Csonka’s NJPW G1 Climax 28 Night 2 Review

Csonka’s NJPW G1 Climax 28 Night 2 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Block B Match: Tomohiro Ishii defeated Toru Yano @ 8:55 via pin [***]
– Block B Match: Tama Tonga defeated Juice Robinson @ 14:04 via pin [**]
– Block B Match: Hirooki Goto defeated SANADA @ 13:40 via pin [***½]
– Block B Match: Kota Ibushi defeated Zack Sabre Jr @ 23:11 via pin [****½]
– Block B Match: Kenny Omega defeated Tetsuya Naito @ 23:20 via pin [****¾]

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– Night One Review

B Block Match: Tomohiro Ishii vs. Toru Yano: Yano teases being fired up, does his rope break spot and then brawls with his pal Ishii. Yano hits arm drags, throws, and shoulder tackles. They work to the floor, brawling at ringside and Ishii finally taking control. Back in and Ishii lays in strikes and chops. Ishii hits a Saito suplex and covers for 2. Ishii slaps him around, they trade, but Yano cuts him off and tries to remove the buckle pad and does. Yano moves as Ishii runs into the exposed buckle, does it a second time and the ref stops the low blow. Ishii them sends him to the exposed buckle and lays in chops and strikes. Ishii fires up and hits a big shoulder tackle. Yano gets a desperation backslide for 2. The cradle gets 2. Head butt by Ishii, but Yano sends him to the exposed buckle and gets a roll up for 2. Ishii is pissed now, no sells Yano’s strikes and they trade, Yano rocks him and then no sells a German and hits a belly to belly for 2. Ishii hits the lariat, and then the sliding D and that gets 2. Yano grabs the ref and gets a near al off the cradle. Ishii blocks the low blow, hits one of his own, and cradles Yano for the win. Tomohiro Ishii defeated Toru Yano @ 8:55 via pin [***] This was a hood & fun, back and forth match between tag partners, and it was fun to see a more serious Yano here. This was the best and most fun Yano match in a long time.

B Block Match: Juice Robinson vs. Tama Tonga: Loa is out with Tonga. If Juice uses his cast, he gets DQ’d. They lock up; Tonga looks to ground things, but Juice counters out. Tonga then counters out and into a side headlock. Juice now looks to outwrestle Tonga, they work into some back and forth and into a stand off. Tonga now attacks with strikes, dumps Juice, and Loa distracts him, allowing Tonga to attack. This leads to floor brawling; Tonga posts Juice and then attacks the injured hand. Back in they go, Tonga does his misdirection spots but Juice hits arm drags. Hip tosses follow, and then a big backdrop. Tonga then cuts him off with a dropkick, Juice rolls to the floor, favoring his hand. Loa attacks and beats Juice down. Juice rolls back in, and Tonga immediately attacks. The belly to back suplex follows; Tonga talks shit and misses a corner splash. Tonga then counters back and hits a neck breaker for 2. Tonga now hits the corner splash and Tongan twist for 2. Tonga now stomps on the injured hand of Juice, and follows with rights. Juice cuts him off and lays in jabs. Tonga now works a hanging guillotine, Juice powers out and into a jackhammer. He follows with clotheslines and the cannonball connects. The electric chair is countered, but Juice counters into a sloppy brainbuster for 2. Juice now hits the electric chair drop and covers for 2. He looks for pulp friction, Loa distracts him, and Juice attacks. He works him over with jabs, and the big left. Tonga hits gun stun and wins. Tama Tonga defeated Juice Robinson @ 14:04 via pin [**] This was ok at best, but went too long, lacked energy, and I am not enjoying the interference stuff (even if it is a nod to Prince Devitt). Tonga winning made sense to play off of his momentum and to get him a title shot later on. But it wasn’t the performance he needed.

B Block Match: Hirooki Goto vs. SANADA: They lock up, Goto looks to work the arm early on but SANADA counters out. Goto fire back with a shoulder tackle, lays in clubbing strikes, and clotheslines SANADA to the floor. SANADA fights back, cuts him off and they brawl to the floor and into the crowd. SANADA slams him to the barricade, drags him back and then into the ring. SANADA the pace, working the neck but Goto fires back with strikes. SANADA cuts him off with a dropkick and covers for 2. SANADA now grounds things, but Goto fires up and hits a lariat. He follows with rights and kicks. The corner spin kick and Saito suplex follow and Goto covers for 2. SANADA fights out of ushigoroshi, and hits the dropkick and then follows with a plancha to the floor. Back in and SANADA lays in rights. They trade, and Goto hits ushigoroshi and both men are down. SANADA counters out of GTR into skull end. He swings him and looks for a TKO, Goto fights him off, and lays in elbows but SANADA hits an ushigoroshi and into skull end. Goto fights as SANADA drops to the mat. Goto slips out, SANADA heads up top and misses the moonsault. Goto now decapitates SANADA with a lariat as SANADA land son his head on the flip sell. Goto fires up but SANADA cuts him off, SANADA gets an O’Connor roll and into the skull end. Goto counters, they battle back and forth, head butt by Goto and the GRT follows and then another is countered into a cradle for a great near fall. SANADA cuts off Goto and moonsaults into skull end, but Goto counters out and into a draping GTR. The proper GTR connects for the win. Hirooki Goto defeated SANADA @ 13:40 via pin [***½] This was an overall very good match, with a good layout, and a really tremendous closing stretch with some great near falls. SANADA had Goto scouted, but Goto mixed up his gameplan, and that led to the win.

B Block Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Zack Sabre Jr: Sabre defeated Ibushi in the New Japan Cup earlier this year; Ibushi beat Sabre in last year’s G1. Sabre looks to ground things, but Ibushi keeps it on the feet and looks to pickup the pace. Sabre no attacks the arm, and grounds Ibushi. Ibushi fights to his feet and starts to overpower Sabre, and takes him down, but Sabre bridges out and into an arm bar counter, but Ibushi makes the ropes. Sabre takes things back down to the ground, Ibushi counters out and they go face to face, working a knuckle lock. Sabre quickly counters into control, but Ibushi lays in kicks and forearms as they trade. Sabre follows with uppercuts, but Ibushi then drops him with kicks. He lays in more kicks, and the standing moonsault gets 2. Ibushi now kicks Sabre to the floor, but Sabre cuts off the golden triangle with a heel hook, dragging Ibushi to the floor. Back in and Sabre grounds things and starts attacking the leg of Ibushi. Sabre follows with kicks, and Ibushi rolls to the floor. Back in and Ibushi fires up as they trade strikes and kicks. Sabre again attacks the leg, working into a Muta lock variation. He transitions into a bow and arrow, poses, and then transitions into a crossface until Ibushi makes the ropes. Sabre lays in leg kicks, but Ibushi fires back and drops Sabre with a body kick. Ibushi then counters the dropkick and hits the double stomp. Sabre looks to attack the arm, but Ibushi hits a dropkick and follows with a plancha to the floor. Back in and Ibushi flies in, but tweaks his knee, allowing Sabre to attack and ground him into submissions until Ibushi makes the ropes. Sabre follows with kicks, counters the PELE, but Ibushi hits a lariat for the double down. Sabre counters the powerbomb into a guillotine and then into an Omoplata and then grabs the leg as well, but as he looks to transition, Ibushi makes the ropes. Ibushi hits a snap slam, misses the moonsault and Sabre hits a PK for 1! Another PK follows for 2. Sabre follows with leg kicks, they trade, and Sabre catches a kick but Ibushi counters out of a rapped German and levels Sabre with a big right. They trade from their knees, lighting each other up and Sabre now lays in uppercuts, and Ibushi takes him up top and lays in kicks. The German follows for 2. Sabre counters the knee strike, checking it and now cradles Ibushi for 2. Ibushi counters the triangle into a powerbomb for a good near fall. Sabre counters the head kick into an octopus, ties up both arms, Ibushi counters, but loses him as they fall into the ropes. Sabre back to the cobra twist, but Ibushi hits a snapdragon suplex and head kick. Ibushi drops the kneepad, but Sabre counters the Kamigoye into a European clutch for 2. They work into counters as Ibushi hits a straightjacket suplex and Kamigoye for the win. Kota Ibushi defeated Zack Sabre Jr @ 23:11 via pin [****½] On paper, Kota Ibushi & Zack Sabre Jr feel like two wrestlers that shouldn’t work together as well as they do, but each time they face, they completely wow me in how easily and effortlessly they work together. This was an absolutely excellent match, featuring a great mix of styles, a strong story involving them battling for which style would overcome, an invested crowd and as I said before, just another excellent outing from them. I found it to be on the level of their New Japan Cup match, excellent, and completely different from any tournament match so far. These guys are rather good at the pro wrestling thing. I need to see it again and again.

B Block Match: Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito: This is a battle of the last two G1 winners. They play some mind games to begin, mocking each other, and Naito then dumps Omega but opts for tranquilo. Back in and Omega hits a belly to back suplex, and covers for 2. Omega follows with kicks, and then slams Naito the buckles a few times. Omega then follows with a back breaker for 2. Omega slows the pace, beating down Naito with strikes, and then laying in chops. Naito fires back, fights off the powerbomb, and hits the basement dropkick. He spits at Omega and Omega rakes his eyes. The Finlay roll is countered, and Naito hits a draping neck breaker and then another neck breaker for 2. Omega cuts off the corner dropkick combo, and hits the “you can’t see me.” To the floor and Omega slams Naito to the apron and pulls up the floor padding but Naito cuts him off. Back in and Naito hits the corner dropkick combo. Omega fights off Gloria, hits a RANA and Naito rolls to the floor. Naito cuts off the tope and back in, hits a tornado DDT for 2. Omega manages to dump Naito and sends him over the barricade. Omega now springboards over the barricade with a high cross! Omega drags him back and into the ring. Omega up top and Naito crotches him and follows him up but Omega counters him and hits snapdragon. The doctor Willy bomb connects for 2. V trigger is countered and they work into a series of counters, and Omega hits V trigger to the back of the head. Naito counters the one winged angel with a reverse RANA. Omega takes him up top, hits the RANA and now looks for Gloria and spikes Omega with it for a near fall. Omega counters destino, V TRIGGER! The neck breaker is countered into destino! Destino is then countered, and Omega then hits jig ‘n tonic for a great near fall. They are playing off of their past encounters so very well here. They trade strikes, spin kick by Omega, and V trigger connects in the corner. They work up top now, Omega looks for a super dragon suplex, Naito fights and Omega looks for a super one winged angle, but Naito saves his life, countering with a he sunset bomb! Naito fires up, DESTINO but Omega somehow kicks out at the very last minute. Naito pulls him up, destino is countered, Naito hits a uranage, but Omega counters destino. Rolling kick by Naito, destino is countered into a SICK SIT OUT TOMBSTONE. Omega then hits a double under hook piledriver but Naito survives again! The crowd is losing their shit for Naito, but Omega hits V trigger, one winged angel finally connects and Omega wins. Kenny Omega defeated Tetsuya Naito @ 23:20 via pin [****¾] Kenny Omega and Tetsuya Naito once again made magic in an absolutely incredible match that set an extremely high bar on night two on the G1. They started out with some fun character work, and slowly progressed into a great match as most would have expected. And then they picked up the intensity, and mixed in the callbacks to their previous meetings, adding layers and starting to build a story of two contemporaries trying to overcome each other. And then, then they flipped a switch and on top of alt he great things they were doing, started to deliver some scintillating exchanges and near falls that nearly made me jump out of my seat a few times. I thought going in Naito had a good chance of winning, they made me believe he was overcoming and winning, and most importantly, had the live crowd in the palms of their hands, they were into it and they believed Naito could win. These two guys fucking rule.

G1 BLOCK A

* Togi Makabe: 1-0 (2pts.)
* Adam Page: 1-0 (2pts.)
* Michael Elgin: 1-0 (2pts.)
* Hiroshi Tanahashi: 1-0 (2pts.)
* Jay White: 1-0 (0pts.)
* Kazuchika Okada: 0-1 (2pts.)
* Minoru Suzuki: 0-1 (0pts.)
* EVIL: 0-1 (0pts.)
* YOSHI-HASHI: 0-1 (0pts.)
* Bad Luck Fale: 0-1 (0pts.)

G1 BLOCK B

* Kota Ibushi: 1-0 (2pts.)
* Tomohiro Ishii: 1-0 (2pts.)
* Tama Tonga: 1-0 (2pts.)
* Hirooki Goto: 1-0 (2pts.)
* Kenny Omega: 1-0 (2pts.)
* Tetsuya Naito: 0-1 (0pts.)
* Toru Yano: 0-1 (0pts.)
* Juice Robinson: 0-1 (0pts.)
* SANADA: 0-1 (0pts.)
* Zack Sabre Jr: 0-1 (0pts.)

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

8.0

The final score: review Very Good

The 411

While not quite as consistent as night one, night two of the NJPW G1 Climax 28 was another overall very good to great show. We had the best Yano singles match in forever. Tama Tonga’s win will get him a title shot later on, and the co-main and main event matches are absolutely must-see matches.