Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 34 Night 6 Review

NJPW G1 Climax 34 Night 6

July 28^th, 2024 | Fukuoka Convention Center in Hakata-ku, Fukuoka | Attendance: 1,780

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.

Doing my best to squeeze this in after a long day of work so let’s see how this goes.

B Block: Boltin Oleg [2] vs. El Phantasmo [2]

Despite the big win in his last match, ELP is still struggling with a bout of depression. First time ever match here. The right way to book this is to put Boltin’s power game against the quickness of ELP and that’s just what we got here. Boltin only has a few spots that stand out but he’s hitting them well in this tourney and his size helps him be a bit different. He also threw himself into his bumps, falling over the guardrail when hit by a tope suicida from ELP. There was more life and energy to ELP this time around so it looks like that win over Tsuji could be him turning the corner. He ran into trouble when he opted to try and pick Boltin up and trade shots with him. That’s not a fight he’s going to win though he did manage to hit a Burning Hammer variation. Boltin survived Thunderkiss ’86 and delivered an F5 that sent ELP to the floor outside. ELP beat the countout but still lost when he fell to Kamikaze in 12:17. A good back and forth match that did just what you want from an opener. Entertained without overdoing anything. [***¼]

B Block: Jeff Cobb [2] vs. Yuya Uemura [6]

This is one of those G1 matches where you kind of know the outcome before going in. The undefeated Yuya against a 1-2 Jeff Cobb? Yeah, that’s obvious. This had the vibe of Cobb trying to prove something. He was seemingly annoyed that Yuya led the block and he was out to remind everyone that he swept through his block a few years back. He took joy in toying with Yuya, talking smack and taunting more than he usually does. Of course, that meant Yuya got to fight from beneath and it remains a highlight of the tournament. He’s already so good in that role so facing someone like Cobb when he’s throwing him around is ideal. When Yuya started to really get going and picked up two on a dragon suplex, I knew they were cooking. The closing stretch was pretty great, especially when Tour of the Islands got countered into various pin attempts. Cobb weathered that storm and won with Tour of the Islands after 12:30 anyway but it was fun getting there. One of the better matches of the tournament so far. [***¾]

B Block: HENARE [4] vs. Konosuke Takeshita [4]

Commentary did a good job of hyping this, explaining that HENARE resents Takeshita for the path he took by going through DDT and AEW rather than the typical Dojo route. That meant we got a hard hitting match, which is right up their alley. Takeshita has been the performer of the G1 so far but HENARE is also killing it so this matchup came at the right time. They went out there and threw bombs at each other with huge moves from the start. Takeshita was willing to go “head to head” with HENARE which is a wild call. HENARE popped up from some of Takeshita’s best offense and had answers that were high impact. Takeshita got a one count on a lariat that turned HENARE inside out like he was prime Rikishi. Respect. They really got into it late when they traded shots and HENARE went for the headbutt only to eat a huge forearm instead. When his usual stuff wasn’t enough, Takeshita pulled out a series of suplexes capped by Raging Fire to win in 13:19. Just shy of being great. This felt like a lesser version of the Ishii G1 Special that he became known for, which makes sense since HENARE seems to really want to make that his style. [***¾]

B Block: David Finlay [2] vs. Ren Narita [4]

There was a lot working against this. From the heel vs. heel aspect to the House of Torture BS to Finlay’s lackluster heat segments. Those things mostly reared their ugly heads from a brawl before the bell through the crowd to run-ins from Kanemaru and Gedo. It was clear from the start that this would be that kind of match. On the plus side, we didn’t get the lengthy Finlay heat segment and this didn’t go overly long either. They also didn’t overdo the interference but that doesn’t mean the match was any better for it. This was kind of uninspired which is a shame because pre-House of Torture Ren against a babyface Finlay would’ve been pretty good. A ref bump led to both guys going for their signature weapons with Finlay winning out. He clocked Ren with the shillelagh and added a trio of powerbombs to win in 11:01. That was a match that happened. [**]

B Block: Hirooki Goto [2] vs. Yota Tsuji [2]

Our only non-first time meeting tonight. These two met in the Finals of the New Japan Cup earlier this year (***½). This was laid out like most New Japan main events. It got off to a slow start as they were feeling each other out and a lot of it felt like it didn’t truly matter. They were just gearing up to go hard in the back half. Thankfully, this wasn’t a case of them teasing the time limit or anything like that. That allowed them to pick things up rather quickly and once they did, it was one of those nights where Goto turned back the clock. Granted, he can’t really hit the ****+ range but he gave it his all in a hard hitting, back and forth match here. Yota was in control to start and got a bit cocky, so Goto turned the tables on him and took control. The final few minutes saw things pick up in a great way and Yota bumped like crazy for Goto’s offense. What really shined was the ending as Goto busted out Shouten Kai for the first time in forever, securing the win after 17:37. A hell of a match and one of the best Goto outings in a long time. The booking of Yota though? A hot mess. [***¾]

 

A BLOCK	POINTS	B BLOCK	POINTS
Zack Sabre Jr.	8 (4-0)	Yuya Uemura	6 (3-1)
EVIL	8 (4-0)	Konosuke Takeshita	6 (3-1)
SANADA	4 (2-2)	David Finlay	4 (2-2)
Callum Newman	4 (2-2)	HENARE	4 (2-2)
Gabe Kidd	4 (2-2)	Ren Narita	4 (2-2)
Shota Umino	4 (2-2)	Jeff Cobb	4 (2-2)
Shingo Takagi	4 (2-2)	Hirooki Goto	4 (2-2)
Tetsuya Naito	2 (1-3)	Boltin Oleg	4 (2-2)
Jake Lee	2 (1-3)	El Phantasmo	2 (1-3)
The Great O-Khan	0 (0-4)	Yota Tsuji	2 (1-3)

 

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

A strong show from top to bottom outside of the Lackluster Finlay/Narita outing. Everything else was good though nothing was great. That said, I’ll take that any day, especially after night five.