Previously on NJPW: Jay White showed why you shouldn’t bring fighting spirit to a knife fight, the BCOGs showed why you shouldn’t bring balloons to a Gun Stun fight, and Yoshi-Hashi tried.
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And now, the best and worst of Nights 4-5 (July 19-20, 2018) of G1 Climax 28, at Korakuen Hall.
Best/Worst: Secret Pointing Spiderman Meme
I’m going to start this Best/Worst with the B Block matches from the 19th, and those started with Sanada defeating Tama Tonga. Both men have been in three consecutive G1 Climax tournaments, and have had fun, low-stakes matches against each other in each one. They’re both low-key good at comedy matches, both do a lot of evading, and both don’t make a ton of kayfabe sense as G1 competitors this year because their main accomplishments since the last one have been as tag wrestlers. They’re also both similarly atheletic in a way where they can do a spot early in the match where they try to dropkick each other at the same time, and have it not be incredibly cheesy.
I think this was my least favorite of their matches so far, but it was an entertaining block action opener. These guys did a lot of dodging and countering of each other, with some jokes mixed in. From a storyline perspective, the match reminds us that Sanada is actually a very smart, strategic singles wrestler, and when the BCOGs aren’t exceptionally careful about their strategy (like in Fale’s match with Okada), it backfires on them. This was pretty much the worst version of that (in kayfabe) (besides a disqualification), with Tanga Loa being ejected from ringside, then Sanada outsmarting him and Fale when they sneak back in later, and getting a rollup victory. Backstage, Tama is too upset and frustrated to cut a promo or even yell about this, and Sanada actually speaks to tell us, “You saw the finish, didn’t you? That’s all.”
Best: The B Stands For Best (And This Is A WWE Joke, Not A Lazy Subheading)
After a lukewarm opener, B Block competition really gets going with YTR vs. ZSJ. Shout out to the one British/white kid who stood and did Zack’s pose and got himself on camera twice! You made me cringe, but it looks like you had fun!
Sabre Jr. inherited his Murder Father’s hatred for Yano, and is even more infuriated by the fact that Yano is now able to endure using mat wrestling skill rather than just cheating and being too dumb to tap out to complicated and painful submission holds. Yano brings it again with the actual wrestling moves, and this match is the fastest I’ve seen him move in I don’t know how long. Every time he counters one of Zack’s holds it’s novel and exciting. The best of example of this Even More Galaxy Brain version of Yano is probably when he tries to low blow Sabre Jr, ZSJ blocks that with his boney knees, but Yano is ready for that this time and counters into a rollup for a nearfall. Zack eventually wins with a Modified European Clutch, and is the most respectful I think he’s ever been of Yano in his backstage promo, telling us he’s a seriously good wrestler.
After two matches full of shenanigans and rule breaking, Kota Ibushi vs. Juice Robinson delivers as a straight up pro wrestling match between two fired up babyfaces. These guys are both enthusiastic, dumb, and loveable. Ibushi flips all over the place with his weird, elastic body, and inspires Juice to get flashier too, with stuff like that cannonball off the apron to Ibushi on the mat.
Juice, in a rare match where he’s not the crowd favorite, looks like he can’t figure out how to beat Ibushi, and ultimately does not. Ibushi hits him with an insane rana from the apron, one of his classic crazy moonsaults (off the ringpost, sending Juice through the space he created by opening the barricade gate), and wins after a straightjacket German to a Kamigoye knee. Afterwards, he hugs Juice and raises his hand.
This match was a reminder of how crazy over (and crazy good) Ibushi is as a singles babyface. Even Juice says backstage that Ibushi is somehow underrated despite everyone knowing that he’s amazing, and asks, “How has he not been the IWGP Heavyweight Champion yet?”
In what turns out to be the match of the night for me, Testuya Naito defeats Tomohiro Ishii. These two have had several singles matches over the years, and they’re always a good pairing. Naito defeated Ishii in his one and only successful IWGP Heavyweight Championship defense, Ishii was one of the few to beat Naito in the G1 last year, and he nearly beat him at King of Pro Wrestling to take his Wrestle Kingdom main event match contract.
They start slow with strikes, then chops, then more strikes, and Naito eventually starts smiling, and Ishii shouting for more. These are maybe the two most resilient men on the NJPW roster, and it feels good to watch them fight each other. They both try to rile each other up, and succeed at times. They get fancier, but never all that fancy, with Naito reversing a vertical drop brainbuster into a DDT, Ishii blocking a Destino and landing two lariats, and another vertical drop brainbuster countered into a Destino. A second Destino wins the match for Naito, and both men are unable to get up from the mat for a while.
Backstage, Naito reminds us why he’s so good at tournaments and has won the G1 twice so far. He says there’s no point in talking about the match he just had; he just needs to win his next seven in a row. And, stoking the fire of their rivalry, he taunts Kenny Omega, saying if he already beat Naito, he should be able to win the rest of his matches.
In the main event, Hirooki Goto has the chance to defeat embodiment of Western Imperialism and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega in a rematch from the 2016 G1 finals. Kenny is on his extreme cornball heel ish from the beginning, giving Goto a little slap to the face after pushing him against the ropes, and again while he has him in a wristlock. Goto, like in the tag preview, is way more fired up and less serious than he’s been in his recent singles matches. He blocks a Rise of the Terminator, and, after Kenny dropkicks him beyond the barricade, just chucks a chair at him to knock him off the top rope, getting mixed boos and laughs.
They fight in the bleachers, with Goto smiling and really out to get the champ, not hindered by that mutual respect, mutual warrior stuff. And Kenny brings to mind his Falls Count Anywhere Machine DDT days when he does a very Ibushi-esque moonsault off a barricade to Goto in the bleachers. They continue to escalate things back in the ring, and Omega impressively backflips out of a German suplex attempt to deliver his first V Trigger. Goto looks probably (kayfabe) concussed, but headbutts his way out of being set up on the turnbuckle, and concludes an exciting sequence with a Code Red…
Which Kenny kicks out of, and they are both official superhuman! The match gets angrier and even more motivated from here. Goto keeps trying for the GTR and hits some reverse ones, and even his old finisher Shouten Kai, but, after more kickouts, a V Trigger to a One Winged Angel does it for Omega. A lot of cool wrestling moves happened in this race to the finish, but, honestly, I got a little burned out after the Code Red.
Omega’s post-match speech isn’t aiming for boos this time. He puts over B Block as full of great wrestlers, and says he’ll roll through it to get to the finals for a third straight year. “But that’s not because I’m from Bullet Club or the Elite or the Golden Lovers… because I’m number one in the world.” This is a pretty interesting statement given that the other Golden Lover is wearing a shirt about their relationship to the ring for every match! Backstage, Kenny praises Goto’s Japanese fighting spirit… and then condescendingly tells him what he can work on going forward.
The end of July 19 sees B Block move towards a log jam, with the points standing as follows:
- 4 points – 2-0 – Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi
- 2 points – 1-1 – Hirooki Goto, Sanada, Tama Tonga, Tetsuya Naito, Tomohiro Ishii, Zack Sabre Jr
- 0 points – 0-2 – Juice Robinson, Toru Yano
Mostly Worst: Tag Match Lighting Round
After a night of good matches, the next set of B Block tags on the 20th are relatively dismal and, for me, largely did not build hype for the block matches they previewed.
ZSJ has Sanada up next, and his and Taka Michinoku’s preview tag against Umino and Henare is extremely throwaway, most notable for showing how the rookies are both progressing. Ibushi vs. Yano should be really entertaining, but their preview tag with Yujiro and Gedo, respectively, is even more of a nothing match.
Naito and Sanada vs. Finlay and Juice is pretty fun though. The B Block competitors have good chemistry, which I had forgotten about since their IC title match last year. Naito goes right after Juice’s broken hand, attacking it against the English announce table and the ring apron. Naito shadowboxes with his left hand at Rocky on commentary, and Juice looks incredibly dejected.
Backstage, Juice is as down as anyone would be after getting their broken hand attacked, but isn’t going to complain that Naito doesn’t follow the rules. He says he hates the G1, which is full of “nineteen of the best wrestlers in the world and me.” Naito, on the other hand, essentially says Juice should rub some dirt in it, and he can’t protect his hand the whole tournament. He takes some credit for building up Juice’s fighting spirit with how he used to treat Juice when they used to tag together.
Be a Star[dust Genius!]
The Guerrillas of Destiny then defeat Kenny Omega and Chase Owens in the feel-bad tag match of the night. Heel vs. heel stuff (or just matches where both people through the rules out the window) can be really fun, but Kenny and Tama aren’t on that type of collision course. Their match is about two groups of people who are ideologically driving in opposite directions on one of those freeways in rural areas with no speed limit. The total lack of understanding between these groups makes this feud, which has, again, been going on since last year’s G1, feel bleak.
Commentary raises the odd storyline nature of the upcoming match. They speculate about whether Tama will throw away two points to make a statement like Fale did with Hangman, and Rocky isn’t sure Tama cares about G1 points at all. Kelly speculates that maybe Tama wants to injure Kenny so badly he can’t win or finish the G1. Rocky thinks that Tama might be so angry he just throws away two points, not as part of any plan. Kelly asks, “If he doesn’t beat him, then what are you fighting for?” and Rocky puts forth that Tama might want “to be a top dog” more in general than to spite Kenny. And yeah, it’s not like Tama’s been talking about earning a IWGP Heavyweight Championship shot, wrecking Kenny’s undefeated G1 streak, or anything like that, although those would all be good revenge.
Kenny, however, cuts a promo acting like this is his feud with Cody all over again. He mispronounces Tama’s name and says, “Tomorrow we’ll see if you really did make the right choice in stepping away from Bullet Club,” which I don’t think is actually what’s on the line here. Kenny hasn’t realized he was essentially a terrible boss to these guys, and beating one of them in a singles match won’t change their mind about that like it apparently did for Cody. The Tongans ditched him at the height of his powers, right after winning the most elevated pro wrestling championship on this planet. They’re not saying, “Actually, our guy Tama is a better singles wrestler,” they mostly just want to be their own separate thing and fight for the things that they care about, which aren’t what Kenny and the Being The Elite guys care about.
The tl;dr of all that is that after a shot of adrenaline in San Francisco, the Biz Cliz feud is once again murky and weird. Will it move to more entertaining territory, or, you know, ever end? I really hope we find out during this tournament.
In sharp contrast, Yoh and Goto vs. Sho and Ishii is the best and most effective preview tag of the night. Goto vs. Ishii promises to be a straight up, strong style banger that could go either way between two faction-mates who rarely fight. The Yoh vs. Sho moments are good again too, and start when Sho does his Shock Arrow motion at Yoh to squeals from the ladies in the audience, some of whom I’m guessing own that photobook with all the pictures of them doing normal, platonic friend stuff like posing in a hotel room bed together.
Of course, we also have lots of wrestling matches and drama (though slightly less drama) going on in A Block!
Best: The Roppongi 3K Custody Battle Continues
Yoh and Jay White vs. Ren Narita and Michael Elgin sets up what the White vs. Elgin dynamic will be: Elgin, the babyface, has an obvious size and strength advantage, and this emo kid has to figure out how to get past someone whose biggest weapon is no-selling. It’s a unusual dynamic because the face/heel allignments of David/Goliath matches are usually the opposite.
The way funnier and more interesting part of this tag match though, is Chaos Civil War, Battlefront: Roppongi 3K. Yoh keeps urging Jay to be a better sport during this match, but, shockingly, it does not work! Yoh wins the bout by tapping out Narita (still my favorite current Young Lion), and White immediately tries to hit a Blade Runner on the kid, only to be chased off by Big Mike. He gives Yoh a thumbs up from the mat, and all the babyfaces left in the ring are left to look at each other in confusion.
Jay tells Rocky, “He did good today… Needs a little more of that killer instinct, if you ask me…” Rocky tells Jay to stay away from his boy, and takes offense to Kelly pointing out that Yoh and White will “continue to be dance partners” throughout the tour. “I would prefer you not to say ‘dance partners’ when talking about one of my boys.” YOH IS 30 YEARS OLD.
Worst: Battle Of The Unbeaten
Jay White defeats Michael Elgin (who says in his post-tag-match promo that he is ONLY 31 YEARS OLD, SOMEHOW) in a match that is not particularly good or fun to watch. White has earned his 4 points so far against way tougher opponents than Elgin. Sure, Mike is more experienced, but so were Okada and Tanahashi. This match is different, however, because it’s not as easy for him to do damage with his underhanded tactics due to that whole Unbreakable Michael Elgin thing. Fired Up Babyface Elgin is not fun for me to watch, but the crowd is into him, and White sells very well. He kicks out of big moves “someway, somehow,” and eventually wins via a sneaky low blow before a Blade Runner. Overall, it’s a match that lacks sparks, but has some well-executed sequences, and ends with Switchblade’s least creative cheating so far.
Best/Worst: Battle Of The Only Beaten
The next match sees two people with zero points so far, Minoru Suzuki and Yoshi-Hashi, face off. Suzuki dominated most of his first two matches and lost, while Yoshi-Hashi has just had aggressive starts and looking less like a loser than usual. Yoshi-Hashi looks terrified going into their preview tag match, and looks miserable about having to fight Suzuki at all. Suzuki laughs at him, and a “Minoru” chant goes up when he knocks Yoshi-Hashi down with a strike. The New Japan crowd usually plays along with kayfabe, but Korakuen definitely cares more about Suzuki getting a W here than his opponent. Suzuki calls Yoshi-Hashi a bitch and a punk and a slot-filler, says they don’t belong in the same ring or the same league, and that he’ll “f*cking kill” Yoshi-Hashi the next day. And who is in the position to argue with him about any of those things?
It turns out, not Yoshi-Hashi, although he shows a surprising amount of fight before falling to the King. He attacks Suzuki outside of the ring, so Suzuki wraps his arm (with the taped up shoulder) around a ringpost and attacks it with a chair, then realizes his chest is bleeding and pauses to LICK HIS OWN CHEST BLOOD OFF HIS FINGERS. So Yoshi-Hashi is clearly going to die here!
It looks like Suzuki is making a concerted effort to show just how much he can hurt Yoshi-Hashi, who he doesn’t consider worthy of fighting him. Yoshi-Hashi shows fighting spirit, landing some not great looking dropkicks and a Head Hunter (his front flip neckbreaker) to mixed crowd support. During the extended sequence of Suzuki trying to fight out of the butterfly lock, a hold way less cool-looking than all of Suzuki’s, the crowd is increasingly on the villain’s side. This match was honestly shoot sad for Yoshi-Hashi because it was clearly planned out with the knowledge that he wouldn’t even get sympathy heat against the Suzukigun leader.
Backstage, Suzuki is in again in top, cruel form, calling Yoshi-Hashi a bitch and an insect. He goes after one of the press with a pen and promises, “Whoever’s next, I’m going to stab you in your head.” Appropriately, his next opponent is the Knife Pervert himself!
Best: Oh Hey, Evil
After a tag match most notable for Rocky saying Bushi should drop the mask and, “Show the people what you got, li’l mama,” and Makabe calling Evil “Peevil” in the backstage promo, Evil defeats Togi Makabe . It’s an entertaining match between two wrestlers with similar size, badassery, and ability to absorb damage. They start with strikes, but soon take things outside of the ring. Evil takes Makabe upstairs to the same Korakuen aisle where Hiromu did the John Woo coast to coast dropkicks and got rana’ed down the stairs during BOSJ. Evil makes me emotional here with a Hiromu-tribute (or, at least, what I read as one) run down that aisle to deliver a huge lariat.
Makabe gets the best of the brawl here and takes Evil back to the ring after shoving him against the post for good measure. After some nearfalls, Evil gets the best of a simultaneous clothesline-off, and hits Everything Is Evil for the win. Evil looks like a star in this match, and it feels like bigger star moments must be yet to come for him in this tournament once he gets to A Block’s really big names.
Best: Base-Attacking Ace
Longtime tournament rivals Hiroshi Tanahashi and Bad Luck Fale’s preview tag told us two things to expect from this match: Tanahashi will target Fale’s knees, and Fale will probably continue to try to use a numbers advantage, because 1) it worked during his last match, and 2) Kelly mentions how it’s annoying the fans and says he hopes we don’t see much more of it.
Tanahashi charges right at Fale and stomps on his knee against the turnbuckle, then targets it with a hold. Unlike Elgin vs. White earlier in the night, the Big Guy vs. Medium Guy dynamic is very straightforward. Fale responds by throwing Tanahashi over the barricade, dramatic forearms, bodyslams, and, of course, distracting the ref so Tanga Loa can get some hits in as well. Tanahashi struggles to get his larger opponent in a full Texas Clover Leaf and to lift him up for a suplex, and this denial makes the Dragon Screws and nearfalls he does get more satisfying to see.
The crowd is pretty hot for what looks like must be the end of the match, when Tanahashi counters an attempted Bad Luck Fale into a slingblade and gets ready for a High Fly Flow. But C And A Half Block All Star Tanga Loa pulls Red Shoes out of the ring, and Tama Tonga gets in on the action with a Gun Stun outta nowhere to Tanahashi. After this, their attack on the original Bullet Club ambush victim moves way too slowly for them to get away with it, and Red Shoes ultimately flips Fale a double bird and disqualifies him instead of counting his very obviously illegal pin. Backstage, Fale blames the New Japan establishment and, for the first time, specifically the referees for his loss of the match.
So now, after a good match with a frustrating ending, Tanahashi climbs further up the A Block scoreboard, and it’s more unclear whether the BCOGs don’t care about points or disqualifications (very weird in the G1) or just aren’t very good at being their own faction yet. Either way, it’s starting to get them more and more heat from live audiences.
Best, Promising Better: The Rainmaker’s New Groove
Before the night’s main event, Hangman Page challenged Okada to show up to their singles match as his real self, and this seems to remind Okada that he is, in fact, a Special Boy. He enters with even more balloons, and starts messing with Hangman after they get each other in wristlocks. Hangman, a man whose main character trait so far has been Angry Face, plays much more specific anger in this match, that of an entitled, emotional upstart. He pulls out all his stops to no avail, busting out his shooting star press, working Okada’s neck for a while, and missing a moonsault actually acknowledged (by commentary) to take a long time to set up. Okada mostly endures and lets Page shine this match, with the crowd again eating up his athleticism. But, having taken a ton of damage, he finally hits a tombstone and a very nice Rainmaker for the win.
Backstage, Page, interestingly, gives a very babyface fighting spirit promo about having a fire under his ass to beat Tanahashi next. Despite faction alignment, they’re letting this G1 debutant show the crowd what he can do in his matches and giving him a chance to develop for the first time outside of the BC drama. Okada is definitely still deranged and smiles like if he doesn’t he won’t get the antidote to the incredibly painful poison eating its way through his body, but his old determination is finally back. So this match was a pretty positive experience for everybody!
Here are the A Block points after July 20:
- 6 points – 3-0 – Jay White
- 4 points – 2-1 – Evil, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, Togi Makabe
- 2 points – 1-2 – Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page, Kazuchika Okada, Minoru Suzuki
- 0 points – 0-3 – Yoshi-Hashi
This show ends with Jay White standing tall at the top of A Block, but also with two of the block’s most popular contenders, the Okada and Suzuki, getting their acts together. Though B Block is the one setting up the title scenes of the near future, A Block looks like the block most likely to have a surprise winner.
