NJPW G1 Climax 2019 Night 10 (July 28) - B BLOCK: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best
"This is your last chance to get on the bandwagon...Jon Moxley is gonna win G1 Climax 29"
Night 9 of the 2019 G1 Climax saw Bad Luck Fale and Zack Sabre Jr's chances bite the dust thanks to the dominance of A Block leader Kazuchika Okada, and while Jon Moxley toasted another raucous victory in yet another fabulous main event, the competition remains remarkably fierce on the other side of the tournament.
B Block's faced pressure from the opposing field when the talent lists were first announced - there appeared a weighting deficiency between the two sides, not least considering how the likes of Moxley, Jeff Cobb, Taichi and Shingo Takagi would fair in their maiden G1s. 50% of that crew have delivered over and over again, which is about the ratio for match quality on these events.
They are at least favoured by moderate expectation. Though July 28th's Aichi card had a blockbuster main event featuring two world famous professional wrestlers, the rest of the event proffered bouts that all had the potential to make or break the night as a whole. To this end, A Block continued to surprise - there was more good than bad on this event, particularly for those suffering pangs of exhausting from the grind.
The bad here was serviceable, the good here was f*cking great. Moxley great.
5. Jeff Cobb Vs. Taichi
Jeff Cobb used his Tour Of The Islands slam to score a vital victory over Taichi and keep himself just about alive in this year’s G1 Climax, but his prospects of making more of his run with NJPW following the tournament still felt deader than the remains of his opponent’s microphone stand after another deeply disappointing display.
It’s been hard to pinpoint what hasn’t worked for Cobb this year - his efforts at New Year Dash and the MSG Supershow speak to a performer refining his offering for something just like this, but in match and personality quality, the SPLX rep has gone missing once too often.
It’s possible that he was dropped into the wrong block for his style, but that’s arguably all the more reason to mourn what could have been a stand-out showing.As is, this particular outing went through the motions at every level - Taichi’s early cheating eventually subdued before the tearaways came off and the strikes got serious. The crowd got up for the nearfalls, but there’s no raising either of these beyond moribund midcard between now and the end of the tournament.