SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
NJPW G1 CLIMAX 34: NIGHT 14 REPORT
AUGUST 10, 2024
SENDAI, MIYAGI, JAPAN AT XEBIO ARENA SENDAI
AIRED LIVE ON NJPW WORLD
REPORT BY MAURICIO POMARES, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR
Commentator: Walker Stewart
(1) HIROSHI TANAHASHI & TORU YANO & KATSUYA MURASHIMA vs. UNITED EMPIRE (The Great-O-Khan & Callum Newman & Francesco Akira)
Akira trapped Murashima in a deep Boston Crab to get the submission win.
WINNERS: United Empire at 6:33
(Pomares’s Analysis: Just a quick way to put over United Empire, ahead of Great-O-Khan’s huge main event match on the 12th.)
(2) LOS INGOBERNABLES DE JAPÓN (Tetsuya Naito & Shingo Takagi & Bushi) vs. BULLET CLUB (Jake Lee & Gabe Kidd & Gedo)
Lee knocked Takagi off the apron with the Facebreak shot and forced Bushi to tap out with a front facelock.
WINNERS: Bullet Club at 8:44
(Pomares’s Analysis: Final build for what might be a winner-advances match on the final night of A Block between Takagi and Lee. Additionally, it’s odd to see Gedo actually win one of these undercard matches.)
(3) SHOTA UMINO & TOMOAKI HONMA vs. HOUSE OF TORTURE (Evil & Dick Togo)
Honma crushed Togo with the Kokeshi, setting him up for Umino’s Death Rider and the win.
WINNERS: Shota Umino & Tomoaki Honma at 8:01
(Pomares’s Analysis: The focus was on building Umino vs. Evil which will hopefully have more intrigue to it than their clash at the New Beginning in Sapporo earlier this year.)
– Callum Newman joined the English commentary table.
(4) BOLTIN OLEG (4) vs. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA (8) – B Block Match
Takeshita pushed Oleg into the ropes and clobbered him with a forearm strike. Oleg immediately surprised Takeshita with a belly-to-belly suplex, forcing him to roll out of the ring. Takeshita low-bridged Oleg and crushed him with a Tope con Hilo, followed by a DDT on the apron. Takeshita knocked Oleg off his feet with the Takeshita Line. Oleg blocked a follow-up and Irish-whip and dropped Takeshita with a back body drop. Oleg crushed Takeshita with a corner splash, following it with a shoulder tackle and a big splash for a two count.
Takeshita blocked the gutwrench suplex and cornered Oleg with a forearm strike. Oleg countered the jumping knee in the corner with an uranage. Takeshita stopped Oleg from going for a bunch of right hands and laid him out with the Blue Thunderbomb. Takeshita dropped Oleg with a Brainbuster, only for Oleg to suddenly get up and take him down with a gutwrench suplex. Oleg crushed Takeshita with the Boltin Bomb for a two count. They traded strikes, until Oleg turned Takeshita inside out with a lariat. Oleg managed to flatten Takeshita with the Kamikaze for a close nearfall.
Takeshita evaded a second Kamikaze and planted Oleg with a German suplex, only for Oleg to retaliate with one of his own. Both men hit each other with one more German suplex. Takeshita shocked Oleg with a massive forearm to the head before Oleg dropped him on his head with a German suplex. Oleg knocked Takeshita down with a shotgun dropkick for a shocking kick out at one. Oleg blocked the Power Drive Knee and countered the Takeshita Line with an F5, setting him up for the Kamikaze and the win.
WINNER: Boltin Oleg (6 pts) at 12:07 (***1/2)
(Pomares’s Analysis: A hard-hitting encounter to give Boltin Oleg arguably his biggest career win and one of the most shocking upsets of the tournament. Between this and the Jeff Cobb match, Oleg is on a great string of matches and already making it clear why he was given a spot in the G1 Climax in the first place.)
(5) HENARE (6) vs. REN NARITA (8) – B Block Match
Narita attacked Henare from behind on the entrance way. Once the match started, Henare quickly took over the match with a shoulder tackle and a load of right hands. Narita avoided the jumping knee in the corner and shoved Henare over the top rope. Narita rammed Henare into the ring and the guardrail before blasting his leg with a shot into the rails. Before Henare could react, Narita picked up a chair and whacked Henare’s leg with it. Back in the ring, Narita trapped Henare’s legs in a Death Lock, forcing him to crawl for the ropes.
Narita knocked Henare down with a big boot, only for Henare to shut him down with the Berzerker Bomb. Henare crushed Narita with a corner clothesline, following it with a fireman’s carry slam and a senton. Henare blasted Narita with a kick to the chest and nailed him with a big gut punch. Narita managed to counter a running lariat with a Xploder, setting him up for a pair of big boots in the corner and double underhook suplex. Henare blocked the Guillotine knee drop, only for Narita to immediately trap him briefly in a kneebar.
Narita tried to go for a pair of strikes, only for Henare to clobber him with a massive lariat. Henare clocked Narita with a jumping knee and put him in Ultima. Narita grabbed the referee’s shirt to try to break the hold before ducking a slap from the referee who accidentally hit Henare. Henare tried to confront the referee, only for Narita to knock them both down. Narita immediately nailed Henare with a chop block before pulling out his reinforced push-up bar.
Henare avoided a shot with the push-up bar and flattened Narita with a pop up Samoan Drop. As Henare tried to bring the referee back in the ring, Narita hit his knee with the push-up bar. Narita put Henare in a deep kneebar, but he managed to break the hold. Narita blocked Ultima with a kick to Henare’s damaged knee, only for Henare to block the Double Cross and lay Narita out with the Rampage for a nearfall. Narita evaded the Streets of Rage and hit Henare with a low blow, setting him up for the Double Cross and the three count.
WINNER: Ren Narita (10 pts) at 13:15 (***1/4)
(Pomares’s Analysis: I really enjoyed the bits where we actually saw Narita wrestle a regular match, so it was disappointing to see this one end with the usual cheating. I’m surprised by how deep Narita is going in this tournament and that Henare is out of contention before the final night of his group. I highly doubt Narita will win this year’s G1, but I could see him get a NEVER title shot out of this win.)
(6) HIROOKI GOTO (8) vs. EL PHANTASMO (4) (w/Jado) – B Block Match
Goto put ELP in a headlock and knocked him off his feet with a shoulder tackle. ELP caught Goto with a dropkick and targeted his shoulder with a knee drop. Goto clotheslined ELP out of the ring and knocked him down with a back elbow. Goto blasted ELP with a chop to the chest, only for ELP to low-bridge him and take him out with a plancha. Back in the ring, ELP hit Goto with a springboard Swan Dive and a springboard moonsault. Goto avoided the Sudden Death kick and put ELP down with a clothesline, setting him up for Muramasa.
They traded forearms, until ELP knocked Goto down with the inverted GTR and a lariat for a two count. They continued exchanging forearm shots to the head, until ELP caught Goto with an enzuigiri and a clothesline. ELP avoided a corner strike and dropped Goto with a one-man Shoto for a two count. ELP immediately planted Goto with a brainbuster, following it with a torture rack neckbreaker and Thunder Kiss 86 for a nearfall.
Goto shocked ELP with a headbutt, setting him up for Ushigoroshi, a kick out the chest and GTW. ELP countered the GTR with a backslide and blasted Goto with the Sudden Death kick. Goto blocked CR2 and started trading pinning combinations with ELP, until ELP got the three count with a crucifix pinfall.
WINNER: El Phantasmo (6 pts) at 13:06 (***3/4)
(Pomares’s Analysis: Despite the loss, Hirooki Goto continues his run as one of the MVPs of this year’s tournament. This was a great back-and-forth encounter where both men got to shine, as ELP played spoiler on Goto’s incredible campaign. After the run Goto has had, I really hoped he would make it out of the group stage, but that seems unlikely after this result.)
(7) JEFF COBB (10) vs. DAVID FINLAY (8) (w/Gedo) – B Block Match
Finlay attacked Cobb with forearm strikes, until Cobb knocked him off his feet with a shoulder tackle. Finlay caught Cobb with a cross chop before receiving a dropkick. Cobb tried to pull Finlay back to the ring, only for Finlay to pull his head into the ropes, knock him off his feet and stomp him down. Finlay stood on Cobb’s back and attacked him with seated sentons for a one count. Finlay dropped Cobb with a backbreaker, but Cobb retaliated with a Fallaway Slam. Cobb caught Finlay with a strike in the corner and hurled his body across the ring for a two count.
Cobb laid Finlay out with the Spin Cycle, forcing him to roll out of the ring. Finlay blocked a powerslam and rammed Cobb into the ring post before tackling through the guardrail. Back in the ring, Finlay nailed Cobb with a series of forearm blows to the back of the head for a two count. Cobb shocked Finlay with a pounce across the ring, but Finlay blocked his follow-up superplex with a chop block. Finlay immediately pulled Cobb off the corner with the Dominator, but he kicked out at two.
Cobb clobbered Finlay with an elbow strike and a uranage, setting him up for a forearm shot to the chest and a standing moonsault for a nearfall. Finlay caught Cobb off-guard with the Acid Drop for a two count. Cobb managed to put Finlay down with a back body drop, followed by a running lariat. Finlay avoided the Tour of the Islands and put Cobb down with a powerbomb for a two count. Finlay nailed Cobb with another powerbomb, setting him up for the Overkill and the win.
WINNER: David Finlay (10 pts) at 11:42 (***1/2)
(Pomares’s Analysis: A strong encounter to give Finlay a decisive victory over his fellow champion. I’m currently expecting Finlay to make it out of the group stage and based on the work he has put on during this tournament, he’s definitely earned it.)
(8) YOTA TSUJI (8) vs. YUYA UEMURA (6) – B Block Match
Uemura put Tsuji in a waist lock and a wrist lock, until Tsuji caught him with a forearm strike. Uemura smashed Tsuji’s arm into the mat and crushed it with a double stomp, setting him up for a deep hammerlock. Tsuji nailed Uemura with a pair of back elbows, but Uemura quickly shut him down with a huge arm drag. Tsuji rolled out of the ring to break an arm lock, only for Uemura to stay with him and maintain the hold. Uemura rammed Tsuji into the guardrail, only for Tsuji to drive him in the corner once they returned to the ring.
Tsuji attacked Uemura with a couple of chops before Uemura responded with a load of chops of his own. Tsuji caught Uemura with a knee to the abdomen, followed by a gutbuster. Uemura kicked Tsuji’s damaged arm, only for Tsuji to shut him down with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and put him in a Boston Crab. Tsuji dropped Uemura with a backbreaker, only for Uemura to avoid the stomp to the head. Both men hit each other with a dropkick, leaving each other down on the mat. Tsuji blocked a frog splash with his knee and drove Uemura into the guardrail with a suicide dive.
Back in the ring, Tsuji clocked Uemura with a thrust kick, setting him up for an Alabama Slam. After a kick out, Tsuji immediately trapped Uemura in a Boston Crab, until he was able to grab the ropes. Uemura struggled to get up to his feet before shocking Tsuji with a headbutt. Tsuji pummeled Uemura with a series of elbow strikes and a lariat, setting him up for Malo Crash and a two count. Uemura countered the Gene Blaster with an arm drag and got a nearfall with a crucifix pinfall. Uemura countered a suplex with an inside cradle and Tsuji’s arm was too hurt to kick out.
WINNER: Yuya Uemura (8 pts) at 16:15 (***1/2)
(Pomares’s Analysis: A good, but not great main event match. They are clearly setting up Tsuji vs. Uemura to be a long-term rivalry in New Japan, however I’m still waiting for them to have a truly special match. This one seemed like it could get there, but the ending felt very sudden and left me wondering if something had gone wrong. As for the result, I really thought Uemura would be out of contention after this show, so I’m very intrigued to see how things pan out on the final night now that Uemura still has a shot. There are many possible combinations and that’s always exciting when going into the final day of group stage.)
FINAL THOUGHTS: Night 14 was fun, but definitely a tad lackluster for B Block standards, especially when compared to the brilliant Night 12. All of the matches are at least good on a base level and I’d recommend the likes of Goto vs. ELP, Finlay vs. Cobb and Oleg vs. Takeshita, but I can in good faith tell a casual viewer to go out of their way to watch any of these. Having said that, the results on tonight’s show did a great job setting up what looks to be a thrilling end of group phase.
You can contact at mauriciopomares@gmail.com or on Twitter @PomiWrestling
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.