The 29th G1 Climax is in full swing with the first night of B Block action. This will mark the G1 debuts of Jon Moxley, Taichi, Shingo Takagi, and Jeff Cobb.
As usual, the first half of the night will be tag matches involving wrestlers from A Block who will battle on the next show in tournament matches. The latter half of the show will be tournament matches.
Los Ingobernables De Japon (EVIL, SANADA, & BUSHI) b. Kota Ibushi, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay, & Yuya Uemera when Bushi pined Uemera with a Lungblower – The heels got the heat on Ospreay before Uemera tagged in. Uemera fared well for a time, but then got triple teamed. In the ensuing multi-man brawl, Bushi hit a Lungblower on Uemera to pin him.
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens of Bullet Club b. Lance Archer & Yoshinobu Kanemaru when Owens pinned Kanemaru with a Package Piledriver – As expected, the big men were the focal point, but were usually not the legal men. They battled on the floor leaving Owens and Kanemaru in the ring. Ospreay kicked out of a spinning DDT and managed to get the pin with a Oackage Pilediver.
KENTA, Karl Fredericks, & Clark Connors b. Hiroshi Tanahashi. Shota Umino, & Ren Narita when Fredericks submitted Narita with a Half Crab – Connors and Fredericks are from the LA Dojo. I heard Lance Storm talk about Clark Connors, because he was one of his students. The foreigners clearly played the heel role. Eventually, they got the heat on Umino, which led to Tanahashi getting the tag. He and Kenta went fought to a double down. Narita and Fredericks got the double tag. Narita put Fredericks in an Elevated Crab, but that got broken up by Connors. Fredericks rebounded and locked Narita in a Half Crab. Narita was forced to submit in a surprising finish.
Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. of Suzuki-Gun b. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI of CHAOS when Sabre submitted YOSHI-HASHI with a cross armbreaker – Sabre and Okada began, but it didn’t take long for the match to spill out to the floor. Byt the time the match got back in the ring, the heels managed to cut off Hashi. Okada got the hot tag and gain control of the match. Hashi tagged back in and took it to Sabre. Suzuki brawled with Okada on the outside while Sabre recovered and locked Hashi in am armbreaker.
Now onto the B Block tournament matches.
Juice Robinson p. Shingo Takagi with Pulp Friction – Fortunately for Juice, he has no injuries this year. Shingo got the upper hand in the opening minutes until Juice countered a dive into a spear. Juice hit a Superplex/Jackhammer combo for a two count. He went for the win with Pulp Friction. Takagi countered and hit a sliding lariat for a double down. Takagi hit a half and half suplex. Juice popped right back up and charged. The two men hit each other’s arms with a clothesline. Again Takagi escaped a Pulp Friction and hit a Noshigami. Juice kicked out of a Burning Hammer for a near fall. This time, it was Juice’s turn to escape. He dodged Last Of The Dragon and finally hit Pulp Friction to get the win. A bit of a surprise, but an excellent match anyway
Jon Moxley p. Taichi with a Deathrider – Both men in this match were making their G1 debuts. Taichi attacked on the outside before the bell and pummeled him on the floor. Moxley beat the 20 count and rolled in. Takagi tied to keep control, but Moxley made his comeback and knocked Taichi to the floor. he followed up with a dive and set up a table. Taichi tried to escape, but Moxley still put him through the table with a uranage. Back in the ring, Taichi knocked Moxley into the referee, causing a ref bump. Taichi got a chair and tried to use it. Moxley blocked and smacked Taichi instead. When the referee came to, Taichi went for a Gedo Clutch. Moxley kicked out and fired back with a Deathrider for the win.
Toru Yano p. Tetsuya Naito with a roll-up – The story of this match was that Naito was matching Yano with the dirty tactics and mind games. Since Naito opted to wrestle with his shirt on, Yano insisted that he wear a shirt too. Yano managed to pull referee Red Shoes’s shirt over his head. With Red Shoes blinded, Yano hit a low blow and a spear. Yano then pulled Naito’s shirt over his head and rolled him up for the surprise first match win.
Tomohiro Ishii p. Jeff Cobb with a Brainbuster – The match did not disappoint. Both men charged into each other like bulls. neither man gained any sustained momentum at the beginning. Cobb finally got the upper hand after an extended exchanging of strikes. Ishii made a comeback, and the match escalated into bigger power and brawling moves. Both men also tried no-selling offense, but in the end, Ishii came out victorious with a Brainbuster.
Hirooki Goto p. Jay White with a GTR – The story going into this match was Goto going through intense training at the LA Dojo to avenge this loss. He looked in great shape, and probably a few pounds leaner. White did his usual stalling and taunting antics. At about 15 minutes, White turned his attention to Red Shoes, who was trying to get White to end the match rather than continue the beating. Goto rose up like a phoenix and began his comeback. Goto hit a reverse GTR, then went for the standard GTR. The two escaped and attempted each other’s finishers. When Goto finally hit the GTR, Gedo got in the ring with brass knucks. Goto quickly chased Gedo out of the ring at the 20 minute mark and hit an Ushigoroshi for a near fall. Before White could respond, Goto hit a second GTR and managed to get the pin and two points.
After the match, Goto closed the show with a promo, saying it had been a while, but he’s glad to be back and glad to have won. He said the G stands for Goto.
STANDINGS
2 Hirooki Goto
2 Jeff Cobb
2 Jon Moxley
2 Juice Robinson
2 Toru Yano
0 Jay White
0 Shingo Takagi
0 Taichi
0 Tetsuya Naito
0 Tomohiro Ishii
