New Japan Pro Wrestling 7/20/2022 G1 Climax 32 Day 3

New Japan Pro Wrestling 7/20/2022 G1 Climax 32 Day 3

I just covered the G1 matches here:

G1 Climax 32 Block D - David Finlay vs Yujiro Takahashi

Yujiro face shoves him early and grabs a hammerlock. Finlay walks through the ropes and gets his arm tied up instead. Yujiro bites his thumb and Finlay backslides him. Finlay then hits a nice dropkick. They go outside and Finlay goes into the rails. Yujiro then reverse ddt's him on the floor. Yujiro baseball slides him then facekicks him.

Yujiro double reverse armbars him and Finlay pulls him into the buckles. finlay then neckbreakers him. Finlay spinning backdrops him then plancha's him. He then uranages him over the knee for 2. Finlay lariats him from behind then Yujiro stunguns him. Yujiro fisherman busters him for 2. They go up top and Finlay sunset bombs him for 2.

Sho gets on the apron for a distraction then Yujiro olympic slams Finlay out of it. Yujiro gets his walking stick and the ref fights him for it. Yujiro then low blows him and hits a ddt. Finlay pushes Yujiro into Sho on the apron then stunners him for 2. Sho hits Finlay with a wrench then Yujiro does a lifting ddt and wins it.

It didn't look like it would be good and it was garbage as expected especially with the interference spots.

G1 Climax 32 Block B - Tama Tonga vs Chase Owens

Chase goes after Tama and takes mounted punches for it. Tama back body drops him and Chase rolls out. Chase superkicks Jado outside then Chase russian legsweeps Tama into the rails. Chase neckbreakers him on the floor hen running back elbows him. Chase top rope double axe handles him then hits another neckbreaker. Chase slams him and gets countered on another top rope double axe handle.

Tama hits a euro then knocks him over with a lariat. Tama back elbows Chase and forearms him. Chase spin kicks him then sunset flips him into the buckle. Chase lariats him for 2 then neckbreakers him. Chase spinning back elbows him then takes an enzugiri. Tama sideways rolling firemans carries him then misses a top rope splash. Chase pulls up the padding outside and Jado puts it back down. They argue about it and Chase grabs a chair. Jado grabs the chair then Chase gets backdropped on the floor. Tama then hits a top rope splash for 2.

Chase blocks a jumping stunner then knees him in the neck. Chase rolls him up with the tights for 2 and Cahse blocks the 2nd rope springboard stunner. Chase takes a catapult into the exposed buckle then Tama cutters him to win.

It didn't look like a good match on paper and it wasn't. Neither guy is that good and I have no idea how Chase even has a job here. It also had shenanigans on top of it with Jado.

G1 Climax 32 Block A - Bad Luck Fale vs Lance Archer

New Japan can't really book Lance any worse than AEW does. Fale goes for a razor's edge early. Lance does an up and over in the corner then is shouldered over. Fale chokes him outside then Fale goes into the rails. Lance hits some shorts in the corner then takes some shots to the gut. Fale rolls outside after a kick to the gut then Lance goes into the rails.

Fale grabs a chair and the ref stops him from using it. Fale then grabs another and the ref takes it again. They fight outside and Fale goes into the rails. Lance is then slammed on two chairs. Lance then barely beats the count back in. Lance crossbodies him for 2.

Lance walks the top rope with Fale's arm and is crotched down. Fale samoan drops him then goes to the 2nd rope. Lance walks up the ropes and knees him in the face. Lance goes for the blackout but Fale escapes then Lance hits corner punches. Fale has Lance up for a powerbomb and both roll over the top. Lance cannonballs him off the apron. They fight on the apron and Fale hits him then Lance is counted out for the Fale win.

Look, matches like these should be short and explosive. They should have these guys throwing bombs and showing off their power. They didn't do that much of it here on top of being slower and longer than it needed to be. This wasn't expected to be good and wasn't.

G1 Climax 32 Block C - Tetsuya Naito vs Hirooki Goto

They start off slow and Naito pulls his arm which is wrapped around the top rope. Goto shoulders him over and hiptosses him. Naito stalls outside and Naito throws Goto into the rails. Goto then misses a lariat and lariats the post. Naito hits some elbows on him and works the arm some. Naito footslaps him around and Goto blocks a face kick then lariats him. Goto spinning heel kicks him and bulldogs him for 2. Naito then back elbows him and dropkicks him in the back of the head. Naito puts his legs around Goto's head and pulls the arm to get a ropebreak. Naito then slingshot dropkicks him in the corner.

Naito hits a top rope hurricanrana then pop-up spinebusters him. Goto fujiwara armbars him then hooks his head and arm for a hold at 14 minutes. They trade forearms and Naito back elbows his neck. Goto sidesteps a boot and spinning lariats him. Goto then hits an olympic slam for 2. Goto neckbreakers him over his knee and Naito rolling koppo kicks him. Naito flying forearms him and hits a weak destino for 2. Naito enzugiri's him and takes an elbow slice off the bridge on the 2nd rope.

Goto F-U's him into an elbow drop for 2. Naito hits a stiff driver off a suplex then takes a shouten kai pendulum side slam. Goto then lariats him into a backbreaker and wins it.

I wasn't too into this one. It was slow, long and they really did little for most of this. The crowd couldn't cheer and a lot of just felt like filler. They also didn't build well to the Goto win.

Overall thoughts: It didn't look like a good night at the G1 and it wasn't. You put people together who aren't that great on their own yet alone with lesser workers and you don't get good results. I think tonight also showed the problems with the 4 block format. They don't really have the talent for 4 good blocks and because there's so many blocks, we are getting robbed of a lot of interesting matches.