{"id":9574,"date":"2018-07-09T17:18:43","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T17:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/?p=9574"},"modified":"2018-07-09T17:40:02","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T17:40:02","slug":"njpw-g1-special-in-san-francisco-review-7-7-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestlingjournal.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/09\/njpw-g1-special-in-san-francisco-review-7-7-18\/","title":{"rendered":"NJPW G1 Special in San Francisco Review, 7\/7\/18"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Tokyo Wrestling Fan @twf87<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

New Japan returned to California for the second time in 2018 for the G1 Special in San Francisco, which was held at the historic Cow Palace in Daly City.\u00a0 Before the show there had been a lot of speculation about if they would be able to sell-out the 10,000 seat Cow Palace, and the final figure was 6,333 tickets sold, not a bad gate in a part of California that doesn’t have a massive wrestling scene.\u00a0 During the event they announced that New Japan will return to Southern California for more shows later this year, so they clearly haven’t been deterred by this experience.\u00a0 The card was headlined by Kenny Omega vs. Cody, in Kenny’s first defence as the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion, with a semi-main event of Jay White defending his US Championship against Juice Robinson.<\/p>\n

CHAOS (SHO, YOH, Rocky Romero, Gedo, and YOSHI-HASHI) <\/strong>vs. Bullet Club (Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Chase Owens, Yujiro Takahashi, and King Haku) \u2013 <\/strong>California were very behind Bullet Club when they made their entrance, especially King Haku.\u00a0 GOD went all out on their face paint for this event, and were clearly enthused by the prospect of teaming with their dad in the opening match.\u00a0 Haku started against YOSHI-HASHI, and easily overpowered him to loud cheers.\u00a0 Bullet Club controlled a lot of this match, although SHO and YOH got to show off some of their tag team moves.\u00a0 Gedo took the pin after Haku grabbed his beard and Tama Tonga hit him with a Gun Stun.\u00a0 This was a decent opener, but nothing to write home about other than seeing Haku wrestling again.<\/p>\n

Winners: Bullet Club, 9:20<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano <\/strong>vs. Minoru Suzuki and Zack Sabre Jr. \u2013 <\/strong>Suzuki has a cool new remix of Kaze ni nare<\/em> that he\u2019s using for his ring entrance, and the US crowd enthusiastically joined in the chorus.\u00a0 Suzuki beat Ishii last week to win the Rev Pro Undisputed British Heavyweight title, so this match had some added bite to it.\u00a0 Ishii and Suzuki continued to give each other no quarter in this match, but my personal favourite was the development of the growing rivalry between Yano and Sabre.\u00a0 Yano\u2019s comedy timing works perfectly with Sabre\u2019s serious, technical style of wrestling, and I can\u2019t wait to see them face off in the G1 Climax.\u00a0 ZSJ caught Yano\u2019s arm with his legs as Yano attempted a low blow, but then Ishii hit him with a stiff lariat and Yano was able to score a surprise pin on his English opponent for a CHAOS victory.\u00a0 After the match ZSJ and Suzuki beat up some Young Lions on their way to the back.<\/p>\n

Winners: Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano, 9:42<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marty Scurll and Hangman Page <\/strong>vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi and KUSHIDA w\/ Ryusuke Taguchi \u2013 <\/strong>At Dominion Scurll and Page were part of the Bullet Club team that beat Tanahashi, Jyushin Thunder Liger, and Rey Mysterio.\u00a0 Since Mysterio resigned with WWE, I guess KUSHIDA has been brought in for this match.\u00a0 This was also a preview of the G1 Climax A Block match between Tanahashi and Page, which I\u2019m excited about.\u00a0 Tanahashi was very over in the Cow Palace, and the Japanese commentary team made a point that the cadence of the \u201cTanahashi\u201d chants is different in English than Japanese.\u00a0 This was a good, fast-paced match \u2013 KUSHIDA and Tanahashi make for a great team, and Scurll and Page were on form too.\u00a0 Page picked up a victory after hitting KUSHIDA with the Right of Passage, after countering an attempt at the Hoverboard Lock.\u00a0 It will be interesting to see what happens in the G1, I wouldn\u2019t be too surprised if Page manages to beat Tanahashi.<\/p>\n

Winners: Marty Scurll and Hangman Page, 9:52<\/strong><\/p>\n

NEVER Openweight Championship<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jeff Cobb <\/strong>vs. Hirooki Goto (c) \u2013 <\/strong>Jeff Cobb was introduced to New Japan as Michael Elgin\u2019s partner in the World Tag League last year, and he issued a challenge to Goto following his victory on the Kizuna Road tour.\u00a0 Cobb is from Guam, but he\u2019s spent a lot of time wrestling in California and the crowd was clearly behind him at the start of this match.\u00a0 Goto was notably at a power disadvantage in this match, so he had to work tactically to try and overcome Cobb, including a slingshot crossbody to the outside, which I don\u2019t remember seeing Goto use many times before.\u00a0 Cobb was no slouch either, and on top of his array of suplexes he hit an impressive standing moonsault.<\/p>\n

\n

Goddamn lariat into a standing moonsault!! @RealJeffCobb<\/a> #NJPW<\/a> #G1USA<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/4ULitIni5Z<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/GXb1C1VAOB<\/a><\/p>\n

— LARIATOOOO!! (@MrLARIATO) July 8, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n