Moxley<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I don’t know about you but this was another\nanticipated match I’ve been looking forward to since the start of the tour,\nMoxley and Switchblade. The contrast of styles already makes you curious on how\nthey’d face each other and in my opinion, it worked out great. I’m seeing some\nfans online who weren’t too appreciative of this match and that’s fine you’re entitled\nto the wrestling you like but as for me, I thoroughly enjoyed this bout. White\nof course played the cowardly bastard heel with Gedo in tow, while Moxley is\njust out for blood like always. A pretty cool dynamic and a change of scenery\nas for all of his past matches, excluding Yano, Mox was always pitted against\nfellow tough men. This time he was up against a trickster and I think that’s\nwhat got him to take the L. There was a point where I thought he’d lose from a\ndouble cheat move as Gedo hits him with the brass knuckles then Jay proceeds\nwith the low blow but he surprisingly kicked out of that. Just a few moments\nlater on though, he wasn’t able to kick out of the Bladerunner at the 15 minute\nmark. Some fans thought we’d see a DQ finish but I’m glad Jay actually pinned\nMox, solidifying his status more as the top gaijin heel. Besides Juice, I see\nSwitchblade being the one to take back the US Title off of Mox at some point in\nthe future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tetsuya Naito def. Shingo Takagi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Last match of the night and let me tell you, no\nexaggeration or hyperbole whatsoever, Tetsuya Naito vs. Shingo Takagi for the\nfirst time is one of the greatest matches I’ve ever seen. Borderline 5 stars\nfor sure! First off, the history between these two pretty much helped in why I\nenjoyed this match so much. I like things with heavy background with them,\nlearning about the history of wrestlers, and what a wonderful story being told\nhere, basically two decades in the making. Shoutout to Chris Charlton by the\nway for the information, basically Naito and Shingo go way back since high\nschool. They went to train together at Animal Hamaguchi’s gym to become pro\nwrestlers. Shingo became the biggest star in Dragon Gate while Naito carved his\nown path, twice in New Japan. Finally as The Dragon left his nest, he re-joined\nwith his old pal in LIJ. With Naito dreaming of becoming the first double\nchampion and Shingo dominating the junior heavyweights, it all leads up to\nthis. Every strike, submission, and even taunt felt like it mattered. They\nreally got you invested in what were they doing in the ring. It’s only 3\nminutes less than the Okada vs. SANADA from the previous night, but Naito vs.\nShingo worked the long style of matches better in my opinion. Rest spots, which\naren’t really a frequent occurrence in this match, didn’t overstay. The pace\nwas always up on the tempo which makes it all the more enjoyable even for those\nwho may not be big fans of long winded bouts. Some fans online stated that\nShingo eliminating Naito from the tournament would’ve been a story book ending\nand that scenario looks cool and all but I’m glad it didn’t happen. The Destino\nstill got him the win to keep his dream alive. Easily Shingo’s best heavyweight\nmatch and another one for Naito’s already established match resume. When\nprofessional wrestling is good, it is damn good indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n B Block Leaderboard:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n 10\nPoints<\/strong> = Jon Moxley<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8\nPoints<\/strong> = Tetsuya Naito, Jay White, Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro\nIshii<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6\nPoints<\/strong> = Jeff Cobb, Juice Robinson, Taichi, Toru Yano<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4\nPoints<\/strong> = Shingo Takagi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before the review officially starts, I just want to pay tribute and send my personal condolences to the family and friends of the late great Harley Race. One of the [...]","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":12960,"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":[204,37,22],"tags":[455,44],"class_list":["post-13122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","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-3pE","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Jon-Moxley-G1-Climax-B-Block.jpeg?fit=1173%2C578&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13122","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=13122"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13134,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13122\/revisions\/13134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.njpw1972.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/9_11-12.jpg?resize=397%2C529&ssl=1\")
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