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Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 32 Night 14 Review

August 9, 2022 | Posted by Kevin Pantoja
NJPW G1 Climax 32 Night Fourteen - Tetsuya Naito vs. KENTA Image Credit: NJPW
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Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 32 Night 14 Review  

NJPW G1 Climax 32 Night 14

August 9th, 2022 | Hiroshima Sun Plaza in Nishi-ku, Hiroshima | Attendance: N/A

The Osaka trip was a step up but now we’re here. I have to say, New Japan is kidding with this lineup, right? Like, this is a really bad show on paper. Let’s hope they can surprise me.

As a side note, when this G1 wraps up, I will be doing a big ranking of every G1 I’ve ever seen. This will now make 10 total events, and since I’ve called this the worst one I’ve seen, I want to rank them. Hell, I might get wild and rank every G1 match I’ve ever seen because I’m a madman like that.

D Block: YOSHI-HASHI [4] vs. Yujiro Takahashi [4]

Fourth meeting between them with prior ones at the New Japan Cup 2015 (**), G1 26 (***¼), and last year’s New Japan Cup (**½). PIETER the star of the show tonight. Coming into this, HASHI is off to his best ever start in the G1 and Yujiro is a surprise to even have four points. On paper, this makes sense as a matchup because HASHI is the underdog who has to overcome Yujiro and his shenanigans. In execution, it doesn’t work nearly as well because they aren’t very interesting when working together. Yujiro went to use chairs but his main source of help came from SHO. He ran down to distract the referee and ended up hitting HASHI with a chair after they flubbed the spot in the first place. Not good at all. HASHI survived that and Pimp Juice but when he tried Karma, he got sent into the exposed turnbuckle. Another distraction set up Yujiro hitting HASHI with the cane and winning with Big Juice in 13:12. It’s the year 2022 and we’re still getting overdone interference and Yujiro with six points in a shortened G1 field. Seriously, this company is in DESPERATE need of a new booker. [**]

B Block: Chase Owens [4] vs. SANADA [4]

Speaking of needing a new booker, it’s telling that Chase Owens has become more interesting than SANADA over the past few years. SANADA won their only previous match, coming in last year’s G1 (***). These two had some solid exchanges because that’s just what they are. Solid wrestlers. I rarely get anything next level from them and when I do, it’s often with a great opponent like a Tomohiro Ishii. Chase was pretty cocky early on but the Paradise Lock calmed him down a bit. One thing I did appreciate here was that it didn’t follow the expected heel heat into the babyface comeback trope that so many matches do. This was booked as something between guys who are relatively evenly matched. Chase kept trying to slow the pace while SANADA used athleticism to do things like backflip out of a sleeper and try the moonsault out of Skull End. Of course, that missed because it remains one of the dumbest things in all of wrestling. The finish was rather interesting as Chase seemed to make the ropes while trapped in Skull End but the ref called for the bell. It went 12:45 and was about on par with last year’s outing. [***]

B Block: Taichi [4] vs. Tama Tonga [4]

They split their history with both matches coming last year in a ladder match at Wrestling Dontaku (DUD) and the G1 (**½). That terrible ladder match was contested over the stupid iron glove gimmick Iizuka used to use all the time. So of course, they brought it out here, with Taichi having it in a pouch. It went away for a bit but Taichi did bring the glove back out after ripping off his pants but he was conflicted over using it. The fans didn’t want him to. Tama was next to get infatuated with the glove leading to Jado trying to convince him not to use it. Both guys had close calls to wins with Gun Stun attempts and Gedo Clutch pins. The ending saw both guys counter big blows from the other until the Gun Stun ended this after 16:53. It dragged a bit and booking it around the glove gimmick didn’t do it any favors. This is just a pairing that hasn’t really clicked for me. [**½]

A Block: JONAH [6] vs. Lance Archer [4]

No singles match history here. Obviously, JONAH is coming off of the massive win over Okada and has yet to be pinned or submitted, with his only loss coming via countout. For the first time, JONAH was outmatched in size as though he’s big, he’s not nearly as tall as Archer. That played into things early as Archer kind of toyed with him and offered up a free first shot. That set the tone for a match where two guys were just wailing on each other. We got a bunch of elbow strikes, boots, and more from both men. An impressive spot came when Archer hit the Black Hole Slam for two. They went into bigger move attempts like JONAH headbutting out of the Claw and Archer crotching him up top on an apparent moonsault attempt. Archer did his best to avoid the Torpedo and they took the fight to the outside. I liked Bad Dude Tito stepping into harm’s way to save his buddy on a cannonball spot. JONAH clotheslined Archer back in from the apron but got knocked outside and couldn’t beat the count, taking his second countout loss of the tourney in 12:43. A good hoss match that would’ve ranked higher with a better finish. [***¼]

C Block: KENTA [2] vs. Tetsuya Naito [4]

Obviously, there’s history, especially after Naito won the double gold gimmick in 2020. Alas, their only two matches came that year with Naito winning at The New Beginning in Osaka (***½) and KENTA taking the G1 outing (***). These two played mind games with each other, going for rope breaks and seemingly being out to annoy one another. KENTA took the upper hand with underhanded tactics like using the bell hammer as a weapon and removing the turnbuckle pad. From there, KENTA remained in control with Naito only getting short burst hope spots like a neckbreaker and a swinging DDT. Once Naito made his actual rally, he brought out more notable moves like Gloria. As this neared the 20 minute mark we got Naito running into the Busaiku Knee and managing to counter the GTS into a modified Destino. KENTA nearly won by sending Naito into the exposed corner and hitting another Busaiku Knee. Ultimately, Naito hit Destino again to win at the 23:30 mark. This was a very good main event that I liked about as well as their title match two years ago. I thought KENTA’s heat segment was decent but things got going once Naito made the legitimate late comeback. [***½]

6.0
The final score: review Average
The 411
Ah, that Osaka stuff was just a blip. We’re back to the lackluster G1 we’ve seen for 90% of the 2022 G1 Climax. The main event peaked at very good, the semi-main event was good, and everything else kind of just existed. This tournament embodies New Japan these days. It’s not awful but there’s no reason to go out of your way to see it.
legend

article topics :

G1 Climax 32, NJPW, Kevin Pantoja