wrestling / TV Reports
Sambus’ NJPW G1 Climax 34 Finals Review
Image Credit: NJPW
Loading...Folks, we made it! The G1 Climax 34 Finals are finally upon us, and there’s a big fight feel in the air as we work towards our main event of Yota Tsuji vs Zack Sabre Jr. I’m on 3 hours sleep after AEW Collision, so I’m just praying a House of Torture match doesn’t send me to sleep prematurely.
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Venue: Ryogoku Kokugikan
English Commentary: Walker Stewart & Chris Charlton
Ryusuke Taguchi, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan vs Shoma Kato, Tiger Mask & Yuji Nagata
Kato continues his fiery weekend by taking it to Tenzan art the opening bell. Arm drags from Tiger Mask and Taguchi, Tiger hits him with the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, and he comes back with a hip attack. Kojima takes out the guys on the apron, then delivers Mongolian chops to Tiger Mask, and chops in the corner. Tiger Driver delivered to Kojima and in comes Nagata; the combined age in this match must be insane. Kojima and Nagata go at it, Koji Cutter to Nagata. Armbar! Tenzan cuts it off before Nagata can go all white-eye. Kick to the ass of Taguchi, and Kato demands to be tagged in. Flying forearms from Kato, who slaps the heck out of Taguchi and tosses him with a deep armdrag. Boston Crab locked in, Tenzan breaks it after Mongolian chops. Butterfly suplex delivered to Kato, and now Taguchi turns Kato into a Boston Crab of his own. Tiger Mask breaks that up with kicks, Taguchi swats him away with the flying funky weapon. Tenzan and Nagata spill to the floor while Taguchi locks in an Ankle Lock, and Kato has to tap.
Winners: Ryusuke Taguchi, Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan
Time: 8:12
Rating: *** – That was fun! The old guard showing they’ve still got it, while Kato once again earns his stripes, looking pretty solid.
Taichi vs Katsuya Murashima
Murashima immediately takes it to Taichi with forearms, Taichi briefly staggers but comes back with big boots. Flying forearm takes Taichi off his feet. Arm drag blocked, Taichi shoves him to the canvas. Murashima looks for a body slam, Taichi turns the tables and delivers one of his own. Spinning heel kick gets a 2 count. Back body drop gets another 2. Single leg crab applied, driving the knee into the neck of Murashima for good measure, but the young lion makes the ropes. Dropkick to the face of Taichi! Body slam, and he goes for the Boston Crab but Taichi shimmies to the bottom rope before he can lock it in. Shoulder tackle gets a 2 count, schoolboy gets another 2. Inside cradle! 1, 2, no. Taichi with an axe bomber, Murashima kicks out at 2. Kick to the head and a backdrop driver connects, and that’s enough for the 1, 2, 3.
Winner: Taichi
Time: 7:21
Rating: **1/2 – Murashima was fine here, not quite as charismatic as Kato but performed well, especially considering he’s had barely a handful of matches.
TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Robbie Eagles) vs Francesco Akira & Konosuke Takeshita
Our final dose of Takeshita in NJPW, for the time being at least. Nicholls and Takeshita take each other on in a battle of stiff forearms, with Nicholls getting the better of it. Akira comes in against Eagles for a speedy exchange, tijeras from Akira, and some misdirection as Eagles dives to the outside with a tope con hilo to take out an unsuspecting Takeshita! Eagles wears down Akira with kicks in the corner, double knees to the chest and Nicholls takes over with a sliding lariat for 2. Takeshita gets the tag, flying forearm knocks Nicholls down. Takeshita muscles Eagles up and launches him across the ring!
Blue Thunder Bomb attempt is blocked, desperation DDT from Nicholls in response. Both Jrs in, Akira with a springboard plancha to the outside, huge spin kick to the back of the head, crossbody for 2. Akira looks for Deep Fire but it’s countered, Death Valley Dropkick by TMDK, looking good in tandem offense. Akira with a rollup on Eagles for 2. Eagles off the ropes, gets caught with the Blue Thunder. Akira goes for the Fireball knees, misses, TKO from Nicholls and a shining wizard from Eagles gets TMDK the 1, 2, 3.
Winners: Mikey Nicholls & Robbie Eagles
Time: 9:32
Rating: *** – Low key exit for Takeshita, but the Akira/Eagles exchanges were great and I need to see another proper singles match from them soon.
Just Five Guys (DOUKI, SANADA & TAKA Michinoku) vs BULLET CLUB (Taiji Ishimori, Drilla Moloney & Clark Connors)
DOUKI and Ishimori try to end it early, going for their finishers, but both are denied. Drilla takes it to SANADA with a shoulder block, tries a piledriver but SANADA flips out. Tijeras delivered by SANADA followed by the Paradise Lock and the kick to the butt. Michinoku in, eye poke, Connors in to pounce him. Elbow drop from Connors gets 2 and we get some Bullet Club triple teaming. Pump kick from Taka Michinoku creates an opening, but Connors & Moloney knock SANADA and DOUKI off the apron to prevent the tag. Rising knee in the corner from Taka, still can’t make the tag though. Just Facelock and a headscissors applied to both Connors and Moloney! Sweet Shin Music, and now DOUKI dives to take out Ishimori on the outside. Superkick to Ishimori by Michinoku, Ishimori back with a handspring Pele. Michinoku Driver called for, but Ishimori reverses into a Bloody Cross for the 1, 2, 3.
Winners: Bullet Club
Time: 9:01
Rating: **3/4 – These multi-man matches have been fun today, full of hot action. Easy night for SANADA but the others put the work in.
We get an announcement that NJPW is headed back to the UK on October 20th for Royal Quest IV. Nice.
Tomoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto vs BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd & Jake Lee)
Goto and Finlay are the ones to start, picking up where the left off in their G1 match from Night 12. YOSHI-HASHI tags in, Goto arm drags him on top of Finlay, and now Honma in for the three-man beatdown. Northern Irish Curse to YOSHI-HASHI. Jake Lee in for a body slam, cocky cover but YOSHI-HASHI kicks out at 2. And in comes Gabe Kidd who demands YOSHI-HASHI hits him. He obliges, dropkick to the knee, tag to Goto who goes right for the rest of the War Dogs on the apron. Spinning wheel kick and the back suplex gets 2. Kidd and Goto hit stereo lariats and both men go down. Honma and Lee go at it, lariat by Honma gets 2, but he misses the headbutt and Lee hits a suplex for a 2 count of his own.
Back suplex to Honma, YOSHI-HASHI makes the save. Jumping headbutt from Honma! Finlay and YOSHI-HASHI trade blows, backslide, YOSHI-HASHI escapes and counters with a suplex. Lariat train from the CHAOS boys. Headbutt from Honma, Shoto attempt but Lee and Kidd break it up. Ushigoroshi connects on Kidd, GTR on Lee. Into Oblivion by Finlay! And one to YOSHI-HASHI! 1, 2, no. Buckle bomb attempt, YOSHI-HASHI hurracanranas him into the buckles instead. Crucifix bomb connects, 1, 2, 3!
Winners: Tonmoaki Honma, YOSHI-HASHI & Hirooki Goto
Time: 9:36
Rating: *** – YOSHI-HASHI has likely earned himself an IWGP Global Title shot with that pin over Finlay. Good stuff.
El Phantasmo, Shota Umino, Boltin Oleg, Toru Yano & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs HOUSE OF TORTURE (EVIL, Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO & Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
ELP is handed a House of Torture tshirt, having been offered a place among them yesterday. He considers it on the outside while HoT jump the other guys. Umino with a double dropkick to SHO and Kanemaru, and he’s a one man wrecking crew. Dropkick to EVIL, and now Umino wills ELP up to the apron but ELP is still thinking about what to do. Umino goes out to see him, while Yano gets stomped by all 5 HoT competitors. Erm, that’s a dick move, Umino! Double clothesline takes Yano down, SHO makes the cover but gets 2. Manhattan drop to Takahashi allows Yano to tag in Oleg. SHO runs right into the gutwrench, but Kanemaru interferes to break it up, only for Oleg to suplex both guys.
Gutwrench reapplied, gutwrench suplex and Oleg kips up. EVIL holds the legs of Oleg, allowing Takahashi to come in with a big boot, but Oleg comes right back with a dropkick. Tag to the President! Tanahashi and EVIL go at it, flying forearm. Body slam, Tanahashi to the middle rope for the flipping senton, 1, 2, no. The ref gets shoved into Tanahashi, and now things break down. Pimp’s cane to Umino. ELP comes in and throws away the House of Torture t-shirt! ELP gets hit in the back with the belt, and when he turns back around, Tanahashi has been tossed the belt! ELP thinks it was Tanahashi who hit him! Pedigree by Togo, senton to Tanahashi. EVIL pins Tanahashi, and ELP watches it happen.
Winners: House of Torture
Time: 8:43
Rating: **1/4 – In-ring action was fine, but the focus here was on ELP’s decision which had its charm. Although there was something kinda hilarious about ELP just staring at a tshirt for 8 minutes.
Post-match, House of Torture give ELP a chair and tell him to hit Tanahashi. Jado comes in, ELP almost hits him, he’s so torn. EVIL keeps shouting at him, but eventually ELP throws the chair away, and him and Jado take it to HoT. Narita grabs the reinforced pushup bar and hits ELP with it, who has been held back by the House of Torture stablemates. EVIL grabs the mic and says he never wanted ELP in House of Torture anyway.
Los Ingobernables De Japon (Tetsuya Naito, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi & BUSHI) vs United Empire (HENARE, Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman)
The LIJ/United Empire war continues, and both teams go at it as the bell rings, leaving Bushi and Cobb in the ring. Crossbody attempt is caught by Cobb, but Bushi with a tijeras to escape. Shingo in, still limping from the semi-finals, and Cobb shoulder tackles both Shingo and Bushi. Arm drag from Shingo, shoulder blocks connect but Cobb is having none of it. Body slam and a standing moonsault, and Cobb does the tranquilo pose. Newman in, runs the ropes, big boot to Shingo, Pele misses, and a Northern lariat from Shingo takes Newman down. Shingo follows with a suplex and tags Takahashi in. Shotgun dropkick, Naito in for the stalling neckbreaker which gets him a 2. Nice springboard dropkick from Newman, who has impressed this whole tournament. O-Khan tags in, Judo toss, head and arm vice submission is broken up by Bushi and Takahashi. O-Khan with Mongolian chops to Naito and he sits on the back of the neck.
Sunset flip from Bushi into the Naito dropkick, as Naito begins to soften the neck of O-Khan with elbow shots. Esparanza blocked, but he nails the enziguri. Claw to Naito, blocked and he looks for the Destino, but O-Khan counters with a uranage. Tag to Takahashi, tag to HENARE. Dropkick by Hiromu, but HENARE is unphased. Kick to the chest from the NEVER Openweight champ. Tijeras by Hiromu, seated dropkick, and HENARE comes right back with the Berserker Bomb. HENARE locks in the Full Nelson, here comes Bushi to break it up though. Newman with an armdrag kick to the head, nicely done. Cobb with the Spin Cycle on Shingo, Cobb gets sent to the floor and Bushi Rocket connects. Superkick to HENARE by Takahashi, but HENARE with another kick to the chest. Native Knee! Hiromu grabs hold of the leg and rolls HENARE into a pinning combination for the upset 1, 2, 3.
Winners: Los Ingobernables De Japon
Time: 11:39
Rating: *** – More setup for the future as Hiromu Takahashi gets a pinfall victory over the NEVER Openweight champion, and HENARE did not seem best pleased by that. Pretty even match with everyone getting some moments of shine.
Masahiro Chono comes to ringside, accompanied by the biggest heel in New Japan – “Music has been altered due to music rights.” Chono welcomes us to the finals, and we get a brief hype video, highlighting both men’s journey to the Finals.
[G1 Climax 34 Finals] Yota Tsuji vs Zack Sabre Jr
And it all comes down to this! Sabre Jr grounds Tsuji to work on the leg, Tsuji works out of it and gets back to a vertical base. Cravate hold from ZSJ, Tsuji sends him into the ropes and hits a shoulder block to knock him down. Tsuji delivers a big open hand slap to the chest, which takes Zack off his feet. Sabre Jr blocks a suplex attempt with an arm wringer. Joint manipulation ensues, and he stomps on the oustretched arm. Zack continues the focus on the arm, twisting the wrist, hammerlock applied with the feet. Guillotine hammerlock, body scissors applied, but Tsuji counters with a suplex to break it.
Tilt-a-whirl slam, Tsuji follows Sabre Jr to the floor with a tope suicida. ZSJ tries to lariat Tsuji back in the ring, but Tsuji sneaks in a body blow. Running splash gets 2, and Tsuji locks in the body scissors until Sabre Jr rolls into the ropes to break it. ZSJ fires up but walks right into a gutbuster. Sabre Jr back up with the abdominal stretch, and the neck screw. Another abdominal stretch, transitions into the Octopus, but Tsuji powers up and spinebusters Sabre Jr to break it. 15 minutes gone and these two are very even so far. Lariat from Tsuji, and now they both deliver lariats at the same time. A final lariat from Tsuji takes Zack down for a 1 count, and he walks into a Falcon Arrow for 2.
Knees delivered to the head in the corner by Tsuji, and he lifts ZSJ to the top rope, heading up there with him, but Zack slips to the apron and wrings the arm over the top rope. Sabre Jr back to the top rope, diving stomp to the arm! Kicks to the arm, jumps into a cross armbreaker! Tsuji reaches the ropes with his legs to break it before Zack can do much damage with it. Zack lifts Tsuji up, thinking Zack Driver perhaps, but Tsuji puts the brakes on. Kicks to the chest from Sabre Jr, but its caught and Tsuji delivers a rising knee. Backbreaker/flatliner/curb stomp combo connects and Tsuji takes a brief breather. Marlowe Crash misses, victory roll with the European clutch gets 2 for ZSJ. German suplex, but Tsuji comes right back with the Gene Blaster! Both men are down.
ZSJ is the first to his feet, and he equally waits to Tsuji to get up too. Forearms from Tsuji, European uppercuts from Sabre Jr. ZSJ gets the uppercut flurry, but Seventeen Crosses connects for Tsuji for a 2 count. Stomp to the face, back to the corner for the Marlowe Crash, it connects! 1, 2, no! Gene Blaster but Zack jumps and grabs the arm, rolling into a Fujiwara armbar!! He pulls back on the other arm too, then rolls into a triangle submission, but Tsuji gets him up and powerbombs him. Rising Knee, 1, 2, ZSJ kicks out. Slap by Zack, headbutt from Tsuji in response. Tsuji gets him on his shoulders and climbs the buckles…Seventeen Crosses off the ropes! 1, 2, NO. Tsuji with the overhook, looking for the Deadbolt again like last night but ZSJ with the Pele to the arm. Lariat! Zack Driver from Tsuji! 1, 2, NO.
ZSJ avoids a Gene Blaster, European clutch! 1, 2, no. Figure four jackknife gets 2 as well. Zack Driver countered with a stunner. And he counters the Gene Blaster with a triangle submission, rolls into another hammerlock and armbreaker. ZSJ traps both arms now, the legs as well! Tsuji is wrapped up like a pretzel, absolutely nowhere to go, and TSUJI SUBMITS!! THE ROAR FROM THE CROWD!!
Winner of the G1 Climax 34: Zack Sabre Jr
Time: 31:04
Rating: ****1/4 – My God, he did it! Zack Sabre Jr is going to the Tokyo Dome as your official G1 winner, and boy did he do it in style. That was a fantastic finish, and all that arm work throughout the match paid off tremendously for Zack, taking that one opening needed to lock Tsuji down. Such a good visual, and seriously the roar from the crowd showed that this was the right move – people want ZSJ in this position.
Post-match, Zack takes the mic and screams ‘I FUCKIN DID IT!’ He says January 4th is a long way away, and it would be pretty good to have a title match here in Ryogoku. King of Pro Wrestling in October, Zack wants to call his shot and challenge for the IWGP Championship then instead. Wow, OK. Either this is because they need to get the title off Naito before January because he is in no shape to make it there, or ZSJ is already being f’d over. With Royal Quest IV towards the end of October, Zack could be returning to the UK as IWGP World Champion, so maybe he is indeed winning the big one?
Zack Sabre Jr takes the G1 trophy and celebrates among the crowd with it, that’s awesome. And that’s it for the 2024 G1 Climax. Thanks for joining us!
