New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/18/2024 G1 Climax 34 Day 19 Final Day

New Japan Pro Wrestling 8/18/2024 G1 Climax 34 Day 19 Final Day

Day 18 is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2024/08/new-japan-pro-wrestling-8172024-g1.html

Shoma Kato, Tiger Mask & Yuji Nagata vs. TenKoji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) & Ryusuke Taguchi

Tenzan and Kato go at it. Tenzan hits headbutts then Kato shoulders him over. Tenzan hits mongolian chops on Kato then falling headbutts him. Tiger shoulders over RT when they get in. RT armdrags him andis armdragged. Tiger tilt-a-whirl backbreakers him.

Tiger hits chest kicks on RT. RT hits a hip attack. Kojima hits shots on Tiger then neckbreakers him. Tiger takes shots from Kojin and Tenzan. Kojima machine gun chops Tiger.

Kojima corner forearms Tiger. Tiger hits a tiger driver on Kojima. Yuji hits kicks on Kojima then running facekicks him. Koji and Yuma trade forearms. Yuji knees Koji in the gut then Koji hits a cutter on him. Yuji crossfaces Koji then tries an armbar on him.

RT goes for a hip attack and is kicked in the butt by Yuji. Kato wants in. Kato flying forearms RT then hiptosses him for 2. Kato crabs RT. Tenzan suplexes Kato. RT crabs Kato.

Tiger breaks it with chest kicks on RT and RT hip attacks him out. Kato hits forearms on RT then RT hip attacks him. RT ankle locks Kato then taps him out.

Thoughts: It wasn't anything too special. It was nice to see some of the vets again but it's hard to say much about it either than that. 

Taichi vs. Katsuya Murashima

KM hits forearms. Taichi facekicks him then KM flying forearms him. Taichi throws KM down then slams him. Taichi side kicks him. Taichi hits more kicks and footslaps him.

Taichi legkicks him then back body drops him. Taichi puts him in a single leg crab. KM is bullied around and Taichi boots him. KM dropkicks him then hits another dropkick.

KM slams him then slaps him. KM hits a forearm then then flying shoulders him. Taichi hits a spin kick to the gut then KM rolls him up off a missed kick for 2. KM cradles him for 2. Taichi lariats him for 2. Taichi release backdrops him and wins.

Thoughts: It was a vet vs young lion match. KM got a good bit of offense in and did his part in making you think he might win. It was fine for what it was.

Francesco Akira & Konosuke Takeshita vs. TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Robbie Eagles)

 

Mikey wristlocks KT. KT reverses it on him then Mikey grabs his leg. Mikey forearms KT down. Rob and Akira go at it. Rob uses the ropes to armdrag him. Akira dropkicks him. Akira 2nd rope diving hurricanrana's him.

Rob tope con hilos KT and ends up diving himself through a table outside during it. Mikey beats up on Akira. Rob hits kicks on him. Akira takes offense from the heels for 2.

Akira step up enzugiri's Mikey. KT flying lariats Mikey. KT throws Rob then Akira basement dropkicks Akira. Mikey ddt's KT. Akira flying headscissors KT then plancha's him outside. Akira leg lariats Rob from behind.

Akira top rope crossbodies Rob for 2. Akira takes a top rope double stomp into a death valley driver. Rob high kicks KT then Akira rolls up Rob for 2. Rob superkicks him then KT spinning blue thunders Rob. Akira hits a forward rolling reverse ddt from the side on Rob.

Mikey does a drop on Akira from his shoulder then Rob running chest kicks Akira for the win.

Thoughts: It was a throwaway but they put on a good show here and really made the most of their time. I didn't expect anything out if it but they tried here. Rob sending himself through a table off his dive was wild.

BULLET CLUB (Clark Connors, Drilla Moloney & Taiji Ishimori) vs. Just 5 Guys (DOUKI, SANADA & TAKA Michinoku)

Bushi and TI go at it. TI puts some hammerlocks on. Bushi snapmares him. Bushi armdrags him then is armdragged. Drilla and Sanada go at it. Drilla knocks him over. Sanada flying headscissors him then paradise locks him. Taka gets in and Clark pounces him. Clark elbow drops Taka.

TI beats up on Taka. Taka goes to the side and pump kicks him. Taka hits just facelock and it is broken up by Clark. Taka trips Clark into just facelock. Taka then headscissors Drilla to add onto it.

The heels are dropkicked out then Douki flying headscissors TI. Douki topes TI. Taka superkicks TI. TI handspring kicks Taka then flying knees Douki. TI does a codebreaker variation on Taka and wins.

Thoughts: It was just a match as expected and wasn't really anything of note. It had some highlights at least.

Bishamon (Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI) & Tomoaki Honma vs. BULLET CLUB War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd & Jake Lee)

DF side headlocks Goto. Goto shoulders him over. Goto hiptosses DF then DF euros him. DF takes a double shoulder then Yoshi is hiptossed onto DF. Gabe is suplexed onto DF. Jake then has his back triple clubbed.

Honma misses a headbutt then DF hits a uranage backbreaker on Yoshi. Jake slams Honma. Gabe chops Yoshi down. Goto gets in and shoulders Gabe over. Goto spinning heel kicks Gabe in the corner the nbackdrops him for 2.

Goto and Gabe double clothesline each other down. Honma hits shots on Jake then lariats him. Honma misses a falling headbutt then Jake suplexes Honma. Jake backdrops Honma for 2. Honma flying headbutts Jake. DF gets in and hits euros on Yoshi. Yoshi fires back and suplexes him. DF takes a russian legsweep + headhunter combo then Yoshi and Goto bang Honma's head off of DF. Goto ushigoroshi's Gabe then running lariats him. DF hits oblivion on Goto and then on Yoshi for 2.

Yoshi headscissors DF into the buckles and gets the surprise crucifix win on him.

Thoughts: I was really surprised to see Yoshi pick up the win here over DF. I'm sure that will lead to a match. They had some fun with the faces being creative together and the ending helped this one a little.

Be-Bop Tag Team (Hiroshi Tanahashi & Toru Yano), El Phantasmo, Oleg Boltin & Shota Umino vs. House Of Torture (EVIL, Ren Narita, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Yujiro Takahashi)

ELP is given a House of Torture shirt and ELP debates wearing it. The faces get beaten up and Evil stands on Shota's neck. Shota hits double dropkicks and double basement dropkicks. Shota dropkicks Evil.

Yano is group beaten by the heels and thrown into the exposed buckle. Yano is group stomped. Ren pounds on Yano. Yano takes a double shot down then Ren gets a 2 count on him. Yujiro facekicks Yano then Yano atomic drops him.

Oleg gets in and shoulders over the heels. He hits a double suplex on the heels. Oleg karelin's lifts Ren. Yujiro bites Oleg's fingers. Oleg standing dropkicks him. Tana hits shots on Evil. Tana flying forearms him. Tana slams Evil then 2nd rope swantons him for 2.

ELP teases putting an HoT shirt on. The ref is thrown into Tana. Evil rakes Tana's eyes. Sho hits Oleg with a wrench. Yujiro hits Shota with a cane. Kanemaru hits Yano with something. ELP then comes in and superkicks Kanemaru. Ren hits ELP with a title belt and tries to make it seem like Tana hit ELP with it. Evil low blows Tana then Togo pedigrees Tana. Togo top rope sentons Tana. Evil then picks up the pin on Tana. ELP doesn't break the pin up.

Thoughts: It had the usual HoT shenanigans but at least it had a story with ELP maybe joining HoT.

Evil asks ELP if he can trust Tanahashi after and offers him a chair. He tells him to hit Tana with a chair. 

Jado tries to stop ELP and nearly gets hit. ELP hugs Jado then they go after the heels. The faces are thwarted and ELP is hit with a push-up bar. ELP is then group stomped.

Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi & Tetsuya Naito) vs. United Empire (Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, HENARE & Jeff Cobb)

LIJ get some offense in to start. Bushi boots Cobb out of the corner. Cobb catches his 2nd rope crossbody then Bushi hurricanrana's him. Shingo gets in and hiptosses Cobb. Cobb standing moonsaults him.

CN gets in and flips over Shingo. CN running boots him then is shouldered over. Shingo sliding lariats him in the back of the neck. Shingo suplexes CN. Hiromu dropkicks CN. Bushi gets back in and hits shots on CN. Naito neckbreakers him.

Naito hits elbows on CN. CN springboard dropkicks him. Khan gets in and throws Naito into Shingo. Khan shoulder throws Naito then head and arm chokes him. Khan sits on Naito's neck on the buckles.

Khan takes a sunset flip into a baseball slide. Naito step up enzugiri's Khan. Naito hits a koppo kick and takes a muso. Henare and Hiromu get in. Hiromu drokicks him in the knee and hits chops. Henare forearms him then chest kicks him down.

Hiromu flying headscissors Henare then Henare berzerker bombs him. Everyone comes in to get a move in and Bushi hits a double tope outside. Hiromu superkicks Henare twice then Henare lariats him. Henare step up knees Hiromu and Hiromu does a bad roll up to pin Henare.

Thoughts: It was a slow paced and unexciting tag. I didn't like Hiromu pinning Henare here and the pin didn't even look good.

G1 Climax 2024 Final - Zack Sabre Jr. vs Yota Tsuji

They go to the mat. Yota snapmares him and Zack goes for a submission. Yota shoulders him over twice. Yota chops him down. Zack throws him down by the arm. Zack stomps Yota's arm down into the mat.

Zack twists the arm with his feet. Yota forearms Zack down in the corner. Zack euros him then Yota tilt-a-whirl slams him. Yota topes Zack over the rails.

Zack takes shoulders against the rails. Yota splashes Zack then bodyscissors him. Yota hits knees to the gut. Zack fires up and takes a gutbuster. Zack twists his neck with his feet.

Yota hits shots to the gut and Zack does an octopus. Yota alabama slams him. They lariat each other and Yota knocks him down. Yota falcon arrows him then curbstomps him. Zack bangs Yota's arm off the ropes then double knee drops Yota's arm.

Zack rolling armbars Yota then hits euros. Yota pumping knees Zack then hits his backbreaker and curbstomp combo. Zack rolls him into a bridge and germans him. Yota then hits a big spear and hits a driver on him for 2. Yota hits a marlow crash on Zack for 2.

Yota goes for a spear and is put in an armbar. Yota powerbombs him and hits a knee to the face. Yota pumping knees him for 2. Zack slaps Yota. Yota headbutts him then drops him off the 2nd rope for 2.

Zack hits euros and lariats. Yota michinoku drivers Zack. Zack backrolls him with a bridge. Zack jack knifes him and figure fours the legs. Zack PK's him. Yota euros him. Zack catches a spear then ties up both of Yota's arms. Zack then hooks the legs while he's at it and submits Yota to win.

Thoughts: Zack winning was an upset. It's clearly a hotfix for the AEW poaches and people like Tana/Naito being mostly done. It would have worked better if they built Zack up better over the years and gave you a reason to expect him to win. I don't think he was the best choice and I think it's just another Shingo Takagi push where he'll be pushed for a while then brought back down to the midcard as soon the next gen is ready.

I didn't like the match. It was long and the early part of it was boring. It was the usual Zack submission exhibition with no real focus on any bodypart and just him slapping on various submissions. 

Zack does a speech in Japanese and says he did it. He hints that he maybe wants his title shot before the Tokyo Dome.

Overall thoughts: Like yesterday, there was only one real feature match. A couple of the undercard matches were okay but the G1 final wasn't good and had a weird winner in Zack. I wouldn't recommend this one.