G-1 CLIMAX 30 – Day 9 from Takamatsu, Kagawa
By: Mike Murray
After a break over the weekend, NJPW returns and today’s G1 comes from the Takamatsu City General Gymnasium in Kagawa Japan.
Mike’s Match Ratings out of 5
Gabriel Kidd vs Yuya Uemura – 2.75*
Shingo Takagi vs Yujiro Takahashi – 3*
Jeff Cobb vs Jay White – 3.25*
Kazuchika Okada vs Minoru Suzuki – 4*
Tomohiro Ishii vs TAICHI – 3.75*
Kota Ibushi vs Will Ospreay – 3.75*
YOUNG LIONS SHOWCASE – GABRIEL KIDD VS YUYA UEMURA
This was a bit of a disappointment after the last few Young Lions matches. A Greco Roman knuckle lock sees Kidd force Uemura down into a bridge. The crowd is noticeably quiet but a forearm exchange seems to wake them up. Kidd attempts a butterfly suplex but can’t hit it. Uemura gets a Boston crab but Kidd drags himself to the ropes to get a break. Uemura hits an underhook overhead suplex and applies a Lion Tamer (Young Lion Tamer?) for the submission.
WINNER: Yuya Uemura – Lion Tamer in 7:38 minutes
This match was missing something compared to the last several Young Lion showcase matches especially in comparison to the excellent Young Lion match from B Block night 4 between Tsuji and Uemura. Definitely skippable.
MATCH 1 – SHINGO TAKAGI (1-3) VS YUJIRO TAKAHASHI (0-4)
Shortly after the bell rings, both guys are outside the ring and Yujiro gets the advantage and runs Takagi into the barricades. On the apron, Yujiro escapes from a fireman’s carry by pulling Takagi’s hair. He shoves Takagi’s head into the ring post and hits a reverse DDT. Later on Yujiro hits an Olympic Slam and a Miami Shine for a two count. Takagi hits a sliding lariat for a two count and gets Yujiro up for a Last of the Dragon but Yujiro bites his thumb and gets out of it. Yujiro shoves the ref free aside and grabs his pimp cane that is in the corner. Takagi lariats the cane out of Yujiro’s hands. Yujiro tries for what I assume was supposed to be an eye rake but it looked terrible. Yujiro tries for a powerbomb that Takagi escapes from. Yujiro signals for a lariat that Takagi catches and turns it into Bloodfall.
The finishing sequence of the match sees Takagi setting up for a Pumping Bomber that Yujiro blocks with a kick, but Takagi hits it on his second attempt. Takagi gets Yujiro up in a fireman’s carry and hits Last of the Dragon for the three-count.
WINNER: Shingo Takagi – Last of the Dragon in 13:39 minutes
If Shingo Takagi is a 1970 Dodge Challenger: power, speed, sounds awesome, looks awesome, the pinnacle of muscle cars – Yujiro Takahashi is a 1989 Toyota Camry, no offense to any Camry owners out there. Shingo showed all kinds of fire in this match, Yujiro… not so much. Skippable unless you are a big Shingo fan.
MATCH 2 – JEFF COBB (1-3) VS JAY WHITE (3-1)
Gedo is out with White. White immediately rolls out of the ring as soon as the bell rings. Back in the ring, he tries for a single leg on Cobb who gets the advantage on the ground with some mat wrestling using his size. White takes a breather outside and Cobb refuses to follow him out. White keeps circling the ring until the referee gets to a count of 19 and White gets back in. Cob hits a standing dropkick. Cobb tries to pull White up by his ankles but Gedo holds White down and Cobb drags both of them into the middle of the ring. Cobb grabs both men and in the words of Gorilla Monsoon the Bullet Club members have a “meeting of the minds”.
White and Gedo are outside the ring and Cobb rolls out to bring White back in, as he rolls White back into the ring, Gedo grabs Cobb’s leg before he can get back into the ring. White sees his chance and stomps on Cobb’s back as Gedo holds onto his leg outside the ring. White comes out and runs Cobb into the barricades. Back in the ring, he continues his attack on Cobb’s back with knee strikes. Cobb hits a Samoan Drop and a waist lock belly to belly overhead release suplex.
White changes his attack focus and switches from Cobb’s back to his left knee with a chop block and stomps. Cobb, driven down to his knees, is still is able to Irish Whip White into the corner. With White laying on the mat, Cobb grabs him by his ankles and hits a slingshot Athletic-Plex. Cobb hits a standing moonsault for a two count. Cobb looks to hit Tour of the Islands but White escapes and sets up for Bladerunner that Cobb escapes from and delivers a German suplex to White. White grabs the referee and distracts him as Gedo comes into the ring and distracts Cobb. White hits a sleeper suplex White sets up for Bladerunner again but Cobb escapes and hits spinning Athletic-Plex. Cobb grabs Gedo by the beard and lifts him over his head and press slams Gedo into White. Cobb grabs White and hits Tour of the Islands for the three-count.
WINNER: Jeff Cobb – Tour of the Islands in 12:24 minutes
The match was fine. Gedo’s interference was kept to a minimum. No low blows and no referee bump. Although he is introduced as King of the Suplex, Cobb has a lot of suplex variations that he has not shown in NJPW. Hopefully, we will see him unleash a wider variety as the tournament continues.
MATCH 3- KAZUCHIKA OKADA (2-2) VS MINORU SUZUKI (3-1)
Both guys look to grab a hold at the start of the match and Suzuki gets a hammerlock. He drives OKada down to the mat and gets a one-count. Okada grabs a leg and starts to work on Suzuki’s ankle until Suzuki sees an opening and gets Okada’s back. This first several minutes of grappling was great.
The first striking exchange really got the crowd going. Okada throws Suzuki into the corner and looks to hit a jumping back elbow that Suzuki avoids. Suzuki gets an arm triangle in the ropes and pulls Okada outside. Suzuki throws Okada into the barricades. Suzuki grabs a hammerlock and wraps Okada’s arm around the barricade with it. At this point, Suzuki focuses his attack on Okada’s arm with several kicks to Okada’s right arm. Suzuki gets a wrist lock and rings ups Okada’s arm. Suzuki is all over Okada and gets a double wrist lock. Okada has to reach the ropes with his feet to get a rope break. Okada tries for a neck breaker but can’t get all of it because of the damage Suzuki has inflicted on his arm.
Suzuki hits Okada with a forearm that fires up Okada. We get a forearm exchange but there isn’t much behind Okada’s strikes. Two big strikes by Suzuki drops Okada to his knees. Suzuki gets a sleeper and tries to transition to the Gotch-style piledriver but Okada gets an Air Raid Crash instead.
With both guys standing in the ring, we get anther forearm exchange. Suzuki puts both hands behind his back and dares Okada to bing it. Suzuki takes the shots then just slaps Okada. Okada misses with a lariat but hits a dropkick. Headbutts by Suzuki and Okada grabs him and hits a tombstone piledriver. Okada applies the Money Clip but Suzuki escapes and gets a cross arm breaker and Okada must reach the ropes with his feet to break the hold. Suzuki stomps at Okada’s injured arm. Okada throws a forearm strike but hurts his arm even more. Okada gets a backslide, grabs Suzuki’s wrist, and tries for a lariat but Suzuki kicks his arm before Okada can hit it. Okada hits the second lariat and still holding onto Suzuki’s wrist he tries for another lariat but Suzuki dodges it and gets a rear-naked choke with his legs hooked in. Okada looks like he is about to pass out until Suzuki tries to stand him up, Okada throws Suzuki off and tries for the Money Clip again but Suzuki gets another sleeper, Suzuki transitions out of the sleeper and tries for the Gotch-style piledriver but Okada backdrops out and Suzuki lands on his back. Okada collapses down on Suzuki’s chest, knees on shoulders, and hooks Suzuki’s leg and gets a three count.
WINNER: Kazuchika Okada – leg hook pin in 14:10 minutes
This was a very good match. Suzuki’s focus on Okada’s right arm at the beginning match and therefore limiting Okada’s offense throughout the remainder of the match was fantastic. The finish was unique as Okada just squeaked out the win and did not use any of his finishers to get the pinfall. After the bell, Suzuki was livid and trashed some of the barricades as he left.
MATCH 4 – TOMOHIRO ISHII (1-3) VS TAICHI (3-1)
Early on we get the first striking exchange as TAICHI uses his kicks and Ishii chops at TAICHI’s chest. Outside the ring, TAICHI throws Ishii into the barricades and grabs the timekeeper’s hammer. TAICHI shoves Red Shoes aside and hits Ishii with the hammer and uses it to choke him. red Shoes issues a warning… TAICHI slams Ishii into the ring post and rolls him back into the ring. TAICHI continues his assault by choking Ishii and putting his knee into Ishii’s throat.
This was one of TAICHI’s better matches in this year’s G1 and the last few minutes leading into the finishing sequence was excellent. TAICHI hits a big Last Ride and stacks Ishii up for a two count. A kick by Taichi misses and Ishii misses with a lariat. Ishii hits a German suplex but TAICHI pops right back up and no-sells it.
TAICHI tries for a kick that Ishii catches and Ishii headbutts TAICHI and drops him. Ishii fires himself up by head butting the corner padding. Ishii hits a lariat but TAICHI kicks out at one. TAICHI hits a lariat then both guys hit a double lariat. Saito suplex by TAICHI gets a two count. The crowd is really into it and clapping really loudly as both guys are down.
TAICHI signals for a lariat but Ishii blocks it with his arm. TAICHI spin kicks and hits Ishii in the midsection. Ishii blocks a kick attempt to the head and hits a forearm, but TAICHI hits a jumping head kick. Ishii bounces into the ropes, fires himself up, and charges at TAICHi who grabs him and tries for Black Memphisto. Ishii escapes and tries for a powerbomb but TAICHI gets out of the gut wrench. TAICHI tries for a head kick but Ishii blocks that by hitting TAICHI’s leg with a lariat. Ishii hits an enzuigiri. Ishii follows that up with a sliding lariat and hooks the leg to get a two-count. Ishii grabs TAICHI by the head and neck and gets him up and hits a Brainbuster for the three-count.
WINNER: Tomohiro Ishii – Brainbuster in 18:42 minutes
Something about Ishii pulls out very good matches from TAICHI. It happened last year as they were feuding over the NEVER Openweight Championship in the spring and it happened again today.
MATCH 5 – KOTA IBUSHI (3-1) VS WILL OSPREAY (3-1)
When the block matches were announced most people would have been looking forward to this match especially after their fantastic G1 match last year. Going into today’s match Ibushi and Ospreay are tied 1-1 in single matches. Some matches exceed expectations, others fall short.
Lots of spots but no real emotion in this match. What started out as Ospreay trying more of his heelish antics and posing for the crowd never really seemed to click and flow. Both guys just seemed flat and the match seemed to just spin its wheels until the finish which came abruptly out go nowhere.
The finish came as Ospreay gets Ibushi up for Stormbreaker and Ibushi escapes out the back. Ibushi grabs Ospreay’s wrists and tries for Kamigoye but misses. Ospreay goes for an OsCutter off the second rope but Ibushi hits a jumping knee strike mid-air. Abut grabs Ospreay’s wrists and hits Kamigoye for the three-count.
WINNER: Kota Ibushi – Kamigoye in 15:57 minutes
This was the shortest main event in this year’s G1 so far but that is not the reason why this match seemed so underwhelming. It seems like Ospreay’s arrogance is getting turned up but his character just isn’t there yet. Any high flyer usually has a healthy portion of arrogance and they play to the crowd. It is a fine line to walk. Audiences love the aerial moves and it’s usually why heels stay away from them. And with the audience’s reactions being restricted it will be interesting to see how Ospreay develops his new character going forward. After all that, I want to say that the finishing sequence was excellent though. I do like that a finisher can end a match out of nowhere.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Although I would say this was the weakest A Block show so far, all the matches were decent but if you are only looking for the cream of the crop – nothing on today’s show was a must-see.
