wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 34 Night 14 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW G1 Climax 34 Night 14
August 10th, 2024 | Xebio Arena Sendai in Sendai, Miyagi | Attendance: 2,631
NOTE: For anyone following all of my reviews, my WrestleMania Series is still ongoing. It’s something I’m doing in my free time though so reviews from 2024 (like this one) take precedence. Also, I’m up to the Manias that are like, 7 hours long so it takes a while.
Took yesterday off to focus on STARDOM but I’m back to cover this pivotal night of the G1 as we’re nearing the end. I came in very skeptical and while we’re nowhere near the level of the G1 when it was at its peak, I have been pleasantly surprised and consider this the best iteration of the tournament in the 2020s.
B Block: Boltin Oleg [4] vs. Konosuke Takeshita [8]
He hasn’t been winning but Boltin has been a fun addition to the G1. Callum Newman was on commentary and it took maybe two minutes for him to bring up Will Ospreay. We get it, dude. Anyway, what we got from this match was just what I was looking for. Boltin is a big beefy boy and Konosuke hits hard, so they played into that. Konosuke rocked him with a forearm and Boltin responded with a belly to belly that sent him outside. That set the tone for the rest of the match which was just them beating each other’s asses and I loved it for that. Boltin looked like a star throwing Konosuke around, taking his best shot, and giving it right back. These are the kind of outings that will only help him grow. Boltin hit Kamikaze late and only got two, further hammering home that he needs a better finisher. They began trading Germans with dudes landing on their heads. Boltin caught a knee strike to block it, hit the F5 and added a second Kamikaze for the upset in 12:07. That delivered everything I wanted and is Boltin’s best match to date. [***¾]
B Block: HENARE [6] vs. Ren Narita [8]
Ren jumped HENARE from behind during his entrance because of course he did. The House of Torture remains awful. I liked the stuff here where it was HENARE kicking Ren’s ass. I used to see Ren as a guy dishing out the punishment so it’s interesting to see him on the other side of things. When it wasn’t HENARE doing that, we got lame cases of Ren using underhanded tactics and doing the same stuff as always. There was one different moment which saw Ren grab hold of the referee until the ref tried to slap him but he ducked and HENARE took the hit instead, nearly leading HENARE to attack on his own. HENARE ended up with a visual pin after a ref bump. That gave Ren the opening to go back to the leg for a bit before using a low blow and Double Cross to win in 13:15: Better than a lot of House of Torture stuff but still not very good. [**¼]
B Block: El Phantasmo [4] vs. Hirooki Goto [8]
Goto has been on fire and is making a push to win his second G1. He has the crowd behind him and is showing that he, unlike a lot of guys his age, still has it. The recent run of Goto seemed like it had a positive effect on the crowd here as they were way behind him. They played into the idea here of Goto’s hard hitting style against ELP’s quickness and it worked well enough. Goto held serve until a plancha turned the tides. I like the idea that Jado is against the idea of ELP doing high risk moves but ELP keeps going to it with mixed results. I wonder where that will lead. They had some back and forth and I popped for ELP hitting his own lariat, showing that he can deliver some power moves as well. They brought out the big moves late like Thunderkiss, Ushigiroshi, and Sudden Death. Goto turned CR2 into a jackknife pin only for ELP to use a crucifix pin that earned him the three count after 13:06. Well, Goto’s basically done after that. It was a fun ride while it lasted and this was a good match. [***¼]
B Block: David Finlay [8] vs. Jeff Cobb [10]
I do like that we’ve had a lot of first time matches in this G1. It’s a case of the company having their roster mostly depleted over the past two or so years but still. This was another in that line and it pitted the Bullet Club against United Empire. It made for an interesting setup because Finlay tries to be the bully but there’s no way he could bully Cobb. He had the same setup against HENARE to decent results. It worked about the same here. They both hit their shit and at no point did it ever threaten to get really good. The closing stretch saw things pick up a bit and I was impressed by some of what Finlay did to a guy of Cobb’s size. Like, it’s a good look to see him hitting a big boy with a powerbomb when Finlay isn’t someone who comes across as a powerhouse himself. Those powerbombs led to Overkill, giving Finlay the win in 11:42. [***]
B Block: Yota Tsuji [8] vs. Yuya Uemura [6]
This is their third match of the year, meeting at Wrestle Kingdom (***) and in a Hair vs. Hair match at New Beginning in Sapporo (***¼). I was hoping that this would be them taking the next step in terms of match quality. Unfortunately, it wasn’t but I think it might be more down to an injury than anything else. They were rocking in the first half or so, which isn’t the norm for New Japan, but it hit a point where Yuya seemed to get hurt on a High Fly Flow attempt. Yuya had to keep grabbing at his arm and it was confirmed after the show that the injury was legitimate. That meant that the hot closing stretch they likely had planned couldn’t happen. It’s almost like Tam Nakano vs. Saya Kamitani in the Grand Prix last year. It was going well until the injury and it was hard to really rate it. This had more of the match happen so I will give it a score but it’s still very unfortunate. Yuya scored a big win with a school boy in 16:15. Yuya wins but is out of the G1 due to the injury. [***]
| A BLOCK | POINTS | B BLOCK | POINTS |
| Zack Sabre Jr. | 12 (6-2) | David Finlay | 10 (5-3) |
| EVIL | 10 (5-3) | Jeff Cobb | 10 (5-3) |
| Tetsuya Naito | 10 (5-3) | Ren Narita | 10 (5-3) |
| The Great-O-Khan | 8 (4-4) | Hirooki Goto | 8 (4-4) |
| Shingo Takagi | 8 (4-4) | Konosuke Takeshita | 8 (4-4) |
| Jake Lee | 8 (4-4) | Yuya Uemura | 8 (4-4) |
| SANADA | 8 (4-4) | Yota Tsuji | 8 (4-4) |
| Gabe Kidd | 6 (3-5) | HENARE | 6 (3-5) |
| Shota Umino | 6 (3-5) | Boltin Oleg | 6 (3-5) |
| Callum Newman | 4 (2-6) | El Phantasmo | 6 (3-5) |
