Andrew’s G1 Climax 29 Ratings & Analysis: Night 14 B Block

Does Moxley bounce back from his soul crushing loss to Toru Yano? Will Shingo become the first LIJ member to beat Naito in the G1?

So Jay White is still on his 6 in a row run, but he’s facing Moxley. Jay needs the win to stay alive, and if Moxley loses it keeps the block wide open.

Yano is probably not winning the block, so Ishii has to be a shoe in for that match. Goto is back on an upward trend, so knocking out Cobb is a logical step.

Honestly, there’s only one thing we care about. So let’s see if Moxley rebounds or continues to slide.

Ratings:

• Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs Toa Henare & Yuya Uemura: Shota wins via Fisherman Suplex Hold @6:05 – **
• Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr & Lance Archer vs SANADA, BUSHI & EVIL: Suzuki wins via Gotch Style Piledriver @6:40 – ** ½
• Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi w/ Pieter vs Tomoaki Honma, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi: Owens wins via Package Piledriver @8:15 – ***
• Will Ospreay, Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs KENTA, Clark Connors & Karl Fredricks: YOSHI wins via Butterfly Lock @8:25 – ** ½
• B Block: Toru Yano vs Tomohiro Ishii: Ishii wins via Vertical Drop Brainbuster @9:35 – ** 1/2
• B Block: Taichi w/Miho Abe vs Juice Robinson: Taichi wins via Black Mephisto @12:30 – **
• B Block: Jeff Cobb vs Hirooki Goto: Goto wins via GTR @11:20 – ***
• B Block: Jay White vs Jon Moxley: Jay White wins via Blade Runner @15:15 – *** ¾
• B Block: Tetsuya Naito vs Shingo Takagi: Naito wins via Destino @27:15 – **** ½

Analysis:

Shota Umino & Ren Narita vs Toa Henare & Yuya Uemura – It’s always odd when there’s a tag match without any G1 participants. Henare should be treated as a step above a Young Lion, but hasn’t been able to really string together consistent momentum. So I’m guessing this match was more a proving ground style match for Henare, and he failed. Sure.

Minoru Suzuki, Zack Sabre Jr & Lance Archer vs SANADA, BUSHI & EVIL – Archer is looking to make an example of SANADA in their next match on Wednesday, but it was fun to watch Archer’s resentment of Sabre. Archer refused to tag in Zack unless it was a desperation moment, and his trash talk was epic levels of good and intimidating. As for the match, it was fine; it was really Archer that made this fun. After the match Archer and Sabre exchange a bro fist, so I’m guessing they’re fine now.

Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi w/ Pieter vs Tomoaki Honma, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kota Ibushi – Tanahashi got attacked before the bell, and Fale made sure to put a beating on him most of this match. Ibushi didn’t get a ton of time; the ending was Honma’s time. There was a nice triple Kokeshi from all of the Honma team, but Bullet Club tactics ruined Honma’s attempts to finish the match. So a Package Piledriver later and it’s all over. Chase is probably leading the C Block at this point.

Will Ospreay, Kazuchika Okada & YOSHI-HASHI vs KENTA, Clark Connors & Karl Fredricks – The LA Dojo Young Lions continue to impress. KENTA and Ospreay get very chippy and seem like that should be a good match. As we’ve all learned in these tags, YOSHI has been picking up the majority of tag wins and if you see Young Lions, they eat the pinfall. So…umm…Yahtzee?

B Block: Toru Yano vs Tomohiro Ishii – Well this match was…different? Yano tried his shtick early, Ishii wasn’t having all of it. Yano tries to bait him to the outside, but Ishii stays in the ring. Yano realizes his mistake and has to run back in the ring before getting counted out. After that we got a little more of a wrestling match than we are used to. Yano had a few near falls with wrestling holds and even showed a little fighting spirit before getting murdered.

B Block: Taichi w/Miho Abe vs Juice Robinson – The match never really felt like it got moving correctly. Kanemaru attacked Juice before the bell, then there was action on the outside where Miho even got a slap in. Then when we finally got back in the ring, the whole match was filled with stops and starts. Taichi grabbed the referee multiple times, Kanemaru got involved a few times, the moves were just never able to get a flow. It was a very prototypical “half assed heel tactics” style Taichi match.

B Block: Jeff Cobb vs Hirooki Goto – This was a hard fought match, just very slow to the point of plodding. Cobb for some reason has not been very impressive against the bigger guys in the block. This was a fine match, not bad at all, just nothing close to a highlight match. At least it allows for Goto to remain alive in the block regardless of the Moxley match.

B Block: Jay White vs Jon Moxley – Jay finally did what no one else was able to do in New Japan, and that’s beat Moxley by pinfall. Moxley came out of the gates fast and attacked Jay White before the bell. The match spilled to the outside and Jay was getting handled for the better portion of the first half of the match. Gedo’s involvement helped a lot, moving a table, a brass knuckle shot and general interference help Jay scrape by. Moxley was defiant til the end, but Jay’s Blade Runner has yet to be kicked out of.

B Block: Tetsuya Naito vs Shingo Takagi – Naito pushed Shingo to try and take LIJ from him, he wanted a determined Dragon. The match started off deliberately and then turned into a hell of a battle. Shingo powered through a lot of Naito’s mind games, Gloria and a few Destino variants. As I’ve said a few times, Shingo being a Junior has him slated for a lot of losses, but this match proves that once he moves up, he’s gonna be a force to be reckoned with. An arm ringer style Destino seals the match shortly after the 3 minutes to go call. Great punctuation, and thanks to Jay White’s win, the Block is still wide open.

Overall Score: 7.5/10

With Moxley’s grip on B Block loosening, we get a few more moving pieces. I always appreciate when quick starts sputter out. Because, with all of the angry people complaining about early losses, now get to see how suspense is built in a tournament and can learn to shut the hell up.

Could Moxley still win the block? Of course. But we finally have a good race to the finish. B Block is shaping up nicely, and even though A Block got more interesting with SANADA’s upset, B Block is still the biggest question mark.

B Block Standings:

• Jon Moxley – 5-2 (10 Points)
• Tomohiro Ishii – 4-3 (8 Points)
• Tetsuya Naito – 4-3 (8 Points)
• Hirooki Goto – 4-3 (8 Points)
• Jay White – 4-3 (8 Points)
• Toru Yano – 3-4 (6 Points)
• Juice Robinson – 3-4 (6 Points)
• Jeff Cobb – 3-4 (6 Points) – ELIMINATED
• Taichi – 3-4 (6 Points) – ELIMINATED
• Shingo Takagi – 2-5 (4 Points) – ELIMINATED