wrestling / TV Reports
Pantoja’s NJPW G1 Climax 34 Night 8 Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...NJPW G1 Climax 34 Night 8
July 31st, 2024 | KDDI Ishin Hall in Yamaguchi, Japan | Attendance: 1,021
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.
Alright, so night 7 was a mixed bag with some very skippable stuff and some of the better matches of the tournament. I feel like that’s kind of what we’re likely to get going forward. The one you know will deliver will do just that and the guys you expect to be lackluster will be lackluster. It’s nice to know there are a few days off after this since I have STARDOM shows to cover (that’ll hopefully be available soon)
Lastly, the 8/3 and 8/4 reviews will likely be a bit late. I’m going to SummerSlam and spending the entire day out.
B Block: Boltin Oleg [4] vs. Yota Tsuji [2]
All five matches tonight are first time meetings. I liked Boltin coming out by running Yota over. Power is his game and he was out to overpower someone else known for that kind of offense. That set the tone for a match that no nonsense, good, hard hitting stuff. Outside of the House of Torture, that’s been a theme of this G1 and it’s working. Yota hit him in the midsection to stop his momentum a few times and kept going to the Boston Crab. Love when they bust out Young Lion spots. Boltin kept doing his best to overpower Yota, especially in the crab, and when he did, Yota responded with a Curb Stomp. Boltin got one more burst but Yota survived the Kamikaze and won with the Spear in 10:12. A simple yet effective start with a lot of energy. [***]
B Block: HENARE [4] vs. Yuya Uemura [6]
There was a clear recipe for success here. HENARE is good at playing the aggressive bully and Yuya has excelled as the underdog. As long as they did that, this would work and yes, they did that. HENARE kept sending back any bits of Yuya offense with chops, strikes, kicks, and more. Gabe Kidd on commentary was a boost here as he was going wild when the two men started trading strikes. HENARE had the upper hand, yet you just can’t help but get behind Yuya and the fire he brings to any and all of his offense. I really liked when Yuya would go for Tanahashi moves that were the opposite of HENARE’s style. Like forget trading shots, he just went up top for High Fly Flow. Gabe did question him for doing it because he did try too many Tanahashi moves and I’m intrigued if that’ll be a story going forward. Both men picked up close calls late with things like the Rampage and a Dragon Suplex. HENARE put him down with Streets of Rage after 15:33. That was really good, bordering on great. Both guys have been among the top performers in this G1. [***¾]
B Block: El Phantasmo [4] vs. Jeff Cobb [4]
ELP has done pretty well in a few matches where he’s put his aerial skills against a powerhouse and that was the setup here. He came in with the depressed thing again and used it to lull Cobb into a rollup near fall. Imagine if that would’ve worked. Unfortunately for him, that momentum didn’t last too long as Cobb was able to start throwing him around including a stalling superplex, which is always an impressive spot. ELP managed to reverse course when he countered Tour of the Island, setting off a string of offense for him including a tornado DDT and a series of diving attacks. At one point, Cobb shouted for him to stop being sad about his friends. Honestly, if I lost Haku’s kids, I’d consider that a W in the ring. ELP made the mistake of trying to battle forearms with Cobb and when he attempted to go back to the skies, Cobb caught a springboard into Tour of the Islands to win in 11:13. This is kind of where ELP lives in this tournament. Good matches but not great ones. [***¼]
B Block: Hirooki Goto [4] vs. Ren Narita [4]
I’ve been vocal about how Gedo ruined Ren Narita’s career by putting him in House of Torture, much like he did to SHO. It’s not just about matches riddled with shenanigans and interference though. It’s the fact that both guys have gone away from their exciting matches to work a boring, generic heel style that sucks. You can be an antagonist and still be good but they’re allergic to that idea. So this was another match where Ren did a lot of dull stuff and Goto wasn’t bringing his A game like he’s done a couple of times in recent memory so the end result was painfully mediocre at best. I don’t have it in me to review this in full again because you know what you get with the House of Torture. Narita used a low blow and his finisher to win in 12:17. [**]
B Block: David Finlay [4] vs. Konosuke Takeshita [6]
Konosuke Takeshita should have a company pushing him the way New Japan is pushing David Finlay. No offense to David but I was way more excited about Gabe staring down Konosuke before the bell than anything that happened after it rang. There was a good level of intensity at the start here and Finlay took things outside where he gained a bit of an upper hand. He got too cocky though and a celebratory taunt to Gabe Kidd allowed Konosuke to get going and pile a bunch of chairs on him before hitting a Swanton Bomb. They started trading stuff in the ring and picking up near falls. Finlay got some on a powerbomb and Oblivion but when Konosuke got in his own powerbomb, Gedo distracted the referee. Classic shenanigans. Finlay took that opening to use the shillelagh, though that still wasn’t enough. He survived the Blue Thunder Bomb and delivered Overkill to take the win after 18:23. That was some good stuff though it never really teased being great. [***½]
| A BLOCK | POINTS | B BLOCK | POINTS |
| EVIL | 10 (5-0) | David Finlay | 6 (3-2) |
| Zack Sabre Jr. | 8 (4-1) | Konosuke Takeshita | 6 (3-2) |
| Gabe Kidd | 6 (3-2) | HENARE | 6 (3-2) |
| Shota Umino | 6 (3-2) | Ren Narita | 6 (3-2) |
| Shingo Takagi | 4 (2-3) | Jeff Cobb | 6 (3-2) |
| Tetsuya Naito | 4 (2-3) | Yuya Uemura | 6 (3-2) |
| SANADA | 4 (2-3) | Hirooki Goto | 4 (2-3) |
| Callum Newman | 4 (2-3) | Yota Tsuji | 4 (2-3) |
| Jake Lee | 2 (1-4) | Boltin Oleg | 4 (2-3) |
| The Great O-Khan | 2 (1-4) | El Phantasmo | 4 (2-3) |
