Csonka’s NJPW G1 28 Undercard Thoughts (Days 4-7)

Welcome back to column time with Larry. Today’s column is all about the 2018 NJPW G1 tournament, and more specifically, the prelims from the events on days 4 through 7. I haven’t had the chance to do regular reviews of the prelim matches, because honestly I don’t have the time to do them for every show, due to my schedule. But the prelims are offering some interesting pairings and story elements, and I don’t want to ignore them, so I plan to get to them in batches, like I will do today. I hope that you enjoy, and thanks for following along with my G1 28 coverage this year…

– Night One Review
– Night Two Review
– Night Three Review
– Csonka’s NJPW G1 28 Undercard Thoughts (Days 1-3)
– Night Four Review
– Night Five Review
– Night Six Review
– Night Seven Review
– Csonka: Early Title Match Implications From The NJPW G1 28

DAY FOUR [6.1]

* Jay White & Yoh defeated Michael Elgin & Ren Narita [***]: This was a good tag to open the show, with Yoh and Narita carrying the load, while White & Elgin interacted well enough to set up their singles match. This had a good and fun pacing, and the key here was White tried to steal Yoh’s thunder as he was picking up the win, only for Elgin to foil him. White has been a spectacular asshole in these undercard matches, lining up with his mission to take over and cause chaos within CHAOS, the win over Okada only amplified that.

* Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado defeated YOSHI-HASHI & SHO [**½]: We get the usual sneak attack as Suzuki is particularly pissed off due to his 0-2 tournament start. HASHI put up a good fight and showed good fire, but this was all about rehabbing Suzuki. The match was perfectly solid as Suzuki easily took out Sho with the sleeper/Gotch combo platter; it’s exactly what he needed.

* EVIL & BUSHI defeated Togi Makabe & Toa Henare [**½]: This was typical LIJ fare, with the pre-match attack, floor brawling and a solid energy. Henare continues to work really hard in the under cards, delivering good performances, but he’s just a guy right now. This was another short and solid match, nothing special, but EVIL picked up a good submission win over the directionless Henare (who I still feel may be Firing Squad bound) while BUSHI held off Makabe.

* Bad Luck Fale & Tanga Loa defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay [**]: This was an overall ok match, but while the Firing Squad picking up another win makes sense, they are doing very little for me in terms of in ring action. Finlay was busting his ass as usual, and they did some really nice set up for Fale vs. Tanahashi. Loa picked up another undercard win, which he really needs, because with hi not in the tournament, he’s been relegated to ringside/run in bitch boy.

* Hangman Page & Chase Owens defeated Kazuchika Okada & Gedo [***]:A After a drop off from the opener, this was a good match to close out the prelims. Page has been really consistent and has slid into things very well. He’s done well in the past for NJPW, but his even more comfortable now, which is great to see. He and Tanahashi had really good interactions here to set up their tournament match, while Owens got to shine in the end, putting Gedo away with the package piledriver. Page has been a joy to watch in the prelims and the tournament, his stock continues to rise.

DAY FIVE [7.2]

* Zack Sabre Jr. & TAKA Michinoku defeated Toa Henare & Shota Umino [***]: The pairing of Zack Sabre Jr. & TAKA Michinoku continues to be a ton of fun, I love their shtick, and they play off of each other well. They took a rather easy win here in a good and fun match, Henare looked to be on a roll, but made the mistake of bringing in Umino, which led to ZSJ working submission, hitting the Zack Driver, and then tapping poor Umino out. This was short, fun, and to the point with Zack largely dominating, as he should have. Good stuff.

* Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Toru Yano & Gedo [***]: Gedo replaced Jado, who is injured once again. I don’t think that Jado is good at all, but I hate to see him racking up injuries. The story here was Yano being conflicted over being “fair play grappling Yano” vs. “sublime master thief Yano.” That leads us to a great mix of comedy & actual good wrestling as Yano continues to be a complete blast to watch this year in the G1. Ibushi and Yano took each other out ahead of their tournament match, allowing Yujiro to pick up a needed win over Gedo. Good stuff.

* Tetsuya Naito & SANADA defeated Juice Robinson & David Finlay [***]: This was another good match, as Juice Robinson & David Finlay continue to be a tremendously fun team, and one I’d love to see get a run in the tag division eventually. They have a great chemistry and babyface fire, and can work with anyone. The main story here was Naito attacking the broken hand of Juice, which would be a big part of their match. I love when Naito gives no fucks and just attacks, and appears as if he cares when he usually tries to be too cool for school. Finlay & SANADA had good interactions and brought the athleticism to the match to augment the story of Juice & Naito. SANADA tapped Finlay for the win in another good match; this undercard has been good and fun so far.

* Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) vs. Kenny Omega & Chase Owens [***]: We’re back to the Bullet Club Civil War in a match to set up Tonga & Omega, and this was better than that match. Tama Tonga looked really good here, working hard and delivering tons of gun stuns before Loa again picked up another win over Owens. Kenny Omega & Chase Owens continue to be a fun undercard team when they work together and the Guerrillas of Destiny bring it when in there with fun teams. Good stuff again here as the action was good, they set up Omega vs. Tama, and continued the Bullet Club Civil War angle.

* Tomohiro Ishii & Sho defeated Hirooki Goto & YOH [***½]: The final match in the night five prelims was the best prelim match so far, setting up Ishii vs. Goto, which was fucking awesome. It also featured Sho & Yoh against each other once again, which I still feel may be teasing the possible split. This was a very good, sprint style match, with tremendously fun interactions between Goto & Ishii as well as Sho & Yoh. Ishii eventually ended Yoh’s night with the brainbuster, giving him momentum ahead of his match with Goto, and that momentum and confidence led to a huge win for him.

DAY SIX [5.2]

* YOSHI-HASHI & Sho defeated Michael Elgin & Ren Narita [**]: This was an ok opener, which was all about hyping up HASHI vs. Elgin on night 7, which I found to be a very good match and the best on a weak night 7 event. Sho continues to look way more experienced that he really is; calm, cool, collected and his confidence is growing, he’s going to be such a star. Speaking of Sho, he picked up a win here over Narita to make up for other losses he’s taking. The build for HASHI vs. Elgin was only ok, thankfully, they had a very good tournament match.

* Bad Luck Fale & Tanga Loa defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (EVIL & BUSHI) [*½]: This was not very good and honestly, not much of an actual match. The official tried to play by the rules, and Firing Squad seemed to think that there is a conspiracy against them. Well golly, I wonder fucking why? We got tons of floor brawling, BUSHI renewing his past/brief rivalry with Fale, and in the end, Loa picking up ANOTHER undercard win. He’s picked up a lot of those, and is oddly enough the most strongly booked Firing Squad member so far. While not good, it was refreshing to have a Firing Squad match with no bullshit.

* Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado defeated Jay White & Yoh [**½]: This was a solid outing, setting up Suzuki vs. White. And with that being in mind, Suzuki kept throwing Desperado in his way to allow White to attack, while White was more than fine with tossing Yoh to Suzuki. That perfectly fits White’s actions all tour long, when he’s not trying to lure Yoh into playing dirty, he’s more than fine with sacrificing him so that he can avoid damage and escape; it’s really well done. You fought valiantly, but in the end, ate the Gotch piledriver as White watched on, again, refusing to help his “stable mate.” Jay White is a tremendous asshole.

* Hangman Page & Chase Owens defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay [***]: Thank the lord, finally a good match on this set of prelims. Page and Tanahashi did some air guitar related shenanigans, which they revisited in their tournament match. Finlay was all fired up and that led to he and Owens doing the heavy lifting here. They worked an enjoyable stretch until we got the final Page/Tanahashi interactions, which were good. In the end, Page ran wild, hit the buckshot lariat and rite of passage to pick up the big win. I cannot stress enough how well Page has been doing on this tour. If you’ve been doubting him, make time for and check out all of his work on the tour.

* Togi Makabe & Toa Henare defeated Kazuchika Okada & Gedo [**½]: This was a solid match, with the story being whether or not Okada was “really back” after his first pin fall win in over 40-days. We never really got the answer, as we got flashes like we have all tournament long, but it was just brief flashes. Gedo largely outsmarted Henare, and was rolling along until Makabe leveled him and finished him with the king Kong knee drop, giving him the momentum. It was fine, and I appreciate the character work from Okada, while Henare continues to put in quality performances.

DAY SEVEN [6.0]

* The Guerrillas of Destiny defeated Toa Henare & Shota Umino [**]: The Guerrillas brutalized young Unimo after jumping their opponents at the bell. Umino took a rather big ass kicking, which is his job as a young lion, but did get some shine down the stretch until Loa put him away with the Tongan driver, continuing his winning ways. How on Earth is Loa the strongest booked Firing Squad on this whole tour? It’s interesting, but rather baffling at the same time.

* Toru Yano & Gedo defeated Hirooki Goto & YOH [**]: Gedo looked to work his veteran heel antics early against Yoh, which was a thread through out the design of the match. Yano broke down from being a polite grappling lad, and resorted to sublime thievery. The Yano/Goto build was short, but solid, and after it broke down, Gedo put Yoh away to take the win in an ok, but clunky match. It wasn’t nearly as smooth as one would think.

* Tomohiro Ishii & Sho defeated Zack Sabre Jr & Taka Michinoku [**½]: This was all about building to Ishii vs. Sabre, who have had some great matches in the past, and I am looking forward to their G1 meeting. While they had some good interactions, this was mainly Sho vs. Taka, with Sho doing well throughout, until Taka would cut him off with his veteran bag of tricks. Ishii & Sabre took each other out down the stretch, and the youngster overcame the devious veteran and tapped him out with an arm bar. Sho is very, very good.

* Juice Robinson & David Finlay defeated Kenny Omega & Chase Owens [***]: Juice was still selling the hand big time here, which he has done all tour extremely well. Omega was a very nice lad here, feeling guilty any time hw attacked the hand of Juice, which should play into their upcoming match well as I can see Juice starting to run wild on the champion until Omega eventually takes the shortcut, and starts working a subtle heel to take control. With his hand injured, Juice had to dig deep and alter his gameplan, as pulp friction is too hard to hit due to his hand. Juice ended up wining with the gut buster, which I like as it makes it at least a somewhat believable alternate finish to go along with the story of the injured hand.

* Tetsuya Naito & SANADA defeated Kota Ibushi & Yujiro Takahashi [**¾]: This was pretty good, but like on the main card, everyone felt and looked tired following a four-day stretch of shows. SANADA & Ibushi had a bit more energy than the other two, but it was largely fun for what it was. It ended up in a battle of No Limit, as Naito and Yujiro worked the home stretch. Naito ended up finishing things with a Victory roll for the win. Solid stuff.

THE VERDICT [6.1]

While day five was a good and strong set of prelims, the best so far, the overall collection wasn’t quite as good as the first, coming off rather average overall. The good news is that while this set of prelims didn’t provide anything must-see wrestling wise, it continued its job of setting up the tournament matches, gave guys momentum, solidified alliances, continued the new structure of Bullet Club. Loa is oddly the strongest booked member of the stable, the Guerrillas are winning, Adam Page is continuing his great 2018 and feeling at home, while Sho continues to show while most think he will be a future star for the company; Jay White is also a spectacular asshole. If you have the time, catch the day 5 prelims, it was a good and fun set of matches.

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”