NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Night 16 (August 8) - B BLOCK: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best
Four men left standing in B Block, but Shingo Takagi and Tomohiro Ishii will NEVER go down.
The penultimate B Block show served as a reminder of what's been so enjoyable about this year's G1 Climax.
It was an event which, at best, had one match that would enter the top ten contests for this year's stellar tournament. That match was booked as the main event accordingly, sending the fans home at their most hyped. The opener, high on comedy, was high on enjoyment. The midcard matches - inflated in importance thanks to the points permutations - were enjoyable to build to aforementioned sh*tkicker of a headliner.
It was a well produced and polished five-match wrestling card.
Credit as usual to Gedo not just crafting this sort of show so close to the end, but for every aspect of another triumphant tournament. This might seem premature two evenings out from the final next Monday, but the event has yet again served as a reminder of what is, with zero apologies to Seth Rollins, quite comfortably the best pro wrestling on the planet, period.
More names fell at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in Kanagawa, but the entire B Block shone like stars nonetheless. It is this that - at great risk of exhausting his audience - the NJPW creative doyen deserves the most credit for.
5. Toru Yano Vs. Taichi
Toru Yano's comedic efforts in 2019 have been amongst his finest career achievements, not just for the creative new spins on all his old tricks, but for the brevity employed to ensure that the gimmick wouldn't wear out its welcome before the end.
This clash with Taichi could have been a worst case scenario of G1 Climax outings but was instead a fabulous exhibition of one likeable sh*thouse out-thinking a much crueler one.
Taichi had tried to force Yano to the back for a count-out loss before Yoshinobu Kanemaru decked him back to the ring then rolled him up in the ring skirt for a nail-biting countout tease. Spotting an opportunity, the 'Sublime Master Thief' teased his foe back to the floor for him to take Kanemaru's whiskey spit, leaving both Suzuki-gun goons prone for Yano to make a "human burrito" with the ringside apparatus himself.
Another count-out win for 'YTR', but he'd be counted out of the entire G1 by virtue of results later in the show. The cheating b*stard's exit coming before the Climax finale actually feels slightly unfair.