Andrew’s G1 Climax 29 Ratings & Analysis: Night 12 B Block

• Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi vs KENTA, Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors: Owens wins via Package Piledriver @8:10 – ** 1/2
• Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr vs Lance Archer & Yoshinobu Kanemaru: ZSJ wins via Prawn Hold @5:00 – ** 3/4
• Kota Ibushi, Toa Henare & Tomoaki Honma vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ren Narita & Shota Umino: Henare wins via Toa Bomb @8:20 – ** 
• EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI vs Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI: YOSHI-HASHI via Butterfly Lock @9:15 – ***
• B Block: Jeff Cobb vs Shingo Takagi: Cobb wins via Tour of the Islands @12:25 – *** 3/4
• B Block: Toru Yano vs Jon Moxley: Yano wins via Count Out @5:10 – ***
• B Block: Juice Robinson vs Tetsuya Naito: Naito wins via Destino @13:45 – *** 1/2
• B Block: Taichi vs Jay White: Jay wins via Blade Runner @15:05 – *** 
• B Block: Tomohiro Ishii vs Hirooki Goto: Goto wins via GTR @18:00 – ****

Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi vs KENTA, Karl Fredericks & Clark Connors – KENTA still gets a mostly dead reaction except one child or woman screaming his name. The LA Dojo Young Lions look great in this match, but not a lot to talk about. Fale and KENTA didn’t touch much, and the whole thing was rather academic.

Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr vs Lance Archer & Yoshinobu Kanemaru –  The inter stable feud is fun. Suzuki and Sabre jumped Kanemaru and Archer during the entrances, and it stayed fast. Brawling on the outside, equal cheating, but Kanemaru fell victim to ZSJ’s clutches while Suzuki and Archer were on the outside.

Kota Ibushi, Toa Henare & Tomoaki Honma vs Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ren Narita & Shota Umino – We get a little bit of glimpse of Ibushi versus Tanahashi, but the others in the match got the bulk of the work. Honma took a beating early and Honma finished off the match. Nothing much aside from building suspense for the impending match, that is make or break for both.

EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI vs Kazuchika Okada, Will Ospreay & YOSHI-HASHI – When Okada gets tagged in, he’s yelling in a goofy way, and then brings back the Scooby Dooby Doo Crossbody. Always nice to see Okada have fun. The match had a few flourishes for the two matches on Saturday, but it’s all a fun dynamic. After the bell rings, Ospreay and EVIL taunt, while Okada and SANADA just rest on the apron next to each other. Okada and SANADA then do the crowd support check, and SANADA does get the bigger pop.

B Block: Jeff Cobb vs Shingo Takagi –  A great power match between these two men. Shingo focused on the Cobb’s knees first, but they just kept trading bombs. The end was mostly written on how Shingo is framed in this tournament, so even if Cobb has been a little underwhelming, he wasn’t going to lose to a Junior. Damn good match to start the block matches with.

B Block: Toru Yano vs Jon Moxley – Yano offered Moxley a DVD and 10,000 yen as an apology for the previous tag match. Moxley kicks it away and the shenanigans ensue. Mox tries to involve a table, Yano throws Shooter in the way to stop Moxley and hits a double low blow. Yano then ties Shota and Moxley’s legs together and runs into the ring, but the 3 Legged Race doesn’t make it in. Mox is stunned and Yano is just a cheeky dickwaffle.

B Block: Juice Robinson vs Tetsuya Naito –  This match started the same way their tag match ended. Both men teasing each other with the other’s signature poses. So it was a painfully slow start with poking fun at one another, but then became alright. A few double clutches and generally off spots, but it was hard hitting and you could see Juice’s disdain towards Naito.

B Block: Taichi vs Jay White – Taichi was the babyface in this match, let that sink in for a second. Gedo and Kanemaru interfered often for their respective person, but it got a little old. Taichi had a lot of crowd support and it was an odd match to watch. It picked up a little towards the end, but it just adds to Jay’s douchey arrogance. Great character match, but the in-ring work was spotty, but fine.

B Block: Tomohiro Ishii vs Hirooki Goto –  These two put on a fantastic match last year, but it signified the beginning of Goto’s disappointing G1 in 2018. Goto finally got a chance to prove that his LA Dojo training has changed something about him. After a slow start, and Ishii looking at moving into sole possession of second place, Goto had something to prove. This match wasn’t quite as explosive as last year (possibly because of the heat), but it was still a great hard hitting old school match.

Overall Score: 7.25/10

Well ain’t parody great? A Block is being dominated by Okada, so much so that half of A Block is eliminated. B Block however, nearly everyone is still alive. Also the tag matches seemed to have a little more flavor even if they weren’t overly memorable, most notably, the Okada tag match.

Moxley did look like a shell of a man after his loss to Yano. So who knows if this starts a downward spiral, or if he’ll bounce back. Moxley is still setting the pace, but the momentum may no longer be with him. B Block definitely became the more interesting block.

B Block Standings:

• Jon Moxley – 5-1 (10 Points)
• Juice Robinson – 3-3 (6 Points)
• Tomohiro Ishii – 3-3 (6 Points)
• Toru Yano – 3-3 (6 Points)
• Tetsuya Naito – 3-3 (6 Points)
• Jeff Cobb – 3-3 (6 Points)
• Hirooki Goto – 3-3 (6 Points)
• Jay White – 3-3 (6 Points)
• Taichi – 2-4 (4 Points) – ELIMINATED
• Shingo Takagi – 2-4 (4 Points) – ELIMINATED