Welcome to the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium as it hosts Night 10 of G1 action. It’s time for the fifth B Block show and it once again looks to be a big one. Tonight, sees Toru Yano try to score an upset on Hirooki Goto, Taichi taking on Jeff Cobb, Tomohiro Ishii and Juice Robinson putting on a pure slugfest, Shingo Takagi battling Jay White and the big one, Tetsuya Naito vs John Moxley. The card looks stacked so let’s stop hyping it up and delve into the action.
Ren Narita defeated Yuya Uemura via Bridging Belly to Belly Suplex
Chase Owens, Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Tomoaki Honma, Kota Ibushi & Toa Henare // Pimp Juice to Honma
Lance Archer, Zack Sabre Jr, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Shota Umino, YOSHI-HASHI, Will Ospreay & Kazuchika Okada // Deep Impact to Umino
EVIL, SANADA & BUSHI defeated Karl Fredericks, KENTA & Hiroshi Tanahashi // MX to Fredericks
B Block Match: Hirooki Goto vs Toru Yano
One minute and 42 seconds. That was the time it took for Goto to beat Yano. Yano tried to be respectful but was secretly just building to a spot where he could roll up Goto with his t-shirt. Goto kicked out of that and several other roll ups. After Yano tried the Low Blow, Goto caught his leg and transitioned it into a Goto Style Roll up to with the match. It was fast and not exactly furious but damn was it funny. Yano is a cheating SOB with his team mates as well as the enemy and it’s hilarious. This match continues the trend of Goto and Yano having ridiculously short G1 matches. The overall record for them now is 2-1 to Goto.
B Block Match: Juice Robinson vs Tomohiro Ishii
Jon Moxley has broken Juice Robinson. This match proved that more than ever as Juice was excessively aggressively, disrespectful and desperate to follow in Moxley’s footsteps by beating Ishii. Because of this, we got one of the biggest slugfests in the G1 so far. Both men went hell for leather on the strikes, pasting each other with headbutts, chops and forearms until either Juice or Ishii dropped. When the damage should have been at its worst the two would get up like nothing happened and kept going. The no selling of offence and clear fighting spirit show kept the drama pumping as both men seemed invincible. The finishers and signature offence of both men were reversed so often that it felt like the match could have lasted the full-time limit. As it stands it went nearly 18 minutes and took a physical toll on both. Ishii was able to win with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster but he’ll certainly be feeling this fight. It’ll be interesting to see how Juice takes this loss and if we see his aggression and desperation build further. He’s a man on the edge,
B Block Match: Taichi vs Jeff Cobb
Many people will remember that earlier in the year, Taichi took the NEVER title from Jeff Cobb at Wrestling Dontaku. Now in the G1, Jeff Cobb avenged that loss. Interestingly at the start of this match, Taichi was genuinely sportsmanlike, shaking Cobb’s hand with no shenanigans. However, that soon stopped once he tried to urge Cobb to shake Miho Abe’s hand and then attacked from behind. Taichi then introduced Cobb to the English Commentary table and a tripod.
After that, it was another mix of striking and grappling as Taichi used all the kicks and strikes that have worked for him in the past to try and overcome the power of Cobb. There were kicks, strikes, reversals, Suplexes and more as these two put on a 12-minute powerhouse match that saw Cobb pick up his second win in the tournament. He won with the Tour of the Islands after hitting a vicious Piledriver and surviving more of Taichi’s deadly kicks. It was another proving match for both men as they managed to show in a concise manner, why they belong in the tournament. it won’t be the most memorable but it was enjoyable for what it was. The one question I’m left with though, is why was Kanemaru there if he had no intention of interfering?
B Block Match: Jay White vs Shingo Takagi
Goddamn, maybe the Guy Fawkes look Jay White seems to be going for is finally paying off as this match was a firework. It was explosive and full of bright spots. From the get-go it was a battle of one-upmanship as both men went for the other with everything they had. It took some stalling and some Gedo but eventually White came out surviving NoShigami, Pumping Bombers and A Made in Japan to finish the match with the Blade Runner. This match had everything you could want and will certainly be a stand-out from the tournament. Shingo is proving to hold the same qualities as Ishii in that he can have an amazing match with anyone. This was a nearly twenty-minute epic of tension, counter work, explosive strikes and White being an ultimate dick.
B Block Match: Jon Moxley vs Tetsuya Naito
This may be one of the best pairings in the G1. Both men are loose cannons with a penchant for being violent. Naito and Moxley went to war. After making Moxley wait forever as he undressed, Naito spent the first two to three minutes of the match rolling in and out of the ring to try and bait his opponent. However, as people have learned, you should not piss off Jon Moxley as he battled Naito on the outside and threw him through a railing. From there it was a mix of giant spots, strikes and taunts as Mox and Naito had to prove who was better and who was crazier. It had a big fight feel and some big fight moves, including an incredibly rough landing of the Death Rider, Moxley kicking out of the Destino and Naito spiking himself during a top rope Hurricanrana. This closed out a super strong show with a bang. It wasn’t quite the long-lasting monster match some may have wanted but it didn’t unintentionally waste any time once it got started. This match has cemented Moxley as the king of the B Block as has gone 5-0 to reach ten points.
This show gave us Goto besting Yano at his own game, the continuation of Jay White’s redemption arc and we got to see what happens when two crazy people are given a match together. It was another fun showing for all involved and the field is still exceptionally competitive as everyone needs to work to try and topple Moxley’s 10-point reign. With there being 4-6 between most people in the block, anyone could still feasibly take it. For now, let’s just hope they keep delivering.
Block Standings
Jon Moxley- 10 (5-0-0)
Tomohiro Ishii- 6 (3-2-0)
Juice Robinson- 6 (3-2-0)
Hirooki Goto- 4 (2-3-0)
Jeff Cobb- 4 (2-3-0)
Jay White- 4 (2-3-0)
Tetsuya Naito- 4 (2-3-0)
Shingo Takagi- 4 (2-3-0)
Taichi- 4 (2-3-0)
Toru Yano- 4 (2-3-0)
All images courtesy of njpw1972.com
