By Chris Vetter, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@chrisvetter73)
New Japan Pro Wrestling “G1 Climax 34 Night Nine”
August 3, 2024 in Osaka, Japan at Yamato Arena
Streamed live on New Japan World
This year’s tournament is comprised of 20 competitors, split into two 10-man Blocks. This is a round-robin tournament, so each man will have nine tournament matches. This show features just the A Block in tournament action. Walker Stewart provided commentary. This show is a large gym/small arena, and the upper deck tier is fairly full. Attendance is maybe 1,000.
* The undercard matches were not announced in advance, which is highly unusual for NJPW. Also noteworthy since Wednesday’s show is that Kosei Fujita is injured and won’t compete in the rest of this tour; it is unclear if Zack Sabre Jr. will have preview matches at all on nights when he’s not in tournament action.
1. Konosuke Takeshita and “United Empire” Jeff Cobb, Henare, and Francesco Akira defeated Shoma Kato, Katsuya Murashima, Tomoaki Honma and Hirooki Goto at 8:18. Once again, Takeshita is thrown in with wrestlers who aren’t in a faction with him, which also is highly unusual for NJPW. Konosuke and Goto opened. Akira launched off of Cobb’s shoulders and splashed Kato at 3:00. Kato tried some chops on Takeshita, who completely no-sold them, then Konosuke dropped Kato with one blow. Kato dropped Henare with a dropkick. Honma tagged in at 5:00. Henare hit some Yes Kicks to Honma’s chest, then a senton. Akira and Murashima tagged in. Takeshita and Goto brawled some more, then both rolled to the floor. Akira hit a faceplant and the Fireball running double knees to the back of the head to pin Murashima. Solid.
2. Boltin Oleg and Toru Yano defeated “Bullet Club War Dogs” Gedo and David Finlay at 5:40. Finlay and Oleg opened. The BCWD worked over Yano. Oleg got in and hit a shoulder tackle, then a splash to the mat on Finlay, then his gut-wrench suplex at 4:00. He set up for Kamikaze, but Finlay escaped. Finlay hit a backbreaker over his knee. Yano and Gedo got back in, and Yano yanked on Gedo’s beard, then he got a schoolboy rollup for the pin. Yano-Gedo action is exceptionally bad, but the Oleg-Finlay exchanges were good and hammered home the point of how much bigger and stronger Oleg is.
3. “Just 5 Guys” Yuya Uemura and Taka Michinoku defeated “Guerrillas of Destiny” El Phantasmo and Jado at 7:34. ELP and Yuya opened, and Ueumura hit some deep armdrags. ELP and Taka did some comedy over eye pokes. Yuya hit some chops on Phantasmo. ELP fired back with a brainbuster on Yuya at 6:00, and they were both down. ELP hit a plancha to the floor on Taka, leaving Jado and Yuya in the ring. Jado applied a Crossface on the mat, but Yuya escaped, slapped on a crossarm breaker, and Jado immediately tapped out.
4. “Los Ingobernables de Japon” Yota Tsuji and Bushi defeated “House of Torture” Ren Narita and Yoshinobu Kanemaru at 5:59. The HoT attacked from behind. Yota and Ren brawled on the floor, and Ren whipped him into the guardrail. In the ring, Yota hit a backbreaker over his knee on Ren at 3:30. Ren grapevined the leg on the mat, but Yota reached the ropes. Kanemaru entered and applied a Figure Four Leglock on Yota. Bushi dove through the ropes onto Narita, while Yota hit the Gene Blaster (spear) on Kanemaru for the pin. Best action of the preview tags.
* This is the sixth tournament match for each competitor. Each win is worth two points; a (rare) draw is worth one point each. Thus each competitor has a maximum of ten points at this time. Also, a reminder that THREE competitors from each block make the playoffs, so even someone at 2-4 (4 points) is still mathematically alive.
5. Jake Lee (4) defeated Callum Newman (4) in an A Block tournament match at 11:14. Lee needs to win here. Newman hit a kick and Lee rolled to the floor to regroup. Back in the ring, they traded standing switches. They fought to the floor, and Lee whipped Newman into the ring post at 3:30. In the ring, Lee was in charge and hit a guillotine legdrop for a nearfall. Newman hit some chops that Jake no-sold. Callum hit some running penalty kicks, then a standing moonsault for a nearfall at 7:00. Newman hit a Triangle Moonsault to the floor and the crowd rallied for him. Newman set up for the OsCutter, but Lee sidestepped it and hit a chokeslam for a nearfall at 10:00. Newman hit some roundhouse kicks. Lee nailed a Helluva Kick for the pin.
6. Great-O-Khan (4) defeated EVIL (w/Dick Togo) (10) in an A Block tournament match at 16:25. EVIL attacked from behind and they immediately fought to the floor. They passed the guardrail and fought into the crowd. Back in the ring, EVIL choked O-Khan with a chain and made a cocky one-footed cover at 3:30. He applied a half-crab but O-Khan reached the ropes. O-Khan hit a belly-to-belly suplex and they were both down at 6:00. O-Khan hit his Mongolian Chops. EVIL bit O-Khan’s leg! EVIL hit a snap fisherman’s suplex for a nearfall at 8:30.
O-Khan tied up EVIL on the mat. EVIL distracted the ref, allowing Togo to hit O-Khan with chairshots to the back. EVIL applied a Sharpshooter, but O-Khan reached the ropes at 10:30. EVIL nailed Darkness Falls (swinging powerbomb) for a nearfall. O-Khan slammed EVIL face-first to the mat. He untied tape around EVIL’s elbow and applied a hammerlock, while also wrapping his legs around EVIL’s head. He switched to a crossarm breaker, but Togo pulled the ref to the floor.
EVIL got a chair and jabbed it into O-Khan’s chest. With Togo’s help, he hit the Magic Killer swinging slam for a believable nearfall at 14:30. O-Khan blocked Everything is Evil uranage. O-Khan hit a plancha onto Togo to take him out. Back in the ring, EVIL hit a running clothesline for a believable nearfall. He set up for the Everything is Evil, but O-Khan escaped, and O-Khan hit the Claw-to-the-head slam to the mat for the pin. EVIL is undefeated no more! An okay match; with where their points were entering the match, I felt it was highly likely O-Khan was winning here.
* David Finlay joined Walker Stewart on commentary.
7. Tetsuya Naito (6) defeated Gabe Kidd (6) in an A Block tournament match at 13:41. Kidd immediately unloaded a flurry of punches and stomps in the corner. They brawled to the floor. Walker said this is a first-time-ever singles match. In the ring, Naito hit a Rude Awakening standing neckbreaker for a nearfall at 3:00. They brawled over the guardrail and into the crowd, and Kidd tossed Naito into rows of chairs. Naito then whipped Kidd into the chairs. He slammed Kidd face-first on an open chair at 7:00. They returned to ringside, where Kidd slammed Naito back-first onto the ring apron.
In the ring, Kidd applied a Lion Tamer/vertical Boston Crab, and he eventually sat down into a regular Boston Crab. Naito hit a Destino out of nowhere; Walker acknowledged “he didn’t get all of it.” Kidd crashed face-first on the top turnbuckle. Kidd hit a Saito Suplex for a nearfall at 12:00, and they were both down. Naito hit a head-scissors takedown and an enzuigiri. Kidd swung wildly on a clothesline, and it allowed Naito to get an inside cradle for the clean, but hardly decisive, pin.
8. Sanada (6) defeated Shota Umino (6) in an A Block tournament match at 15:57. They worked each other’s left arm and this is a feeling-out process early on. They brawled to the floor, and Sanada dropped him throat-first on the guardrail in front of Walker Stewart at 3:00. In the ring, Sanada hit a Russian Leg Sweep and he grounded Umino. Shota hit a fisherman’s suplex for a nearfall at 5:30. Umino hit an Exploder Suplex for a nearfall. Sanada hit a dropkick, then a plancha to the floor at 7:30. In the ring, Sanada hit a back suplex for a nearfall. Umino hit a sideslam for a nearfall. Sanada ducked a Shining Wizard and he applied an STF at 10:30.
Sanada placed Shota’s feet on the ropes and hit the Magic Screw swinging neckbreaker. Sanada nailed the Shining Wizard; he went for a moonsault but Shota got his knees up to block it at 13:00, and they were both down. Shota hit a Meteora running double knees to the back, then a tornado DDT and a running swinging neckbreaker. Sanada hit another Shining Wizard, and he set up for Deadfall, but Shota avoided it. Shota hit a DDT for a believable nearfall. Sanada got an O’Connor Roll and leaned back for leverage to score the pin. A really good match and easily best of the show so far.
9. Shingo Takagi (6) defeated Zack Sabre Jr. (8) in an A Block tournament match at 15:06. They opened in a knucklelock, and Sabre hit a Northern Lights Suplex. Sabre snapped Shingo’s neck between his ankles and hit a basement dropkick at 2:30. Shingo was immediately selling the pain in his neck. Zack hit some European Uppercuts and he applied a leglock around Shingo’s neck. Shingo hit a suplex but clutched at his sore neck. Shingo hit some chops and a senton at 5:00, then a suplex. He hit some Moxley-style elbow strikes to the side of the head.
Sabre snapped the right elbow between his legs, and he immediately tied up the fingers, then stomped on the elbow. Shingo hit a swinging neckbreaker. He hit a top-rope superplex at 8:00, then a sliding clothesline, but he sold the pain in his right elbow. Sabre hit some kicks and he applied an Octopus Stretch, but Shingo eventually reached the ropes. Sabre snapped some more of Shingo’s fingers. Shingo nailed a hard clothesline and they were both down at 10:30.
They got up and traded forearm strikes. Shingo nailed a Made In Japan swinging powerbomb for a nearfall. Sabre nailed a Michinoku Driver for a nearfall at 12:30. They hit simultaneous clotheslines, and Shingo nailed a Pumping Bomber clothesline, and he was fired up. Sabre climbed on Shingo’s back, so Shingo fell backward to slam Sabre to the mat. However, Sabre held on and turned it into a Triangle Choke. Shingo nailed the Last of the Dragon for the pin. A very good match and I look forward to a rematch later in the playoffs.
Final Thoughts: For the record, in my online bracket, I did pick Shingo to win this match, and Sabre to win a playoff rematch. A very good main event, but was it their best possible match? No. I think that will come in a rematch in a couple of weeks. Sanada-Shota was really good for second. I’ll go with Naito-Kidd for a distant third. The storyline of this night is the guy with the lower point total won each and every tournament match, pulling everyone closer to a .500 record. Keep in mind, with three guys reaching the playoffs and only two guys with winning records, everyone is still mathematically alive, whether they are 3-3 or 2-4.
The tournament will continue on Sunday with the B Block in action, led by Jeff Cobb vs. Henare in a United Empire matchup, along with Yota Tsuji vs. Ren Narita.
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