Kevin’s NJPW G1 Climax 29 Night Eight Review

NJPW G1 Climax Night Eight
July 24th, 2019 | Hiroshima Sun Plaza in Nishi-Ki, Hiroshima | Attendance: 3,481

I have to commend Gedo for the scheduling of this G1. Spacing out the shows allows us to not get burnt out as viewers and should keep the wrestlers fresh. After a few days off, we’re back with the B Block. Can Jon Moxley remain unbeaten as he takes on Shingo Takagi in one of the most interesting matches on the tour? Will Tetsuya Naito and Tomohiro Ishii have another banger?

B Block: Juice Robinson [4] vs. Toru Yano [4]
Juice enters 2-0 against Yano in G1 history, beating him in 2017 (**¼) and 2018 (***). Points to them for actually calling back to those matches. Yano was up to his usual tricks and tried taping Juice to the guardrail, which he did by his hair in the past. They tried outsmarting each other, from tricking the referee to baiting each other in and using flash rollups. Juice hit the Left Hand of God and Pulp Friction to win in a fun 4:28. That’s what I like about Yano. He gets in, has a fun match, and doesn’t overstay his welcome. I will forever praise the variety he brings to the G1. [**¾]

B Block: Hirooki Goto [2] vs. Taichi [2]
Taichi took the NEVER Openweight Title from Goto at Destruction last year in a bad match (¾*) before Goto won it back at Power Struggle (*¼) in another stinker. Taichi ripped the LA Dojo shirt off a Young Lion at ringside to mock Goto, who has trained there with Katsuyori Shibata over the past few months. It sparked a Goto attack before the bell. Following the quick start, this lacked intensity. They couldn’t keep it up despite brawling around the ring. It just felt like they were going through the motions rather than this being some heated contest. Taichi used Miho Abe as a shield, cheated with the microphone stand, and we got some ref bumps. So it was basically every Taichi outing. He went low and won with the Gedo Clutch in 12:11. It lacked drama and heat before culminating in lackluster fashion featuring shenanigans. [**¼]

B Block: IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley [6] vs. Shingo Takagi [4]
This is what I’m talking about. I’m so pumped for this. They were in the same faction back in Dragon Gate USA. Like the Ishii/Moxley battle, this was intense right at the bell. Within a minute or so, Shingo turned a tope suicida into a DVD on the outside. Moxley trapped Shingo’s leg in the ropes and that gave him a target for the rest of the contest. He even busted out the ring post figure four and I’ve always mentioned that I adore that move. Shingo sold the hell out of the knee. I loved the shot of Shingo falling as he got sent to the corner and Moxley just smiled. When Shingo had the point of his knee drive into a table and then smashed in between two chairs, you could see that he was pretty done. Shingo rallied and came close to winning a few times. Once Moxley applied the Texas Cloverleaf, Shingo had no choice but to tap at the 14:45 mark. I loved this. The knee work was brilliant and really made it so Shingo tapping didn’t make him look weak. It also added a new dimension to Moxley’s game and showed that he’s impossible to peg down. Shingo working as something of a fiery underdog babyface was better than expected. [****¼]

B Block: Jay White [0] vs. Jeff Cobb [2]
The 0-3 Switchblade needs to win here to have any hope of remaining alive. He came in predicting he’d win six straight to sweep the rest of the block. The problem with having Taichi and Jay White in the same block is that their matches have a lot of shenanigans in them. Also, Yano is here but his are different. As Cobb threw White around, we got interference from Gedo who was a constant presence throughout the match. I didn’t get a sense of desperation from White as he didn’t really do anything different despite being winless. There was also zero drama when it came to the outcome. There was no way White would fall to 0-4 considering he faces Naito in the final block match and Gedo always books those to be when the block is ultimately on the line. White won with the Blade Runner in 15:50. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t feel like anything special. [***]

B Block: IWGP Intercontinental Champion Tetsuya Naito [2] vs. NEVER Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii [4]
One of my favorite in-ring rivalries ever, even if quality has dipped a bit in recent years. They’ve wrestled a ton. Naito beat Ishii in the 2014 New Japan Cup (****¼), but Ishii took the NEVER Title from him at New Beginning (****¾) and retained it at Invasion Attack (****½). In 2016, Naito beat Ishii in the New Japan Cup (****¼) and in his only successful IWGP Heavyweight Title defense (****½). In 2017, Ishii beat Naito in the US Title Tournament (****¼) and the G1 (****), but lost to Naito at King of Pro Wrestling (****¼). Naito also won in last year’s G1 (****).

Last time the G1 was in this building, Naito debuted Destino and beat Hiroshi Tanahashi. This felt more like your typical NJPW main event than a lot of their previous encounters in that it got off to a bit of a slow start. As always, once it picked up, these two delivered. The thing is, when this is your tenth match and all of them have been important, we’ve kind of seen everything you’ve got to offer. Tanahashi and Okada suffer from the same problem by this point. They hit each other hard and the action was back and forth. The closing stretch was filled with near falls and counters. Naito avoided the Brainbuster, hit a Michinoku Driver, and it took multiple Destinos to win in 18:58. A very good match but one that suffered from diminishing returns. The NJPW formula gets tiresome when you watch all their shows, especially in the G1, so the final exchanges have less behind them. Their worst match together and somehow it still mostly rocked. [***¾]

A BLOCK	POINTS	B BLOCK	POINTS
KENTA	8 (4-0)	Jon Moxey	8 (4-0)
Kazuchika Okada	8 (4-0)	Juice Robinson	6 (3-1)
EVIL	4 (2-2)	Shingo Takagi	4 (2-2)
Hiroshi Tanahashi	4 (2-2)	Toru Yano	4 (2-2)
Lance Archer	4 (2-2)	Taichi	4 (2-2)
Kota Ibushi	4 (2-2)	Tetsuya Naito	4 (2-2)
Will Ospreay	2 (1-3)	Tomohiro Ishii	4 (2-2)
SANADA	2 (1-3)	Hirooki Goto	2 (1-3)
Zack Sabre Jr.	2 (1-3)	Jay White	2 (1-3)
Bad Luck Fale	2 (1-3)	Jeff Cobb	2 (1-3)

6.5

The final score: review Average

The 411

A solid show but one that didn’t live up to some of the other parts of this G1 so far. Shingo/Moxley ruled and should be watched. Naito/Ishii is also very good but they’ve had plenty of superior matches. I got a kick out of Juice/Yano. White/Cobb was kind of just there, while Goto/Taichi was lame.