Csonka’s NJPW G1 Climax 28 Night 11 Review

Csonka’s NJPW G1 Climax 28 Night 11 Review

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– A Block Match: Bad Luck Fale defeated Togi Makabe @ 8:00 via pin [DUD]
– A Block Match: Jay White defeated Adam Page @ 17:02 via pin [**½]
– A Block Match: Minoru Suzuki defeated EVIL @ 12:25 via pin [**¾]
– A Block Match: Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated YOSHI-HASHI @ 12:44 via pin [***]
– A Block Match: Kazuchika Okada defeated Michael Elgin @ 20:55 via pin [***½]

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– Follow all of my reviews at this link.

– 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
– Csonka’s NJPW G1 28 Undercard Thoughts (Days 4-7)
– Night Eight Review
– Night Nine Review
– Night Ten Review
– Csonka’s NJPW G1 28 Undercard Thoughts (Days 8-10)

Jado to miss remainder of G1 CLIMAX 28 tour with left foot injury; changes made to cards https://t.co/pDGo7Yb4BS #g128 #njpw

— njpw_global (@njpwglobal) July 30, 2018

Bad Luck Fale vs. Togi Makabe: They do the rams colliding spots to begin, Loa pulls Makabe to he floor and that leads to Fale attacking; play it again Sam. They brawl into the crowd, we get a countout tease on Makabe but he beats the count. We’ve time warped into a 2002 Bully Ray match, which is oddly similar to a 2018 Bully Ray match; they both are boring. Fale slowly lays in strikes, Makabe fires up, lays in rights and looks for a suplex, but Fale fights out and the trade clotheslines until Makabe takes him down. Fale hits a shoulder tackle and corner splash, and the running splash gets 2. Makabe fights off the grenade, hits a lariat and takes down Fale and Loa pulls out the ref and attacks Makabe. Makabe fights back, heads up top, but Loa distracts him allowing Fale to slam him down. Fale lays out Makabe with the chain and covers for the win. Bad Luck Fale defeated Togi Makabe @ 8:00 via pin [DUD] Rinse and repeat; fuck right off. The biggest issue is the inconsistency here. New Japan officials have no credibility unless they actively fight for it like Red Shoes did. Why is Tanga Loa still allowed to accompany Fale & Tonga? Plus it’s just bad.

Jay White vs. Adam Page: They work to the ropes and White powders to the floor. Page chases and White uses a young lion and tosses him at Page, and then attacks. Page fights back and hits a suicide dive as they brawl at ringside. White avoids the apron shooting star press and hits the snap Saito on the floor. White then slams him off of the apron and looks for a countout win. Back in and White lays the boots to Page. The back breaker follows for 2. Back to the floor and White slams Page to the barricade and apron. Back in and White lays in chops. Page finally scores with a desperation lariat, and then follows with chops. Page trips him up and the standing shooting star press gets 2. The pump handle bridging slam follows for 2. White counters the buckshot lariat and hits a German. Rolling suplexes follow, White works the back and teases a suplex to the floor. Page to the apron, and White follows with chops. Page finally hits the buckshot lariat, and takes White to the floor. To the apron and White hits complete shot, looks for a German, Page fights him off as they head up top. Page fights, lays in rights, and knocks White to the floor and heads back up top and hits the big moonsault. Back in and Page hits the corner dropkick, heads up top and White shoves the ref into the ropes and then slams Page to the apron. White gets chairs and then takes Page to the apron and hits him with a chair. Back in and White covers for 2. The twister suplex follows for 2. White gets another chair, brings it in and shoves the ref away. They argue and White rips off Page’s boot and Page rolls him up for 2. Superkick by Page, looks for rite of passage, White counters out but Page spits at him and breaks up blade runner. Page superkicks the chair into White’s face, argues with the ref, low blow by White. Blade runner finishes it. Jay White defeated Adam Page @ 17:02 via pin [**½] This was a decidedly flat and average match, that broke down into the usual bullshit that is unfortunately plaguing this tournament. They worked hard, and White had a good gameplan, but the overbooking really killed it for me and added no real drama to the match. I was hoping for more.

EVIL vs. Minoru Suzuki: EVIL beat Suzuki in last year’s G1. They brawl before the bell and spill to the floor. They brawl back in and Suzuki locks on the hanging arm bar in the ropes, and then takes EVIL to the floor and beats on him with a chair and a barricade. Suzuki now chokes him out with a cable, and slams him to a barricade once again. Suzuki back in and EVIL breaks the count. Suzuki lays the boots to him and follows with knee strikes. The cover gets 2. EVIL lays in chops, but Suzuki laughs at him. EVIL connects with the kick and follows with a corner clothesline. The broncobuster follows and the cover gets 2. Suzuki fires back, delivering heavy strikes and a PK for 2. The arm bar follows, but EVIL makes the ropes. Back to the floor and Suzuki attacks with chair shots, continuing to attack the arm. EVIL fights back, tossing a chair into Suzuki’s face and then does the baseball swing spot. Back in and Suzuki is pissed as they trade strikes. They light each other up and EVIL takes control. Suzuki fires up and they trade again until EVIL hits a big rolling elbow. Suzuki counters darkness falls, gets the sleeper, and looks for the Gotch, but goes back to the sleeper, and the Gotch follows and EVIL is done. Minoru Suzuki defeated EVIL @ 12:25 via pin [**¾] This was a pretty good hard-hitting match with nice fire at times from both, but all of the floor brawling and chair shit felt really lethargic and lazy.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI: Tanahashi beat HASHI in last year’s G1. They lock up, working into some back and forth, and Tanahashi grounds things. HASHI fights to his feet and makes the ropes. HASHI follows with kicks and strikes, Tanahashi attacks the knee and follows with a high cross. The slam follows, but the elbow drop misses. Tanahashi hits another slam and misses another elbow drop. HASHI hits the draping dropkick and now lays the boots to Tanahashi. The back elbow follows for 2. HASHI grounds things, but Tanahashi makes the ropes. HASHI hits the suplex and covers for 2. They trade strikes and chops, but Tanahashi fires up and hits a running forearm. He follows with strikes, hits the slam and the senton connects and the cover gets 2. HASHI counters sling blade and hits a sloppy blockbuster. Tanahashi fights back and hits the dragon screw; HASHI fights off the cloverleaf and hits an enziguri. The back stabber and powerbomb gets 2. HASHI up top and the swanton connects for 2. Tanahashi fights off karma and hits twist and shout. HASHI avoids sling blade and follows with a superkick and lariat for 2. The fisherman’s buster connects for 2. HASHI looks for karma, Tanahashi fights him off and hits sling blade for 2. Tanahashi hits the straightjacket German and that gets 2. Tanahashi up top and high fly flow misses. He starts to favor his knee now, HASHI hits a running meteora and that gets 2. Tanahashi counters the butter fly lock into a cradle for the win. Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated YOSHI-HASHI @ 12:44 via pin [***] This was an overall good match, with a better sense of urgency overall, and some solid drama in terms of making the crowd think that HASHI could win.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Michael Elgin: Okada is 2-0 in G1 action against Elgin. They lock up and work to the ropes. They trade shoulder tackles, Elgin shakes him off, they tease finishers, and Elgin powers off a small package and hits a suplex. We get some floor brawling and Elgin then hits a suicide dive. Back in and Okada counters the slingshot splash, back to the floor and Okada hits a DDT. He whips Elgin to the barricade and follows with a big boot and draping DDT. Okada rolls back in and looks for a countout. Elgin beats the count, and fires back with strikes and chops. Okada cuts that off and hits the sliding dropkick. He now grounds the action, working the neck. Elgin powers up, they trade strikes and chops and Okada then runs into a powerslam. Elgin hits clotheslines and back elbows, and then a backbreaker. The enziguri follows, and Elgin now hits a suplex and a northern lights suplex for 2. He takes Okada up top, follows and looks for a superplex, but Okada knocks him to the mat and Okada files, Elgin catches him and carries him back up top. Okada slips out, and Elgin jumps down into a flapjack. The DDT follows and Okada covers for 2. Elgin fights off the neck breaker, and hits a German and another. Okada answers with uppercuts, but Elgin hits him with another German. Elgin heads up top and the big splash misses. Elgin fires back with chops and a bicycle kick, and then takes Okada up top. More chops and an enziguri follows. Elgin follows him up and hits the superplex for 2. Elgin looks for a buckle bomb and hits it. Okada counters the Elgin bomb and hits a dropkick. They work into counters, half and half suplex by Elgin but he runs into a dropkick. Rainmaker countered, lariat by Elgin. Another follows and that gets a good near fall. Elgin picks up Okada, buckle bomb connects, but Okada gets a cradle to counter the Elgin bomb for 2. Elgin hits another lariat, takes Okada up top, and follows. He looks for splash mountain, Okada counters out with an arm drag and Elgin lays in strikes and elbows, rocking Okada. Okada counters the Elgin bomb but runs into a sitout powerbomb, Elgin hits splash mountain and that gets a good near fall. Elgin takes things back up top, looks for burning hammer, but Okada counters out and they work into counters and Okada hits the tombstone and rainmaker. Another rainmaker finishes it. Kazuchika Okada defeated Michael Elgin @ 20:55 via pin [***½] Following a slow start, they picked up things nicely and delivered a very good and fun match with a great homestretch. But in terms of a main event match it felt lacking.

G1 BLOCK A

* Hiroshi Tanahashi: 5-1 (10pts.)
* Jay White: 4-2 (8pts.)
* Minoru Suzuki: 4-2 (8pts.)
* EVIL: 4-2 (8pts.)
* Kazuchika Okada: 4-2 (8pts.)
* Michael Elgin: 2-4 (4pts.)
* Bad Luck Fale: 3-3 (6pts.)
~~Eliminated~~
* Togi Makabe: 2-4 (4pts.)
* YOSHI-HASHI: 1-5 (2pts.)
* Adam Page: 1-5 (2pts.)

G1 BLOCK B

* Kenny Omega: 5-0 (10pts.)
* Tetsuya Naito: 4-1 (8pts.)
* SANADA: 3-2 (6pts.)
* Zack Sabre Jr: 3-2 (6pts.)
* Kota Ibushi: 3-2 (6pts.)
* Tomohiro Ishii: 2-3 (4pts.)
* Hirooki Goto: 2-3 (4pts.)
* Tama Tonga: 1-4 (2pts.)
* Juice Robinson: 1-4 (2pts.)
* Toru Yano: 1-4 (2pts.)

– End Scene.

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5.8

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Night 11 of the NJPW G1 Climax 28was another overall lackluster effort from A block. We had another bullshit Firing Squad match and overall, the matches really lacked fire when things should be picking up and the standings get closer.